Program Notes

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Program Notes

Program Notes

Paul Dukas (1865-1935)

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Originally subtitled “Scherzo after a ballad by Goethe”, Paul Dukas’symphonic poem aptly re-tells the tale told by the German poet and author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1797, Der Zauberlehrling. It is believed that
Goethe’s own story recalled an even more ancient tale by the Greek writer
Lucian (120-200 A.D.). Dukas’ musical endeavor came to life in 1897 abouta century after Goethe’s work, and was premiered the same year in Paris withgreat success.
Having studied piano and composition at the Paris Conservatory from23
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after winning the Grand Prix de Rome, with Debussy one of his most renowned
contemporaries. However, he was known to be such a perfectionist that helimited what works would eventually be published and ultimately destroyed
many of his own compositions before his death. The result is that very few of
his manuscripts survived, with primarily programmatic music and compositions
for the piano making up the bulk of his oeuvre.
Considered by many to be a master of orchestration, Dukas taught at theParis Conservatory, as a professor of orchestral music from 1910-1912, andfrom 1927 became a professor of composition there as well. The composer andprofessor also divided his time between his musical endeavors with his role
as a music critic, writing for several newspapers in Paris. However, it is thiswork, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1897), for which Dukas is most well-known,

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and with Walt Disney purchasing the rights for the composer’s music in 1937,
as well as incorporating the piece into both the original Fantasia and the sequelsome four decades later, the work became even more widely known. No matter,
it is Goethe’s original tale on which Dukas based his original composition,
where a sorcerer leaves his apprentice alone at the workshop to do chores.
The ensuing events occur when the apprentice determines to try to conjure
up some magic of his own while his master is away in order to get ‘assistance’with his chores carrying pails of water to and fro. When he brings the broomto life to work for him, he fails to realize in time that he does not know how tostop the ‘magic’, which brings a flood of water to the workshop. He attempts
to stop the broom with an axe, splitting the broom, but the parts of the broom

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return to life only adding to the problems of the poor apprentice. The sorcerer

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eventually returns and casts the spell needed to return the workshop to order,
magic to the ‘master’ sorcerer.
Dukas was a master himself in conjuring the musical motives andimaginative orchestration to accurately depict the events and characters in thismusical masterpiece. The soft descending thirds in the strings set the magicalscene and return later when the magical spell is cast to bring the broom to life.
The broom itself is given its own theme first presented by the clarinets in a low
dynamic level in the opening section. The master’s spell is depicted as if off
in the distance by the muted brass intonations, before being picked up by thetrumpets and masterfully woven with the pizzicato broomstick motive.
With the master ‘away’ and the apprentice having intoned the ‘spell’,the broomstick theme builds, heard now in the bassoons, slowly coming tolife, and then passed around the ensemble in its unceasing march-step to aswirling climax, and only stopped briefly when the axe-chop seems to haveworked. Instead, the composer presents the theme in canon with both parts ofthe broom now doing double the work, stirring a second even more fast-paced

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the workshop to order with the more calm, yet still mysterious theme. The
apprentice seems to scurry back to work in an apologetic triplet before theProgram Notes

musical climax, until the sorcerer’s magic spell motive is heard, returning

final closing chords appear to announce “The End” to the magical tale.
Work composed: 1897 World premiere: 1897, Paris
Instrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones,
timpani, percussion (bass drum, triangle, suspended cymbals, cymbals,glockenspiel), harp, strings

Riccardo Zandonai (1883-1944)

Biancaneve (Snow White) - Impressions of a Fairy TaleThe original title included the subtitle in Italian, “Impressioni di unafiaba” (Impressions of a Fairy Tale) for orchestra, and indeed this is Zandonai’s
musical interpretation of “Snow White.” The ballet version premiered at theTeatro del’Opera in Rome in March of 1951, directed by Ottavio Ziino, with23Jan25
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choreography for the ballet by Guglielmo Morresi together with Attilia Radiceand Guido Lauri. The composer, though not as well-known outside of Italy, ismost renowned for his opera Francesco da Rimini composed more than threedecades earlier. Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco, Rovereto, which waspart of Austria-Hungary at the time. He showed musical promise at a very
young age, entering the Pesaro Conservatorio in 1899 and completing what
was usually a nine-year program in only three years.
At an event in Milan in 1908, Zandonai was introduced to Giulio Ricordi,
one of the top publishing figures in Italy at the time. It was Ricordi who
eventually pronounced the composer as Puccini’s ‘heir’, even recommendingthat he be chosen to complete Turandot when Puccini died before being able
to complete the last act himself. Zandonai became the director of the Rossini
Conservatory in 1935 where he remained until his death.

