College Community Winds - Program Notes
	back to the Main Story		The Divine Comedy Robert W. Smith "The Divine Comedy" is based on the Dante Alighieri's literary classic of the same name. The story of Dante's trilogy is very basic: one day Dante fins himself lost in a dark wood. Virgil, a character based on the revered Roman poet, appears and rescues him. Virgil guides Dante to a contemplation of Hell and Purgatory. Dante, having confessed his faults, and with Beatrice as his guide, is led into Paradise and attains a glimpse of the face of God. Like Dante's Inferno, this movement is divided into four sections. The opening melodic statement in the oboe represents the sin of "incontinence". As Dante finished his relatively short journey thought this section of the Inferno, he is confronted with the Wall of Dis (The Gate into Hell). The next section is structured around the sins of "violence" with it's incredibly intense storms and fiery sands. The crimes of "ordinary fraud" follow the violent sinners. The composer used the sin of hypocrisy as visual imagery in the formation of this section of the musical work. Dante describes the hypocrites as they file endlessly in a circle, clothed in coats of lead which represent the weight of their hypocrisy on earth. The final section of the Inferno features the sins of "treacherous fraud". As Dante enters this circle of Hell, he hears the dreadful blast of a bugle. "Not even Roland's horn, which followed on the sad defeat when Charlemagne had lost his holy army, was as dread as this." Dante and Virgil are lowered into the last section of Hell by giants who are constantly pelted with bolts of thunder. As their journey nears the end, they are confronted with the sight of Dis (Lucifer) whose three mouths are eternally rending Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. Dante and Virgil climb down the flanks of Lucifer, exiting to the other hemisphere, leaving the fiery world of "The Inferno" behind. "The Ascension" begins with Dante on the Mountain of Purgatory. Having been instructed and purified in Purgatory, he is prepared for his journey to Paradise. Beatrice, his guide, lifts her eyes toward the sun. Following her example, Dante looks to the sun and is at that moment transformed ("trans-human-ized") in preparation for his great adventure. He is surprised to discover wonderful music, the music of the spheres, surrounding them. Swifter than thought, their flight of incredible speed begins. Dante and Beatrice, accompanied by sounds of wondrous beauty and intensity, ascend to the Sphere of Fire. Symphonic Dance #3, "Fiesta" James Clifton Williams Clifton Williams was commissioned to compose Symphonic Dances to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra. Between 1963 and 1965 Williams wrote five dances, none of which was ever published in the orchestral version. Williams rescored all five for band, and the second and third dances were published as concert band works. In 1967, Williams conducted the first performance of the band version of Symphonic Dance #3, "Fiesta." The modal characteristics, rhythms, and finely woven melodies depict what Williams called "the pageantry of Latin-American celebration &endash; street bands, bull fights, bright costumes, the colorful legacy of a proud people." The introduction begins with a brass fanfare that creates a dark, yet majestic atmosphere, as would depict the entry of a matador into an arena. Canzona Peter Mennin Peter Mennin was born Peter Mennini in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1923, and died in New York in 1983. He attended the Oberlin Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied composition with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson. He taught composition at the Julliard School of Music (1947-58) and was director of the Peabody Conservatory (1958-62). From 1962 until his retirement, he served as president of Julliard. Mennin was one of the important New York-school American composers of the mid-20th century that included Copland, Harris, Persichetti, Thomson, and Schuman. Generally acknowledged as musically conservative, he was primarily a symphonist, and a composer of concertos, string quartets and sonatas. Canzona was composed in 1951 on a commission from Edwin Franko Goldman and the League of Composers. This single-movement work is Mennin's only work for band. The concept of the "canzona" in this piece is based on the late-renaissance canzoni of Giovanni Gabrieli (1555-1612), which exploited the acoustics of the Cathedral of St. Mark in Venice with contrasting, antiphonal statements by opposing forces of brass. In this setting. Mennin alternates blocks of woodwind and brass sonorities while applying 20th-century concepts of harmony, polyphony, and rhythm. Since its creation, the work has been a standard in the wind band repertoire. Chester William Howard Schuman William Schuman, one of America's most famous composers, was born in New York City. He studied at the Malkin Conservatory in New York, the Teachers College of Columbia University, and the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg. After completing his studies, Schuman became music instructor at Sarah Lawrence College and later president of the Julliard School of Music. His musical output also includes an opera, six symphonies, concertos, choral works, chamber music, and of course, music for the concert band. Schuman composed five original band works from 1940 to 1980 with Newsreel (1941) as the first venture into the medium. Like his teacher, Roy Harris, Schuman uses long, flowing melodies; emotional tension is accomplished through chromaticism and polytonality. Chester was originally the third movement of an orchestral work, New England Triptych: Three Pieces after William Billings (1956), commissioned by Andre Kostelanetz. When Pi Kappa Omicron commissioned Schuman to write a piece for band in 1956, the composer rescored and adapted Chester for the concert band. Billings' original work was composed as a church hymn but was later employed by the Continental Army and it is this duality that Schuman so aptly weaves into a classic work for band. The initial Religioso opening section explores the simplicity and majesty of the early American hymn tune, but once its religious roots are revealed, Schuman presents the melody as a marching song, now in memory of its relationship to the early militia. Throughout the composition, Billings' tune goes through a series of transformations, fusing the character and musical genius of both composers into a wonderfully conceived masterwork. Due to many additions and deletions the work does not fit into the category of a transcription. The 249-measure piece is approximately nine minutes in duration and has become one of the cornerstones of the concert band repertoire. Incantation and Dance John Barnes Chance John Barnes Chance was born in Beaumont, Texas. He began studying composition at the age of fifteen and had several performances of his works while he was still a high school student. Chance earned both his bachelor and master of music degrees at the University of Texas where he studied composition wit h Kent Kennan, Clifton Williams, and Paul Pisk. Incantation is defined as "words chanted in magic spells or rites." Composers have often been drawn to create musical renditions of supernatural or magical happenings. Throughout music history there are prime examples of art songs, operas, tone poems, and the like based upon subjects that exceed the accepted limits of religious and social belief and wander into another realm. Chance's work for band virtually takes the listener into another time period for a chanting ritual or mystic celebration. From the misterioso opening of the "Incantation" to the wild presto of the "Dance," this composition creates a visual and aural image of a magical ceremony.
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