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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2015

QUOTE:
"Music might be defined as a system of proportions
  in the service of a spiritual impulse."
AUTHOR: George Crumb
MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
"Music is a combination of proven mathematical principles 
  and unpredictable, inspired human responses."





 COMPOSER
ANDERSON

 
FIDDLE FADDLE
Alim Shakh, Conductor 
Novosibirsk Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
FIDDLE FADDLE
Composed for string orchestra and
later orchestrated for full orchestra,
Fiddle-Faddle was completed
January 1, 1947. It is 3 minutes and
10 seconds long and was first
performed for string orchestra on
March 30, 1947 at a concert
broadcast from the Boston Opera
House with Arthur Fiedler conducting.
Its first recording was for string
orchestra on June 21, 1947, in analog
mono sound with Arthur Fiedler
conducting the Boston Pops.

FIDDLE FADDLE
Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops
First Recording, 1947

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXLwNNe5THQ

Anderson orchestrated Fiddle-Faddle for
full orchestra in 1948. It was first recorded
for full orchestra by the composer on
June 29, 1951, in analog mono sound.
Later, it was recorded in analog
stereo for full orchestra by the
composer on June 11, 1959.

COMPOSER QUOTES:
"You know it's an interesting thing now that I think of it, the first
numbers that I wrote for the Pops concerts featured the strings.
Perhaps it's because I happen to be a string player myself. I
used to play the double bass, and you might say that I never got
over it, but of course strings are really wonderful instruments
because they can play very rapid passages over a long period of
time and never get tired, because they don't have to stop to take
a breath, like the other instruments. Anyway, that's probably why
Paganini and other composers wrote very fast numbers for the
strings. They called them moto perpetuo, perpetual motion, or
something, so that was the idea back of the number that I wrote
for it, except of course that I didn't call it perpetual motion; since
it was a modern piece, I gave it a modern title, 'Fiddle Faddle.'
The only trouble was that since Arthur Fiedler introduced it every-
one started calling it Fiedler-Faddler. (laughter) Of course it
really doesn't make any difference, if you'd prefer to call it
Fiedler-Faddler that's perfectly all right with me."
(From a TV broadcast with Leroy Anderson and Arthur Fiedler)
QUESTION:
How long do you spend
on one composition?
ANDERSON:
"That varies, all the way probably from a day or two days to three
or four years. I say three or four years because, because I've got
one idea and one title that I've had around for three or four years,
I've tried to write the music to go with it and I haven't done it yet,
because I haven't been able to get it satisfactory. But it all depends
on how it works out. Sometimes it comes very easily. I remember
"Plink, Plank, Plunk!" was easy to do. I had to remember that
because I had a deadline, I was going to record the second album
and I had two or three weeks to go and there was an eighth of a
side yet to be done, and I got the idea of the title and it didn't take
me too long after that to finish it up. But others I've kept around, and
then changed. 'Fiddle-Faddle' I spent four months on and I rewrote
four times; the one you know is actually the fourth one, and three
other versions before that. Unless I'm really convinced about it, I
don't put anything out, but wait around and mull it over a week or two, 
and then you go back to it again fresh, and if you're still enthusiastic
about it, fine, but if you're not, you'd better not put the thing out and
let other people not be enthusiastic about it. You should catch it
yourself. In other words, you have to be your own worst critic, and
doing that, it may take quite some length of time before
you actually get a composition finished up."

INFORMATION MOSTLY FROM:
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Youth and Family Concerts
"THE BEAT GOES ON:
A MUSICAL LOOK AT
PERSEVEREANCE,
PACE, AND PULSE IN MUSIC"
Thomas Wilkins, Conductor
March 14-17, 2012
Curriculum Resources for Teachers & Students
FIDDLE FADDLE
Fiddle Faddle (according to the dictionary:
silly talk or an unimportant piece of trivia)
is a musical composition in a fast 2/2 time
where the constant rhythmic activity keeps
the instruments moving somewhat like an
exercise. It is considered to be a "light"
classical music composition, sometimes
referred to as "classical pops" music,
and was published in 1947. Anderson
wrote the piece as one of a number
of pieces commissioned over
time by Arthur Fiedler and the
Boston Pops Orchestra.
Arthur Fiedler
The finished piece, which premiered
in a concert broadcast from the
Boston Opera House,
Boston Opera House
instantly became a  favorite of
audiences and Arthur Fiedler alike.
Fiedler programmed it so frequently
in Pops concerts that the Pops audiences
began referring to it as "Fiedler-Faddle."
Written in classic song-and-trio form, it is
based on the childhood nursery
THREE BLIND MICE
Karaoke Instrumental
With Sheet Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6QuyV-WwrE
THREE BLIND MICE
The Meaning Behind
the Nursery Rhyme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8rSrPudfI
(the first phrase is identical to Three Blind
Mice but because the violins are doing a
double act playing the melody and
embellishments at the same time,
the tune is disguised).
Rapid sixteenth note passages (which means
there are four sounds to every beat) fall in the
tradition of "perpetual motion"
numbers like Niccolo Paganini's
Niccolo Paganini
Moto Perpetuo

PAGANINI
MOTO PERPETUO
Yehudi Menuhin, Violin
Adolph Baller, Piano
(Recorded in 1947)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPRWshWq9E4
or Rimsky-Korsakov's
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Flight of the Bumblebee,

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE
Scottish National Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYAJopwEYv8
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Perpetuum_mobile
but Anderson makes his take unique by
introducing hoedown cadences and jazz riffs
giving the music a quasi-square dance-type
feeling. These techniques are used prominently
in the opening and closing sections contrasted
with a middle trio section played pizzicato.
Originally written for strings, this piece has been
recorded many times in the late 1940's and early
1950's by a variety of musical ensembles.

FIDDLE FADDLE

SONG AND TRIO FORM: ABA
Song and trio form is a large ternary (ABA)
form. The first A section is an ABA unto itself.
The trio (large B section) is announced by a
transitional phrase that goes up and down the
scale. During the trio we hear a new melody
which repeats with variations. At first the trio
theme is played pizzicato (plucked strings).
Next we hear the trio theme played arco (with
the bow). Then we hear the theme again in a
more jazzy style. The final section, which is
again announced by the transitional "up and
down the scale" phrase, is just like the first
section, but without repeats.
Cassius Marcellus Coolidge: 
Fiddle-Faddle
0:00 Introduction
0:06 SONG SECTION
0:18 "A" melody
0:30 "B" melody
0:35 "B" melody with different ending
0:41 "A" melody with different ending
0:55 Transition- up the scale and back down
TRIO SECTION
1:02 "C" melody- pizzicato
1:14 "C" melody- with different ending
1:25 "C" melody variation 1- melody in cellos and horns
1:37 "C" melody variation 1 with different ending
1:48 "C" melody variation 2- melody in brass, jazzy style
2:00 "C" melody variation 2 with different ending
2:11 Transition- up the scale and back down
SONG SECTION
2:15 "A" melody
2:26 "B" melody
2:38 "A" melody
2:53 Coda-Ending
Listening Map*
*Listening map based on Fiddle-Faddle, Leroy Anderson’s Greatest Hits, 
Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, available on itunes.
FIDDLE FADDLE
LESSON IDEAS 1
http://www.vancouversymphony.ca/media/media_room_downloads/1314_VSO_Inspector_Tovey_SG.pdf
FIDDLE FADDLE
LESSON IDEAS 2
Boston Symphony Orchestra Youth Concert Curriculum

LINKS

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