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You don’t have to be Italian to enjoy

An Evening in Old Italy

with the

 Contra Costa Wind Symphony

Bring your friends. Stroll along with us on an enchanting tour in music and story told by Shellie Award winning actor Scott Koepf.

Enjoy the romantic sounds of the accordion and others in the singular appearance of a very special group, I Gondolieri Musicisti.

Marvel over the melodious beauty of the cello as played by gifted guest artist Gregory Colburn.

Be dazzled by selections--ranging from O Sole Mio to Nessun Dorma---played by the 70 talented musicians of the Contra Costa Wind Symphony in this lively salute to the splendors of Italy.

And, be thrilled over composer Johan de Meij’s Casanova, . . .a portrait in music of the adventurous life of this illustrious character . . . and a musical homage to opera’s Giacomo Puccini.

So, put aside the pizza and polenta for now. Prepare to settle back. Get ready to savor the music of Il Belpaese, the Beautiful Country.

PROGRAM

(Click on titles/composers for program notes and bios)


Scossa Elettrica ..................................... Giacomo Puccini / Arr. Charles Yates

Nessun Dorma .................................... Giacomo Puccini / Arr. R. van Beringen

Come Back To Sorrento ...................................................... Ernesto De Curtis

I Gondolieri Musicisti

Casanova .................................................................................. Johan de Meij

Cello Soloist: Gregory Colburn

Prologo - Il tema di Messer Grande (Prologue–the Messer Grande theme)
Cadenza-Atto di Presentazione (Cadenza – Casanova presents himself)
La Vita a Corte (Court life)
L'Arresto di Casanova (Casanova's arrest)
Reminiscenze (Reveries)
L'Evasione dai Piombi (Escape from the Piombi prison)
M.M. e C.C. (M.M. and C.C.)
Finale e Stretto (Love's triumph)

La Forza Del Destino (Overture) .......... Giuseppe Verdi / Arr. Franco Cesarini

O Sole Mio ....................................................................... Eduardo Di Capua

I Gondolieri Musicisti

Dance Of The Hours (from La Gioconda) .......... A. Poncielli / Arr. Alfred Reed

Funiculi-Funicula Rhapsody ................................... Luigi Denza / Arr. Yo Goto

Scossa Elettrica ----

Scossa Elettrica [“electric shock”] is a vigourous march written in 1899 for an international convention of telegraphists to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Alessandro Volta’s “pile”. The pile was a column of dissimilar metals bathed in an electrolytic solution. It was an early method to store electricity: in essence, the first battery.

The Theatre Sociale was renovated and equipped with the most modern system of electrical lighting for the celebration. Puccini was asked to compose special music. He wrote Scossa Elettrica – Marcetta Brillante, for the piano in the Italian spirit. The piece was scored for band by Charles Yates.

Volta’s name is the source for the word “volt,” the basic differential measure of electrical potential. [One volt is the electrical potential that will cause one ampere of current to flow through one ohm of resistance.] Volta’s pile device evolved into the batteries that made the telegraph possible. “So here you have the little bit of rubbish!” wryly wrote Puccini. “May the sound of this little march hasten the telegraphists to their retirement.”
{Back to Program}

Nessun Dorma ----

The song is originally Calaf's aria from the opera Turandot. Note that Puccini died in 1924, before he finished Turandot. The Italian author Franco Alfano finished it, and it opened in 1926. One translation of the lyrics:

No one shall sleep!
No one shall sleep!
You too, oh Prince,
In your cold room, watch the stars
Trembling with love and hope!

But my secret lies hidden within me,
No one shall discover my name!
Oh no, I will only reveal it on your lips
When daylight shines forth!

And my kiss shall break
The silence that makes you mine!

[Choir:]
No one shall discover her name!
And we will, alas, have to die, to die!

Depart, oh night!
Set, you stars!
Set, you stars!
At dawn I shall win!
I shall win! I shall win!

