Shakespeare In Love

Thursday,
February 25, 2010
8:00 PM

Friday,
February 26, 2010
8:00 PM

Moxley Carmichael Masterworks Series
Tennessee Theatre
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Lucas Richman, conductor
Actors from the Clarence Brown Theatre
   Carol Mayo Jenkins, David Kortemeier, Charles Miller, Conrad Ricamora
   John Sipes, director
Women of the Knoxville Chamber Chorale
    Bill Brewer, conductor

MacDowell: Hamlet and Ophelia
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy
                   Overture
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream

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Shakespeare In Love

     The music on this program appears in reverse compositional order, which is also the same sequence (reverse order) in which William Shakespeare wrote and produced each of the three plays that inspired the music. In life, he was already acclaimed for what he is still revered as today – the greatest playwright to work in the English language. By the 18^th century, Shakespeare’s works were being printed in other languages as well; and, of course, many composers through the years and around the world, other than the three whose music was selected by Maestro Lucas Richman for this KSO program, have been inspired to relate or incorporate Shakespeare’s work into their own.

     Edward MacDowell, born 150 years ago this KSO season, was the first American composer and piano soloist to achieve wide acclaim in Europe, making a name for himself there even before he was well-known in the United States. He went to the Paris Conservatoire at age 14 to study piano and composition at a time when Claude Debussy was also enrolled. When he left the Conservatoire, he remained in Europe, residing in or near Frankfurt, Germany until 1888, when he returned to America, residing in Boston. He visited Franz Liszt in Weimar in 1882, upon an introduction provided by Joachim Raff, with his First Piano Concerto in hand. Liszt encouraged the young American, even commending his compositions to European publishers, and his music began to be performed in Germany and England at that time. MacDowell’s legacy has been remembered appreciatively to the present day by many talented American musicians through The MacDowell Colony, a peaceful retreat MacDowell established on his property near Peterboro, New Hampshire, that is privately maintained today for the quietude conducive to the compositional process. His symphonic poem Hamlet and Ophelia appears to be MacDowell’s only work overtly inspired by a Shakespearean drama.

Hamlet and Ophelia, Op. 22

Premiere: The first complete performance of both sections of this work was on January 28, 1893 in Boston’s Old Music Hall (now the Orpheum Theatre, a rock concert venue, 1 Hamilton Place) by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Arthur Nikisch conducting.

KSO Performance History: These are the first performances of this work by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, or, indeed, of any work composed by American Edward MacDowell on a KSO subscription concert. The only documented previous KSO performance of music by MacDowell was In Wartime (third movement) from his Second Orchestral Suite (“Indian”), Op. 48 performed at KSO Education Concerts for Knox County Schools on November 10, 1966 to a dance by the Children’s Ballet Theatre, Irma Witt O’Fallon Director, with David Van Vactor conducting.

Instrumentation: piccolo, two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and trumpets; plus 4 horns, 3 trombones, timpani, cymbals, and strings.

     Widely considered, both in America and abroad, as this country’s leading composer at the time of his relatively early demise, MacDowell was rarely represented in the concert hall by mid-20^th century, save for a rare hearing of his Second Piano Concerto. Van Cliburn championed that work, making an early RCA Victor stereo recording of it that remains available on CD; and, the approach of this sesquicentennial year has led to a modest resurgence of interest in this composer’s oeuvré. In portraying legendary subjects, MacDowell was a keen lyrical poet, “unerring [in his] ability to create atmospheres of widely varied kinds in his music,” wrote early biographer John Forte. This skill is evident in his earliest music for orchestra, the symphonic poem Hamlet and Ophelia.

July 1884 found the 23-year-old MacDowell and his young wife of one month, Marian (neé Nevins) of Waterford, Connecticut (where they had married), honeymooning in London as they returned to Frankfurt, Germany where the two had met in summer 1880. While in the English capital, the MacDowells saw at least three Shakespeare plays, Hamlet, Othello and Much Ado About Nothing.  The composer was particularly struck by the performances of Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry as Hamlet and Ophelia. Immediately, he began composing two separate character sketches, rather than compose a single depiction of the play’s action as, for examples, Mendelssohn had done in his concert overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream,and Tchaikovsky in his Romeo and Juliet fantasy-overture. Initially completed as two separate works in winter 1884-5, and performed as such by (today, unknown) small orchestras in the German Rhineland, Hamlet and Ophelia were eventually published together by MacDowell as his First Symphonic Poem,in two sections.

