Expressions: Botticelli to Firebird

Sunday, September 22, 2024, 3:00 p.m.
Gershwin Performing Arts Center | Murrieta Mesa High School

Today’s Program

Diane Wittry (b. 1964)
Summer Sun (2021) (West Coast Premiere)

Ottorino Respighi (1879 – 1936)

Trittico Botticelliano

1. La Primavera
2. L’adorazione dei Magi
3. La nascita di Venere

INTERMISSION

Frederick Deliu (1862 – 1934), arr. Robert Threlfall

Irmelin Prelude

Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971), arr. Paul Leonard Schaffer

1. Introduction
2. Prelude & Dance of the Firebir
3. Rondo
4. Infernal Dance
5. Lullaby
6. Final Hymn

Thanks to the Murrieta Valley Unified School District for their support of this concert.

About Our Artistic Director and Conductor

Members of the California Chamber Orchestra

California Chamber Orchestra musicians in this concert are members of The American Federation of Musicians, Local 325

Program Notes

We begin today’s concert with the West Coast Premiere of Summer Sun (2021) by Diane Wittry. Born in California, Ms. Wittry is celebrated as a conductor, author, teacher, and composer. Composed during the Covid pandemic, Summer Sun evokes, in the composer’s words, “the steam from the heat rising like a cloud from the pavement as the morning sun sizzles and shimmers.” Today’s performance by the California Chamber Orchestra is among the first live renditions of this work.

Next, we present Trittico Botticelliano (1927) by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, inspired by three famous early Renaissance works by artist Sandro Botticelli.

The first movement is inspired by Botticelli’s Primavera (c. 1482), which depicts a lush orchard scene with fruit-filled trees and flowers covering the ground. The figures include Mercury, the Three Graces, Venus, Cupid, Flora, Chloris, and Zephyrus. Respighi’s musical interpretation captures the vibrant energy of spring with high trills and quick, playful motifs shared between the strings and woodwinds.

The second movement draws from Botticelli’s L’Adorazione dei Magi, illustrating the Biblical story of the three kings following a star to present gifts to the baby Jesus. Respighi weaves the familiar tune Veni Emmanuel (O Come, O Come Emmanuel) throughout the movement.

The final movement, La Nascita di Venere (The Birth of Venus), reflects Botticelli’s famous painting of the goddess Venus emerging from the sea. Respighi mirrors the rolling waves with a repeating string motif, while the upper woodwinds float in and out like gentle breezes. As Venus approaches the shore, the dynamics swell before gradually returning to the peaceful undulation of the sea, which slowly calm to stillness.

The second half of the concert begins with the beautiful Irmelin Prelude by English composer Frederick Delius (1862–1934). Irmelin was Delius’ first opera, combining two folktales—The Princess and the Swineherd and Irmelin. The opera tells the story of Princess Irmelin, who dreams of a heroic suitor. In the final act, she meets him disguised as a swineherd, and they immediately fall in love, concluding the opera with a romantic duet. Despite early performances, Irmelin achieved limited success.

In the final years of his life, when Delius became blind and paralyzed, he relied on the artistic support of the young English composer Eric Fenby. Fenby became Delius’ “compositional hands,” enabling Delius to continue creating music. It was through this partnership that Delius returned to Irmelin and created this short prelude based on the original opera. Characterized by pastel-colored orchestration, Irmelin Prelude features rising and falling woodwind solos.

We close with selections from an orchestral reduction of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1945) Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite (1945), a ballet score originally written for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, based on Russian folktales.

In the ballet, Prince Ivan hunts in an enchanted forest (Introduction) and captures the magical Firebird, who pleads for her release. In exchange, she promises to aid the prince in the future. Ivan agrees, and the Firebird gives him a magical feather (Dance of the Firebird). The prince continues his journey, discovering 13 princesses held captive by the evil King Kashei (Rondo). The princesses reveal that Kashei turns his enemies to stone. With the Firebird’s feather, Ivan is protected. The prince engages in a fight with the king when the Firebird returns, enchanting the king and his ogres. She casts a spell to make them dance themselves into exhaustion (Infernal Dance). The Firebird then lulls them to an eternal sleep (Lullaby), freeing the princesses and Kashei’s stone victims. In the Final Hymn, the celebration of freedom begins.

— Dana Zimbric

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