Program Notes

AT A GLANCE

Title: Danse macabre, Op. 40
By: Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Composed: 1874
Length: 7 minutes

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, triangle, xylophone), harp, strings, and solo violin

Previous CSGB performances:
2001 October
2006 February
2011 November

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

• French composer, pianist, and organist known for elegance and clarity.
• Child prodigy with a career spanning over 70 years.
• Famous for The Carnival of the Animals, Organ Symphony, and tone poems like Danse macabre.

ABOUT THE MUSIC
This tone poem paints a vivid scene: at midnight, Death tunes his fiddle and summons skeletons to dance until dawn. The piece begins with twelve harp strokes marking the hour, followed by the solo violin’s eerie tritone—nicknamed “the devil’s interval”—symbolizing Death’s tuning.

The orchestra bursts into a frenzied waltz, with swirling strings and clattering percussion evoking the rattling of bones. The xylophone adds a humorous touch, imitating skeletal clatter, while the orchestration creates a kaleidoscope of color and drama. As the dance grows wilder, the music accelerates toward a feverish climax before abruptly halting at the crow of a rooster (played by the oboe), signaling dawn and the skeletons’ retreat. Saint-Saëns combines macabre humor with dazzling orchestral technique, turning a medieval legend into a playful yet haunting musical spectacle.

AT A GLANCE

Title: Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20
By: Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908)
Composed: 1878
Length: 8 minutes

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, percussion (triangle), strings, and solo violin

CSGB premiere performance

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

• Spanish violin virtuoso celebrated for elegance and technical mastery.
• Composed primarily for violin, often inspired by folk idioms.
• Works like Zigeunerweisen remain staples of the solo repertoire.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

“Gypsy Airs” opens with a slow, improvisatory section that feels almost like a lament, rich in rubato and expressive nuance. The violin sings with dark, yearning tones, evoking the melancholy side of Romani music. Then, the mood shifts dramatically: the tempo quickens, and the piece bursts into a whirlwind of fiery dance rhythms.

Sarasate incorporates Hungarian folk-inspired melodies and syncopated accents, creating an atmosphere of freedom and abandon. The soloist dazzles with virtuosic techniques—rapid scales, ricochet bowing, harmonics, double stops, and left-hand pizzicato—pushing the instrument to its expressive limits. The orchestra provides a supportive backdrop, but the spotlight remains firmly on the violin, whose voice alternates between soulful introspection and electrifying brilliance. More than a technical showpiece, Zigeunerweisen is a vivid portrait of passion and vitality.

AT A GLANCE

Title: Concerto for Bass Trombone
By: Elizabeth Raum (b. 1945)
Composed: 1997
Length: 8 minutes

Instrumentation: solo bass trombone, strings, and percussion (castanets, glockenspiel, snare drum, suspended cymbal, triangle)

CSGB premiere performance

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

• Canadian composer known for melodic strength and rhythmic vitality.
• Writes across genres: orchestral, chamber, opera, and brass works.
• Advocate for expanding brass repertoire.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Raum’s concerto is a landmark work for bass trombone, an instrument rarely featured as a soloist. Today you’ll hear the second and third movements of the piece. The second movement, Adagio, is a tender, song-like meditation that reveals the trombone’s warm, expressive voice. Here, long melodic lines float over delicate orchestral textures, inviting the listener into a world of introspection.

The final movement, Vivace, is playful and exuberant, filled with syncopated rhythms, jazzy inflections, and virtuosic flourishes. Raum’s writing balances technical challenge with musical substance, exploring the bass trombone’s full range—from heroic fanfares to intimate whispers. This concerto not only entertains but redefines the instrument’s role, proving its capacity for drama, beauty, and wit.

AT A GLANCE

Title: Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)
By: Don McLean (b. 1945), arr. by Shawn Postell
Composed: 1971
Length: 4 minutes

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bells, suspended cymbal, windchimes), strings, and vocalist

CSGB premiere performance

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

• American singer-songwriter best known for “American Pie” and “Vincent.”
• Songs often blend narrative clarity with emotional depth.
• Influential figure in the 1970’s folk-pop movement.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

McLean’s ballad is a musical tribute to Vincent van Gogh, inspired by his iconic painting The Starry Night. The song opens with gentle fingerpicked guitar, creating an intimate, contemplative mood. McLean’s lyrics weave vivid imagery—starry, starry night and flaming flowers—with reflections on the painter’s struggles and misunderstood genius. Subtle string accompaniment adds warmth and depth, framing the voice without overshadowing it. The melody flows with conversational ease, allowing the words to resonate like brushstrokes on a canvas.

More than a biography, “Vincent” is a meditation on beauty and vulnerability, inviting listeners to see art as both refuge and revelation. Its quiet power lies in empathy: McLean honors van Gogh not through sensationalism but through tenderness, turning a song into a gallery of light and compassion.

AT A GLANCE

Title: Mona Lisa
By: Jay Livingston & Ray Evans; performed by Nat King Cole (1919-1965)
Composed: 1949; Cole’s recording released 1950
Length: 3.5 minutes

Instrumentation: flute, 3 clarinets, horn, 2 trombones, guitar, strings, and vocalist

CSGB premiere performance

ABOUT THE COMPOSERS & PERFORMER

• Livingston & Evans were a songwriting duo who worked together on movies, television, and stage. The pair wrote the theme music for the television shows Bonanza and Mister Ed and were behind classics like “Silver Bells” and “Que Sera, Sera.”
• Nat King Cole was a jazz pianist turned iconic vocalist, admired for warmth and elegance. His most notable singles include “Unforgettable,” “When I Fall in Love”, “Stardust,” and “Embraceable You.”

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Written for the film Captain Carey, U.S.A., “Mona Lisa” became a pop standard through Nat King Cole’s velvet phrasing and lush orchestration. The song’s lyric compares a lover’s mystery to da Vinci’s famous portrait, evoking themes of beauty and enigma. Cole’s interpretation is understated yet deeply expressive, with long, flowing lines that glide over a rich string backdrop. The arrangement by Nelson Riddle creates a halo of sound—soft winds, shimmering strings—that frames the voice like a painting in its gallery.

Initially released as a B-side, the song quickly captured hearts, topping charts and earning an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Today, “Mona Lisa” endures as a classic of mid-century elegance, a musical portrait that invites listeners to linger on its quiet question: what lies behind the smile?

AT A GLANCE

Title: Pictures at an Exhibition
By: Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881), arr. Maurice Ravel
Composed: 1922
Length: 44 minutes

Instrumentation: 3 flutes (two doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling English horn), 2 clarinets + bass clarinet, 2 bassoons + contrabassoon, alto saxophone, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, chimes, cymbals, glockenspiel, ratchet, snare drum, tambourine, tam-tam, triangle, whip, xylophone), harp, celeste, and strings

Previous CSGB performances:
2001 April
2008 October

ABOUT THE COMPOSER, MODEST MUSSORGSKY

• Russian composer
• Took piano lessons from his mother
• Joined the army at a very young age but still pursued his music
• Wrote Pictures at an Exhibition for solo piano in just a few weeks
• Never got to hear Ravel’s popular orchestration of the piece for full orchestra

ABOUT THE ARTIST, VIKTOR HARTMANN

• Painter and architect
• Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg, Russia
• First started working by illustrating books
• Often based his paintings on Russian folk stories and traditions
• Died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm at age 39
• Over 400 of his works were organized and displayed in a memorial exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1874

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Modest Mussorgsky wrote this famous suite of music after the sudden death of his artist friend Viktor Hartmann. The piece represents the composer entering an art gallery and walking, sometimes slowly and sometimes rather quickly and heavily, between Hartmann’s various pictures. Each movement of the suite depicts one of the artworks, along with a recurring musical “Promenade” theme appearing throughout. Originally written for piano, the version of Pictures at an Exhibition you’ll hear today was arranged for orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel in 1922.

The trumpet introduces the “Promenade” melody at the very start of the suite. This theme reappears several times between movements – listen for the different variations of mood, tempo, and key each time you hear it.

fun fact: The complete title of the piece is “Pictures at an Exhibition – A Remembrance of Viktor Hartmann.”

TRANSLATION

The first movement of Pictures at an Exhibition, Gnomus [Latin for The Gnome], is a word derived from the Greek genomus, meaning earth-dweller. This term is used to label a little, ageless spirit who is very old, wrinkled, and lives underground.

ARTWORK

The movement is based on Hartmann’s sketch of a wooden gnome with large teeth, running on crooked legs. This work of art was lost, so we don’t know what it really looked like. The photo here shows one of Hartmann’s costume designs for the evil wizard in Mikhail Glinka’s opera Russian and Ludmilla.

MUSIC (length = 2:30)

• Jagged rhythms, dissonance, and surprising dynamics evoke a grotesque, lurching gnome.
• Abrupt melody fragments imitate the creature’s frantic motions.
• The second section contains a creepy descending line with a scary, dissonant sound.
• Listen for alternating low and high pitches in the third section.
• The final part is loud and threatening, interrupted by snippets from the first section.

TRANSLATION

After a slow and quiet “Promenade” variation featuring the horns and woodwinds, Il Vecchio Castello [Italian for The Old Castle] is the second movement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Listen after this movement for a louder variation of the “Promenade” using full orchestra.

ARTWORK

This movement is inspired by a watercolor or architectural drawing by Viktor Hartmann depicting a medieval Italian castle along with a traveling musician, known as a troubadour, singing a song.

MUSIC (length = 4:30)

The music evokes a sense of loneliness and melancholy. Bassoon is used to introduce the picture, setting a somber mood. The troubadour is portrayed by a solo alto saxophone. Muted strings provide a lute-like accompaniment, further enhancing the medieval feel.

fun fact: A mute is a small device string players put on the bridge of their instrument to soften & dampen the sound.

TRANSLATION

The third movement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is Tuileries (Dispute d’enfants après jeux) [French for Tuileries (Children’s Quarrel After Games)]. The Tuileries Garden is a real place, created in 1564 as part of the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France. The garden eventually became a public park and remains a popular place for both Parisians and tourists.

ARTWORK

The movement is based on Hartmann’s now lost crayon drawing depicting a swarm of children and nurses in the garden of the Tuileries. The artwork shown here are Edouard Manet’s paintings titled “Children in the Tuileries” (top photo) and “Music in the Tuileries” (bottom photo).

MUSIC (length = 0:55)

The music of this movement is very fast-paced and energetic, with an opening woodwind melody imitating children taunting each other and frolicking in the garden. The piece suddenly slows down in the middle, as if the children are being scolded, before finishing like it began, with the children resuming their games.

fun fact: At the very beginning of each concert, the oboe gives the tuning note (A) to the orchestra.

TRANSLATION

Bydło [Polish for cattle] is the fourth movement of Pictures at an Exhibition. Sometimes the English translation of this movement is simply called “Cattle” and sometimes it is labeled “Ox Cart.”

ARTWORK

While the artwork does not survive, Hartmann’s watercolor depicted a peasant wagon with huge wooden wheels being drawn by oxen. The photo shown here is Roas Bonheur’s painting “Oxen Pulling a Cart.”

MUSIC (length = 3:20)

This movement is strikingly different from the one before it. There is a heavy march-like tone set by the bass in the beginning, and then you’ll hear a sad melody played by euphonium. While listening to the slow, ominous music, imagine a large cart being pulled by slow-moving cattle and driven by an exhausted peasant.

fun fact: Ravel wrote the high solo for the smaller French C Tuba, but most orchestras today use euphonium.

TRANSLATION

The fifth movement of Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky is titled Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques [French for Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks].

ARTWORK

The music was inspired by Viktor Hartmann’s watercolor costume sketch of canary chicks for the 1870 ballet Trilby by Marius Petipa and Yuli Gerber. The exhibition catalogue described the sketch: “Canary chicks, enclosed in eggs as in suits of armor. Instead of headdress, canary heads put on like helmets down to the neck.”

MUSIC (length = 1:20)

The music depicts the energy and activities of the chicks as they hatch. A quick tempo with a fun use of dissonance outlines the visual realization of that part of the ballet. The piccolo, flutes, clarinets, oboes, and bassoons along with the violins playfully voice the chicks’ antics. Listen for lots of quick grace notes in the woodwinds and pizzicato notes in the strings.

fun fact: A grace note is an extra note added as an embellishment to the melody line.

