Programs

Written by Lillian Hellman (libretto) and Leonard Bernstein (music), Candide is an operetta based on Voltaire’s eponymous philosophical tale, published in 1759, and premiered on Broadway in 1956. The story serves as a critique of philosophical movements of the time, featuring several characters including Candide, an illegitimate child nicknamed “the optimist”; his cousin and love interest Cunegonde, the main character of the narrative; Martin, Candide’s travel companion; and Pangloss, the philosophy teacher of both Candide and Cunegonde.

From the very first notes of its Overture, Bernstein skillfully introduces the main themes and melodies that run throughout the work. While the stage production was not warmly received at its premiere, Bernstein’s music immediately caught the attention of critics. Fortunately, less than a month later, the Overture was performed at a concert by the New York Philharmonic, and since then, this brilliant piece has continued to resonate in the world’s greatest concert halls

A prolific 20th-century French composer, Jean Françaix (1912–1997) devoted a significant portion of his work to wind instruments. In his youth, he crossed paths with several prominent composers of the time, including Nadia Boulanger, Maurice Ravel, Henri Tomasi, Igor Stravinsky, and Francis Poulenc— all of whom left a strong imprint on his compositional style. Françaix wrote over two hundred works, ranging from concert music (chamber works, concertos, oratorios, operas) to film scores.
L’Heure du berger, composed in 1947 first for strings and later adapted for winds and piano, paints whimsical scenes from a Parisian café of the same name — one that evokes the spirit of the Belle Époque. The distinctive personalities of the Pine-up Girls, the Petits nerveux, and the Beaux vieux are cleverly portrayed through Françaix’s writing, which, though at times sensual, remains irresistibly humorous throughout.

George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess (1935), based on the play Porgy by Dorothy and DuBose Heyward, stands as one of the most significant lyrical works in the American 20th-century repertoire. The opera tells the story of the harsh lives of African Americans living in the fictional neighborhood of Catfish Row, South Carolina, during the early 1930s. It features four main characters: Porgy, a crippled Black beggar; Bess, the woman he loves; Crown, Bess’s violent lover; and Sportin’ Life, a drug dealer who tries to lure Bess into a life of vice and prostitution.

With this work, Gershwin created what many consider a lyrical masterpiece, skillfully blending European orchestral techniques with American jazz and popular music of the time. Since its premiere, the opera’s popularity has far transcended the boundaries of the classical stage, thanks in large part to its iconic aria Summertime, which has been interpreted by some of the greatest jazz voices of the 20th century.

Written in 1924 for solo piano and jazz ensemble, then re-orchestrated by Ferde Grofé for symphony orchestra in 1942, Rhapsody in Blue stands among the most iconic works in the repertoire, beautifully blending the best of jazz and the symphonic world. It is without a doubt Gershwin’s most popular composition, one that played a key role in establishing his reputation as a major American composer. There is no question that Disney’s adaptation of this Rhapsody in the feature film Fantasia 2000 has helped sustain its popularity nearly a century after its creation.

Summer Music, by Samuel Barber, fully belongs to the tradition of atmospheric nocturnal music. While one may occasionally hear echoes of Ravel — or even Bartók — the rhythmic language remains distinctly American. Summer Music was composed between 1955 and 1956, during the period when Barber was working on his first large-scale opera, Vanessa. Perhaps one can catch glimpses of melodic outpourings that might have emerged from that same creative well? It’s hard to say: Barber was, above all, a melodist — a trait beautifully highlighted by the rhapsodic flights and more modern harmonic explorations in the work.

To reveal the seriousness that underlies the piece — light, but never trivial — its single-movement form reflects the pleasure that intellect can bring to refined entertainment.