A14 2013 Program Notes, Book 1
Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15, 2013
escape from the sheriff’s deputies, but one day he was shot down by Pat Garrett, a
sheriff, who was once his friend.”
The score is prefaced by Copland’s synopsis of the ballet’s plot: “The action begins
and closes on the open prairie. The central portion of the ballet concerns itself with
the significant moments in the life of Billy the Kid. The first scene is a street in a frontier
town. Familiar figures amble by. Cowboys saunter into town, some on horseback,
others with their lassoes. Some Mexican women do a Jarabe which is interrupted by a
fight between two drunks. Attracted by the gathering crowd, Billy is seen for the first
time as a boy of twelve with his mother. The brawl turns ugly, guns are drawn, and in
some unaccountable way, Billy’s mother is killed. Without an instant’s hesitation, in cold
fury, Billy draws a knife from his cowhand’s sheath and stabs his mother’s slayers. His
famous career has begun. In swift succession we see episodes from Billy’s later life. At
night, under the stars, in a quiet card game with his outlaw friends. Hunted by a posse
led by his former friend Pat Garrett. Billy is pursued. A running gun battle ensues. Billy
is captured. A drunken celebration takes place. Billy in prison is, of course, followed
by one of Billy’s legendary escapes. Tired and worn in the desert, Billy rests with his
girl. Starting from a deep sleep, he senses movement in the shadows. The posse has
finally caught up with him. It is the end.”
Alexander Nevsky
,
Cantata for Mezzo-Soprano, Chorus
and Orchestra, Op. 78 (1938)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Alexander Nevsky is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes,
English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, two
bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three
trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, two harps and strings.
Performance time is 36 minutes. The Grant Park Orchestra and
Grant Park Chorus first performed Alexander Nevsky on June 26, 1966. Irwin Hoffman
conducted and Lili Chookasian was the mezzo-soprano soloist.
When Prokofiev made his last visit to America, early in 1938, he spent considerable
time at the studios in Hollywood learning the latest techniques in film scoring. Word
of his interest in cinema filtered back to the director Sergei Eisenstein in the Soviet
Union, and Eisenstein asked him to write the music for his epic film based on the story
of Alexander Nevsky, one of the legendary heroes of ancient Russia. The film was based
on the exploits of the Grand Duke Alexander (1220-1263), who was given the honorific
name “Nevsky” for his defeat in 1240 of the invading Swedes on the banks of the River
Neva. Two years later, Teutonic knights invaded Russia, and Duke Alexander was again
petitioned to defend his land. The climactic day of confrontation between the Russians
and the Teutons was April 5, 1242, when, in a titanic struggle on the frozen surface of
Lake Peipus, near Pskov, the German invaders were defeated and driven from the land.
Prokofiev used contrasting musical styles to represent the warring factions. “The
Teutons are evoked,” wrote his biographer Israel Nestyev, “by ponderous, mechanical
rhythms, harsh polytonal harmonies, and colorless timbres; the Russian patriots are
portrayed by the warm, tender colors of the strings, by the chorus and the mezzo-
soprano solo, and by beautiful melodies in folk style.” The music for the invaders uses
the modernistic style that Prokofiev had developed for the 1915 Scythian Suite and
