W. A. Mozart- Concerto in B-flat for Bassoon
A. Vivaldi- Concerto in D minor for Bassoon
L. Milde- Concert Etude No. 39
Margi Griebling-Haigh- Sortilege: Free Variations for Bassoon and Piano
Rachel Koeth, Bassoon
Michael Smith, Piano
Friday, October 28th 2011 3:00 PM Staller Recital Hall
Concerto in B-flat major K. 191 (1774) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)
Allegro
Andante ma Adagio
Rondo: Tempo di Menuetto
Fifty Concert Studies for Bassoon Op. 26 Ludwig Milde
(1849-1913)
39. Adagio
Intermission
Concerto in D minor RV 481 (1717) Antonio Vivaldi
(1678-1741)
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro molto
Sortilege: Free variations Margi Griebling-Haigh
for bassoon and piano (2011) (b.1960)
This is a degree recital. Rachel Koeth is a second year Masters of Music student studying with Mr. Frank Morelli.
Program Notes
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian composer known for his successful and polific career in writing for various genres. His Concerto in B-flat major was written when Mozart was eighteen years old and living in Salzburg. It is orginally intended to be accompanied by two oboes, two French horns, and a string section. This concerto is a standard work for bassoonists worldwide, and frequently requested for orchestral and collegiate auditions. The first movement is structured in sonata form and known for its opening arpeggiating statement. The second movement is lyrical and singing, and later featured in the opera Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) as an aria titled“Porgi Amor” (“Oh love”). The final movement is a repeating form called “Rondo” and is a stylized dance.
Ludwig Milde was born Prague and studied bassoon, composition, and harmony. He played principal bassoon in the Linz opera house, and performed in various symphonies and opera orchestras throughout Bohemia and Austria before returning to Prague. While in Prague, he became the bassoon professor at the Prague Music Academy (1886-1894), and after his retirement, continued to teach and perform. Milde’s studies, Orchesterstudien für Fagott and Akkordzerlegung für Fagott were only fully recognized after World War II in 1945. Milde died in Germany before World War I began. His bassoon studies aim to improve fluency in different key signatures, technicality, musicality, and phrasing.
The Concerto in D minor is one of Antonio Vivaldi's thirty-nine virtuosic bassoon concertos. Out of those concertos, it is the first of two written in the key of D minor. Originally it was written to be accompanied by three string parts, with the bassoon doubling the bass line when there was no solo line. It was Vivaldi who popularized the ritornello form as well as the structure of fast-slow-fast for the three movements of concertos. Throughout his life, he had connections to Pio Ospedale della Pietà, which was one of four Catholic mercy hospitals located in Vienna that cared for abandoned, illegitimate, or distressed girls. Vivaldi was paid to musically train and provide concerts to showcase these girls, and these concertos were likely written for that purpose. While Vivaldi was born in Venice and had a successful career as a composer and violinist, he died penniless in Vienna.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Margi Griebling-Haigh is a composer, oboist and English hornist. She was commissioned by Barrick Stees, the assistant principal bassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra to compose Sortilege. It was premiered by Stees in May 6, 2011 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on a concert titled “Instrument of Enchantment: the Supernatural Bassoon.” This work was requested to fit into the program about hexes, charms, witchcraft and sorcery, and to refer to magic. The piece is written on a cipher for Stees’s name, but the cipher is coded and not easily heard. This piece is one of three of the required pieces for the 2012 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition.