Abilene Philharmonic Playbill: October 28, 1975 Page: 4
6 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this pamphlet.
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THE ABILENE PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION
Twenty-Sixth Season First Subscription Concert Tuesday, October 28, 1975
MARTHA PENDER, Soprano
PROGRAM
OUTDOOR OVERTURE ________ Aaron Copland (1900- )
Those who have heard and observed Aaron Copland in his guest appearances with the
New York Philharmonic Youth Concerts are aware of his capacity for communication with
large groups and of his interest in clear and succinct approaches to the educative process.
During the mid-1930s, Copland, along with other American composers, felt the need to
turn toward more direct communication with the people. His method was to utilize more
folk idioms, write more functional music and turn to production of books, such as Bur New
Music. The Outdoor Overture, dated variously from 1938 to 1941 and written for both
bands and orchestras, was a product of the utilitarian or "gebrauchsmusik" ideal. It was
first written for the orchestra of the High School of Music and Art in New York City.
UMBRIAN SCENE __________________ - _----_ Ulysses Kay (1917- )
Umbrian Scene was commissioned by Edward B. Benjamin for performance by the New
Orleans Philharmonic Symphony in 1964. The composer has stated the following regard-
ing the work:
The invitation of Mr. Benjamin to compose a work for performance by the New Orleans
Philharmonic was a joy and a challenge - a challenge because the piece wanted was
to be of symphonic proportions, ten to twelve minutes in length, and quiet or restful
in mood. However, several themes of a quiet nature had been in my notebook for a
long time and I began, in May 1963, to think about them. While I was clear about the
mood of the piece, I found it difficult to imagine the scope or form of the piece, even
though the materials themselves led toward a quiet, incantational type of work.
Then suddenly, in September, the idea I needed came to me. I remembered
the wonder and magic I had felt while I attended the Festival of Sacred Music near
Perugia, Italy, in the fall of 1950. I recalled the antiphonal instrumental music, the
glorious choral singing there in the old chapels of Umbria, an ancient district of Italy,
comprised of the provinces of Perugia and Terni. I thought of my visits to the historic
towns of Arezzo, Assisi and Narni - of the rugged hills and beautiful valleys of the
terrain. And so - came the inspiration for writing my Umbrian Scene, as an evocation
of the wonderful time I spent in that part of Italy.
Ulysses Kay was born in Tucson, Arizona. He studied at the Eastman School of Music
and at Yale where he worked with Paul Hindemith. He has been the recipient of numerous
awards, including the Prix de Rome on two occasions, and has produced commissioned
works for several major orchestras.
DECORATION DAY ____________ __--________ Charles Ives (1874-1954)
By the end of the third quarter of the twentieth century, the figure of Charles Ives continues
to emerge as one of the titans of music in the century, even though his major work was
completed by the time America entered World War I. His old friend, Henry Cowell, writes
that the period of eight years from 1910 was one in which Ives not only devoted strenuous
attention to his insurance business in New York, but threw his energies as well into com-
position and produced an enormous number of his best works. Decoration Day, the second
movement of his Holidays Symphony, was composed in 1912-13. The other movements
were entitled Washington's Birthday, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving Day.
Lives drew strongly from the experiences of his youth in New England in the imagery for his
compositions. He also utilized all kinds of melodic material with which he had been as-
sociated - hymns, marches, school songs, the songs of sentiment of the late nineteenth
century. Many of his scores are accompanied by a short essay, or some descriptive note.
The following accompanies the score of Decoration Day:
In the early morning the gardens and woods about the village are the meeting places
of those who, with tender memories and devoted hands, gather the flowers for the
Day's Memorial. During the forenoon as the people join each other on the Green
there is felt at times a fervency and intensity - a shadow, perhaps, of the fanatical
harshness - reflecting old Abolitionist days. It is a day as Thoreau suggests, when
there is a pervading consciousness of "Nature's kinship with the lower order - man".
After the Town Hall is filled with the Spring's harvest of lilacs, daisies and peonies,
the parade is slowly formed on Main Street. First come the three Marshalls on plough
horses (going side-ways); then the Warden and Burgesses in carriages, the village
Cornet Band, the G. A. R., two by two, the Militia (Company G), while the volunteer
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Abilene Philharmonic. Abilene Philharmonic Playbill: October 28, 1975, pamphlet, October 1975; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623143/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Philharmonic.