I saw the Marin Oratorio perform in the afternoon at College of Marin. The ensemble played classical was made up of every type of instrument including brass, woodwind, strings, percussion, keyboard and voice. They performed The Seasons by Franz Josef Haydyn. The venue was a pretty large theatre. The stage had two levels with most of the instrumentalists on the bottom and vocalists behind on risers. The stage was separate from the audience but pretty close. I could see nearly everyone, which allowed me to see who was playing each part. The Seasons is made up of four movements: “Spring”, “Summer”, “Autumn”, and “Winter”. The format is a poem that the vocalists sing backed up and emphasized by the instruments. It is subdivided into 35 verses. The Seasons is based on a collection of poems by James Thomson. It is the love story of common farmers that takes place throughout the seasons. The first movement, “Spring” is light and playful and has a lot of staccato and spiccato. The last song, “Wonderful, powerful, merciful God!”, is stronger with more drum and brass and serves as a transition to “Summer”. The second movement is legato and more powerful. “Autumn” is about a hunt and excitement. The last movement, “Winter”, is filled with stories from the soloists and the instruments are mostly backup and play long notes behind the vocalist. The ensemble is arranged with string instruments in the front and center in a semicircle around the conductor with brass behind the violins
The seasons in the poem also can be seen as symbols of time passing in her life. Saying that in the height of her life she was much in love and knew what love was she says this all with four words “summer sang in me.” And as her life is in decline her lovers left her, this can be told by using “winter” as a symbol because it is the season of death and decline from life and the birds left the tree in winter. The “birds” can be seen as a literal symbol of the lovers that have left her or flown away or it can have the deeper meaning that in the last stages of our life all of our memories leave us tittering to our selves.
On April 11, 2014 The Florida Orchestra performed Wolfgang Mozart’s Symphony No. 28 in C major, K, 200, David Diamond’s Symphony No. 4, and Johannes Brahms Quartet No.1 for Piano and Strings in G minor at the David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Ferguson Hall in Tampa, Florida. Gerard Schwarz, guest conductor, led the Florida Orchestra for each of the compositions. According to The Florida Orchestra Program the list of performers for the violin is Jeffrey Multer, Nancy Chang, Jeffrey Smick, Lei Liu, Sarah Shellman, Lucas Guideri, Valerie Adams, Toula Bonie, Saundra Buscemi, Mary Corbett, Linda Gaines, Oleg Geyer, Cynthia Gregg, Linda Hall, Yan Jiang Lu, Evelyn Pupello, Claudia Rantucci, and Virginia Respess. The list of performers for the viola is Ben Markwell, Kathie Aagaard, Karl Bawel, Lewis Brinin, Alan Gordon, Alison Heydt, Kenneth Kwo, Warren Powell, and Barbara Rizzo. The list of performers for the violoncello is James Connors, Lowell Adams, Rebecca Bialosky, Alfred Gratta, Gretchen Langlitz, Laura McKey Smith, and Merrilee Wallbrunn. The list of performers for the bass is Dee Moses, John DiMura, Roger Funk, Alan Glick, James Petrecca, and Deborah Schmidt. The list for performers for the flute is Clay Ellerbroek, Daphne Soellner, and Lewis Sligh. Lewis Sligh was the only piccolo performer. The list of performers for the oboe is Shawn Welk, Lane Lederer, and Jeffrey Stepehenson. Jeffrey Stephenson also performed during the night playing the English
The stage was very small however, with only enough room for one white and turquois flower arrangement on each side of the pulpit (the only decoration pertaining to the party), the pastor, and a projection screen that was placed behind the pastor, which was used to display the words to the songs. The musicians were on the left side in between the stage and the pews, all the men were different ages. A middle aged man who seemed to be the leader was the keyboardist and singer, the base player was a young teenage boy who sat on the first bench facing the keyboardist, the guitarist was an older man who sat in his wheelchair also facing the keyboardist, and the drummer, another middle aged man, who had his own little tower upstairs where he faced the challenge of keeping up with the tempo without being able to see the leader.
The first movement began with a very strong texture as the music reflected a very powerful theme. It began with the heavy instrumentation from the strings including cellos, violins, and basses. The tempo was also relatively fast and generally upbeat. About a minute and half in there was a very noticeable solo by the violins which was a bit softer in terms of the texture. The melody seemed to be very upbeat and cheerful. Lasting the form of the movement was very well structured and the instruments backed each other up smoothly.
The beginning of the story opens up at the beginning of the spring season. Nature and human beings alike are waking up from their slumber. Everybody is excited for warm tolerable weather. The celebration of spring gives a dreamy feel to the opening lines of the story. This leaves a dreamy feel that invokes elements from a love story. Much to the reader surprise the story is not about a romance at all, but of pilgrimage. Excited for beautiful weather everyone seems to be playing out a venture to distant lands for spiritual indulgence.
