Here’s an example of something good that came about as a result of corporate competition.  In Paris in the very early 1900s there were two instrument-making companies.  Harp manufacturer Pleyel commissioned the composer Debussy to write a piece featuring its chromatic harp. Not to be outdone, the Erard company commissioned Maurice Ravel to feature its pedal action harp, and this piece, Introduction and Allegro (1907) is the fantastic result.  Actually, both the Debussy and the Ravel have become standards in the repertory.  Composed for harp solo with an accompaniment of just string quartet plus flute and clarinet, this brief work amazingly demonstrates the awesome coloristic and musical potential of the instrument.

Webster defines an idyll as “a simple descriptive work in poetry or prose that suggests a mood of peace and contentment.” Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll (1870) is a clear musical example of idyll-ness.  While his over-inflated operas (“music-dramas”) featuring ancient Germanic mythology are incredibly complex, this piece is anything but.  Named for his newborn son, who in turn was named after the leading character, Siegfried, in his current opera project, the piece was designed as a birthday gift for his wife, Cosima.  Composed and rehearsed in secrecy, the first performance occurred on the central staircase of their villa in Lucerne.  Remarkably tender, featuring birdcalls and a musical sunrise, Cosima was awakened by the gentle sounds marking the work’s beginning.

Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring (1944) has remained in the repertory since its premiere, and is a favorite among musicians and audiences worldwide.  Originally a ballet commissioned by none other than Martha Graham, Copland received from her the directive that “this is a legend of American living. It is like the bone structure, the inner frame that holds together a people.” Further, in her notes at the premiere performance, Graham noted that “Spring was celebrated by a man and woman building a house with joy and love and prayer; by a revivalist and his followers in their shouts of exaltation; by a pioneering woman with her dreams of the Promised Land.” Certainly, Copland’s music, and the incorporation of the Shaker tune, Simple Gifts, supports the gentle, down-home nature of Appalachian America.

We complete tonight’s performance with an upbeat arrangement of four of the most popular Hungarian Dances (1879) by Johannes Brahms, as arranged by composer-pianist Martin Amlin. Commissioned by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, these four dances are lively, tender, melancholic and uplifting in their various moods, and are our musical offering to you in a fun, even folksy, way to wrap up the program. Perhaps we’ll even have you humming the tunes on your way out of Meadow Hall in the brand new, exciting, hallways of the Groton Hill Music Center!