inTUNE – Page 16 – Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra

The Clarinet Polka has a wild history!

Some fans of folk music may tell you that the Beer Barrel polka is the most famous polka in the world. To that, we say…there is another! The Clarinet Polka (often catalogued as “Klarinett-Polka” or “Klarinettpolka”) is known the world over for possessing one of the most infectious folk melodies ever created. Its upbeat, twirling nature is synonymous with the polka genre, and its simple brilliance has inspired numerous modern renditions. Every clarinetist worth their chops has been inspired to play this at some point in their career. It is odd, then, that (after more than 100 years in existence) the compositional authorship of this beloved tune should still be so hotly contested. The Clarinet Polka is believed to have been written by Polish composer Karol Namysłowski, originally titled “Dziadunio Polka” (after the Polish word for “grandfather”). However, many folk music historians (along with hosts of the popular Polish radio show “Lato z Radiem”, who use the song as an intro to their broadcasts) claim the song was not penned by Namysłowski at all! They insist that the polka in question was composed years earlier in Austria (not Poland) by a composer named A. Humpfat.

Similar accounts trace this version of the Clarinet Polka (titled “A Hupfata”) to the late 1890s. A vinyl recording of “A Hupfata” was released in 1907 that featured the musical stylings of the Band of the 14th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. This recording preceded Namysłowski’s 1913 copyright of “Dziadunio Polka” (as well as its subsequent 1915 recording in Chicago) by several years. Surely the existence of these records was proof positive that Karol was a folk music thief who somehow pulled off the greatest polka heist of all time…or was he? It turns out that neither the pro-Namysłowski nor the pro-Humpfat camps are exactly spot on in their respective beliefs surrounding the Clarinet Polka’s “true composer”. There was indeed a piece of folk music that resembles the Clarinet Polka as we know and love it today, and its origins can be traced to the end of the 19th century. Composed in today’s Austria (then Bavaria), it was originally titled “Klarinetten Muckl” and appeared printed for the first time in 1906 (in a collection of “Known Songs and Dances” arranged for accordion by Otto Thirsfeld and published by J. Weinberger). A copy of this collection’s first edition can still be viewed at the Austrian National Library in Vienna.

Otto Thirsfeld listed the composer of “Klarinetten Muckl” as “Anonymous”, suggesting that the tune had never belonged to anyone, per se. The missing link to this whole musical mystery can be seen clear as day when translating “Klarinetten Muckl” from standard German into the traditional Bavarian dialect: The song’s title becomes “Ein Gehüpfter” or “Jumping”. Through a linguistic game of Telephone, “Ein Gehüpfter” was morphed into “A Hupfata” by the many labels who recorded the song in its original printed form. Without a definite composer to credit this outrageously popular tune to, certain labels resorted to warping the polka’s altered title even further to make up a name! And so, “A. Humpfat” was born, never having quite existed in the first place. Since no one came forward to copyright what could only be referred to as a “traditional melody” by today’s standards, Namysłowski decided to re-orchestrate the anonymous Bavarian hit for Polish traditional instruments and copyright that piece of music. He had every legal right to do this and drew on his own brilliance as a composer of folk music to introduce the definitive version of the Clarinet Polka to its most enduring fanbase: his native Poland.

The timing and cultural significance of Namysłowski’s rise to fame as a composer cannot be overstated enough. Having attended grade school in Lublin while Poland was still partitioned and under Russian control, he was forbidden to speak his own language or engage in any display of cultural pride. In retaliation for this suppression, and after years of sneaking out of his parents’ home to listen to folk bands at local inns and taverns, Karol graduated from the Warsaw Institute of Music to form the Namysłowski Peasant Orchestra. Based in Zamość, Poland, the band was composed of talented farmers who had learned to play their respective instruments from Karol. Everyone in the group wore traditional Polish cultural dress, as did Karol who served as the group’s bandleader. Karol’s decision to totally embody Polish pride within his group was praised by polka historian Joe Oberaitis, who fondly remarked that “he wrote polkas as nobody else could do it… even supplying [bandmates] with instruments at his own expense! [Karol Namysłowski] literally wore his Polishness – much to the dismay of the authorities – and the countryside

was filled with the beautiful strains of mazurs, krakowiaks, obereks and of course, a wealth of rousing polka compositions.” After lighting a flame of national pride for the people of Poland, Namysłowski traveled to the United States to establish himself as a composer of international renown. Copyrighting his re-orchestrated “polka chart topper” in 1913, Namysłowski used the Clarinet Polka and its first recording in 1915 to singlehandedly secure the reputation of his band throughout the continental United States.

