March 8, 2026
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Explore the MusicCurious to hear the music before you attend?
Take a listen to these recommended recordings, collected on a playlist by our Music Director! |
Background Information
Paul Dukas: Fanfare pour précéder "La Péri”
French Romantic composer Paul Dukas wrote his final published work, a ballet titled La Péri (The Fairy) in 1912. Despite spending his entire life in Paris as a highly respected composer and teacher, studying at the prestigious Paris Conservatory with his close friend and widely recognizable composer Claude Debussy, Dukas was very self-conscious and lacked any confidence in his musical compositions. In fact, he destroyed many of them, of those remaining, he only allowed few to be published.
La Péri escaped the destruction by the intervention of Dukas’ friends, who believed wholeheartedly in its quality. True to our theme of romanticism, the one-act ballet La Péri was based on a Persian folk story of a prince who sets out in search of a lotus, the flower of immortality, and falls in love with a sleeping fairy. As a means to gather the attention of the boisterous audiences of the early 1900s theatre and opera scenes, Dukas wrote this brass fanfare to precede the opera as a last-minute addition to the score.
The fanfare calls for an array of brass forces: three trumpets, four horns, three trombones, and tuba. At first, the sections act as units, with trumpets and trombones alternating articulate gestures with the horns. Soon, however, a more lyrical second theme emerges with the full brass choir blending and moving together before the short fanfare drives to a glorious finish.
La Péri escaped the destruction by the intervention of Dukas’ friends, who believed wholeheartedly in its quality. True to our theme of romanticism, the one-act ballet La Péri was based on a Persian folk story of a prince who sets out in search of a lotus, the flower of immortality, and falls in love with a sleeping fairy. As a means to gather the attention of the boisterous audiences of the early 1900s theatre and opera scenes, Dukas wrote this brass fanfare to precede the opera as a last-minute addition to the score.
The fanfare calls for an array of brass forces: three trumpets, four horns, three trombones, and tuba. At first, the sections act as units, with trumpets and trombones alternating articulate gestures with the horns. Soon, however, a more lyrical second theme emerges with the full brass choir blending and moving together before the short fanfare drives to a glorious finish.
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Overture to L’Amant anomyne
Also a target of manuscript destruction, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges wrote a total of six operas, and L’Amant anomyne is the only surviving to present day. This, however, was not self-inflicted. Despite being well-known during his life as a fencing master, military commander, virtuoso violinist, conductor, and globally successful composer, many of his successes (and the compositions themselves) were lost following his death. Some attribute this to the changes in Classical taste following the French Revolution, but the racial and social injustices resulting Saint-Georges status as a Black man and illegitimate son of nobility undoubtedly contributed.
L’Amant anomyne translates to “The Anonymous Lover.” The story is an 1823 comic opera by Stéphanie-Félicité du Crest de Genlis, a love triangle with a bit of a twist – the three-part affair includes only two people. Léontine is a beautiful young widow of the nobility who has been courted for many years entirely via love letters from an anonymous admirer, who is slowly and charmingly revealed to be her dear friend from the lower-ranking “new money” class, Valcour. The opera ends with a double wedding, celebrating the love of nobles and peasants alike.
L’Amant anomyne translates to “The Anonymous Lover.” The story is an 1823 comic opera by Stéphanie-Félicité du Crest de Genlis, a love triangle with a bit of a twist – the three-part affair includes only two people. Léontine is a beautiful young widow of the nobility who has been courted for many years entirely via love letters from an anonymous admirer, who is slowly and charmingly revealed to be her dear friend from the lower-ranking “new money” class, Valcour. The opera ends with a double wedding, celebrating the love of nobles and peasants alike.
Antonin DvoRák: Serenade for Strings, op. 22
Antonin Dvorák wrote his beautiful Serenade for Strings in less than two weeks in 1875, at the height of the Romantic Era of classical music, and to this day it is one of his most popular and frequently performed works. A complete performance of the five short movements lasts roughly twelve minutes, less total time than the second movement alone of his famous violin concerto. As an appetizer for this masterpiece of Romantic string music, today’s concert includes only the first movement, titled simply “Moderato.”
Dvorák was in an exceptionally positive period of his life when he composed this work, having recently married his childhood love, celebrated the birth of their first son, and won a national prize to fund his continued composition career. His optimism pervades the work, in written in a cheery E Major. The movement’s opening melody winds gracefully toward a second theme, a more bouncy and gentle G Major gallop, before returning to the first theme in a simple arc form.