The Victorian view that Hamlet was a tortuously driven character doomed to destruction is here in the Hamlet music, with its unsettling chromatic passages leading to a stridently diatonic, brash main theme. Midway through, a second more expansive theme appears in the violins, representing Ophelia, and preceded by a brief passage from the French horns alluding to the “Longing for Tristan” motive from Richard Wagner’s opera on fated love, Tristan und Isolde. Ophelia’s theme is treated extensively, as Hamlet’s love for Ophelia and her eventual suicide seal his unraveling.

MacDowell takes a less complex view of Ophelia, building on her delicate violin theme from the Hamlet section – the piccolo, trombones and cymbals are silent here – with flutes floating above in one of MacDowell’s most effective musical characterizations. The contrasting middle section again echoes the Tristan motive of fated love.

Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy-Overture after Shakespeare

Peter Il’yich Tchaikovsky, born May 7, 1840, at Kamsko-Votkinsk;  died November 6, 1893, at St. Petersburg.

Premiere: The composer significantly revised this score twice following performances in 1870 and 1872 at Moscow and St. Petersburg, respectively. In its final form, this fantasy-overture was first performed April 19, 1886 at a special Russian Music Society concert in Tiflis (known today as Tbilisi, about 1,000 miles south southeast of Moscow in present-day Georgia) with Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov conducting.

KSO Performance History: This music was first performed by the KSO during its 16^th Season on November 14, 1950 led by its Third Conductor, David Van Vactor. Its most recent KSO performances occurred May 15 and 16, 2003, Kirk Trevor’s final appearances as the orchestra’s Sixth Conductor and Music Director.

Instrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, bass drum, harp, and strings.

     The idea of composing orchestral music based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet occurred to Tchaikovsky in summer 1869 in a conversation with another composer, Mily Balakirev. The inspiration proved slow in coming and, in October of that year when the two next spoke on the matter, Balakirev not only advised Tchaikovsky to “inflame yourself with a plan,” but also wrote down four measures with which he would begin the work, if he were composing it. Within a month, the piece was done and a Moscow performance scheduled for March 1870, a performance that did not please Tchaikovsky. Only a decade later did he settle on the final version of the music heard on this program. Tchaikovsky turned to Shakespeare twice more as stimuli for a fantasy-overture – The Tempest in 1873 and Hamlet in 1888 (the latter was performed by the KSO just last season, in October 2008).

This symphonic poem is in sonata-form, with an introduction and coda. The introduction, sounding like a solemn Renaissance chorale, evokes Friar Laurence. Though a friend of the lovers, he appreciates all too well the danger in their union. Then come the two main contrasting sections. The first is the warring Capulets and Montagues, a fight-filled scurrying scene with clangorous sword play (cymbal clashes). The second is the soaring love theme that has become the most recognizable and inspired melody written by this composer - one who has given us a basketful of such creations. The recapitulation is an apotheosis of all the prior themes, with a contorted version of the love theme evolving into a funeral coda, a revelation of the horror hatred wrought.

Incidental Music to “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” Opp. 21 and 61

Premiere: The overture, composed alone in 1826 as a concert piece, premiered February 20, 1827 in the Pomeranian provincial capital of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) by that city’s music society orchestra with Karl Löwe conducting. The remainder of this music was composed in 1843 for a production of William Shakespeare’s play at Potsdam’s Neue Palais that occurred October 14, 1843 with the composer conducting.