So it was that, nearly ten years later, the players of the Namysłowski Peasant Orchestra traveled to the United States for one of the biggest international tours in Polish folk music history: 3 months, 80 concerts, spread out over 14 states. Holding their first concert of the tour at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, they were invited to perform at the White House for President Calvin Coolidge. Victor Records jumped at the opportunity to sign the group to its label, and at the conclusion of their tour invited Karol and the musicians of the NPO to make 10 back-to-back records in Camden, New Jersey. Namysłowski didn’t just find a diamond in the rough with the Clarinet Polka. He saw in its simple and repetitive refrain an endless array of opportunities for musical expression, especially for his homeland’s improvisatory folk music traditions. The Namysłowski Peasant Orchestra is still in existence today as the Polish Symphony Orchestra, and although their founder penned hundreds of folk compositions during his long and successful career, none is remembered with more pride by the people of Poland than the (literal) grandfather of all polkas: the Clarinet Polka.

You can hear this played by the SSO on our Night at Oktoberfest concert.

Learning and making music with Cris Derksen

by SSO Principal Oboe Erin Brophey

“When you meet Cris Derksen for the first time, you are so aware of her infectious energy. She is a force.” Erin Brophey Principal Oboe- SSO

Through a Canada Council Grant, our woodwind quintet Mistral 5 commissioned a ten-minute work from composer, Cris Derksen. I was a fan of her hip-hop cello music and I felt a little bit like a fan-girl the first time I met her.

She came to this project with a huge international reputation.

In the fall of 2018, we received a piece from Cris that was called Ideal Winds. We read through it in a rehearsal and sent her some musical feedback via email. Our comments included things that are specific to our particular combination of instruments. (Things like the flute down low paired with the oboe down low can’t be heard…….the oboe is rather impolite in that range.)

A couple months later, Cris came to Saskatoon to workshop the piece. When you meet Cris Derksen for the first time, you are so aware of her infectious energy. She is a force.

The piece that we played in the fall was just a bare outline of what was to come. ‘Ideal Winds” had changed a great deal. It had more detail and was twice as long. While in Saskatoon, she worked feverishly and to watch her create and refine her work was fascinating.

During the workshop, we had three sessions with Cris over two days, every time we rehearsed, Cris came with different parts for us to play.

Some of the changes included changing the name to from ‘Ideal Winds’ to ‘Five Bucks a Head’. She decided to change the Clarinet part to a Bass Clarinet part. As well, she created an electronic track as our partner in the piece. For the electronic part, she spliced together archival recordings from the CBC and CFB of white settlers journalists talking about Treaties.

Towards the end of the last session, when we finally played the piece with the electronic track, I found the work very moving and powerful. I think that the cornerstone of the composition is the electronic track and we (the Woodwind quintet) provide the emotion and pathos of what Cris feels about the archival recording.

It was a joy to watch Cris and her process.

Hear her Five Bucks a Head at our Paris of the Prairies concert

Watch Party Ideas for the Prairies

We loved seeing all of the folks watching Postcards from Paris at home, with family, even from their campsite!

We wanted to help with ideas for how you can turn your live streaming experience into more than just watching the stream. So for each concert this year we’ll be curating a few suggestions on things that the SSO would pair together to make your concert night at home pretty magical.

For Paris of the Prairies…well this one is easy. Support LOCAL!

We are so lucky here in Saskatoon to have such incredible businesses and products that celebrate what it means to from Saskatoon. When you think Saskatoon/prairies what do think of? Go on, get creative!

Beverages:

Being in Saskatoon, its impossible to ignore our amazing craft beer landscape….BUT in just two weeks we have our Oktoberfest concert which is all about beer….so let’s give something else a try.

For this concert we highly recommend the Haskap Gin from Black Fox Distillery – its delicious, complex, smooth, and prairie forward!

There’s also a ton of great drink ideas connected to wine and more!

FOOD!

So the question is…order in or start from scratch? Well, we’ll give you a great suggestion for both.

