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Slava! A Political Overture for Orchestra is a short orchestral composition by Leonard Bernstein. It was written for the inaugural concerts of Mstislav Rostropovich's first season with the National Symphony Orchestra in 1977. [1] It premiered on October 11, 1977, with Rostropovich conducting.
Rostropovich was known to friends as Slava, the diminutive of his given name. It is also homonymous with the Russian word for "glory".[ citation needed ] His dog Pooks is honored in the piece. [1] The name is shouted before the 7/8 section, at the spot where the woodblock solo is heard. Although this was not written in the score, it is common for a conductor to perform the piece with it.[ citation needed ]
Critics generally responded well to the Overture. Paul Hume wrote in The Washington Post :
Its razzmatazz opening led straight into the kind of rouse-'em-up march you might have heard at a rally for William Jennings Bryan. And suddenly, from a tape somewhere back in the orchestra, came a booming voice, saying:
"If I am elected to this high office... the people are sick and tired of... give you the next President of the U... ." [2]
The overture's two main themes are based on "The Grand Old Party" and "Rehearse!" from the failed musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue , which ran for only seven performances on Broadway. Mid-way into the work, a pre-recorded tape of political speeches plays over an orchestral vamp. The pre-recorded tape features the voices of Bernstein, Michael Wager, Adolph Green, and Patrick O'Neal giving the political speeches. [3] Cheering crowd noises are also used. The piece has been transcribed for symphonic band by Clare Grundman. The band version eliminates the pre-recorded tape.
The first part of the overture is the fanfare, based on "Grand Old Party", which is mostly in the time signature of 2/4. The second theme, based on "Rehearse!", is in a brighter 7/8 time signature. The section with pre-recorded tape follows. The two themes are then presented in reverse order. Near the conclusion a brief quotation of the "Slava Chorus" from the "Coronation Scene" of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov is played against the "Rehearse!" vamp.
The original score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, soprano saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, chimes, crash cymbals, suspended cymbals, glockenspiel, ratchet, slide whistle, steel pipe, tambourine, triangle, vibraphone, xylophone, marimba, whip, wood block, electric guitar, piano, pre-recorded tape, and strings.
The Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Op. 39, are a series of five marches for orchestra composed by Sir Edward Elgar. The first four were published between 1901 and 1907, when Elgar was in his forties; the fifth was published in 1930, a few years before his death; and a sixth, compiled posthumously from sketches, was published in 1956 and in 2005–2006. They include some of Elgar's best-known compositions.
Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34, is the common Western title for a five movement orchestral suite, based on Spanish folk melodies, composed by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1887. It received its premiere on 31 October 1887, in St. Petersburg, performed by the Imperial Orchestra conducted by the composer. Rimsky-Korsakov originally intended to write the work for a solo violin with orchestra, but later decided that a purely orchestral work would do better justice to the lively melodies. The Russian title is Каприччио на испанские темы.
Romeo and Juliet, TH 42, ČW 39, is an orchestral work composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is styled an Overture-Fantasy, and is based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. Like other composers such as Berlioz and Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare and wrote works based on The Tempest and Hamlet as well.
Russian Easter Festival Overture: Overture on Liturgical Themes, Op. 36, also known as the Great Russian Easter Overture, is a concert overture written by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov between August 1887 and April 1888. It was dedicated to the memories of Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin, two members of the group of composers known in English as "The Five". It is the last of what many call his three most exceptionally brilliant orchestral works, preceded by Capriccio Espagnol and Scheherazade. The work received its premiere at a Russian symphony concert in St. Petersburg on 15 December [O.S. 3 December] 1888.
Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131, was completed in 1952, the year before his death. It is his last symphony.
In the South (Alassio), Op. 50, is a concert overture composed by Edward Elgar during a family holiday in Italy in the winter of 1903 to 1904. He was working on a symphony, but the local atmosphere inspired him instead to write what some have seen as a tone poem, with an Italian flavour. At about 20 minutes' duration it was the composer's longest sustained orchestral piece to that time.
Music for Prague 1968 is a programmatic work written by Czech-born composer Karel Husa for symphonic band and later transcribed for full orchestra, written shortly after the Soviet Union crushed the Prague Spring reform movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Karel Husa was sitting on the dock at his cottage in America at the time, listening to the BBC broadcast of the events on the radio. He was deeply moved, and wrote Music for Prague 1968 to memorialize the events. This piece is a standard among wind ensemble repertoire.
The Overture di Ballo is a concert overture by Arthur Sullivan. Its first performance was in August 1870 at the Birmingham Triennial Festival, conducted by the composer. It predates all his work with W. S. Gilbert, and is his most frequently recorded concert work for orchestra.
The Festive Overture, Op. 96 is an orchestral work composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1954. Commissioned for the Bolshoi Theatre's celebration of the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution, the score has since become one of the most enduring of Shostakovich's occasional scores.
Overture to The School for Scandal, Op. 5, is a concert overture by Samuel Barber. It is Barber's first work for full orchestra, composed in 1931 while he was completing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The premiere was given on August 30, 1933 by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Alexander Smallens. It lasts around 8 min.
French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a number of "overtures", many of which have become popular concert works. They include true overtures, intended to introduce operas, but also independent concert overtures that are in effect the first orchestral tone poems.
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 58 is a concerto written by Sergey Prokofiev between 1933 and 1938. Its duration is approximately 35 minutes. It consists of three movements:
Santiago de Espada is a concert overture by the Australian composer Malcolm Williamson.
The Symphony No. 1 Elevamini is an orchestral work by Australian-born composer Malcolm Williamson.
Johannesburg Festival Overture is a composition for orchestra by the English composer William Walton, commissioned to mark the seventieth anniversary of Johannesburg in 1956. It is a short, lively piece, fast-moving throughout.
Benjamin Britten's Piano Concerto, Op. 13, is the composer's sole piano concerto.
The Second Concerto for Orchestra is a concerto for orchestra by the American composer Steven Stucky. The work was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic while Stucky was their composer-in-residence for the inaugural season of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It was completed in 2003 and was first performed on March 12, 2004, with the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The piece was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Shadows, Op. 52, is an orchestral prelude by the Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen, who wrote the piece in 1982 on commission from the National Symphony Orchestra Association. The prelude's thematic material is closely related to Act III of Sallinen's third opera, The King Goes Forth to France, on which he also was at work in 1982, writing Shadows upon completion of Act II of the opera. Nevertheless, the composer has emphasized that Shadows is "an entirely independent orchestral work", albeit one whose "lyrical and dramatic ingredients reflect the philosophy of the opera". The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) premiered the work on 30 November 1982 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., under the direction of its music director, Mstislav Rostropovich. Shadows so impressed Rostropovich and his orchestra that the NSO requested Sallinen compose a symphony for them, the result of which would be the Fifth (1985).
The Anniversaries are a series of short compositions of easy difficulty for solo piano by American composer Leonard Bernstein. These compositions were written over the course of forty years as gifts for people Bernstein was acquainted or friends with on the occasion of their birthday. The published series comprises the following works:
Divertimento, or Divertimento for Orchestra, is a suite of eight orchestral bagatelles by American composer Leonard Bernstein. Completed in 1980 and written to celebrate the centenary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, it is well-known for featuring the notes B and C in most of its melodic material.
