Summer Concert Series 2003 - August 1

Gerald Martindale

A Little Fantasy and Fugue	Sir Hamilton Harty
Songs Through the Day Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ Some Enchanted Evening Goodnight, My Someone
Compositions from Four Musical Eraa Baroque: L’Angloise Rondeau (Joseph-Hector Fiocco) Classical: Sonata in F + 3rd Mvt. Scherzo (Franz Haydn) Romantic: Traumerei Op. 15 (Robert Schumann) Contemporary: Asteroids (Gary White)
Two Songs from Italy Santa Lucia Funiculi, Funicula	Arr. Gerald Martindale
Three Processional Hymns	Arr. Beverly Buchanan

Program Notes

Born in Ireland, Sir Hamilton Harty moved to England in 1900, and made his name known as an outstanding accompanist and conductor. He wrote A Little Fantasy and Fugue for the University of Sydney (Australia) carillon.
When it premiered in New York in 1943, Oklahoma! heralded a new era in Broadway musicals. Imagine the surprise of theatregoers when, instead of the usual line of scantily-clad chorus girls dancing to light, frothy music, they were confronted with a cowboy singing, of all things, about the break of day in "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin."
In the show South Pacific, "Some Enchanted Evening" is sung by the mature French plantation owner Emile de Becque when he falls in love with Nellie Forbush, a young American nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas. The musical, which deals with racial intolerance, won a Pulitzer Prize for drama and nine Tony Awards.
After a successful Broadway run, The Music Man was produced as a feature film in 1962 starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, who sang "Goodnight My Someone." This past February, a new version was broadcast as a Disney movie for television with Matthew Broderick in the title role. Mr. Martindale acted as one of the townspeople.
Joseph-Hector Fiocco, a Belgian composer, was also an accomplished violinist and a professor of Greek and Latin. His "L’Angloise Rondeau" is an English Rondo. A rondo is a musical form which alternates a repeated theme with various different themes.
Franz Joseph Haydn’s "Sonata in F Major" represents the ideals of classical music, which includes emotional restraint, perfection of form, and balanced phrases. The title of the movement, “Scherzo” means literally a joke in Italian, consequently, the music is light and airy.
Robert Schumann wrote "Traumerei" as one of 13 character pieces for piano, part of his collection, “Scenes From Childhood.” The title means “dreams” in German and reflects the serene mood of the piece.
Gary C. White is the Professor Emeritus of Composition at Iowa State University at Ames. In his composition "Asteroids" the shooting stars sound as descending seconds, played very loudly. In between the apparition of the asteroids, an impression of cosmic tranquillity is provided through the use of a peaceful pedal line, accompanied by repetitive motifs on the manual.
"Santa Lucia" is a melodious folk song from Naples, Italy, describing an idyllic ocean cruise beneath the silver moon. "Funiculi-Funicula" was written by Luigi Denza to be played at the opening of the new funicular railroad that takes travelers to the top of Mount Vesuviius. The composer was born near Naples but lived in London where he taught singing.
"All Glory, Laud and Honor" has traditionally been sung during the Palm Sunday procession, which was in former times an outdoor procession of the congregation through the city.
The popularity of the hymn "Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven" is reflected in the request of Queen Elizabeth II that it be sung at her wedding on Nov. 20, 1947.
The well known hymn "Rejoice the Lord is King" was composed by John Darwall in 1783 who was the vicar of Walsall Parish Church in Staffordshire, England.
Rene Vanstreels, the composer of "The Singing Tower," is the carillonneur of Hasselt, Belgium. He has composed and arranged approximately seven hundred compositions.