If you’re ordering in for this concert, everyone at the SSO recommends Hearth Restaurant. Local. Amazing. Can’t go wrong.

If you’re looking to get creative in the kitchen…here’s a few things you need to try your hand at:

Bannock – if you haven’t had this prairie delight, you’re missing out. And its something you can make if you just follow the recipe. This First Nations dish is a must try and as Saskatchewan as the skies.

Then why not explore Bison Meatballs with Saskatoon berry BBQ sauce for dipping – click here for the meatballs and here for the Saskatoon Berry BBQ Sauce.

And what about some ultimate prairie homecooked magic – Cabbage Rolls. Ok, not the easiest thing in the world to whip up just for a Saturday night, but it will totally be worth it – and if you’ve never tried them before, its a great step towards your goal of mastering prairie cuisine. Click for more

Now…for dessert….there’s soooo many amazing options (including just having more bannock honestly!). And you can decide for yourself about the age old argument about what is the ultimate prairie dessert….Butter Tarts or Saskatoon Berry Pie.

And why not give Berry Bannock Pudding a try….(can you tell we like our bannock??)

No matter how you enjoy Paris of the Prairies make sure you take time to reflect on how awesome it is to be prairie people!

Meeting Murray Adaskin

Growing up in a Jewish and Latvian household, Murray Adaskin was taught from a very early age to strive for excellence and persevere towards his passions. As a young man, Adaskin showed promise on the violin, and studied with Alexander Chuhaldin at the Toronto Conservatory of Music.

Using his talents to provide music for silent film presentations in Toronto, Adaskin dedicated himself to his work with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1923 to 1936.

Two years after leaving the TSO, Adaskin played with the Royal York Hotel trio and continued to serve as a member of the group until 1952. Six years into playing with the Royal York Hotel Trio, Adaskin pushed himself to pursue education as a composer. He studied for seven years with John Weinzweig, Charles Jones, and Darius Milhaud of the influential French composer group known as “Les Six”. Particularly in Adaskin’s early compositional works, Igor Stravinsky was a major inspiration.

Attending the Music Academy of the West in 1950, Adaskin began his tenure as head of the Department of Music at the University of Saskatchewan in 1952 and remained in that position until 1966. He played an instrumental role in bringing the Amati Instruments to the University.

He then became the Composer-in-Residence until 1972. This was the first position of its type ever created at a Canadian university. His training as a violinist imbued his sense of melody with an abstract feel, and through his music one can feel the presence of landscapes, birdsongs and different local surrounding sounds.

During his time in Saskatoon, Adaskin served as the Music Director of the SSO from 1957 to 1961. His time with the SSO further cemented the orchestra during its artistic growth, and continued the organization’s passion for new music.

It was only after his decorated career as a musician and educator came to close that Adaskin fully committed himself to composing music. More than half of his output of 130 compositions were penned after his retirement to Victoria in 1972. In December of 1980, Adaskin was awarded the Order of Canada, and he was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada the following year.

Despite losing his wife (the soprano Frances James) in 1988, Adaskin found love again with Dorothea Larsen, who was instrumental in helping him to record his final compositions: “Divertimento No.9” for string trio (1998), “Finki, Where Are You?” for 2 violas (2000) and “Musica Victoria” (2000).

Having lived a life rich in musical pursuits and achievements, one that spanned most of the 20th century, the renowned composer passed away surrounded by family at 96.

As he moved westward across the Prairies to his final resting place in British Columbia, Murray Adaskin left a legacy of musical passion whose vibrancy continues to burn bright at our University and in the hearts of all he taught.

We’re thrilled to feature Murray Adaskin’s Rondino for Nine Instruments as part of our concert Paris of the Prairies.

The Music of Jocelyn Morlock

Over the last few years, Jocelyn Morlock’s music has become an audience favourite at the SSO. We’ve been so fortunate to play a number of her works, most recently the March 7th performance of Oisieux Bleu et Sauvages.

A couple of years ago, we performed her work Solace for string orchestra – it was an instant favourite. So we have been looking for the right time to bring it back. The work centres around the comfort need to regenerate after loss – its beautiful and sweet, warm and inviting.

