What is more frequently heard today is the orchestrated version

by Debussy’s friend and colleague, Henri Busser (1872-1973),

who did much to assure its popularity Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky,

the renowned German duo-pianists, describe the suite as being a

succession ofindividual “genre” pieces, tied together as one might

tie a bunch offlowers. En bateau, for example, has the quality ofa

gondolier’s song that is at once festive and intimate. The distinguished French musicologist and Debussy biographer, Leon Valias

(1879-1956), noted that there are a few audacities in the chordal

writing and in the rhythmic accentuation. There is also an abundance of inspired melodies, evidence of Debussy’s rich gift of

spontaneous invention.

After the overwhelming success of its first performance in November 1936, Prokofiev’s ballet RomeoandJulietwas further popularized with three orchestral suites arranged from it by the composer. The first two suites were introduced in Moscow and St.

Petersburg (then Leningrad) just one year after the first performance. The third was introduced in Moscow in 1946. The first

two suites contain seven excerpts from the ballet, while the third

has only six. Each suite projects an independent sequence, relating to Shakespeare’s tale. While it is a staple in today’s ballet and

orchestral repertoire, Romeo and Juliet was ground-breaking for

Prokofiev, as is explained by writer Malcolm Rayment in his review, Romeo andJuliet: BalletMusic. “Prokofiev not only sings ofthe

love of Romeo and Juliet, but also faithfully portrays the growth

of this love from adolescent stirrings to maturity. This is something that no composer had succeeded in doing before, although

others (notably Berlioz) had matched in their music the beauty

of the most tender scenes in Shakespeare’s play.”

-Program notes by Elmer Booze

The Fifty-seventh Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

E LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2291th Concert

NATIONAL GALLERY ORCHESTRA

GEORGE MANOS, conductor

Sunday Evening, February 7, 1999

Seven O’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
PROGRAM

Albert Roussel

(1869-1937)

Le festin de l’araignee, Opus 17

(The Spider’s Feast) (1912)

(Symphonic Fragments)

Claude Debussy

(1862-1918)

Petite Suite

(1907)

En bateau (In a Boat)

Cortege (Procession)

Menuet

Ballet

INTERMISSION

Sergei Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 2

(1891-1953) (1937)

1. The Montagues and the Capulets

2. Juliet, the Little Girl

3. Friar Laurence

4. Dance

5. Romeo and Juliet before Parting

6. Dance of the Maids from the Antilles

7. Romeo at Juliet’s Grave

Conductor, composer, and pianist George Manos has been director of music at the National Gallery of Art and conductor of the

National Gallery Orchestra since 1985. He is also artistic director

of the National Gallery Vocal Arts Ensemble and the National Gallery Chamber Players, which he founded. A native Washingtonian,

Manos’ career as a performing pianist and teacher has included several years on the faculty ofCatholic University and directorship of

the Wilmington, Delaware, School of Music. Maestro Manos

founded and directed for ten years the Killarney Bach Festival in

the Republic of Ireland, and was the music director of the 1992

Kolding, Denmark, Scandinavian Music Festival.

Lefestin del'araignee (The Spieler's Feast) exemplifies Roussel’s considerable skill and understanding of the art of composing for the

stage. The music accompanied a ballet-pantomime in its original 

performance, which took place in Paris on April 13,1913. The choreography was provided by Gilbert de Voisins, whose model was a

work by a French entomologist, Jean Henri Fabre (1823-1915), entitled Souvenirsentomologiques. The background is a garden in which

a spider, skulking in his web, is eyeballing his potential victims.

Unaware of the danger, some ants approach, pulling a large rose 

petal. They are followed by two beetles and a butterfly. The latter

comes too close, flies into the web, and dies. The spider, away

momentarily, is alerted by an apple falling from a tree closeby to

return to the web. While the spider is making his way back, two

worms manage to eat into the fallen apple without being seen by

two praying mantises, who are fighting among themselves. Their

inattentiveness causes them to likewise fall into the web. A day-fly 

is born, dances for only one day, and dies. The spider does a victory

dance and commences his anticipated banquet, not noticing that

the two beetles have broken loose from his web and subsequently

freed one of the mantises, who slays the despot. With all living 

insects set free from the web, a funeral celebration is held in honor

of the day-fly as night begins to envelop the garden.

The adroitly written orchestration, with its kaleidoscopic harmonies, proved Roussel’s talent in characterization of exotic subjects

and depiction of humorous situations in lighter works. The ballet

helped tremendously in popularizing the work of this prolific composer, and brought him instantaneous success and lasting fame.

Debussy’s Petite Suitewas composed originally for piano, four hands,

but it is seldom heard in that format today. It was first performed

on March 1,1889, by Debussy and his friend,Jacques Durand, who

was also the son ofDebussy’s chiefpublisher, Marie August Durand.
PAU L MELLON

June ii, 1907 -February 1,1999

W

This concert is dedicated to the memory ofPaul Mellon,

phdanthropist and patron ofthe arts