Symphony Pro Musica - Program Notes - March 2003


III. Humor in Music
 
Saturday, March 15, 7:30 p.m. Bolton
Sunday, March 16, 3:30 p.m. Westborough HS
 
Ibert Divertissement
Prokofiev Selections from "The Buffoon"
Strauss Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Humor in music is the theme for this concert – not the easiest of subjects to program. Not because there isn’t a lot of humorous music – on the contrary there’s lots of deliberately funny moments in music, sometimes entire operas like The Marriage of Figaro or Gianni Schicchi. But finding orchestral concert pieces that describe humorous situations is harder than it sounds. Two of our subjects (The Buffoon and Till) are characters from folk tales who “get one over” on established persons in the community – an ageless literary device exploited by many writers, such as Boccacio and Chaucer. In Ibert’s “entertainment”, the focus is not so much on a humorous character but on the music itself.

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks

Tone Poem

Richard Strauss The legend of Till Eulenspiegel (pronounced OYlenshpEEgl) is familiar to most German speakers and derives from about 1500, if not earlier. That was when a book was published, telling the story in 95 scenes, together with an introduction, by an anonymous author under the pen-name “N”. Quite probably, the stories go back further than that, and may simply have been collected by N, taking advantage of Gutenberg’s new process. Indeed, Till may even have been a real person, a peasant clown of the fourteenth century. Incidentally, his name deserves some explanation: Till is his given name, after his godfather. Eule is an owl in German, and Spiegel is a mirror so that his name can be translated as Owlglass. Owls apparently didn’t have the connotation of wisdom in medieval Germany – they were more associated with fools or the devil.

Richard Strauss was familiar with the stories and had planned an opera based on them, although that particular project was abandoned in favor of the tone poem. Although many 19th and 20th century composers have written tone poems (or symphonic poems), including Liszt, Dvorak and Sibelius (previously sampled by SPM), Strauss is the composer most associated with the form. Not only did he write some of the very best tone poems but, along with opera, they form the major part of Strauss’ most performed output. An example of a Strauss tone poem which has become part of the world’s consciousness, and for which no doubt most listeners could not name the composer, is the “sunrise” introduction to Also Sprach Zarathustra immortalized in Kubrick’s 2001 – A Space Odyssey and subsequently the coverage of the Apollo space program.

Strauss demonstrated a prodigious talent for music in general and composition in particular. By the time of his graduation from High School at the age of 18, he had already completed the Serenade for 13 woodwinds, the violin concerto and a now largely forgotten symphony. His father was the principal horn player in the Munich court orchestra, and Richard’s next piece would be the much-loved horn concerto. By the way, Richard Strauss was not in any way related to the other famous musical Strauss family: that of Vienna.

Surprisingly perhaps, it was as a conductor, especially of opera, that Richard Strauss’ reputation began to build. In this sense, his career paralleled that of Mahler, four years his senior. But whereas Mahler, with his Bohemian Jewish background, had to work his way through provincial opera houses of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Strauss found himself in the 1880s the natural heir to Wagner and engagements soon followed in Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Weimar and Bayreuth. After Brahms’ death in 1897, Strauss was unchallenged as the leader of the German school for the rest of his long life.

The music begins with a gracious “once upon a time” in strings and woodwinds, which is rather peremptorily interrupted by Till’s theme in the horn. Till then rampages through the market overturning the wares, then returns to a rather stately 4/4 theme as a monk preaching morals. Soon after, he professes his love to a beautiful woman, this to a deliciously decadent variation on the Till theme in the violins – a glimpse of the kind of music Strauss would write for his most popular opera Der Rosenkavalier. Till’s suit is rejected and he swears revenge. A body of learned gentlemen arrive to the sound of bassoons and bass clarinet and an argument ensues with Till finally grimacing at them (long woodwind trill) then runs away to a mocking peasant motif in the clarinets and violins. Eventually Till is brought to the judge and pleads for mercy, but the harsh death sentence is intoned in a monotone by lower brass and bassoons. His death is then depicted by the woodwinds, followed by a reprise of the opening in memory of the rascal. But, surprise! – he is back to close the music out – apparently his execution was just another of his pranks!

Jacques Ibert (1890-1962)

Divertissement (1929,1930)

Suite from An Italian Straw Hat.