Born in Saint Boniface, Manitoba, Jocelyn Morlock began her musical training under the piano tutelage of Robert Richardson, Sr. After completing her Bachelor of Music in piano performance at Brandon University in 1994, she pursued a master’s degree and a subsequent Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia. Studying with the likes of Stephen Chatman, Keith Hamel, and Nikolai Korndorf, she received international acclaim for her 1997 composition “Bird in the Tangled Sky” at the 1999 International Society for Contemporary Music’s World Music Days.

Her composition “Amore” was written as an imposed work for the 2005 Montreal International Music Competition, and her “Involuntary Love Songs” was composed for the 2008 Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition. After serving as inaugural Composer-in-Residence for Vancouver’s Music on Main, she became the first female Composer-in-Residence for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (2014-2019). Her tenure as the co-host of the ISCM World New Music Days 2017 was punctuated by her victory at the SOCAN Jan V. Matejcek New Classical Music Award one year later.

In 2018, Morlock received a JUNO for Classical Composition of the Year for her powerful orchestral composition entitled “My Name Is Amanda Todd”.

Morlock’s music has been defined as “airy but rhythmic, tuneful but complex“ , and takes an eccentric approach to post-modernism. Her compositions are quirky, but always derived from a musical language that is deeply rooted in emotional experience.

She describes her music as being inspired by “birds, insomnia, nature, fear, other people’s music and art, nocturnal wandering thoughts, lucid dreaming, death, and the liminal times and experiences before and after death.” In each of her compositions, her use of colouristic effects and extended techniques bring her incredibly specific musical vision to life. Her composition for cellist Rachel Mercer and violinist Akemi Mercer-Niewohner can be found on their 2019 album “Our Strength, Our Song”.

Other recent premieres include “Stone’s Throw” for internationally renowned new music sextet Standing Wave, “Io, Io!” written in celebration of the Vancouver Cantata Singers’ 60th anniversary, and “Serpentine Paths” which celebrates sisterhood and music by Canadian women.

You can hear Morlock’s Solace as part of our Paris of the Prairies.

A Picasso Suite for the SSO

Harry Somers’ “Picasso Suite” was commissioned by the SSO in 1964 and received its premiere performance in Saskatoon. Since that first performance, it has gone on to be one of Canada’s most loved orchestral suites, and an audience favourite across the country!

Harry Somers was one of the most influential and innovative contemporary Canadian composers of the past century. Possessing a charismatic attitude and rather dashing good-looks, as well as a genuine talent for his art, Somers earned the unofficial title of “Darling of Canadian Composition.” A truly patriotic artist, Somers was engaged in many national projects over the course his lifetime.

Each of the movements in this suite provide musical interpretations of the many artistic phases which defined the life and art of Pablo Picasso. An invigorating blast of musical color begins the suite, recalling all the sights and fragrances of Paris at the turn of the 20th century.

Picasso has struck the Parisian art scene, a meteor of brilliance brimming with raw potential, and the world of classical art will never be the same. Just as suddenly as he arrives, the Spanish-born artist’s captivating colors are musically withdrawn into themselves.

What emerges from the silence are Somers’ sonic representations of the paintings which represent Picasso’s Blue Period. Somers utilizes the oboe’s potential for melancholy to full effect in this second movement. This is a movement that plays with the listener’s other senses, and which invites them to delve into the textures belonging to these paintings: the smooth pallid skin of his “Old Guitarist”, the warmth of the steam that is central to “La Soupe”, and the stale taste of dust that lingers in the air of his “La Vie”.

Transfixed by this rich introspection, we are caught off guard as the rolling thunder of percussion ushers in a new artistic phase: The Rose Period. Titled “Circus” by Somers, this movement conjures all the delight experienced by a child under the Big Top. This musical calliope spins us through the cheerful orange and pink hues of Picasso’s Rose Period, while broad-nosed figures from his African-Influenced Period dance vibrantly into focus. Somers uses this playful romp to tremendous effect, recalling the youthful vitality of Picasso’s painted women in “Les Demoiselles D’Avignon”.

One by one they strike a pose and skip away, as the musical calliope grinds slowly to a halt and a dissonant chord contorts the face of one lingering woman. Somers then begins to interpret the most iconic phase of Picasso’s life as an artist, one which owes a considerable debt to the stylized features of traditional African masks: his Cubist Periods. As we soar through the decade spanning 1909 to 1919, clusters of bent notes rain from the sky. Out of the mist, there seeps a sense of dread which culminates in a symphonic homage to one of the most prolific depictions of atrocity ever put to canvas: the infamous black and white mural “Guernica”.

