What inspires a composer to compose? Come experience how film, nostalgic prose, a birthday gift, and Renaissance frescoes inspired Copland, Barber, Wagner and Respighi.
The curtain rises with music from three films scored by Aaron Copland: The City, Our Town and Of Mice and Men. Then The Symphonia performs Samuel Barber’s richly textured lyric rhapsody, “Knoxville: Summer of 1915.” It is a setting for soprano and orchestra of a text by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Agee, which offers a nostalgic look at his hometown of Knoxville.
Next up is “Siegfried Idyll,” a birthday gift to Cosima Wagner from her famous husband. She was the inspiration for the work and its first audience.
In the final work, we will hear Respighi’s musical descriptions bring to life three paintings by the inimitable Sandro Botticelli.
The women in music we celebrate in this program include Cosima Wagner; Venus, the goddess of love; and our remarkable soprano soloist, Robyn Marie Lamp.
AARON COPLAND
Music for Movies
- SAMUEL BARBER
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 - RICHARD WAGNER
Siegfried Idyll - OTTORINO RESPIGHI
Trittico Botticelliano
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