Nessun Dorma has been sung by countless artists, including The Three Tenors – Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Joseph Carreras. The piece is found on many motion picture soundtracks, including Chasing Liberty, Man On Fire, The Sea Inside, Bend it like Beckham, The Sum of All Fears, Recess: School's Out, Very Annie Mary, House!, No One Sleeps, The Guilty, Shadow Conspiracy, The Mirror has Two Faces, The Lame Pigeon, Boxing Helena, Toys, New York Stories, Castaway, The Witches of Eastwick, Boy Meets Girl, The Killing Fields, Yes, Georgio, Serenade and His Butler's Sister to name but a few. {Back to Program}

Come Back To Sorrento ----

In 1902, Ernesto De Curtis, along with his brother GianBattista, wrote the song Torna a Surriento ("Come Back to Sorrento "). It became one of the most famous Neapolitan songs ever written. Sounding like a love song, it actually pleas for President Giuseppe Zanardelli to live up to campaign promises made during a local visit. At the time the Sorrento roads were terrible, the local services did not work and the houses were shoddy. The song implores the President to recall the local beauty and to "come back to Sorrento " after fulfilling his promises. It was later made famous by Dean Martin who sang most of the verses in Italian.

One translation:

See the enchant of this sea,
Bars of tender passion sighing
Like thy heart to which go flying,
All my thoughts in wakeful dream.

See this lovely dewy garden,
Breathing orange perfumed greetings;
Naught can set my heart a-beating,
Like the fragrance of its bloom.

Now I hear that thou must leave me,
Thou and my heart soon be parted
Can'st though leave the land of love?
Will thou never more return?

Then say not “goodbye”
Don't give me such a torment
Come back to Sorrento, or I will die.

See the waters of Sorrento
They hide treasures in their depths
None will ever see
Such waters anywhere else.

Look around you, the sirens
Staring jealously at thee,
But they love thee so much
They wish they could kiss thee.

Now I hear that thou must leave me,
Thou and my heart soon be parted
Can'st though leave the land of love?
Will thou never more return?

Then say not “goodbye”
Don't give me such a torment
Come back to Sorrento, or I will die.   {Back to Program}

Casanova ----

(The following notes were written by the composer)

The composition CASANOVA is a musical portrait of Giacomo Casanova who lived from 1725 to 1798. This illustrious character, represented by the violoncello, takes shape by means of eight musical scenes. The events concentrate on some of the most striking episodes from Casanova's adventurous life: his arrest, his captivity and his escape from the ill-famed Piombi prison in Venice. By composing this work, two of my long-lived dreams came true. First of all, I wanted to write a musical homage to one of my favourite composers, Giacomo Puccini. Secondly, for many years I have had the intention to compose a substantial work for violoncello and winds.
 
CASANOVA was commissioned by the Dutch Music Foundation  Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst at the request of the symphonic band Sint Michaël of Thorn and it is dedicated to the band's conductor Heinz Friesen.
 
Soloist Roeland Duijne gave the official world premiere performance on 2 April 2000 at the Vredenburg Concert Hall in Utrecht. In August 1999, CASANOVA was awarded the First Prize at the Corciano International Composition Contest in Italy.
 
Background information about CASANOVA:

CASANOVA is a musical tribute to the great Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini. I have always wondered why Puccini never considered writing an opera based on the adventurous life of his fellow countryman. It appears that Puccini's favourite themes such as love, passion, intrigue and treason are to be found everywhere in Casanova's memoirs.
 
Even so far as their private lives are concerned, many striking similarities are found: Puccini's life consisted of a succession of romances and passionate love affairs, though they do not really match the extravagant adventures of our charming Venetian hero. However, it would be totally unfair to describe Casanova as a mere incorrigible womaniser. His voluminous memoirs, entitled History of My Life, clearly demonstrate that he was a quite intelligent and versatile personality, who was a welcome guest of the Italian aristocracy as well as at several European courts. He held several career positions and had many different avocations; at one or other time he was a diplomat, a faith healer, director of the first French Lottery and even probably a spy. He spent the last years of his life writing the already mentioned memoirs and, thanks to his incredible memory, he was able to remember even the smallest details.
 
