Wednesday, May 6, 2015

WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2015

QUOTE:
"A note of music gains significance
 from the silence on either side. "
AUTHOR: Anne Morrow Lindbergh
MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
"It is the silence between the notes
 which creates the movement of music. "







COMPOSER
PROKOFIEV

LIEUTENANT KIJE
SYMPHONIC SUITE OP. 60
(Complete)
George Szell, Conductor
The Cleveland Orchestra
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmIzZ3tAv58
I. The Birth of Kijé
II. Romance
III. Kijé's Wedding
IV. Troika
V. The Burial of Kijé
LIEUTENANT KIJE
SYMPHONIC SUITE OP. 60
(Complete)
With Baritone Voice Part
Harutyun Arzumanyan, Conductor
David Babayants, Baritone
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bCA6nUpRF0
LIEUTENANT KIJE
SYMPHONIC SUITE OP. 60
LISTENING GUIDE
Philharmonia Orchestra
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-qe28e0cWM

LIEUTENANT KIJE
SYMPHONIC SUITE OP. 60
I. Kijé's Birth
Lieutenant Kije, 1st movement, 3rd theme
A soldier, while writing out the
morning orders for the Imperial
majesty Tsar Paul, miscopies
two words, creating a Lieutenant
"Kijé." The Tsar learns of his
"Existence," and issues numerous
orders concerning him. The
palace administrators have no
choice but to carry them out.

A distant and yearning fanfare-
like trumpet call/theme, a theme
that will be repeated throughout
the work, brings on Kijé. This is
followed by a snare drum with a
piccolo offering a second melody
with harmony from the brass con-
firming the military setting. The
theme is light, bright, and lively
and eventually disappears as the
brass take over in the forte mode
with distinct percussion from the
side drum. As the orchestra
subsides we hear a saxophone and
the return of the piccolo playing
the same theme as earlier. It ends
as it began with the distant
 
LIEUTENANT KIJE
SYMPHONIC SUITE OP. 60
II. Romance
  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1scluzlPz0

LIEUTENANT KIJE
SYMPHONIC SUITE OP. 60
II. Romance
(With Voice Part)
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_vJbS_67Lw
With Alternate Baritone Voice Part
Here are the lyric translations:
 
My grey dove is full of sorrow,
he weeps day and night.
His sweetheart has 
flown far away.
 
He no longer coos, 
but only grieves.
From one branch to another 
he flutters

Looking for the arrival of his beloved,
Awaiting her return.

Enough, my heart, be calm,
don’t flutter like a butterfly,
don’t flutter like a butterfly.

Don't be afraid 
to seek luck elsewhere,
to find a new beginning

Enough, my heart, be calm
don’t flutter like a butterfly.

Well, my heart: what have you decided?
Where shall we rest in summer?
Where shall we rest in summer?

My poor heart began to beat in my breast
and could answer nothing.

My grey dove is full of sorrow, etc.
 
THE RUSSIANS
By Sting
 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGHwCm-UkKEhbLtJCf51na0EQOn-FLsGwS7Xvopb6b6yU9Fqo6R4_YnPjkUvtIZfEbvSqAmR91pgIg-sVZ7MuHm6xDGbVtA_yRbnpr_fO602Eq59IX4aTUOu03ZTPW_hDmbLHW6OKYRbg/s1600/Sting+(5).jpg
Based on Lieutenant Kije
The fictional lieutenant falls in love in
the second movement. The music begins
almost dirge-like featuring a solo violin
and saxophone. It segues into a wonderful
romantic arrangement with the flute repeat-
ing its melody from the first movement and
the work quietly ends with a solo violin.
LIEUTENANT KIJE
SYMPHONIC SUITE OP. 60
III. Kijé's Wedding
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGB-5ZmjSz8
Since the Tsar prefers his heroic
soldiers to be married, the
administrators concoct a fake
wedding. The festivities are both
sentimental and boisterous begin-
ning with a loud fanfare played by a
trumpet solo leading the way with
the saxophone repeating a theme
from the previous movement.
LIEUTENANT KIJE
SYMPHONIC SUITE OP. 60
IV. Troika
Anatole Fistoulari, Conductor
Philharmonia Orchestra
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GUzJ7fQBtg

Lieutenant Kije, Troika
Prokofiev wrote two versions of this movement,
one for orchestra and one for baritone solo
with instrumental accompaniment.
With Alternate Baritone Voice Part
Here are the lyric translations:
 
A woman's heart is like an inn:
It has a whole world of guests.
From morn till eve, 
Someone comes in, someone goes out.
Someone comes in, someone goes out
And so it goes all day and night.
 
A woman's heart is like an inn: etc.
 
Ah, come here, come here I say
Don't be afraid,
Have no fear with me.
Come here, yes, come here.
 
Whether you're single, whether you're not,
Whether you’re single or married.
Whether you're shy, whether you’re not,
Whether you're shy or bold.
 
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
 
So it goes all day and night
Someone comes in, someone goes out,
 
Ah, come here, come here I say, etc.
 
A woman's heart is like an inn: etc. 
 
