Rimsky-Korsakov's Concerto for Trombone

Rimsky-Korsakov's Concerto for Trombone will be performed by the Lincoln Youth Symphony at their February concert, with Kyle Pearcy as the senior soloist. The concerto is part of the standard trombone literature.

The trombone is not usually thought of as a solo instrument. In his book on orchestration, Rimsky-Korsakov describes the trombone as "dark and threatening in the deepest register, brilliant and triumphant in the high compass. The piano is full but somewhat heavy, the forte powerful and sonorous. Valve trombones are more mobile than slide trombones, but the latter are certainly to be preferred as regards nobility and equality of sound, the more so in the fact that these instruments are rarely required to perform quick passages, owing to the special character of their tone."

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), a Russian romantic composer and professor of composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, was also a naval officer who served as Inspector of Military Bands from 1873-1884. It is believed that the Concerto for trombone and military band was written around 1878. It was later arranged for trombone and orchestra, and for trombone and piano.

In the concerto, Rimsky-Korsakov uses the full range of the trombone and requires substantial technique for the 1st (Allegro vivace) and 3rd (Allegretto) movements (and the cadenzas) and musical lyricism for the middle movement (Andante cantabile). All the terms that Rimsky-Korsakov used to describe the trombone in his book on orchestration are found in the Concerto, except that he does require the solo trombone to perform quick passages.

The concerto is very listenable. You can catch the performance Sunday, February 12th, at 3 p.m. at Lincoln High School. And admission is free.

Howard Hanson's Laude

One of the more interesting pieces being performed in Lincoln this month is Howard Hanson's Laude: Chorale, Variations and Metamorphoses. Hanson wrote Laude as a commission for the College Band Directors National Association in 1975. It was premiered in Berkeley, California at the association's annual conference by the California State University Long Beach Band, conducted by Larry Curtis.

While Howard Hanson (1896-1981) is remembered as a composer of orchestral music (as well as being the director of the Eastman School of Music and the first American to win the Prix de Rome), he wrote several works for band throughout his career, works which are considered important in 20th century American band literature.

In his later years, Hanson looked back to his childhood in Wahoo, Nebraska for inspiration. Laude reflects this, as it is based on a Swedish chorale he knew as a child, All the world praises the Lord, a paraphrase of Psalm 150, which Hanson quotes as "Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet, With psaltery and harp, With timbrel and dance, With string instruments and organs, Praise him upon the loud cymbals, the high-sounding cymbals, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."

Laude begins with a unison statement of the chorale theme accompanied by percussion, and fanfares. Throughout the piece, percussion sets off the variations, which are in various moods and tempos. In the seventh variation, the chorale returns in the Lydian mode, one of the ancient church modes, and the sound grows. Finally a simple melody from Hanson's childhood (and his Third symphony) appears, with the chorale superimposed, moving to the final climax of the work. (Thanks to Howard Hanson's extensive notes for the premier for some of these thoughts).

If you would like to hear Laude, it will be performed by the Lincoln Community Concert Band at Kimball Recital Hall on Monday, December 12, 2011, at 7:30 pm. The free concert is just one of many interesting musical events in Lincoln this month.

The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag

Looking back to what is called the first Thanksgiving in 1621, we know the participants in this harvest festival or religious giving of thanks for the bounty were the Pilgrims and the First Nation tribe who had shared new world agriculture with the Pilgrims -- the Wampanoag. What we don't know about is the music from the gathering.

The music of the Pilgrims is more complex than their religious singing of psalms without instrumental accompaniment. Likewise, the music of the Wampanoag, while full of religious song, is much richer than that. Was there music at the feast? Who sang for whom? Were there instruments?

Today, Thanksgiving is filled with music -- from church music to the marching bands at the football games and the parades. May your Thanksgiving be filled with joy -- and music.

November 19th, 1868

On November 19th, 1868, the first presidential election after the civil war took place. That day, 172 women from New Jersey, including 4 black women, attempted to vote, in a test of the 14th Amendment. Needless to say, they were denied, so they put their uncounted ballots in a "women's ballot box" monitored by an 84 year old Quaker woman, Margaret Pryer.

Typical suffrage songs from around 1868 include "Female Suffrage," "Clear the Way, For Woman Voting," and "Woman is Going to Vote."

Of the 5.7 million votes cast in the election, 500,000 were cast by black men, including former slaves who had just won the right to vote. U.S. Grant's margin of victory in the popular vote was only 300,000 votes, although he readily won the Electoral College. American women wouldn't gain the right to vote throughout the country until 1920.

Nebraska Music Educators 75th

Congratulations to the Nebraska Music Educators Association on 75 years. The music educators -- school and college music teachers -- have given many Nebraskans their introduction to music as an activity that can be enjoyed throughout their lives.

NMEA is meeting in Lincoln this week with programs, clinics, formal presentations and other activities for professional development and continuing education. Many young musicians will be in attendance, too, performing in their selected school ensembles or in All-State band, chorus, orchestra, or jazz band.

The gala opening tonight is A Concert and Conversation with Peter Buffett. The public is welcome, and tickets are available through the Lied Center box office. More information is available on the NMEA website.

Again, congratulations to the Nebraska Music Educators Association from the Polley Music Library. May there be many more years filled with music.

Got Sax?

Adophe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone was born on Nov. 6, 1814. Even as a child, Sax was working on "improving" various wind instruments. He attended the Brussels Conservatory, where he studied clarinet and flute. In 1842, Sax took a metal reed instrument he called the saxophone to Paris, and won a silver medal in the Paris Exposition of 1844. He finally won a gold medal in 1849 at the Paris Industrial Exposition. While ridiculed by critics and other instrument makers, composers such as Berlioz and Rossini supported his innovations. Sax taught sax at the Paris Conservatory from 1858-1871. Sax died in 1894, and interest in the instrument declined until it was taken up by jazz bands. And the rest is history.

I Feel the Earth Move

The first song that came into my head this week, as I heard about the moderate earthquakes in Colorado and the East Coast, was Carole King's I Feel the Earth Move. I was here in the Polley Music Library when I heard about the quakes, and I know from experience that "I feel the earth move under my feet" is the usual feeling in an earthquake (although I went through a few as a child oblivious to what was going on).

For those people who don't expect quakes because they don't live in "earthquake country," earthquakes may be frightening. As a child I learned to "duck and cover" for earthquakes (just like for civil defense drills). Get under a sturdy table or desk and protect your head. I also learned as a child that another place to ride out an earthquake is in an interior reinforced doorway, where the frame may provide some protection as the building sways. The bookstacks in a library are not the place to be in a quake, as not just the books, but the book stacks themselves, may sway to the point of failure, crushing anything in the path on the way down. Leave the book on the shelf and get to safety away from the book stacks -- then duck and cover, or these days, "duck, cover and hold."

May all your library visits be safe ones.