Fredericton Symphony Orchestra

The Fredericton Symphony Orchestra (FSO) invites you to join us in marking the advent of spring with a lively concert entitled Harmonies of Passion and Dance, featuring music inspired by Travellers and Romani people. The concert takes place Sunday, 7 April, 3:00 PM, at Christ Church Cathedral, and features music from Johann Strauss II, Der Zigeunerbaron Overture, Maurice Ravel, Tzigane, Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dances 4-6, and Georges Bizet, Carmen Suite No. 2. Talented youth Nina Cruz, a Fredericton student, is the featured violin soloist in the Ravel piece.

Program

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• Der Zigeunerbaron (Gypsy Baron Overture) - Johann Strauss II
• Tzigane - Maurice Ravel
• Hungarian Dances - Johannes Brahms
  • No. 4 Poco sostenuto
  • No. 5 Allegro
  • No. 6 Vivace

Intermission

• Carmen Suite No. 2 - Georges Bizet
  • Marche des Contrebandiers
  • Habanera
  • Nocturne
  • Chanson du Toréador
  • La Garde Montante
  • Danse Bohème

Featured Soloist

Nina Cruz is a Grade 12 student at Fredericton High School. She was introduced to music when she participated in Music for Young Children at 18 months old and piano lessons at 3 years old. At the age of four, she began to learn the violin from Aida Tisler and it has been one of her passions since then. A frequent competitor in the Fredericton Music Festival, Nina has been performing in the Provincial Music Festival for several years and was the New Brunswick representative in the 2021 National Music Festival. In 2020, she was a First Place Winner in the Junior Category of the American Protégé International Piano & Strings Competition and had the honour of performing in the winners recital at Carnegie Hall in 2022. In her free time Nina enjoys reading, hiking, and trying new foods. She is also an avid traveller and has been to England, France, Hawaii, and Singapore! This summer she is excited to be visiting Korea and her parents’ hometown in the Philippines. After high school, Nina plans to study political science and become a lawyer. She will continue to play the violin after graduating and is thrilled to be performing with the Fredericton Symphony Orchestra.

Notes

Johann Strauss II (1825-99) was an Austrian composer of light classical music whose compositions set 19th-century European dancing. He is most famous for his waltzes, such as The Blue Danube, The Kaiser-Waltz, and Tales from the Vienna Woods, which earned him the nickname the “Waltz King.” He also wrote music for other dance forms, such as polkas and quadrilles, and composed several ballets and operettas. The piece performed today is the overture to his 1885 operetta Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron). Inspired by traditional Hungarian and Romani music and dramatic in tone, Der Zigeunerbaron tells the tale of love, intrigue, and the search for hidden treasure; however, one can also hear the waltzes and polkas that made him famous.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Johannes Brahms (1833-97) spent much of his life in Vienna, Austria. During his storied career, he wrote four symphonies, four concertos, numerous pieces of chamber music, over 200 songs, and his famed work for chorus and orchestra A German Requiem. Today’s three selections are from his Hungarian Dances, 21 short pieces, originally written for piano, published in 1869 (1-10) and 1880 (11-21). Encounters with Hungarian musicians inspired Brahms to compose music based on Hungarian and Romani tunes resulting in critical acclaim and financial success. The Dances’ popularity as piano pieces ensured that they were also orchestrated. Brahms himself orchestrated dances 1, 3, and 10, and various other arrangers completed orchestrations of the rest. The arrangements we will hear today are by Paul Juan, No. 4 (1933), and Albert Parlow, No. 5 & 6 (1876).

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) emerged as one of France’s prominent composers at the turn of the 20th century. He closely associated with the style of Impressionism that explored new facets of harmony, expression, and tonal colour. He composed numerous pieces for solo piano and chamber ensembles, several ballets, three operas, and many orchestral pieces. One of his most famous and popular compositions is Bolero, known for its innovative orchestration. His music is awash with dance forms and allusions to “exotic” music from Spain, Hungary, and the Romani. Both trends are on display in Tzigane (1924), a virtuosic piece originally written for violin and piano but later adapted for solo violin and orchestra. Tzigane (1924), the French word for “gypsy,” has no authentic Romani tunes; instead, Ravel emulated the style of the Romani music of the time.

In his short life, French composer Georges Bizet (1838-75) did not experience great popularity. Despite writing numerous operas, many songs, and works for solo piano, much of his work did not catch on with audiences or critics. Only a suite of incidental music composed for the play L'Arlésienne achieved any great popularity in his lifetime. Bizet went to his grave believing that his last composition, the opera Carmen (1875), was also a failure. He died three months after its lacklustre premiere. Little did he know that Carmen would skyrocket in popularity becoming the most staged and recorded opera in the entire repertoire. Set in Spain, Carmen is a tale of passion and betrayal that centres around the romantic entanglements of its title character, a wily and seductive Romani girl. In response to its popularity, Bizet’s friend, Ernest Guiraud, compiled two orchestral suites of the opera’s music, published in 1882 and 1887. Carmen Suite No. 2 contains some of its most famous melodies.

Orchestra Members