In-depth study and diligent investigations in dusty archives (a/o. those of J. Rives Childs, the Casanova authority par excellence) revealed that - except for some chronological mistakes - Casanova had given a truthful and clear report of his thrilling adventures and of the tempestuous era in which he lived.

Musical explanation of the eight scenes.

(N.B. The sections described below are not movements, per se. The entire piece is performed without distinct breaks. The numbers shown between brackets correspond to the measures in the score.)
 
I. Prologo – Il Tema di Messer Grande (Prologue – the Messer Grande theme)        
Three powerful minor chords with the brass (b flat, a flat and e minor) build the so-called "Messer Grande theme". Chief of Police Messer Grande was at the service of the Venetian Inquisition and was placed in charge of Casanova's arrest. This arrest was due to some intrigues and vague accusations about our hero's so-called “wicked and libertine way of life”. There is a great similarity between Messer Grande and Scarpia, the cruel chief of police in Puccini's opera Tosca, so the musical thematical similarities are not a mere coincidence. Just like Scarpia or Javert (a character from Les Misérables ), Messer Grande is the bad guy and his musical theme immediately supplies the necessary dramatic tension. The Messer Grande theme changes into the Passion theme (m. 18) with the minor ninth chords that are so typical for Puccini.
 
II. Cadenza – Attos di Presentazione (Cadenza – Casanova presents himself)
Casanova comes to the fore (m. 47) in a solo cadenza for violoncello, the latter constantly being surrounded by varying instrumental combinations. The ardent and seducing sound of his voice becomes more and more passionate...
 
III. La Vita a Corte (Court life)
The third scene (96) depicts a scene at court: the frivolous setting consists of a magnificent ballroom, complete with chandeliers, sumptuous costumes, an abundance of food and drink...and... of course, pretty women galore. The violoncello introduces the Casanova theme (pickup into m. 100) which is soon taken over by the complete orchestra.
 
IV. L'Arresto di Casanova (Casanova's arrest)      
The music comes to an orchestral climax (173) at which the violoncello is overwhelmed by the complete orchestra: Casanova is arrested and transferred to “Il Piombi”, the infamous prison of the Doges' Palace. Casanova's despair and indignation is expressed by the violoncello which descends gradually to its lowest register, while being surrounded by some dark Messer Grande chords with the trombones (pickup into 230). The heavy cell door is softly, but irrevocably, closed (237).
 
V. Reminiscenze (Reveries)   
For quite some time Casanova lies apathetically on his straw mattress in a pitifully cramped cell. During that first night of captivity he is overwhelmed by gloomy thoughts. A pale ray of daybreak light shines through the prison bars (256). Casanova reflects on his adventurous life, while we hear some street sounds in the background (masked dancers and a mandolin serenade). At the same time, he tries to find a trick that will enable him to escape from this hell as quickly as possible. The lamentations of the monk Marino Balbi, imprisoned in the adjacent cell (bassoon solo, 266) draw Casanova's attention. Both men furtively come into contact, and with Balbi's help, an ingenious escape scenario is elaborated.
 
VI. L'Evasione dai Piombi (Escape from the Piombi prison)        
The roof of the prison is covered with lead plates, which explains its nickname. Several percussion effects suggest the destructive activities that will allow our friends to escape from the Piombi via the roof of the prison. The exciting escape is portrayed by nervous sixteenth note passages for the violoncello, surrounded by recurrent themes and finally giving way to the Passion theme (544).
 
VII. M.M. e C.C. (M.M. and C.C.)
A monastery on the nearby isle of Murano is the setting of the next scene. In this convent Casanova has, for some time, a love affair with two of the nuns. Being tactful, Casanova only mentions his mistresses' initials in his memoirs. A sugary tune accompanied by harmonium-like chords played by the clarinets, leads to a climax that turns into the Finale (607) in a very fluent way.
 
