Page 113 - PDF Flip TR Program Demo

around a descending harmonic sequence repeated three times, with just a little development (a whole step higher and slightly different progression) the middle time. The effect
is ambient, like the sound of the winds chimes the piece is named for, or like overhearing someone practice a snippet of especially beautiful harmony.
Cowell would move on from the string piano, chasing a wide variety of techniques and styles—some conventional, others experimental. His life was as eccentric as his music, and sometimes as difficult. Born in 1897 to anarchist parents in Menlo Park, California, he fled the Bay Area with his newly divorced mother following the earthquake of 1906. As a young adult, Cowell established himself as a composer in both California and New York and became involved with theosophical societies and utopian communities on both coasts. In 1936, he was arrested in California for a sexual encounter with a young man, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison—an unusual and vicious sentence, even for the time. He was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, where he taught music and continued to compose for four years, until friends petitioned for his parole. Later in life, he received a pardon, performed and traveled widely, and was enormously influential in American music through his teaching and artistic advocacy.
ENRIQUE GRANADOS (1867–1916) Coloquio en la Reja (Conversation at the Window) from Goyescas
Enrique Granados was born in Barcelona and became known as an improvising pianist, chamber musician, and composer. He brushed shoulders with Fauré, Saint-Saëns, and Pablo Casals and was hailed abroad as an emblematic musician of Spain.
Goyescas—a set of six pieces—is his most famous work, begun in 1909, premiered in 1911, and inspired by the
paintings of Francisco Goya (1746–1828). Though specif-
ic correspondences to paintings aren’t known, the art in question belongs to a series of tapestry “cartoons.” Goya may be known best for his unnerving depictions of war, destitu- tion, and depravity, but these paintings are entirely different: they’re sunny pictures of leisure activities enjoyed by majos and majas, flamboyantly dressed members of Spain’s lower class.
Coloquio en la Reja is the second piece in the set. It depicts a conversation, presumably between a man and a woman, in a window; the music is marked con sentimento amoroso. Granados writes with improvisational flair in a billowing Romantic style enhanced by intricate Baroque details.
After the success of the piano suite in Barcelona, Paris,
and Madrid, Granados decided to adapt Goyescas, rather improbably, as an opera. This would lead to his death under circumstances appalling enough to be a different kind of Goya painting. After the opera’s 1916 premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, he was invited to meet President Woodrow Wilson at the White House. This caused him and his wife, Amparo, to miss their scheduled voyage back to Europe, so they rebooked through England. During their passage from England to France, their ferry, the SS Sussex, was torpedoed by a U-boat, throwing them both into the water. Granados was rescued by a lifeboat, but abandoned it in an attempt to save Amparo; the couple drowned in the English Channel.
2018 Summer Season 113