This movement is a typical tavern song
with a very lively theme featuring the
brass section with harmony from the
pizzicato strings. The Troika melody has
has been used over the years as music that
goes along with a snow scene and horse-
drawn sleigh suggested by the
accompaniment of bells.

A 'troika' is a three-horse sleigh.
Fritz van der Venne: Troika in Winter
This motif from the suite was also used
in the song "I Believe In Father Christmas"
by the English rock musician Greg Lake.
I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS
Song By Greg Lake
Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Performers
Yuri Temirkanov, Conductor
USSR State Symphony Orchestra
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3W4neBo5fA
The administrators finally rid
themselves of the non-existent
lieutenant by saying he has died.
The soldier's demise brings
reminiscences consisting of a
summary of the themes from the
first four movements of his
(Imaginary) life. Instead of a
somber funeral like tempo that one
would think of with a burial it is on
the happy and joyous side. It features
excellent counterpoint and overall
orchestration. The work ends with the
distant trumpet and snare drum; a
wistful, touching, final farewell.
In 1933 film director 
Alexander Feinzimmer
(Faintsimmer)
based on a witty novella by Yuri Tynyanov
Yuri Tynyanov
who also wrote the screenplay, satirizing
both the Russian-Soviet bureaucracy
including both the military and the
aristocracy. The film tells an apocryphal
tale (Tynyanov's story of Lieutenant Kijé was
based on an allegedly true incident from an old
from the time of Czar Paul I) about
Tsar Paul I
Tsar Paul I was the son of
Catherine the Great
Empress
Catherine the Great
1787
who reigned from 1796 to 1801. It was said that 
he was mentally ill. After a reign of only five
years, he was murdered by conspirators who
then placed his son Alexander I
Alexander I
on the throne.
Alexandre Benois Military Parade of Emperor Paul in front of Mikhailovsky Castle, 1907
Alexandre Benois: Military Parade of Emperor Paul in front of Mikhailovsky Castle, 1907
and a certain imaginary lieutenant
whose entire existence is due to a
copying error by an army scribe
misread by a Russian Tsar.
http://www.storyboardthat.com/userboards/crankinmatthew/lieutenant-kije
Everyone around the Tsar was too
afraid to tell him there was no such
person, so they just invented an
entire life for the non-existent Kijé.
He gets married
http://www.storyboardthat.com/userboards/crankinmatthew/lieutenant-kije
and becomes a hero--
all on paper. When the Tsar
finally demands to meet Kijé,
the military holds his funeral.
The film was released in the USA as
The Czar Wants to Sleep.
"LIEUTENANT KIZHE"
or
"THE CZAR WANTS TO SLEEP"
1934 Russian Film
Music by Prokofiev
Aleksandr Faintsimmer, Director
(English Language Subtitles)
Note: The sound starts after the credits have ended.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbb539QZZXo
Sergei Prokofiev Composed music to the film
Lieutenant Kijé in 1933 (his first work composed 
for the cinema) and compiled a 5 movement
symphonic suite from it making substantial 
musical revisions, as his Op. 60. Movements
two and four exist in two versions, one
using an optional baritone voice solo
and the other using only a saxophone.
LIEUTENANT KIJE
TENOR SAXOPHONE EXCERPTS
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSmc72xUda0
The first performance of the suite was given
in Paris, 1937 and conducted by Prokofiev.
Serge Koussevitzky
led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the
American premiere on October 14, 1937.
This music has also been
used for two ballets:
Michel Fokine
created a ballet called 
Aleksandr and Olga Tarasova Lapauri
created a ballet, Lieutenant Kijé,
for the Bolshoi Theatre in 1963.
_kij%C3%A9_%28prokofiev%29
LIEUTENANT KIJE
Ballet in One Act
Algis Zhyuraytis, Conductor/Director
(Filmed in 1969)

LIEUTENANT KIJE
LESSON PLAN
http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/explore/films/568/listening_guide_prokofievs_lieutenant_kije
http://www.jordanpsmith.com/research/Sergei-Prokofiev-Saxophone-Lieutenant-Kije-Film-Symphonic-Suite.pdf
http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/lieutenant_kij%C3%A9_%28prokofiev%29
https://www.symphonysiliconvalley.org/concerts.php?pagecontID=56&showID=139
http://static.mintchaos.com/mercuriosity/archives/002505.shtml
http://www.tso.ca/en-ca/Discover-the-Music/Programme-Notes/Suite-from-Lieutenant-Kije.aspx
https://charuzu.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/woody-allen-love-and-death-and-lieutenant-kije/
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=65493937
http://www.storyboardthat.com/userboards/crankinmatthew/lieutenant-kije
http://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/downloads/CSO%20Marsalis%20Nov%2030Dec1%202012.pdf
http://kirbyhaugland.com/program-notes/

http://images.publicradio.org/content/2014/04/23/20140423_lieutenant-kije-film-poster_33.jpg
DIANE AND THE GOLDEN APPLES
Music from Lieutenant Kije
Art Gilmore, Narrator
Continental Symphony Orchestra
Troika
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