VIII. Finale e Stretto: Il Trionfo dell'Amore (Love's triumph)
We hear the Passion theme once more, but this time in a triumphant E major key (653) and after a short, melancholic reminiscence of M.M. and C.C. by the soloist (668), a presto vivace leads to the thrilling conclusion. {Back to Program}

La Forza Del Destino (Overture) ----

The Force of Destiny was written in 1861 as a commission for the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. The premiere had to be cancelled when the principal singer became ill and couldn’t be replaced. It finally opened in November of the following year. Hampered by a plot that placed a curse on the principal characters and left nearly everyone dead, the opera was nonetheless a success. In 1869, Verdi revised the opera to be less depressing. He also included this overture in place of the prelude of the original version. Destiny, personified by the three ominous brass chords at the opening, is pushed forward by a rushing motive heard in the woodwinds. The lyrical melody of a prayer sung by the doomed soprano is incorporated also. Destiny’s force is heard as a strong undercurrent throughout the overture.
 
For Verdi, the overture was an integral component of the drama. It set the tone, comic or tragic, introduced important melodies from the opera itself and sometimes lead directly into the first scene. It was intended to put the listener in the right frame of mind for the drama to follow. Several of Verdi's overtures have taken on lives of their own as concert pieces. La Forza del Destino is undoubtedly the most popular of them.
 
Verdi's intent in the opera was to show that one cannot escape from the travails of the world by retiring to the serenity of a cloister. Chains of events compel his hero to commit repellant acts. This is the Force of Destiny. As in all of Verdi's operas, the music that tells the story combines primitive, earthy, emotional force with directness, clarity, and simplicity. {Back to Program}

O Sole Mio ----

Together with poet Giovanni Capurro, di Capua wrote the song O Sole Mio (in Neapolitan dialect: “Che bella cosa na jurnata il sole”). It has since been recorded by many singers, both classical and popular: Enrico Caruso, Plácido Domingo, The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Royal Philharmonic, Nat King Cole and George Harrison.
{Back to Program}

Dance of the Hours ----

The Dance of the Hours comes from an opera La Gioconda by the Italian composer Amilcare Ponchielli. As famous in his day as Verdi, Ponchielli wrote operas that were produced with great success at La Scala opera house in Milan during the 1870s and 1880s. The Dance of the Hours represents the different times of the day, from the morning, through the daytime and the evening to the night. The writing for orchestra is quite charming, with some particularly lovely woodwind writing.
 
In 1940 The Dance of the Hours was illustrated with an amusing ballet in Disney’s groundbreaking film, Fantasia. Instead of human dancers, villainous crocodiles stalked succulent hippopotami ballerinas.  The choreography produced the inevitable result: gravity squashed appetite. Leopold Stokowski and his associates won Academy Awards for unique achievement in the creation of a new form of visualized music. In its way, Fantasia was the grandfather of MTV.
 
Listeners may also recall the main theme as the melody of the 1963 Alan Sherman hit Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! a lyrical letter home that detailed the horrors of summer camp. {Back to Program}

Funiculi-Funicula Rhapsody ----

Funiculi-Funicula was written by Luigi Denza to celebrate the opening of the new funicular railroad in 1880 that took travelers to the top of Mount Vesuvius. (A funicular is a railroad system for  unusually steep grades. Cables interconnect the cars so that the descending car actually pulls the ascending car up the slope. Mount Vesuvius is a dormant Volcano, except in 79 A.D, when it wasn’t.)
 
Yo Goto’s fantasy arrangement generates excitement with unmuffled percussion and bold fanfares that segue into a proper tarantella and trombone soli. This is a wonderful new fantasy with unexpected twists and turns, from one of Japan’s premier music writers.
{Back to Program}