The first movement begins with a flowing melody in the second violins, a feature of the middle string voices that continues throughout the movement. This melodic range focus on the lower violin, viola, and upper cello allows for upper violin lines to float and sprinkle effects without constantly needing to carry the melody and tastefully invites the lower octave of the basses to be fully independent from their cello counterparts. In true serenade, chamber music style, all parts are created equally, without hierarchy based on range.
Dvorák was in an exceptionally positive period of his life when he composed this work, having recently married his childhood love, celebrated the birth of their first son, and won a national prize to fund his continued composition career. His optimism pervades the work, in written in a cheery E Major. The movement’s opening melody winds gracefully toward a second theme, a more bouncy and gentle G Major gallop, before returning to the first theme in a simple arc form.
The first movement begins with a flowing melody in the second violins, a feature of the middle string voices that continues throughout the movement. This melodic range focus on the lower violin, viola, and upper cello allows for upper violin lines to float and sprinkle effects without constantly needing to carry the melody and tastefully invites the lower octave of the basses to be fully independent from their cello counterparts. In true serenade, chamber music style, all parts are created equally, without hierarchy based on range.
Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 2, “Romantic"
American composer Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2 was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930. At this time in music composition, the Romantic Era was long gone. The Swing Era – complete with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman – was in its infancy. Public demand was for music that was accessible and populist, like Aaron Copland’s jazz influence and Florence Price’s folk inspirations. In the more true “art music” realm, modernism was en vogue, with composers like Walter Piston and Ruth Crawford Seeger pushing the boundaries of tonality and rhythmic complexity to emphasize new formal structures and harmonic dissonance.
In this musical environment, Hanson presented a blatantly neo-Romantic (“new Romantic”) symphony, complete with lush tonal harmonies, cinematic scoring, and a self-reflective cyclical journey with melodies that return throughout each movement. He includes what sound as if they could be Easter eggs to fellow composers and styles of earlier eras. The first movement includes a heartbeat timpani, much like Johannes Brahms used in his Symphony No. 1. The second movement opens with a simple Scandanavian folk tune, and the third begins with shimmering treble ribbons of sound that are shockingly similar to those in the opening of Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome.
In this symphony, listen for the second theme of the first movement, a nostalgic melody heard first in the strings with a horn countermelody. Nearly ten minutes after first hearing this melody, it returns in surprising glory as the climax of the second movement, then once again the same melody soars back in the third movement with the once-plaintive horn countermelody now a strong partner in a weaving duet. Hanson himself described this Second Symphony as “a work young in spirit, Romantic in temperament, and simple and direct in expression.”
In this musical environment, Hanson presented a blatantly neo-Romantic (“new Romantic”) symphony, complete with lush tonal harmonies, cinematic scoring, and a self-reflective cyclical journey with melodies that return throughout each movement. He includes what sound as if they could be Easter eggs to fellow composers and styles of earlier eras. The first movement includes a heartbeat timpani, much like Johannes Brahms used in his Symphony No. 1. The second movement opens with a simple Scandanavian folk tune, and the third begins with shimmering treble ribbons of sound that are shockingly similar to those in the opening of Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome.
In this symphony, listen for the second theme of the first movement, a nostalgic melody heard first in the strings with a horn countermelody. Nearly ten minutes after first hearing this melody, it returns in surprising glory as the climax of the second movement, then once again the same melody soars back in the third movement with the once-plaintive horn countermelody now a strong partner in a weaving duet. Hanson himself described this Second Symphony as “a work young in spirit, Romantic in temperament, and simple and direct in expression.”
Pre-Concert Talks
Ready to learn more? Interested to hear about the "behind the scenes" of music selection, rehearsals, and how we bring this music to life?
Join our Music Director Cayla Bellamy-Lanz for a 30-minute pre-concert talk and Q&A session at either of the following:
Join our Music Director Cayla Bellamy-Lanz for a 30-minute pre-concert talk and Q&A session at either of the following:
- Week of March 1, location/date/time TBD
- Sunday, March 8 at 3:15pm in the University Center for the Arts, Boomer A
If you are interested in supporting the orchestra financially, any amount helps us with operating costs for hall rental, music purchase, personnel and guest artist honoraria, and the many things that add up to keep us going. All donations can be received through the Front Range Community College Foundation by selecting “The Dr Ann Yanagi Health & Wellness Orchestra Fund” at the link below.