On Sunday, November 21 at 7:00pm, the Arbor Vitae String Quartet presents American Dreams, a program including quartets by Antonin Dvorak, Peter Schickele, and George Walker. Ensemble members are Leanne League (violin I), Xavier Pleindoux (violin II), Jen Clare Paulson (viola), and Eric Miller (cello). Tickets are $15 ($10 students/ALL Members) in advance online at https://arborvitae.bpt.me, and $20 at the door for everyone. Online sales end 2 hours before the performance. Doors open at 6:30pm. Due to the pandemic, capacity will be limited and advance tickets are recommended. Please review ALL's COVID-19 policy.
Members of the Arbor Vitae String Quartet have a diverse experience in performance (with organizations such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society) and a broad background in music education (through the University of Wisconsin System and Madison School District).
The Arbor Vitae String Quartet aims to bring music to life and make connections with the community through original, storytelling programs such as Quartet Quaranteam (feat. music by Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Anton Webern and George Gershwin), Wonder Women (feat. music by Imogen Holst, Florence Price, Caroline Shaw and Fanny Mendelssohn), American Dreams (feat. music by Peter Schickele, George Walker and Antonín Dvořák) and Tree Music (feat. music by Antonín Dvořák, Caroline Shaw and Nordic folk tunes).
Program
Peter Schickele (b. 1935) – String Quartet No. 1, “American Dreams” (1983)
I. Opening Diptych
II. Four Studies
III. Music at Dawn
IV. Dance Music
V. Closing Diptych
Composer, performer, recording artist, radio host Peter Schickele was born in Iowa, studied composition at The Juilliard School of Music and with Darius Milhaud, and is internationally recognized as one of the most versatile artists in the field of music. One of the great satirists of the 20th century, Schickele is the sole discoverer of work by the mythical Baroque composer P.D.Q. Bach, and earned the Grammy award for Best Comedy Album every year from 1989 to 1992. Schickele’s works, well in excess of 100 pieces, have given him “a leading role in the ever-more-prominent school of American composers who unselfconsciously blend all levels of American music” (John Rockwell, music critic for The New York Times).
Of his First Quartet, Schickele wrote, “There are several kinds of American music echoed in the quartet, but they are usually transformed, or combined, or interrupted, or given a feeling of distance; hence the subtitle ‘American Dreams.’ The material is almost all original, the only actual quotes occur in the fourth movement—but the influence of the various folk styles pervades the whole work.” The pastoral piece evokes distant images of rural America through an adventurous combination of fiddle tunes, jazz, and Appalachian folk elements over waltzing basslines, rustic melodies, sustained harmonics, and energetic syncopations.
George Walker (1922-2018) – Lyric for Strings (1946)
With a career lasting seven decades, George Walker was an American compositional giant and one of the most decorated and revered composers in American history. He was the first African American graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music and the first African American composer to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He was the first African American instrumentalist to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra as the soloist for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and the first African American artist to sign with a major artist management company. In 1996, Walker was the first African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music in recognition of his composition Lilacs for voice and orchestra.
Composed when Walker was only 24 years old, Lyric for Strings has become one of the most widely performed pieces of twentieth century music. First conceived as the middle movement of his first string quartet, Lyric’s popularity prompted Walker to create a version for string orchestra. The sound, structure, and instrumentation of the piece being perhaps inspired by the famous Adagio for Strings composed by Walker’s Curtis Institute classmate Samuel Barber in 1936, it fluidly and dramatically alternates between lush harmonies and stark solo passages, which display the range of sounds possible in the string quartet.
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) – String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, “American” (1893)
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Lento
III. Molto vivace
IV. Finale: Vivace ma non troppo
In 1892, the American philanthropist Jeannette Thurber persuaded Czech composer Antonín Dvořák to head her newly formed National Conservatory of Music in New York City for three years. Within a year, Dvořák had composed his Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” which according to the composer was influenced by the African American spirituals he was exposed to.
Directly after composing the “New World” Symphony, Dvořák took a long summer holiday in 1893 in the Czech community of Spillville, Iowa. Amidst nature and his countrymen, Dvořák overflowed with musical ideas. Within 3 days, he sketched out his entire String Quartet No. 12, later nicknamed the “American.” Reflecting on his stay in Iowa he later noted, “As for my new symphony, the F major string quartet and the quintet […], I should never have written these works ‘just so’ if I hadn’t seen America.”