Guest artist accommodations: Hal and Debbie Lurtsema
American lawyer Francis Scott Key, who wrote poetry in his spare time, penned a poem called Defence of Fort McHenry after being held aboard a British ship that bombarded the American fort on September 13, 1814, during the War of 1812. As he wrote his words, he specifically had in mind how they would fit with a tune that was popular in the United States 
called “The Anacreontic Song,” which had been composed in England, probably in the 1760s, by teenager John Stafford Smith. With Key’s words and Smith’s tune combined, the song was renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The song has four verses, though people commonly sing only the first.
—©Jane Vial Jaffe
“The Star-Spangled Banner” became the national anthem of the United States by congressional decree on March 3, 1931. It is intriguing that the combination of the American text and British music in a way symbolizes the friendship that exists between our two countries today, rather than the state of war that existed at the time Key wrote his words.
Scored for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, triangle, harp, and strings
Arturo Márquez studied piano, violin, and trombone as a youth, then concentrated on piano and theory at Mexico’s Conservatorio Nacional. After studies at the Taller de Composición of the Institute of Fine Arts of Mexico, he studied privately in Paris with Jacques Castérède. Later, on a Fulbright scholarship, he earned his master’s degree at the California Institute for the Arts. He currently works at the National University of Mexico, the Superior School of Music, and the National Center of Research, Documentation, and Information of Mexican Music (CENIDIM).
Márquez has written ballets, orchestral pieces, electro-acoustic music, film scores, and chamber music, along with interdisciplinary works that involve photography, actors, or experimental new sounds. Among his numerous works, which have been performed all over the world, his Danzón No. 2 is best known, having become a secondary national anthem in Mexico. The various pieces in his Danzón series mix twentieth-century urban popular music and classical elements with great success.
A danzón is a nineteenth-century ballroom dance for couples that shows the influence of the French contredanse from Haiti on the Cuban habanera; Miguel Failde was the first to call a piece danzón in 1879. Drawing on this multicultural form, which revels in syncopation and elegant pauses, Márquez wrote a whole series of danzónes. He wrote the following description of No. 2, which was first performed in 1994 in Mexico City, conducted by Francisco Savin:
“The idea of writing the Danzón 2 originated in 1993 during a trip to Malinalco with the painter Andrés Fonseca and the dancer Irene Martínez, both of whom are experts in salon dances with a special passion for the danzón, which they were able to transmit to me from the beginning, and also during later trips to Veracruz and visits to the Colonia Salon in Mexico City. From these experiences onward, I started to learn the danzón’s rhythms, its form, its melodic outline, and to listen to the old recordings by Acerina and his Danzonera Orchestra. I was fascinated and I started to understand that the apparent lightness of the danzón is only like a visiting card for a type of music full of sensuality and qualitative seriousness, a genre which old Mexican people continue to dance with a touch of nostalgia and a jubilant escape towards their own emotional world; we can fortunately still see this in the embrace between music and dance that occurs in the State of Veracruz and in the dance parlors of Mexico City.
“Danzón 2 is a tribute to the environment that nourishes the genre. It endeavors to get as close as possible to the dance, to its nostalgic melodies, to its wild rhythms, and although it violates its intimacy, its form and its harmonic language, it is a very personal way of paying my respects and expressing my emotions towards truly popular music. Danzón 2 was written on a commission by the Department of Musical Activities at Mexico’s National Autonomous University and is dedicated to my daughter Lily.”
—©Jane Vial Jaffe
Scored for 2 flutes, 2nd doubling piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, claves, snare drum, suspended cymbal, guiro, 3 tom-toms, bass drum, piano, and strings
A great fashion for writing musical exotica, or music suggesting foreign lands, became prevalent among composers of the Romantic period and continued into the twentieth century. Mendelssohn wrote his Scottishand Italian symphonies, Saint-Saëns his Egyptian Piano Concerto, and Bruch his Scottish Fantasy, but probably Spanish themes, titles, and locales attracted the greatest number of composers, particularly French ones. Chabrier, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, and Ravel all made their contributions. Despite the obvious touches of exoticism, though, their music is still unmistakably French.
