The 17th Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival
Peter Rejto, Artistic Director

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Maurice Ravel, Chansons madécasses
Nahandove
Méfiez-vous des blancs
Il est doux de se coucher

Ravel (1875–1937) wrote his 1926 “Songs of Madagascar” for the American patroness Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, who desired a song cycle based on his choice of poetry but accompanied by flute, cello, and piano “if possible.” Ravel was drawn to the sensual poems of Evariste-Désiré de Parny (1753–1814), a Creole who claimed to translate original Madagascan texts into French. However, since Parny never visited Madagascar, he possibly invented the verses himself. The matter of authenticity did not disturb Ravel, who admired the atmosphere of the poems. He wrote: “I believe the ‘Chansons madécasses’ introduce a new dramatic — indeed erotic — element, resulting from the subject matter of Parny’s poems. The songs form a quartet in which the voice plays the role of the principal instrument. Simplicity is all-important.” Ravel had set a 1925 Paris premiere date for the cycle, but by then had completed only “Méfiez-vous des blancs” (Beware of the white men), which was performed by itself. This anti-imperialist middle song created a scandal at the event when one angered listener shouted that Ravel was unpatriotic.

Gareth Farr, Taheke for Flute and Harp
Allegro
Allegro
Presto

New Zealand composer and percussionist Gareth Farr (b. 1968) trained at the Victoria University in Wellington, where the characteristic sounds of the Indian gamelan became hallmarks of his own composition. He continued postgraduate studies in composition and percussion at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. A prolific freelance composer, Farr’s work reflects the complex rhythms of Pacific Rim percussion music. Farr writes about Taheke (2002): “Taheke is the Maori word for waterfall. The three movements of this work are each a musical depiction of a particular waterfall in New Zealand. The first is the mighty Huka Falls near Taupo. The broad and placid Waikato River is channeled gradually into an increasingly narrow chute, ultimately emptying into a waterfall of unbelievable power and fury. Then, as quickly as it has built up, the water subsides back into a calmly flowing river. “In contrast to the Huka Falls with its famed reputation, the waterfall of the second movement is known only to my family. It is on our land in the Marlborough Sounds, utterly secluded in the bush and accessible on foot through thick undergrowth. This waterfall is cool, dark and mysterious. The finale represents the grandeur and sprightly elegance of the Whangarei Falls in Northland, a beautiful cascade of sparkling rivulets.”

Erwin Schulhoff, Duo for Violin and Cello
I. Moderato
II. Zingaresca
III. Andantino
IV. Moderato

Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942) was born into a wellconnected, middle class Prague family that encouraged his musical talent. After Dvorak assured the young composer of his exceptional promise, Schulhoff sought Europe’s finest musical education, which included private tutorage from Debussy. Schulhoff developed into both a virtuoso pianist and a versatile composer with a full command of the various styles then current — German late romanticism, impressionism, and expressionism. Czech and Slavic folk music and even jazz influences can be heard in the music of this cosmopolitan composer. By 1918 Schulhoff had won the coveted Mendelssohn Prize twice, once for piano and again for composition. After military service in World War I, he settled in Germany and became involved with the avant-garde art scene. In 1923 he returned to Prague, where he taught at the conservatory and also became a political activist. Because of his Jewish background and his Communist views, he was imprisoned during the Nazi occupation. He died of typhus in the Wurzburg Concentration Camp. Schulhoff wrote his Duo during a three-day period in February, 1925 and revised it that November. The work is dedicated “in deep admiration” to fellow Czech composer Leos Janácek, whose highly expressive music was especially inspiring to Schulhoff. The Duo’s first movement develops insouciant themes that recur throughout the work. Its chromatic harmonies and asymmetrical meter (five beats to a bar) conjure a modernist atmosphere. The bravura second movement, “in gypsy style,” unfolds with colorful effects — glissandi, harmonics, left hand pizzicatos, and passages played with the wood of the bow. It concludes with a fiery Presto. The slow movement, Andantino, is muted throughout. Its kaleidoscopic variations of short motifs suggest the influence of Janácek. In the complex finale, calm and agitated passages alternate. Wild abandon prevails at the Presto fanatico conclusion.

Sylvie Bodorová, Terezin Ghetto Requiem

Czech composer Bodorová (b. 1954) writes: “Terezin Ghetto Requiem is dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. Its inspiration is based on the 20 performances of Verdi’s Requiem that took place in the Terezin Ghetto during 1943 and 1944. Jewish and Catholic texts are juxtaposed to represent the two cultures. Synagogue chant is used in each movement. The quotation of Verdi’s Lachrymosa becomes a theme for canonic work in the strings in the first movement, while the singer creates an independent layer using the synagogue chant Shema Yisrael.

“The second movement is based mostly on the strings, while the voice part uses short quotations from the Latin Dies irae from the Catholic Requiem Mass, and the Hebrew ‘Redeemer of Israel’ as an exclamation of liberation at the end of the movement. The third movement is predominantly calm in mood.

“The legacy of the Holocaust doesn’t belong only to the prisoners and victims, but to all of us who couldn’t or wouldn’t help. I wanted to honor those who, under the most extreme conditions and in the face of death, found the courage to protest against their torture by means of something as ultimately human as Verdi’s Requiem.”

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