Broomfield Symphony Recorded Concerts

In 1869, Tchaikovsky began a friendship with the influential Russian composer/pianist/conductor Mily
Balakirev, who encouraged the young man to write an orchestral work based on Romeo and Juliet.
Balakirev closely supervised Tchaikovsky’s progress, going so far as to suggest (or even dictate) ideas
for melodies, keys and structural organization. The new work, called Romeo and Juliet OvertureFantasy, was first performed in Moscow in March 1870, and was indifferently received by audience
and critics.

The composer almost immediately began to make revisions: a second version ( received only a little better ) was given in 1872 in St. Petersburg, and a third and final version was performed in
Tbilisi in 1886. The recurring sections of this work describe themes and scenes from Shakespeare’s
tragedy, including the solemnity of Friar Laurence’s cell, the antagonism of the feuding families, a
sensuous love scene, and a violent street fight.

The love theme of this work has for years found its way into popular culture. It has appeared in
films including The Jazz Singer, A Christmas Story, Clueless, Moonraker and Wayne’s World, and the
television shows The Simpsons, Animaniacs, South Park, and SpongeBob SquarePants

Alan Markowitz holds a music degree from Colorado State University and currently lives in Westminster. His works include music for piano, voice, clarinet, violin, and a one-act opera. In 2021, he released his CD of original piano music, Finding Solace. The Broomfield Symphony performed a movement of his Symphony One in February 2019.

The title, In the East My Pleasure Lies, is a quote from Act 2 of Antony and Cleopatra. Upon hearing the predictions of a soothsayer, Antony reflects on his personal and political fortunes. He is obliged to marry the sister of Emperor Caesar Augustus, but he remains drawn to the promise of a liaison with Cleopatra: “I will to Egypt./And though I make this marriage for my peace,/In the East my pleasure lies.”

The different sections of this work describe:

• Cleopatra (portrayed by the solo flute) approaches on a golden barge gliding down the Nile (fanfares from horns)
• The fatal asp (English horn)
• The Roman Legions (brass and percussion)
• Antony (heroic solo trumpet)
• A naval battle between Romans and Egyptians (more brass and percussion)
• Death of Antony (solemn fugue in strings)
• Death of Cleopatra by snakebite (short dissonant chords)
• A triumphant finale with the main characters united in death.

  This work is receiving its world première at tonight’s performance

Felix Mendelssohn belonged to a prominent and privileged German-Jewish family which included his
grandfather the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and his father the banker Abraham Mendelssohn. (The
the family name was abridged to “Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” upon conversion to the Reformed Christian
faith.) Felix Mendelssohn showed remarkable musical talent as a child, and he went on to distinguish
himself as a pianist, organist, composer and conductor throughout the Continent and in Great Britain.

Inspired by German translations of Shakespeare, the seventeen-year-old Felix wrote a piano-four hand
“Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for himself and his sister Fanny, and in 1826 he orchestrated the work for a concert performance at his family’s Berlin estate. In 1842, on commission from King Frederick William IV of Prussia.

Mendelssohn began writing incidental music for the play, and the original Overture was added to the new material. A complete German-language performance of Shakespeare’s play and Mendelssohn’s music was first given at the New Palace at Potsdam on October
14, 1843. Mendelssohn himself led the first concert performance of the score, in London in May of 1844.

Program Notes

In early 1875, Dvořák was awarded an Austrian State Prize, intended for “young, poor and talented artists,” by a distinguished panel of judges that included Johannes Brahms. With his personal financial burden eased, and inspired by the promise of recognition outside his native Bohemia, Dvořák worked on a number of compositions, including the Serenade for Strings, which he completed in less than two weeks in May 1875.

A first performance of the work by the Vienna Philharmonic was proposed by one of its members, but the orchestra declined, determining that the composer was not well-known enough. The actual première took place in Prague in December of 1876, played by members of the Czech and German theatre orchestras.

Program Notes

Beginning in 1906, Bartók and his fellow Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály went on annual excursions to the most distant regions of Hungary, carefully transcribing or recording (on a primitive Edison recording device) thousands of folk tunes played and sung by local residents. These melodies, rhythms and harmonies were painstakingly classified and cataloged in a number of scholarly monographs and a set of twelve volumes containing the musicians’ research. Much of the material made its way either literally or stylistically into the works of both composers.

In 1915 Bartók selected seven folk-fiddle melodies for his Romanian Folk Dances, originally for piano solo and later arranged for violin and piano and for string orchestra. “Romanian” refers to a region of Transylvania which was once part of Hungary, and also to “Roma”, a generic term for “Gypsies”.

Program Notes

From 1905 until his death in 1934, Gustav Holst held the position of Director of Music at the St. Paul’s Girls’ School in London’s Hammersmith district. In 1913 he completed the St. Paul’s Suite for string orchestra, in gratitude to the school for building him a soundproof music studio in which he could teach and compose.

A number of melodies in this work, including the sixteenth-century ballad Greensleeves, reflect Holst’s keen interest in English and Scottish folk music. “The Dargason” refers to an English country dance.

Program Notes

In 1723 J. S. Bach became Kantor (Music Director and Teacher) at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, for which he wrote most of his sacred cantatas and choral works. In 1729 he began directing Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum, a society of university students, interested amateurs, and a few professional musicians who met on Friday evenings to play secular music at Zimmermann’s coffee-house, indoors in cold weather or in the outdoor garden during the summer. Bach supplied most of the music for these gatherings, including the A Major Violin Concerto, for which he most likely performed the solo part.

Broomfield Symphony Concertmaster Sarah Delevoryas is a violinist with over 30 years experience as a teacher and orchestral performer. She has a Suzuki violin and viola studio in Broomfield, directs a student orchestra at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, and has taught violin and viola at Colorado Christian University. Sarah has been a member of the Boulder Philharmonic since 1997. Her other orchestral experience includes: Concertmaster of the Flatirons Symphony Orchestra and Livermore (CA) Symphony, as well as Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Fremont Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony and Reno Philharmonic. She holds a music degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.