Left in silence once more, the fifth movement’s plaintiff melody explores Picasso in the years immediately following World War One. Picasso’s muse returns in a new form, voiced by a soothing oboe melody, and spurs his artistic mind onward to bathe in the clean bright light of the Neoclassical style. Excitement bubbles forth as Somers falls into a fascination with lyrical spins and flourishes, illustrating the more bizarre offerings of Picasso’s Surreal Period.

Riding on the crest of this wave, we feel Picasso grow introspective once more. Stirring in the listener a longing for the innocence of the third movement, the brass call out to echo the valor of those who lost their lives on the field of battle. A delicate voice from a music box lulls Picasso into a deep slumber, and he dreams of a project that will consume most of his waking moments for the next four years: The Vollard Suite.

Art historians believe that many of the figures depicted in the Vollard Suite’s 100 etchings were inspired by Honore de Balzac’s 1831 short story “The Unknown Masterpiece”. The story revolves around a painter who attempts to capture life itself on canvas through depictions of feminine beauty, and Somers tasks the erotic lilt of the flute alone with capturing the sensual and manic devotion of the artist rendering his muse.

As did the style of the etchings themselves, Picasso’s temperament shifted wildly over the period spanning 1933 to 1937, with the spread of fascism through Europe darkening those clouds that had been cast over the artist’s mind. The virtuosity of the sixth movement trickles away to reveal one of the final images in the series: the once virile minotaur, now blind and impotent, being led to safety by a young girl.

The seventh movement, oddly titled “Temple of Peace” may be musically comforting in its initial majesty, but a glance outside of its pristine chamber betrays the arching shapes of strange architecture peeking from an even stranger garden. Picasso is still troubled, still searching to reclaim his youthful innocence. Punctuated by an unsettling violin motif, Somers creates in this movement a sense of motion towards something important while utilizing precious little melody.

The return of the music box signals the arrival of the eighth movement, as well as an epiphany crystalizing in the mind of the aging Picasso. He abandons the cold safety of the temple for the warm rain of the lush garden. Pushing his way through ever-thickening foliage, the garden eventually gives way to jungle. Emerging into a clearing at last, Picasso meets his alter-ego: the faun. Playing his double-flute with unbridled ease, the faun guides Picasso deeper into the wild and teaches him how to find peace within himself. The melody of his Rose Period “Circus” days come back in flashes, and Picasso is finally at home with himself again after so many years.

In the final movement, Codetta, Pablo Picasso can finally revisit his first few bombastic years in Paris unencumbered. As Picasso once remarked, “It takes a long time to become young.” Unconventional and riveting to its core, Harry Somers’ “Picasso Suite” is among the finest of artistic tributes to a man whose life’s work birthed whole new possibilities of creation for artists worldwide.

Live Stream Tips & Tricks

So, you’ve bought your concertstream.tv subscription or your one-time Digital Ticket for the SSO live-streamed concert. You are settled in your favourite chair, with snacks and drinks in hand and you are ready to enjoy the concert from the comfort of your own home.

But how do you watch the show? Great question! Here are some ways to watch and a few tips and tricks to help maximize your viewing experience.

Before the concert begins sign in to concertstream. You may already be signed in, but if not click Sign In, located in the top right corner.

Upcoming live streams are highlighted in the top banner. For single access buyers your recent purchase will also be listed under “My Library”.

Before the concert begins you will see a countdown and an option to add the event to your calendar. If the concert countdown ends and the video has not begun automatically refresh the page and press the play button. You can watch on any of your devices that have internet access, even your TV! We have some common ways to get the live stream on your TV below.

This video will be available for 24 hours! If you aren’t able to watch at the concert start time, happen to miss the first few minutes, or even if you want to watch it again, you can do that for 24 hours. If you are an online subscriber for the SSO you have access for the duration of your subscription.

You can press pause. Unlike real life, you can pause a live stream! If you need to take a break for whatever reason you can pause or rewind the live stream when you need to. The system will keep recording and it won’t interrupt your feed if you press play five, or more, minutes later.

