Sunday, June 23 – 7:30 pm – “Mozart and Americana”

Relax with a beautiful painted American landscape and the perfect music of Mozart

William Grant Still: Ennanga for Harp, Strings Quintet and Piano

            Justine Tiu – Harp and Evangeliya Delizonas-Khukhua – Piano

Arthur Foote: Suite in E major for String Orchestra

Amadeus Mozart: Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra in C major, K 299 Les Roettges – Flute and Mia Venezia – Harp

William Grant Still (1895-1976)

Ennanga for Harp, String Quartet, and Piano

I. Moderately fast

II. Moderately slow

III. Majestically; moderately fast

Justine Tiu – Harp     Evangeliya Delizonas-Khukhua – Piano

William Grant Still has quite a few historical “Firsts” for Black American composers: first to conduct a major orchestra; first to have a symphony performed by a prominent orchestra; first to have an opera performed by a major opera company; and first to have an opera performed on national television. He has been called “the Dean of Afro-American Composers,” and his Afro-American Symphony was the most widely performed symphony by an American composer for the first half of the 20th century.

An ennanga is an arched harp with seven strings and tuning pegs attached to a bow-shaped rod. The rod extends from a skin covered sound box which rests in the musician’s lap. Although arched harps are among the most ancient instruments with depictions from the Middle East from 3000 BCE, the ennanga of today originated in Uganda and East Africa.

William Grant Still pays homage to his African heritage and to this ancient instrument with this pastoral quintet from 1956. The harp familiar to Western audiences has a prominent role, but has little sonic resemblance to the ennanga. The first two movements are melodic and almost restful, while the lyrical third movement is more lively.

Arthur Foote (1853-1937)

Suite in E major for String Orchestra, Op. 63

I. Praeludium: Allegro Comodo

II. Pizzicato: Capriccioso Allegretto – Adagietto

III. Fuge

Arthur Foote is the first prominent American composer to be trained entirely in the United States. He was the organist at Boston’s First (Unitarian) Church for over 30 years, was a founder of the American Guild of Organists, and is included by music historians in the New England Classists. These composers developed an American classical music idiom distinct from the European composers of the day.

Today, Foote’s compositions, especially his chamber pieces, are critically admired but seldom performed. The Chamber Music Journal (2002) felt that Foote’s music “…never received the audience it deserved and deserves is because it was written by an American who was ‘out of the loop.’”

The Suite in E major (1907) was premiered by the Boston Symphony to critical acclaim. The serenade-like first movement is reminiscent of Grieg or Tchaikovsky. About two minutes into the second movement, listen for the emergence of a lovely, mournful melody. The third movement, a fugue with the academic rigor of Johann Sebastian Bach, has a precision that reveals Foote’s sure hand in presenting his musical subject, then guiding it through its exposition to a satisfying conclusion.
 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra, K 299

I. Allegro

II. Andante

III. Rondeau – Allegro
 

Les Roettges – Solo Flute and Mia Venezia – Solo Harp

Violin I – Gabriela Pena, Igor Khukhua, Clinton Dewing, Piotr Szewczyk, Alexandra Khaimovich

Violin II –  Ingang Han, Victoria Stjerna, Ann Hertler, Scott Jackson

Viola – Jorge Pena, Romona Merritt, Lauren Burns Hodges

Cello – Jin Kim, Betsy Federman, Sarah Huesman    Bass – Paul Strasshofer

Oboe – Eric Olson, Daniel Rios   Horn – Katharine Caliendo, Thomas Park
 

In April, 1776, Mozart was in Paris. The daughter of a duke was taking composition lessons from him and had learned to play the harp. Her father, an accomplished flutist, commissioned Mozart to write this concerto for them to play together. Unfortunately for Mozart, he was never payed at all for his composition, and the duke only offered half the expected tuition for the daughter’s composition lessons, which an angry Mozart refused to accept.

The concerto was probably written to accommodate the talents of the duke and his daughter.  At the time, the harp was primitive by today’s standards, and few orchestras regarded it as a standard instrument. This was therefore an unusual pairing for a concerto, and it may well be a testament to the daughter’s skill with the harp that induced Mozart to match harp and flute.  This is the only piece Mozart wrote for the harp.

The allegro first movement is in conventional sonata form with the orchestra stating the first theme and the second introduced by the horn. The soloists repeat and vary the themes.

The Andantino begins with the theme presented by the strings, then repeated with variations by flute and harp. Near the end of the movement, the soloists play a cadenza, followed by a final statement of the theme.

The Rondo is in the form of A-B-A-C-A-B-A, a typical sonata-rondo pattern. Three C major chords end this movement.

Listen throughout the concerto for the soloists alternating the melody and the accompaniment lines.
 

Program notes contributed by Benjamin Pickard