Introduction – Cortège – Nocturne – Waltz – Parade – Finale

Jacques Ibert This brilliant and outrageous suite conjures up images of the ridiculous side of France. And, despite the best efforts of British comedians, there is nobody who can better make fun of the French than the French themselves. The music is one of many movie scores written by Ibert – in this case for a silent comedy called An Italian Straw Hat whose plot revolves around an argument occasioned by a horse eating a lady’s hat. The music parodies several musical forms from the militaristic Parade to Mendelssohn’s wedding march in Cortège. The boisterous finale, a spoof on Offenbach perhaps, would not be out of place in a circus or at the Moulin Rouge.

Jacques Ibert was, in contrast to our two other composers, a relatively late starter. This was largely due to the war in which he first served as a nurse and stretcher-bearer at the front, then as a naval officer. No sooner had he returned from active duty than he won the Paris Conservatoire’s most prestigious award, the Prix de Rome, a remarkable achievement for someone who had just experienced a four-year hiatus in his musical studies. It was recollections of his tours of duty in the Mediterranean that inspired him to write Ports of Call (Escales) presented by SPM last year and one of the first of his works to establish his reputation.

Ibert’s music is always a joy to perform and the Divertissement (“Entertainment”) is particularly so. Nevertheless, he makes few allowances for the physical limitations of performers. In this case, the orchestra is much reduced – to chamber orchestra size. But the mood of gaiety is infectious and, with any luck, you will enjoy listening as much as we enjoy playing.

Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Suite from the Ballet: Tale of the Buffoon (“Chout”) Op 21bis. (1916)

1. The buffoon and his lady – 2. Dance of the buffoons' ladies – 3. The buffoons kill their ladies (fugue) – 4. The buffoon dresses as a young girl – 5. 3rd entr’acte – 6. Dance of the buffoons’ daughters – 7. Arrival of the merchant, ceremonial dance and choice of fiancée – 8. In the merchant’s bedroom – 9. The young girl becomes a goat – 10. 5th entr’acte and burial of the goat – 11. The buffoon and merchant quarrel – 12. Finale.

Serge Prokofiev Like Strauss, Sergey Prokofiev was a musical prodigy. In Prokofiev’s case, however, he was writing relatively simple pieces (piano – four hands) at six and an opera at eight which was actually performed by his family and friends. At 13, he passed the entrance examination for the St. Petersburg Conservatory where he studied with, among others, Lyadov, Tcherepnin and Rimsky-Korsakov. Despite the volatile political climate, his musical output continued unabated during this period, although very few of these works are now performed. A visit to London in 1913 gave him the opportunity to see the Ballet Russe playing to the latest scores by Ravel and Stravinsky, including the new and still scandalous Rite of Spring. An introduction to Diaghilev himself resulted a year or two later in a commission for Prokofiev to write a “typically Russian” ballet score and for this he turned to the folk tale of The Buffoon from the collection by Afanasyev. Although the work was finished in 1916, it did not get its first performance until 1921 when it was conducted by the composer under the title Chout, a French transliteration of the Russian word for buffoon (Шут).

The music itself is almost minimalist in nature, seemingly to avoid having the music detract from the action (in contrast to the Rite of Spring, perhaps). Indeed the apparent simplicity of the score puts one in mind of his Classical Symphony written at about the same time. Similarly, the music is perfectly in keeping with the low drama of this comedic fairy tale, as compared for example with his intensely dramatic score for Romeo and Juliet composed twenty years later. Thus, we are fortunate to have the collaboration of the Hudson High School drama program to interpret the story visually for us. Nevertheless, this is vintage Prokofiev scoring, with all the hallmarks of his brilliant talent for composition.

The somewhat banal story centers around a buffoon and the not-so-pleasant tricks he plays on his fellows. Perhaps he was related to Till Eulenspiegel! In the first scene “Le bouffon et sa bouffonne”, he demonstrates a trick to his fellow buffoons in which he apparently kills his wife, only to bring her back from the dead shortly thereafter. The buffoons introduce their ladies (2) and in (3) they “kill” their wives too, with predictable results. The simpleton, and now murderous, buffoons are out for our hero’s (or anti-hero’s) blood and the latter decides it would be safer to disguise himself as his own daughter (4). There is a dance in (6) and in (7), a rich fat merchant arrives and decides to choose a young girl for his wife. Naturally (as these stories go), his eyes light on our buffoon and he takes her/him to his bedroom (8). Events are now proving more than a little awkward for our transvestite clown and before events get completely out of hand, he substitutes a goat for himself (9). The merchant kills the goat and buries it (10). Before long our buffoon is back as himself accusing the merchant of having killed his daughter (11). All is resolved in the finale (12).

Robin Hillyard

References:

  • Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians

Other Resources:

 
updated 15-Mar-2003
© 2003 Symphony Pro Musica