Lag happens. If the video is choppy or isn’t lined up with the audio that could be due to your internet connection. We recommend pressing pause to let the stream load a little. If that doesn’t work, sometimes hitting the refresh button is all you need. Don’t worry about missing anything as the live stream automatically converts to a recording and is available for 24 hours from the concert start time.

If you have any issues please contact us! Sometimes email inboxes filter out messages from us so if you know you should have a link coming your way and it hasn’t arrived contact stream(at)saskatoonsymphony.org. We have someone monitoring the email before, during, and after the concert and they will get back to you as quickly as possible so that you can get back to enjoying your at home (or wherever) concert experience.

How to watch Concertstream videos and live streams on your TV!

If you have a smart TV you can:

Open the web browser on your TV and go to concertstream.tv. Once you are signed in you have full access to all your concertstream.tv content.

If you have a Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire you can:

Cast or airplay from your smartphone, laptop, or tablet.

Concertstreams apps are available on Roku, Apple iPhone, and Android devices.

If you do not have a smart TV or aren’t sure how to add apps to your devices you can:

1. Connect your laptop to the TV screen with an HDMI cable. This will allow you to use your TV as a mirrored screen or second screen. Push play on your laptop to start the video or live stream and it will show up on your TV.

Ravel’s Mother Goose

Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite is not unlike a thoughtfully assembled box of one’s favorite assorted chocolates: each has something unique to offer our tastebuds, and all should be savored. If one has the time, sampling each of them in one sitting is a real treat. Having been expelled from France’s prestigious Conservatoire, Ravel loosed his musical creativity on the well-known and beloved stories of Mother Goose as a gift to two piano students: Mimi and Jean Godebski. As Ravel would later remark, “the idea of evoking in these pieces the poetry of childhood naturally led me to simplify my style and to refine my means of expression”. And refine them he did…

In the first movement of this programmatic work, Ravel descends into that delicate world of calm uncertainty we find between waking and dreaming. In his musical interpretation of Sleeping Beauty, the composer’s soft harmonies perfectly capture the stillness of an evening that has almost given way to dawn. The melancholic uncertainty in this introductory piece is not overdone, but gradually sprinkled over the listener like the fabled Sandman’s sleep dust.

The dream shifts once more as we begin the second movement, accompanying the miniscule figure of Tom Thumb on a fruitless quest. The poor fellow searches high and low for his home, while the birds that devour his poorly planned navigational system (breadcrumbs) taunt him with dissonant chirping from the uppermost tonal reaches of the piano. And just as the listener begins to grow weary of hills and valleys, we arrive at the sea.

The protagonists of the dynamic third movement, whose melody is grounded in a lively pentatonic sequence, are a sea-faring girl and her green serpentine companion. After the girl’s boat is scuppered on the rocks of an island inhabited by delicate doll-like denizens, she is named ruler of the so-called “pagodes and pagodines” and weds her companion. This marriage transforms them both into beautiful human royalty, and Ravel encourages us to delight in the pitter-patter of porcelain feet as we listen to the animate dolls zip swiftly from one scene of the story to the next. The meditative entrance of the giant green serpent is a winding and purposeful journey through the island’s flora, culminating in a reunion with the newly crowned princess and offering a pinch of romantic devotion to his character. While beauty is found in dreams and the journey home in previous movements, Ravel foreshadows in this bright collection of scenes the moral of the upcoming movement: that beauty can be found within.

The fourth movement is defined by the Beauty’s waltz, an introspective dance which gives way to the brooding dissonance of the Beast as slowly the two characters (and their melodies) grow closer to one another. The tension builds until their love for one another wins out, and the Beast is revealed to be a Prince. It is here, at the final precipice of the fourth movement, that Ravel tumbles into storytelling that is entirely his own, both thematically and musically.

The fifth movement brings everything full circle with the approach of a prince in Sleeping Beauty’s realm. A magical kiss brings everything into focus, and Sleeping Beauty opens her eyes to behold her true love. The pair venture forth from the drab room in which she slumbered and enter her fairy godmother’s garden to be wed. The themes of love and dreams and homecoming are beautifully brought together in a fitting fanfare that turns the final page of the storybook and score alike.

An Afternoon for a Faune

It can be said of beauty in the arts that the simpler something appears to a beholder, the greater were the creator’s efforts in cloaking the underlying complexity of their creation.