Composer Bios

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Italian composer of operas. He wrote some of the most popular works in the opera repertory. A descendant of a long line of musicians, he studied piano and organ at his Tuscan birthplace, Lucca and in 1880 entered the Milan Conservatory. He first gained recognition with a one-act opera, Le Villi (1884). His finest operas, Manon Lescaut (1893), La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (produced posthumously in 1926), display his characteristically lyric style and masterful orchestration, evoking strongly dramatic emotional effects. Although the characters in his operas are rather generalized, romantic figures, they come alive through expressive melody. A penchant for exotic settings produced some incongruities in his music, as in La Fanciulla del West (“The Girl of the Golden West”, 1910), and some of his works have been criticized for excessive sentimentality. Wit and dramatic vivacity, however, mark his comic opera Gianni Schicchi (1918), and Puccini has remained, with Verdi, a preeminent master of the Italian operatic stage. {Back to Program}

Ernesto de Curtis (1875-1937)
Ernesto and GianBattista were two brothers who made the name of De Curtis famous in the Neapolitan music scene. Ernesto studied piano with the well-known teacher Vincenzo Valente. He soon showed interest in composition, and his first song, A Prima Vota, was written to lyrics by his brother GianBattista. The partnership flourished, reaching a peak with Come Back to Sorrento that almost became a national song. Ernesto was a fine pianist and accompanist who played for many celebrated singers including Benjamin Gigli. {Back to Program}

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)
Verdi was born in Roncole , Italy , into a family of small landowners and barkeeps. At 7, he was helping the local church organist. At 12, he was studying with the organist in nearby Busseto, where he became the assistant in 1832. A grocer in Busseto saw Verdi’s potential and offered to pay for his education at the Milan Conservatory. The Conservatory rejected him, so he studied privately in Milan for two years, before returning to Busseto to pursue his musical career and to marry the grocer’s daughter. An early opera enjoyed success at La Scala. Between 1838 and 1840, he lost his wife and two children. In despair, he vowed never to compose again. Friends persuaded him to begin writing and his Nabucco in 1842 marked his real beginning of a spectacular career. Hailed as a national hero, Verdi’s talent has made a significant mark in the operatic literature with his operas Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida and Othello. {Back to Program}

Eduardo di Capua (1865 - 1917)
Italian singer and songwriter. He was born in Naples, Italy . Best known for O Solo Mio.
{Back to Program}

Amilcare Ponchielli (1834 - 1886)
Italian composer. Born in what is now Paderno Ponchielli, the young composer studied music at the Milan Conservatoire, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old. Two years after leaving the conservatoire Ponchielli wrote his first opera, I Promessi Sposi, and it was as an opera composer that he found fame. His best known opera, La Gioconda, was produced in 1876.

Although Ponchielli was very popular and influential in his lifetime, his only opera regularly performed today is La Gioconda. It contains The Dance of the Hours, which has become a well known piece in its own right, largely thanks to its use in Walt Disney's 1940 film Fantasia, the 1963 Allan Sherman novelty song, "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" and, to a lesser degree, the 1966 Perrey and Kingsley song, "Countdown To 6." 
{Back to Program}

Alfred Reed (born 1921)
One of America 's most prolific and frequently performed composers, with more than two hundred published works for concert band, wind ensemble, orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensemble to his name. {Back to Program}

Luigi Denza (1846 - 1922)
Italian composer. Denza was born in Castellemmare di Stabia, Italy. He studied music at the Naples Conservatory. Later, he moved to London and became a professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Denza wrote an opera, Wallenstein, and hundreds of songs. {Back to Program}

Yo Goto (born 1958)
Born in Akita, Japan, Goto graduated from the Music Division, Dept. of Education at Yamagata University. He completed his graduate degree, Specialist of Composition, at Tokyo College of Music. He studied with Shinichiro Ikebe and Joju Kaneda.

Goto has composed and arranged much music for the field of education. He has also been active as a music critic and researcher, and is published internationally on topics of music repertoire. Mr. Goto has lecture requests from music educators, conductors, and wind band associations throughout Japan.

Yo Goto's works have been selected as test pieces for the All Japan Band Contest. Original compositions include Impromptu, Quadrille for Band, A Poetry of Breeze, A Prelude to the Shining Day, Lux Aeterna, and WINGS.

Mr. Goto is a board member of the Academic Society for Winds, Percussion and Band, and is an advisor to the Japan Band Clinic Committee. {Back to Program}