KSO Performance History: Although earlier KSO performances of three excerpts (the Overture, Nocturne and Scherzo) from this incidental music occurred March 29, 1955 and March 28, 1961, Mendelssohn’s complete music for this Shakespearian drama was performed by the KSO with a fully-staged production of the play (as envisioned by the composer) by The Barter Theatre of Virginia at Knoxville Civic Auditorium on April 14 and 15, 1964, the first time the KSO ever presented a subscription program in pairs (later doing so routinely on its Masterworks Series commencing with the 49^th Season in 1983-4). Those 1964 performances were in celebration of the quadricentennial of Shakespeare’s birth. The orchestra’s most recent prior performances, also involving Mendelssohn’s complete music, were on November 11 and 12, 1993 with the Women’s Chorus of the Knoxville Choral Society and Kirk Trevor conducting.    

Instrumentation: two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns; plus 3 Trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals, and strings.

     Although it is clear from the directoral notes Shakespeare inserted throughout A Midsummer Night's Dream that much music was to be included in the play, Mendelssohn went a good deal further for his 1843 production at Potsdam’s Neue Palais to include entr’actes between, and sustained melodram music within, the action on stage to lend musical support to the spoken word.

     The Overture, Allegro di molto in E major, double time, begins with four gossamer chords from the woodwinds to summon our imagination, followed by the shimmering “dance of the elves” in the upper registers of the violins alone. More references to the play’s action follow, including the braying of Bottom (whose head, in Act III, Scene 1, is transformed by Puck into that of an ass) and the heavy stomping passage that is danced in the final-act “dance of the clowns” by Bottom and his company of craftsmen. All these motifs are developed in turn, and the curtain-raiser ends with the same four woodwind chords with which it began.

No. 1 Scherzo, Allegro vivace in B flat major, 3/8 time, is the entr’acte between Acts I and II, bringing front and center the fairy world that follows in “A wood near Athens” for the next three acts. It is a virtuoso tour de force of sheer orchestral magic, with laughing woodwinds, the echo of Bottom’s bray, and shimmering string textures as pure as quicksilver.

     The No.2 Melodram, L’istesso tempo, begins Act II as Puck immediately encounters a wayfaring fairy in the woods. This melodram advances to the March of the Fairies, Allegro vivace. In another part of the woods, the fairy queen Titania calls for “a roundel and a fairy song,” No.3 Song and Chorus, Allegro ma non troppo, the chorus being a lullaby that aids her to sleep. It is over the No.4 Melodram, Andante, that a vengeful King Oberon casts his spell on a sleeping Titania. The No.5 Intermezzo, Allegro appassionato in A minor, 6/8 time, is an agitated piece that serves as an entr’acte after Hermia awakens and concludes Act II by calling out to her missing lover: “Either death, or you, I’ll find immediately.” A march-like figure raises the Act III curtain.

The No.6 Melodram, Allegro, is interspersed throughout Act III, which is highlighted by Puck’s transformation of Bottom’s head into that of an ass, while the No.7 Nocturne, Con moto tranquillo in E major, three-quarter time, is the entr’acte following Act III. The depth of the forest’s magic, and that of sleep, are plumbed with mystically transparent melodies, and the Act IV curtain rises as the Nocturne fades away.

With the No.8 Melodram, its Andante violin theme inverted from that in No.4, Oberon removes his spell over Titania. The entr’acte leading to the final act is the joyous and regal, universally recognized and appropriated No.9 Wedding March, Allegro vivace in C major, common time.

     In Act V, with everything remedied, Shakespeare regales in festivity. No.10 [Fanfare], Allegro comodo, answers Shakespeare’s call for a “flourish of trumpets,” followed by the No.11 A Dance of the Clowns, Allegro di molto, a hilariously lopsided rendition of the braying-ass and “stomping” motifs from the overture. As Puck begins his epilogue (“Now the hungry lion roars”), strains of the Wedding March and the “dance of the elves” return briefly, No.12 [Reprise], Allegro vivace. After Oberon and Titania bless the palace of Theseus and his bride Hippolyta, all celebrate in song (“Through the house”) and dance, Finale, Allegro di molto. This music begins, as did the overture, with the woodwind chords and the “elves’s dance,” and the song’s tune is a variant of the latter. The music carries through Puck’s final words: “If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended...Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.” The score ends on the same four magical chords with which the overture began.