Lalo, too, was caught up in the mode of his day, the Symphonie espagnole being only one of his “exotic” pieces. Yet it had an even more direct impetus than fashion or the composer’s Spanish heritage—that is, his friendship with the great Spanish violin virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate.
Sarasate gave the première of the Symphonie espagnole on February 7, 1875, at a Concert Colonne at the Châtelet, Paris. Gratitude as well as friendship played a role in the work’s dedication to Sarasate; Lalo’s first long-awaited success had come with Sarasate’s introduction of his Violin Concerto the previous year. The Symphonie espagnole established Lalo’s international reputation. He is now chiefly remembered for this work and his Cello Concerto.
The Symphonie espagnole is no traditional symphony, and many might prefer that it be classified as a concerto or suite. Lalo, however, was adamant about the title. In a letter dated August 20, 1879, to Sarasate’s regular accompanist Otto Goldschmidt, Lalo objected to the title “Suite” and continued:
Artistically, a title means nothing and the work itself is everything . . . but commercially a tainted, discredited title is never a good thing. I kept the title Symphonie espagnole contrary to and despite everybody, first because it conveyed my thought—that of say, a violin solo soaring above the rigid form of an old symphony—and then because the title was less banal than those that were proposed to me. The cries and criticisms have died or will die down; the title will remain, and in his letter of congratulation Bülow wrote me that this happy title placed the piece beyond all the others.
Unlike traditional concertos, the work is in five movements, and the scoring includes trombones, harp, and percussion—instruments not yet included in many nineteenth-century concertos. The first movement, in sonata form, begins with fragments of the main theme in the orchestra and solo violin, followed by a complete exposition of the main theme by the orchestra. Though the second theme is more lyrical, both employ rhythms reminiscent of the habanera (Havana-style contredanse). When the orchestra plays the melody, as it frequently does, Lalo has the solo violin decorate in virtuosic style.
The second movement is a scherzo based on the Spanish seguidilla rhythm, heard most plainly at the outset in the pizzicato strings. A contrasting middle section incorporates the many tempo changes associated with the style. Pervasive habanera rhythms surface again in the third movement, and in the fourth—the slow movement—the soloist is given an opportunity to show off sensuous and expressive qualities. The rondo finale is an almost nonstop virtuoso display piece for the violin, after a substantial orchestral introduction that presents a giant crescendo and diminuendo in dynamics and instrumentation. One of the contrasting episodes is a slow malagueña (Spanish dance similar to the fandango), foreshadowed in the introduction to the first movement.
—©Jane Vial Jaffe
Scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, snare drum, triangle, harp, and strings
Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story shares the central theme of New York City with many of the composer’s previous stage works: Fancy Free, On the Town, On the Waterfront, and Wonderful Town. This work differs from its predecessors, however, in that it presented the composer with the intriguing challenge of writing a serious musical. The idea of adapting the plot of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to a modern environment was first suggested by Jerome Robbins when he was choreographing Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety in 1949–50. Robbins and Bernstein originally thought the work might be called East Side Story, in which the lovers would come from different religious creeds. By the time the choreographer and composer emerged from other projects in the mid 1950s, race hatred and adolescent violence had become more prominent as current issues. So the title became West Side Story, with lovers Tony and Maria belonging to rival teen-age gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. Along with Bernstein’s music and Robbins’s choreography, Arthur Laurents was engaged to write the book and Stephen Sondheim the lyrics. The show opened on Broadway in 1957, ran for 973 performances, and gained even more popularity when made into a film.
The musical score contains a masterful blend of various jazz elements, Latin rhythms, and romantic popular ballads. It also incorporates the kind of character identification that we associate with Wagner’s leitmotifs. In 1961, in order to make an orchestral concert work from the musical, Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal chose a list of numbers, which they submitted to Bernstein, who chose the order. Having previously rescored the original show somewhat for the movie, they were already familiar with its symphonic conception. They did an admirable job keeping Bernstein’s music intact and retaining the composer’s brilliant orchestral effects. It was composer Jack Gottlieb, Bernstein’s assistant, who suggested using the haunting flute solo “I Had a Love” for the finale. Like the musical, the suite ends questioningly on a chord incorporating the unsettling interval of a tritone, which had played a role in other sections of the drama.
