celebrations · 2018-02-27 · celebrations in the bso schools’ concerts, three of the pieces you...
TRANSCRIPT
Celebrations
In the BSO Schools’ Concerts, three of the pieces you will hear are all about celebrating!
The three pieces are:
Dmitri Shostakovich Festive Overture
Errollyn Waller Mighty River
Ludwig van Beethoven Ode to Joy
Dmitri Shostakovich Festive Overture (1954) Errollyn Wallen – Mighty River (2017)
- 1906 – 1975 - Russian composer and pianist - This piece is all about celebrating the 37th anniversary of the
Russian Revolution. This was when the Russians seized power and overthrew the Russian Provisional Government
- He completed this overture in just three days!
Ludwig van Beethoven – Ode to Joy (1822-24, lyrics written in 1785)
- 1770 – 1827 - German composer and pianist - This piece is celebrating hope and humanity and encompassing
a vision that everyone will be equal in the world. - The words are written by a poet called Friedrich Schiller but Beethoven
adapted the words into his final movement on his final symphony
- This piece is to mark the two-hundredth anniversary (bicentenary) of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in England.
- She has been awarded an MBE by the Queen for her services to music
- This piece includes contemporary classical techniques which were made known in 1871 by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African-American group
When you come to the concert we will all be singing these words together, filling the room!
“Hear our voices join together, hear us sing in harmony
Let our song rise to the heavens, only hope will set us free When the darkness seems to surround you, we are the stars that light the way
Hear our voices join together, singing for a brighter day When the darkness seem to surround you, we are the stars that light the way
Hear our voices join together, singing for a brighter day!”
Birthdays and Anniversaries
In the Schools’ Concert, a lot of the pieces you will hear BSO playing are to celebrate the composer’s birthday or an anniversary of a momentous occasion!
100 years since Lili Boulanger’s death
- 1893 – 1918
- French composer
- First female to win the Prix de Rome composition prize in 1912
- She was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease which ended her life at the early age of 24
- D’un matin de Printemps translates to Of a Spring Morning so picture a spring morning when you’re listening to this piece and think about how Boulanger is painting a
picture of a spring morning through music
100 years since the birth of Leonard Bernstein
- 1918 – 1990
- American composer, conductor, author, pianist
- Driving composer for film and theatre music, including West Side Story, Peter Pan, Candide
- His music includes elements of jazz and bridged the gap between classical and popular music
- West Side Story is a musical that is inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The story is set in New York City and explores two
gangs from two different ethnic backgrounds. The music accentuates the dramatic acting and dancing.
- Symphonic Dances Finale (1961) – this is the finale from the show West Side Story. It incorporates themes from all the songs
throughout the show including ‘Somewhere’ and features a recurring note that reiterates the tragic ending.
- Candide Overture (1957) – this overture is the introduction to an operetta (small opera) written by Bernstein. The time signatures
in this piece change regularly which make it feel unsteady.
The Greeting Prelude written by Stravinsky (1955)
- You will all recognise this piece; in fact, it is a big orchestral arrangement of a well-known tune. See if you can work out how it resembles the song everyone knows so well.
125 years since Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra begun
It has been 125 years since Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra formed and we are celebrating this birthday with our Celebration 1-2-5 Schools’ Concert!
Have a look at the BSO Timeline to see all that has happened in the last 125 years!
YEARS
Became known as
Bournemouth
Symphony
Orchestra
Kirill Karabits
starts as
Principal
Conductor
Marin Alsop
becomes first
female
Principal
Conductor
BSO Participate
department is born
– bringing music
beyond the concert
hall into the whole
community
Television debut at
Winchester
Cathedral
Played for the
Queen and Prince
Philip at the Royal
Albert Hall,
London
First performance
at Winter Gardens
as Bournemouth
Municipal
Orchestra
The home of the
orchestra:
Lighthouse,
Poole’s Centre
for the Arts,
opens
Bass Ten was
created – the
orchestra’s first
ensemble to visit
schools
Appearance at the
BBC Proms
First
orchestra in
the world to
have a
professional
disabled-led
ensemble
Make your own timeline!
Now you have learnt all of the information it is time for you to make your own timeline of the pieces we are playing and what you can remember about each
piece!
Here’s the list of pieces and the dates they were composed, you will need to put them in chronological order:
1. Shostakovich Festive Overture (1954)
2. Lili Boulanger D’un matin de Printemps (1917-18)
3. Beethoven Ode to Joy (1822-24) – the lyrics were written in 1785
4. Errollyn Wallen Mighty River (2017)
5. Stravinsky Happy Birthday The Greeting Prelude (1955)
6. Bernstein Symphonic Dances Finale (1961)
7. Bernstein Candide Overture (1957)
Try to include on the timeline:
- Whether the piece is written for celebration of an event or an anniversary/birthday (some can be both!)
- What the piece is written about
- A fact about the composer
- Add one of your favourite pieces of music with a date and a fact, or even a musical event you have attended!
- Most of all, have fun with it and make it creative, you could try to draw the composer!