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Publication Date

12-6-2017

Year of Release

2017

Note(s)

Elizabeth Reed Smith, conductor

Acknowledgements: Edwin Bingham, Matthew Bradley, Robert Galloway, Josh Mendoza, Amber Murphy

Orchestra Personnel

Philip J. Sebastiani, concertmaster, Kaitlyn Fulks, Caroline Kimbro, Kristen Alves, violin I

Maggie Cobb, principal, Heather Taylor, Kelcey Perkins, Megan Legg, Molly Page, violin II

Lucia Soltis, principal, Lee Mendenhall, Wyatt McCarty, viola

Ryan Phipps, principal, Steven Schumann, Cole Bedway, Dean Pauley, cello

Connor Barebo, bass

Tyler Holbrook, principal, Shelby Ard, flute

Savannah Johnson, principal, Cassandra Thompson-Chapman, oboe

Matt Monnig, keyboard

Tiffani Elliott, principal, Kelsey Larck, clarinet

Kay Lawson, principal, Edwin Bingham, bassoon

Robert Galloway, tenor saxophone

Chris Cremeans principal, Matt Darnold, Nicholas Bragg, Bailey Wellman, horn

Josh Matthews, principal, Heather Petrie, Josh Mendoza, trumpet

Brian Ashton, principal, Sarah Keiper, trombone

Kyler Dickerson, bass trombone

Anthony Reynolds, tuba

Chris Scarberry, timpani

Matthew Bradley, William Runyon, percussion

Program Notes

Born Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere di Suppé-Demelli, in Dalmatia, a region of what is now Croatia, Franz von Suppé wrote over 200 operettas, ballets, farces, and other stage works. Today he is known almost entirely for his operetta overtures, particularly the overtures to Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna, Light Cavalry, and Poet and Peasant. These overtures have been extensively quoted in cartoons and movies. The plot of Poet and Peasant, composed in 1846, enters on a young peasant who is also a poet, wooing a girl whose guardian is opposed to their marriage. Suppé's style is very much influenced by Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi, all of whom he met and whose operas he studied.

Prokofiev's 1933 score for the satirical film Lieutenant Kijé was his first effort in the film scoring medium. Per request of the film's director, there is not music throughout the film; rather the music is used to support the drama and to make comic interjections. Prokofiev admitted he spent longer crafting the symphonic suite than the film score, because of the need to make cohesive movements out of many short cues.

The plot is a zany one. A clerical error results in the invention of a fictional lieutenant on a list of soldiers produced for Tsar Paul I (who reigned 1796-1801). When the tsar is awakened by a scream under his window, the lieutenant is blamed, and banished to Siberia. The guilty party, however, confesses, and so Kijé's sentence is overturned and the non-existent officer is promoted. The plot continues through his marriage to a princess, his sudden death when the tsar demands to meet him, and his burial. When the tsar learns that Kijé has spent his fortune on high living (in reality, the perpetrators of the hoax spent it) he demotes Kijé posthumously.

Edvard Grieg wrote the incidental music to Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's play Sigurd Jorsalfar ("Jorsalfar the Crusader") in 1873, two years before his more famous incidental music, that to Peer Gynt. The plot deals with two brothers, joint rulers of Norway in the 12th century, and the maiden who is loved by one of them, but who in turn loves the other.

Note

Smith Recital Hall

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Music | Music Performance

Marshall University Music Department Presents A Poet, a Peasant, an Imaginary Officer, and a King, Marshall University, Symphony Orchestra, Elizabeth Reed Smith, conductor

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