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This was a very nice concert in the local Congregational church, often rented for public events. I got Rosenthal's autograph before the concert, which is good because there was a lot of picture-taking and handshaking after his piece was done. I seemed to be the only person who recognized him as a public figure since no one else seemed to be seeking him out as I did.
I've retyped the program notes below. I can add only that it was for string orchestra, the 4 mvts lasted about 12 - 15 minutes and were written in the dance styles named, in the manner of the composers he named below. There were, though, moments when the tonality was deliberately distorted ("left turns" as he said in the interview), but they were pretty brief departures.
I did enjoy them, and one hearing was not enough. Even thought this was a orchestra of school-age youth (none over 16, I think), the performance was fine. A professional performance would bring out more in it, but it was great to hear them do so well for their age.
(I'm a little surprised Mr. Fake has not chimed in to say that he was there, since he has worked with Mr. Rosenthal.)
Vienna: Sweet and Sour
Hofburg Walzer
Prince Ferdinand's Quadrille
Schonbrunner Polonaise
K-K. (Kaiser-Koniglich) Walzer-Finale
"The first summer I visted Salzburg and Vienna as a young American music student, I was strangely struck by the affinity I immediately felt with Austria. It was, in fact, more than affinity. It seemed as though I already knew the country well, had been there, lived there in some other life. The lit of the local dialect, the characteristic architecture, the sight of my own family name on a street sign - all of this seemed to create a mysterious echo, as sense of intimate relationship. I was feeling Haydn, Schubert and Mahler, with their roots deep in Austrian folk-song, in my very blood stream. I became oddly convinced that some sort of atavism was at work here.
None of this might ever have given rise to a specific musical response from me - I was composing totally without reference to it - until an invitation came, twenty years later, to compose incidental music for the Broadway production of a play by John Osborne, "A Patriot for Me," set in the years of the final decay of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Suddenly, dormant instincts were brought to the surface. The attraction to those Viennese sounds was irresistible, beautiful even in ironic distortion. The music for the play was quickly composed, often evoking that decadence of the era, the era of Klimt, of Schnitzler, and of the new inner probings of Freud. Selections from the music for the play are presented almost unchanged in this suite of dances.
Of course, to the experienced listerner, the influence of Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, and the Viennese Friz Kreisler and Erich Korngold will be clearly evident. I happily acknowledge it. With them, and with so many others, I share a deep affection for the musical world brought into being almost 200 years ago by Josef Lanner along with Johann Strauss the elder and his dazzling progeny.
All of the music has taken residence in my consciousness - perhaps it was always there - in such a way that to differentiate it from my own evocation of that world is for me as impossible as separating out a spoonful of sugar once it has been stirred into a cup of Viennese coffee.
So this suite is offered in homage to a great musical tradition and to the legion of composers who have, as I have, been endlessly enchanted by its call. But especially this music honors Lanner and the Strausses, who by their special genius elevated what was simple, charming folk entertainment to the condition of high art.
To the wonderful and unique Crowden School, where my son spent four years becoming a real musician, go my unending thanks...
Laurence Rosenthal
Composer
A Patriot for Me opened at the Imperial Theater in New York City on October 6, 1969, directed by Peter Glenville and starring Maximilian Schell.
_________________
DavidinBerkeley
"Ask [the director] where the camera comes from and I'll tell him where the music comes from" (David Raksin)
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