The work was first performed on February 13, 1961, by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Lukas Foss. Its nine episodes, played without pause, follow the plot’s chronology, as summarized by Jack Gottlieb in the preface to the score:
Prologue (Allegro moderato)—The growing rivalry between the two teen-age gangs, the Jets and the Sharks
“Somewhere” (Adagio)—In a visionary dance sequence, the two gangs are united in friendship.
Scherzo (Vivace leggiero)—In the same dream, they break through the city walls, and suddenly find themselves in a world of space, air, and sun.
Mambo (Presto)—Reality again; competitive dance between the gangs
Cha-Cha (Andantino con grazia)—The star-crossed lovers see each other for the first time and dance together.
Meeting Scene (Meno mosso)—Music accompanies their first spoken words.
“Cool,” Fugue (Allegretto)—An elaborate dance sequence in which the Jets practice controlling their hostility
Rumble (Molto allegro)—Climactic gang battle during which the two gang leaders are killed
Finale (Adagio)—[After Tony has died in Maria’s arms.] Love music developing into a [funeral] procession, which recalls, in tragic reality, the vision of “Somewhere”
—©Jane Vial Jaffe
Scored for 3 flutes, 3rd flute doubling piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, alto saxophone, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, vibraphone, timbales, congas, bass drum, tom-tom, drum set, cymbals, tambourine, wood block, triangle, tam-tam, xylophone, glockenspiel, chimes, tenor drum, four pitched drums, 2 snare drums, finger cymbals, 2 pairs of maracas, 3 cowbells, police whistle, 3 bongos, 2 suspended cymbals, guiro, harp, celesta, piano, and strings
Violinist Chee-Yun’s flawless technique, dazzling tone, and compelling artistry have enraptured audiences on five continents. Winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chee-Yun has performed with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. Highlights include her tours of the United States with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Japan with the NHK Symphony, a concert with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung that was broadcast on national television, and a benefit for UNESCO with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Avery Fisher Hall. A champion of contemporary music, Chee-Yun performed Kevin Puts’s Violin Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and performed and recorded and recorded Christopher Theofanidis’s Violin Concerto as part of the Albany Symphony’s American Festival.
Chee-Yun’s myriad outstanding recital performances include appearances at the Kennedy Center’s Salute to Slava gala honoring Mstislav Rostropovich and the Mostly Mozart Festival’s tour to Japan, a performance with Michael Tilson Thomas in the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and the US premiere of Penderecki’s Sonata No. 2. In 2016 Chee-Yun performed as a guest artist for the Secretary General at the United Nations in celebration of Korea’s National Foundation Day and the 25th anniversary of South Korea joining the UN. Firmly committed to chamber music, Chee-Yun has toured with Music from Marlboro and appears frequently with Spoleto USA. She has also appeared at major US festivals and abroad at festivals in Korea, Ireland, Italy, France, Poland, and Japan. Most recently she collaborated with acclaimed guitarist Mak Grgić in a duo performance for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Chee-Yun has received exceptional acclaim as a recording artist since the release of her debut album of virtuoso encore pieces in 1993 and her 2008 Decca/Korea album of light classics went platinum within six months of its release. More recently her recording of the Penderecki Violin Concerto No. 2 on Naxos was highly acclaimed in The Strad and American Record Guide. Chee-Yun has performed frequently on NPR, WQXR, and WNYC radio and been featured on A Prairie Home Companion, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Victor Borge’s Then and Now 3, among many other broadcasts. The 2017 short documentary Chee-Yun: Seasons on the Road is available on YouTube.
A dedicated and enthusiastic educator, Chee-Yun gives master classes worldwide and has held teaching posts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Indiana University School of Music, and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She herself studied with Nam Yun Kim in Korea and with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Daniel Phillips, and Felix Galimir at the Juilliard School.
Chee-Yun plays a violin made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1669. It is rumored to have been buried with a previous owner for 200 years and has been profiled by the Washington Post.