Subtlety, after all, requires a keen eye for detail. Such is the case with Claude Debussy’s Prelude a L’apres-midi d’une faune, a symphonic poem that some consider to be the definitive turning point in the evolution of modern music. Translated as “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”, its enduring fame rests squarely on the piece’s ability to ebb and flow harmonically without losing the passionate purpose and endless curiosity of its flute-playing goat-legged protagonist.

Shying away from musical literalism, the layering of the orchestration and tickling lilt of the flute’s melodies imply a delicate balance between romantic discovery and cheeky flirtatiousness. This is done primarily as a tribute to the prelude’s inspiration, a poem by Stephan Mallarme of scandalously erotic proportions (at least, for the time in which it was written).

Depicting the musing mid-day sojourn of a fawn as he awakes after mingling with his very friendly nymph and nyad neighbors, the story drifts on a current of bubbling flute solos which deliver an intoxicating feeling of otherworldly calm. Punctuated by swelling ascending passages, the final product portrays a metaphor of the human psyche: a beacon of child-like wonder, part rationality and part instinct that lives to investigate and enjoy all that the external world has to offer.

The piece’s musical impact was astronomical, with daring compositional choices being pioneered from its very first performance at Paris’s Salle Harcourt in 1894. Repeating cells of

music with no real direction, flute solos beginning (unfingered) on the “bad note” of C# that flautists ordinarily stampede away from, and a chordal structure functioning as something of an afterthought in comparison to the unabashedly forward role of its principal soloist. Each of these bold decisions converged into a piece of music which cranked up the heat on a musical revolution that already started to brew, a way of interpreting music through the conviction that it can be so much more than a static phenomenon defined by timeless truths and classical principles.

At a time where social distancing, mask-wearing, and household bubbling have made us all increasingly wary of environmental interaction and exploration, Debussy’s Prelude a L’apres-midi d’une faune serves as a musical reminder of the scintillating pleasures that await us in this garden of life. All we need to do is awaken from our slumber and take it all in, one hoof-step at a time.

Hear the SSO perform this work as part of our Postcards from Paris!
[button link=”https://saskatoonsymphony.org/event/opening-night/”]Postcards from Paris[/button]

Piaf and La Vie en Rose

Imagine falling in love in Paris: a delicate series of scenes painted in soft pastels, where romance shines through every innocent moment of discovery in that bright and historic city. Do you hear the music? It is very likely that the melodies your mind instinctively conjures are a melodic throwback to a classic staple of French songwriting: “La Vie en rose”. The lyrics to this lush piece of Parisian music were penned by French singer-songwriter, cabaret performer, and film actress Edith Piaf.

Immortalized as France’s national chanteuse, Edith Piaf’s remarkable vocal stylings gave birth to a career peppered with high points, and the immediate commercial success of La Vie en rose was certainly one of them. It was the song that made Piaf internationally famous, with its lyrics expressing the joy of finding true love and appealing to those who had survived the difficult period of World War II.

Popularized in 1946, it was released as a single in 1947 to widespread acclaim, with seven versions of the song topping the Billboard charts in the United States alone. The song was popularly covered by Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, Donna Summer, and Latin singer Thalia. Even Bing Crosby hopped on the musical appreciation train bound for France when he recorded his 1953 album “Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris”.

As is the case with most secret sauces, the harmony between distinct flavors (musical or otherwise) makes all the difference. Similarly, the success of La Vie en rose is owed not only to Piaf’s sparkling lyricism, but also to the subtlety of composer Louis Guglielmi’s musical design. His orchestration deepens our immersion into the musical imagery that makes Piaf’s performance so captivating. Known by his nom de plume “Louiguy”, Guglielmi was no stranger to delightful combinations (himself being a Spanish-born French musician of Italian descent).

Having studied at the Conservatoire de Paris alongside the likes of Maurice Baquet, Henri Dutilleux, and Paul Bonneau, Guglielmi was also responsible for penning the 1950 Latin Jazz hit “Cerisier rose et pommier blanc” (a popular song which would eventually be reconfigured as a mambo smash-hit for Perez Prado). Guglielmi created nearly three dozen film scores during his life, but the musical partnership he showcases with Piaf on “La Vie en rose” is a timeless sort of beauty that sets itself apart. Like Paris itself, this renowned ballad is in a class of its own.

The SSO is living La Vie en Rose and performing it as part of our Postcards from Paris