For this assignment, I went to the Basically Beethoven Festival at the Dallas City Performance Hall. The recital was opened with a few pieces played by the rising stars Madera Wind Quintet. The main performance included Rachel McDonald on the viola, Joseph Kuipers on the cello, Grace Wollett on the violin, Scott Wollett on the oboe, and the great pianist Alex McDonald. They performed a compilation of famous composers’ masterpieces.
I do not think I have ever asked that question outside of my place of employment. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. The massive room gradually began quieting down and the lights started dimming until they were completely off. The only light was that of the stage. From what I could tell there were three sections. On the left were the sopranos, in the middle were the men, and on the right, were the altos. This was exactly how my glee club in high school was divided so they reminded me of us, but with talent head shoulders knees and toes above us.
On Sunday 28 June 2015, I had an opportunity to participate in listening a strings orchestra in Simi Valley. It named Simi Strings Orchestra that was located in the Simi Valley Public Library in the afternoon about one hour at 3:30 p.m. This was my first time to be there and to be a listener in this strings orchestra, it was a great experience in my life.
•There wasn't a fixed, standard orchestral group. Ensembles were usually composed of strings, a few woodwinds, percussion, and the harpsichord providing the basso continuo.
It was performed by the CSU Graduate Brass Quintet, consisting of Nikolas Valinsky, Matthew Chanlynn, Emelie Pfaff, William Gamache, and Heather Ewer. While Valinsky and Chanlynn played the trumpet, Pfaff played the horn, Gamache the trombone and Ewer tuba. This quartet accomplished a wonderful work by the different melodies, pitches and dynamics. While the tuba was heard more in the background due to its low pitch, the most significant instruments were the trumpets. Not only did they provide the highest pitch but it was also heard as the main instrument because of their rhythm. Together, this group of brass instruments created a dense rhythm by providing the audience with several layers of music on top of each-other. Altogether, I enjoyed this piece the most. It made me feel happy, excited and joyful.
Just so you know before hand, the lyrics to the music came from the CD with trademark of Delta Music Inc. The movement opens agitatedly as the orchestra picks up fragments of one theme after another from the previous three movements, as if seeking a satisfactory vehicle for its expression; but each is discarded in turn. The first seven notes of the main theme to come are tentatively uttered, but it too is abandoned as the search continues. Once again the theme begins, this time in the woodwinds, but it soon breaks off. Finally, the theme emerges decisively in the basses for a subdued first statement. The second statement is calm, tranquil, confident, and the theme continues onward in the various voices of the orchestra, broad and flowing. The winds make a strong statement of the theme. The flow of the music abruptly halts--there are rapid shifts--great agitation, until the orchestra introduces the baritone singing the first three lines of the poem, rejecting the feverish discords of the previous passage, calling for a different music, whose nature is suggested by the strings beneath his voice:
In the 1700s, Antonio Vivaldi composed his highly accredited Four Seasons concerto. The autumn movement in this concerto follows the allegro-adagio-allegro pattern. Vivaldi provided sonnets to go along with each movement to explain what the true meanings are. As a group, we felt it was necessary to provide all of our reactions to the piece. This allowed us to interpret what each of the others were visualizing throughout the composition. Some of our opinions may have varied, but overall the general mood of the piece allowed us each to have the same emotions toward the Autumn movement of the Four Seasons.
The stage was brightly lit from both on stage and the front of house and the musicians were arranged in a semi circle around the podium. The back rows of the strings section were mounted on risers and high stools. They were all wearing black formal wear. They seemed confident in their playing and very relaxed and used to the stage. They all had excellent posture and were concentrating on the music without talking.
The pattern of the song has a beat that repeats itself at a fixed rate. In addition to the fixed rate, the song has an accent where one beat is emphasized and this can be heard by the increased volume of that specific note. Towards the end of the song, the melodic contour of the song can be described as a descending melodic contour as the pitches descend from high to low. This is done by the artist holding out their voices for a lengthened amount of time. Furthermore, the phonic structure of this piece can be described as a monophonic piece. Monophony means that the performers play the same pitches with the same rhythms. Even though the song incompasses a wide varitey of instruments, the rhythm of the song stays relatively the same Another important aspect of the song is the dynamics. The beginning of the song can be classified as a crescendo because of the increased musical sound from the instruments, however, towards the end there is a decrescendo as the volume falls off and the artists holds on and extends the last note. The crescendo in the beginning of the song is interesting to note because the song starts off acapella and gradually the volume begins to increase when the first musical instrument comes into play. Last but not least, this piece of music contains a lot of repetition. The vocal repetition of the songs title serves as a
With every end, there is a beginning. When the cold winter ends, there is a new beginning in nature where the trees and flowers start fresh as they grow once again. The poem “Spring”, takes us, readers, to a setting where the place shows complete nature. We are to imagine aesthetic scenery where spring has arrived and everything that happens during this season is happening right in front of us.