Orchestra Bass Clarinet, Bassoon 1, Bassoon 2, Clarinet 1, Clarinet 2, Contrabas...(+)
Orchestra Bass Clarinet,
Bassoon 1, Bassoon 2,
Clarinet 1, Clarinet 2,
Contrabass,
Contrabassoon, English
Horn, Flute 1, Flute 2,
Harp, Horn 1, Horn 2,
Horn 3, Horn 4, Oboe 1,
Oboe 2, Percussion 1,
Percussion 2, Percussion
3, Percussion 4, Piccolo
and more.
SKU:
PR.11641139L
Composed
by Lowell Liebermann.
Large Score. Duration 15
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #116-41139L.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.11641139L).
UPC:
680160682126.
Barca
rolles for a Sinking City
was inspired by the city
of Venice, a place that
has long held the
fascination of artists,
writers and composers,
and which I have been
lucky enough to visit on
several occasions. Sadly
it seems that future
generations may not be so
lucky: in addition to the
city's slow sinking and
recently discovered
tilting, studies predict
that if global warming
and the resultant rise of
ocean levels is unabated,
the entire city (as well
as many other coastal
cities around the globe)
will be under water by
2100. I. Funeral
Gondola The late, cryptic
piano works of Franz
Liszt made a profound
impression on me as a
young composer, among
them two works he
entitled La Lugubre
Gondola (usually
translated as The Funeral
Gondola ) which were said
to be a premonition of
Wagner's death in Venice,
his coffin transported
through the canals in a
black gondola. These late
pieces of Liszt acquired
even greater significance
to me after I spent two
summers in Bayreuth under
the patronage of
Friedelind Wagner, the
granddaughter of Wagner
and great-granddaughter
of Liszt. This movement
is a meditation on
Wagner, Liszt, Venice and
its own evanescence. II.
Barcarolle/Quodlibet The
Quodlibet (Latin for what
pleases) is a musical
form dating back to the
15th century where many
disparate melodies are
juxtaposed. Popular in
the Renaissance, sacred
and secular melodies were
combined, often to
comical effect due to the
resultant incongruity of
the words. The form was
considered the ultimate
test of a composer's
mastery of counterpoint.
The most famous Quodlibet
is without doubt the
final Variation of Bach's
Goldberg Variations. As a
form the Quodlibet is
less common in more
recent music, although
examples can be found in
the works of Kurt Weill
and David Del Tredici.
My own
Barcarolle/Quodlibet was
inspired by the (perhaps
apocryphal) story of the
funeral where musicians
were asked to play a Bach
Choral, but due to
miscommunication played
instead the Bacarolle
from The Tales of
Hoffmann. Here, the Bach
Choral Allen Menschen
mussen sterben (All Men
Must Die) is heard in the
strings pizzicato, with a
tempo indication In slow
motion. The alto line of
the Bach suggests a
phrase from Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony (Alle
Menchen werden Bruder)
heard in the muted
trombone. Before long,
the famous tune from
Offenbach's opera is
heard, followed by
quotations from iconic
Barcarolles by Chopin,
Mendelssohn and Faure, as
well as two Venetian
popular songs and more
Beethoven. III.
Barcarola/Ostinato/Carill
on An ostinato is a
repeated musical figure,
and carillon is Italian
for music box. This
movement references the
obsolete genre of salon
pieces that imitated
music boxes: such works
by composers like Liadov
and Gretchaninov used to
be a mainstay of
pianists' encore
repertoire. This movement
is however much darker in
conception than those
pleasant trifles.
Utilizing the full
battery of percussion,
the carefully notated
temporal slowing of the
ostinato becomes
overwhelmed by a poignant
chorale melody before
this box is snapped shut.
IV. Barcarolle
Oubliee (Forgotten
Barcarolle) Marked
limpido (still) the final
movement begins with the
sound of rain produced by
a percussion instrument
called (appropriately) a
rain stick. Halting
phrases in the harp
coalesce into the
accompaniment for a
plangent melody heard in
the clarinet. The central
Adagio of this movement
leads to a shattering
climax, before the
opening phrases return
and dissipate into
nothingness.