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Zandonai’s operas, including “Giulietta e Romeo” not surprisingly
displayed influences from Puccini. Some scholars also attribute influencesby some 20th century composers as well, including Strauss, Stravinsky andRimsky-Korsakov for their orchestrations, and Debussy and Ravel with theirwhole-tone scales. The operatic works, along with the work being performed
for this concert series (initially intended as a ballet), are all illustrative of thecomposer’s ability to build the orchestral music to a strong intensity in order tohighlight the dramatic emotions of the scenes taking place on the stage.
Presented in five movements, the opening movement is titled Biancaneve
canta (Snow White Sings) with clarinet and oboe opening as featured solos.
The second movement continues: Il Bosco (In the Forest), Biancaneve

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Jansi Sperde (Snow White gets lost) eventually taking shelter where the seven

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their appearance. The fourth movement opens with Rintocchi de Morte (The27Jandwarfs live. In the third movement I Nani Arrivano the seven dwarfs makeDeath Knell) as the dwarfs carry Snow White to the mountain in a state ofsadness. In the final movement Prince Charming arrives and revives SnowWhite, presenting a proverbial “Happily Ever After” fairy tale ending.
Work composed: 1939 World premiere: March 31st, 1951, RomeInstrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets,bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, triangle, cymbals,xylophone), harp, piano, celesta, strings

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)

Scheherazade - Symphonic Suite, Op. 35
Rimsky-Korsakov, known for his brilliant orchestration techniques, canperhaps be heard at his peak in this work. In addition, his ability to orchestratefor a specific ‘programme’ is highlighted in this Symphonic Suite. He had
initially gotten the idea in the winter of 1888 to base a work on The 1001
Arabian Nights. But he didn’t intend the work to follow directly in the vein of16Program Notes

motives linked unbrokenly with ever the same poetic ideas and conceptions.”
Instead the various themes are merely “…taken as a basis for the composition.”

Program Notes

Wagner’s infamous ‘leitmotifs’: “In vain do people seek in my suite the leading

The composer went on to state:“…I had in view the creation of an orchestral suite in four movements,
closely knit by the community of its themes and motives, yet presenting as it
were, a kaleidoscope of fairy-tale images and designs of oriental character.”
After sketching out the basic themes during the following spring, RimskyKorsakov retreated to Lake Cherementz where he completed each of the fourmovements in close succession during the month of July. The work waspremiered with the composer conducting in Leipzig, Germany the following
year. He prefaced the work with the following:“The Sultan Shahriar, persuaded of the falseness and the faithlessness ofwomen, has sworn to put to death each one of his wives after the firstnight. But the Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by interesting him23
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in tales she told him during one thousand and one nights. Pricked bycuriosity, the Sultan put off his wife’s execution from day to day, and atlast gave up entirely his bloody plan. Many marvels were told Shahriarby the Sultana Scheherazade. For her stories the Sultana borrowed frompoets their verses, from folksongs their words, and she strung together
tales and adventures.”Beyond this general description, Rimsky-Korsakov limits himself to mere
hints for each of the movements: “I meant these hints to direct but slightly thehearer’s fancy on the path that my own fancy had traveled, and to leave more
minute and particular conceptions to the will and mood of each.”
The two main themes of the work represent the two main characters:
Scheherezade, played by the solo violin as she tells her many tales, and the17Program Notes

Sultan, represented by the low strings and brass instruments. These themes
open three of the four movements. The opening movement, The Sea andSinbad’s Ship, is in the key of E major, which the composer suitably associatedwith the color deep blue. In the score for the second movement, The Tale ofthe Kalendar Prince, the composer wrote a few hints at key points, including“one might see a fight” at the point where the basses and trombones intrude
suddenly. And when the piccolo plays its triplet pattern he comments: “a sortof sketch of Sinbad’s mighty bird, the Roc.”
The third movement, The Young Prince and the Young Princess, has thestrings taking on the role of the former, while the solo flute theme represents
the latter. When the clarinet and snare drum enter together, the hint given is:

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climax. The Festival of Baghdad – The Sea – Shipwreck on a Rock Surmounted
by a Bronze Warrior – Conclusion combines all the tumult as well as calm that
one might imagine would be found in these amazing tales so aptly orchestrated
by Rimsky Korsakov. And as the composer stated: “All I had desired wasthat the hearer… should carry away the impression that it is beyond doubt an
Oriental narrative of some numerous and varied fairy-tale wonders.”
Work composed: 1888 World premiere: 1888, Petersburg
Instrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes (2nd doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes (2nddoubling on english horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets,
3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (tambourine, snare drum, bassdrum, triangle, suspended cymbals, cymbals, tamtam), harp, strings

April L. Racana / Music Specialist at Nishimachi International School where
she has taught since 1992. She completed her undergraduate studies at
the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (BS/Piano Pedagogy) and her
graduate studies at San Francisco State University (MA/Music), as well as
a post-graduate fellowship at Northwestern University, and the Japan
Studies Program at International Christian University.

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