Daniel
Wallace
On a cool November afternoon around 50
people gathered in the auditorium at Florissant Valley Community College to
experience three musical pieces preformed by a combination of the Florissant
Valley Symphony and St. Charles Community College Orchestras. These two
orchestras played a piece of music from three separate composers: La Gazza Ladra by Rossini, followed by a
wonderful piece named simply Symphonic
Dance by Grieg, and finally Symphony
in D Minor written by Franck. These three pieces chosen for this concert
were meant to explore the vast range of human emotion from the happy and light
sounds of Italian opera, to the dark and cold Norwegian folk melodies, and finishing
with a French piece that hit on all levels of human emotion.
Rossini,
the composer of La Gazza Ladra was an
Italian composer that composed 39 operas in the early 19th century.
The title La Gazza Ladra is translated
as the Silken Ladder. In the overture (introduction) the audience heard a
trademark of Rossini, a technique called long crescendo. A long crescendo is
very soft dynamics building up to extremely loud dynamics. A wide range of
instruments creates a very consonant feeling to the piece. La Gazza Ladra was very cheery and upbeat unlike another piece
played during the concert. That piece was by Norwegian composer Grieg. Symphonic Dances, the Norwegian Folk
melody, emphasized the dark and bitter cold of Norwegian music during the mid
19th century. Like Rossini’s La
Gazza Ladra, Symphonic Dances utilizes
long crescendos, but this time ranging from very loud to very soft dynamics
along while using a plethora of pitches from extreme lows to extreme highs. Syncopation
is used numerous times throughout each movement of the piece, which creates
drama and suspense for the audience. Finally, Symphony in D Minor composed by
Franck wowed the audience. Franck was a French composer who flourished with the
break down of the major-minor key system breakdown in the latter half of the 19th
century. Franck’s Symphony in D Minor
was completely different than any other symphony ever heard. The major
difference was that this piece is in three movements instead of four like every
other symphony created. At first this symphony was unappreciated and questioned
by the masses. However, as time went on the piece grew on people and is now
referred to as a statement of Romantic art.
These
two orchestras created an outstanding performance of 19th century
music for their audience to enjoy. The music performed was fantastically played
and enjoyed by the mass of people that sat in the audience as they looked on in
amazement.
Comments
Post a Comment