ARTWORK

The sixth movement of Pictures at an Exhibition is Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle [Yiddish names of two men]. The alternate title of this piece is “Two Polish Jews, Rich and Poor.” The music is likely based on two separate portraits that Hartmann had given to Mussorgsky.

MUSIC (length = 2:30)

There are two distinct themes in this movement. The first melody, played by the strings, is very serious and smooth, portraying the rich man, Samuel Goldenberg. The second theme, played by a muted piccolo trumpet, portrays the shaking poor man, Schmuÿle. Later, the orchestra plays the two themes at the same time, as if the two men are having a conversation.

TRANSLATION

Limoges. Le marché (La grande nouvelle) [French for Limoges. The Market (The Great News)] is the seventh movement in Pictures at an Exhibition. Limoges is a city in central France. Mussorgsky originally provided two paragraphs in French that described a marketplace discussion as the “great news,” but later crossed them out in the manuscript.

ARTWORK

The original painting that inspired the fast-paced music has been lost, but shown here are some sketches of the market drawn by Hartmann.

MUSIC (length = 1:30)

A friend of Mussorgsky, Vladimir Stasov, described the music as “the crowd shrieking, disputing, chattering, and quarreling in the marketplace.” The strings scamper as if people are rushing around to the different booths. The brass and percussion punctuate the music, imitating people arguing and gossiping in the market. The movement is a playful scherzo in ABA form, plus a coda that leads directly into the next movement.

fun fact: The concertmaster is the principal (or first chair) first violin player in an orchestra.

TRANSLATION

The eighth movement of Pictures at an Exhibition has two parts: Catacombæ (Sepulcrum Romanum) [Latin for Catacombs (Roman tomb)] and Con mortuis in lingua mortua [Latin for With the Dead in a Dead Language]. A long time ago in Paris, cemeteries became overcrowded and unsanitary, so they moved many remains to abandoned mine shafts under the city. Visitors to Paris can tour some sections of the catacombs, which is the burial site for millions of Parisians.

ARTWORK

This painting is a type of self-portrait, showing Viktor Hartmann, fellow architect Vasily Kenel, and a guide holding a lantern, underneath the streets of Paris in the catacombs.

MUSIC (length = 1:50 + 2:30)

The opening music is very stark with sudden exclamations from the brass fading away like echoes in the caverns of the catacombs. Later, the Promenade theme appears again, but this time, instead of functioning as a link between movements of the suite, the melody is a thoughtful and moving homage to Mussorgsky’s friend Hartmann.

fun fact: A tremolo is a rapid repetition of a note (or between two different notes), making a trembling effect.

TRANSLATION

The ninth movement of Pictures at an Exhibition is La Cabane sure des pattes de poule (Baba Yaga) [French for The Hut on Hen’s Legs]. In Russian, “Baba” means grandmother or old woman. In fairy tales, the Baba Yaga was a witch who lived deep in the forest in her hut which could move from place to place on chicken legs.

ARTWORK

Hartmann’s drawing depicted an intricate bronze clock in the form of Baba Yaga’s hut on hen’s legs.

MUSIC (length = 3:40)

The movement is in ABA form, starting with a quick scherzo, followed by a slow middle section, and then a repeat of the first section. There are pounding octaves, moving in chromatic and zigzagging motions. Listen and you’ll hear the bells of a large clock, knocking sounds, and the whirlwind of a chase. A short coda leads directly into the last movement of the suite.

fun fact: The scherzo is marked “fėroce” which means fierce in French. The witch is fierce, just like the music!

TRANSLATION

The final movement of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is titled La grande porte de Kiev [French for The Great Gate of Kiev}.

ARTWORK

Viktor Hartmann created his painting in response to an assassination attempt of Tsar Alexander II. To celebrate the tsar’s survival, many patriotic Russians began building new churches and other public buildings. Hartmann hoped that his design, which was filled with symbols of Russian nationalism, would be used in one of these new buildings.

MUSIC (length = 5:30)

The music Mussorgsky wrote for this painting is very showy and majestic, full of Russian nationalism, and easily the most famous movement of Pictures at an Exhibition. Listening to the music, you can imagine a grand march through the ornate gates. The music begins loudly and then fades as if the procession is far away, only to grow again in volume when the piece reaches its grand conclusion.

fun fact: Although Viktor Hartmann won a national contest with his painting, the structure was never built.