Carol Mayo Jenkins

CAROL MAYO JENKINS trained for the theatre in London and began her career with four years at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. She made her Broadway debut in William Ball's acclaimed production of The Three Sisters. Also on Broadway, she played Jocasta opposite John Cullum in Oedipus Rex, appeared with the Stratford, Ontario Festival in a Feydeau farce, and was with Jane Alexander and Henry Fonda in First Monday In October. She has been fortunate to play many great Shakespeare roles including Olivia in Twelfth Night, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Regan in King Lear, Gertrude in Hamlet, Emilia in Othello, Lady MacBeth, and the Queen in Cymbeline.

In California, Ms Jenkins was for five years on the award-winning television series, Fame, and played leading roles at Seattle Rep, San Jose Rep, the Globe Theatre, Denver Center Theatre, and participated in the actor-run Interact Theatre Company. Ms. Jenkins is delighted to be back in her home town, Knoxville, where she teaches at the University of Tennessee and is a member of the Clarence Brown Theatre.

David Kortemeier

DAVID KORTEMEIER serves as Artist-in-Residence for the Clarence Brown Theatre and is a member of the Acting faculty in the UT Department of Theatre.  CBT credits include Creon in Oedipus the King, Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors, Don Armado in Love's Labour's Lost, Sagredo/Bellarmin in The Life of Galileo and Don Carlos Homenides de Histangua in A Flea in Her Ear.  His work has also been seen at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland, Drury Lane Theatre and Noble Fool Theatricals in Chicago and 12 seasons with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival in Bloomington.  David holds the MFA in Acting from the University of Louisville and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association and the Screen Actors' Guild.  In April Mr. Kortemeier will be appearing in the title role in Clarence Brown's production of Man of La Mancha.

Charles Miller

Charles R. Miller has worked as an actor or director at the Clarence Brown Theatre, American Stage, Asolo Theater, Porthouse Theatre, and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. He was the co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of the Smoky Mountain Shakespeare Festival for eight years. He is currently the Director of Theatre at Pellissippi State College.

Conrad Ricamora

CONRAD RICAMORA is a first year MFA actor at UT (Spivey Humanities Fellowship). He comes to Knoxville from Philadelphia where he worked regionally at the Walnut Street Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, the Prince Music Theatre, the Media Theatre, Mauckingbird Theatre Company, InterAct Theatre Company, and the New Candlelight Theatre among others. Other credits include NC Shakespeare Festival and Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. Conrad participated this past fall in the reading of

John Sipes

Until recently, JOHN SIPES was a member of the Artistic Staff of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. In thirteen seasons at the Festival, John worked on over 100 productions. Before joining the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, John was a Director at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival for twelve seasons, and served as the Festival’s Artistic Director from 1990 to 1995.  Recent directing credits include Oedipus The King, Love’s Labour’s Lost, All My Sons at the Clarence Brown, Henry VIII, King John at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Julius Caesar at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Hollow at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. John is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Tennessee and a Company Member of The Clarence Brown Theatre.

Bill Brewer

Bill Brewer was named assistant director of the Knoxville Choral Society and conductor of the Knoxville Chamber Chorale in the summer of 2005. He has been a singing member of the group since 1986 and has served two terms as president of the organization as well as sitting on the board of directors. Under his leadership the Knoxville Chamber Chorale is programmed regularly on KCS concerts and performs at community events such as the Knoxville Opera’s annual Rossini Festival. On occasion the Chorale has been featured as a guest ensemble in concert with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Brewer is an associate professor of music at Pellissippi State Technical Community College, where he directs two choral ensembles, is lead teacher in voice, and teaches ear training, conducting, and music appreciation. Under his direction, the Pellissippi State Variations Choral Ensemble has taken two European concert tours in Poland and France, including giving a concert at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

A native of Tennessee, he received a bachelor of music degree from Carson-Newman College and a master of church music degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Brewer enjoyed a twenty-year career in church music ministry before becoming a professor at the college level. He is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association and is currently serving as the Two-Year College Repertoire and Standards chair for the state of Tennessee ACDA.