Educational Packet
Saybrook Orchestra Educational Concert, December 14, 2006

The Saybrook Orchestra will be presenting three pieces on its Educational Concert: The Raider's March by John Williams, The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi, and the theme from Superman by John Williams.

The Orchestra

The Saybrook Orchestra is a full symphonic orchestra made up of more than 80 musicians. They play the following instruments:

Woodwinds:
2 Flutes
1 Piccolo
2 Oboes
1 English Horn
2 Clarinets
1 Bass Clarinet
3 Bassoons
1 Contrabassoon

Brass:
5 French Horns
3 Trumpets
4 Trombones
1 Tuba

Percussion:
Tambourine, Snare Drum, Cymbals, Bongos, Triangle, Glockenspiel, Celeste, Piano, Organ
Timpani (Kettledrums)
Harp

Strings:
22 Violins (divided into First Violins and Second Violins)
10 Violas
12 Cellos
2 Double Basses

The Music

John Williams (1932 - )
Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

John Williams is today’s foremost composer of film music. His most well-known film scores include the Star Wars movies, Jaws, Superman, E.T., the Indiana Jones movies, Jurassic Park and the Harry Potter movies. Williams is widely credited with the revival of large, symphonic film scoring.

Williams is recognized for employing the leitmotif, a theme associated with a specific character or situation. Richard Wagner is most often associated with the leitmotif, as exemplified in his opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen. The soundtrack to Raiders of the Lost Ark is most notable for “The Raiders March,” which came to symbolize Indiana Jones. A lyrical central section introduces a theme associated with Marion Ravenwood, Jones’ former love interest.

Raiders of the Lost Ark, also known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, is a 1981 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the first installment of the Indiana Jones trilogy. The story introduces us to archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones, who is hired by the U.S. government to embark on a quest for the mystical lost Ark of the Covenant. Presumably, whoever possesses the Ark will acquire invincible power and the ability to contact God.

According to legend, the Pharaoh Shishaq removed the Ark from Jerusalem and placed it in the Well of Souls in the Egyptian city of Tanis. However, Tanis was lost after a sandstorm buried the city. Legend also had it that the Well of Souls could only be found by using the Staff of Ra to focus a beam of sunlight onto a model of Tanis, located in a map room. A medallion affixed to the Staff’s headpiece would then pinpoint the exact location of the Ark.

The Nazis know the location of the lost city of Tanis, but do not possess the necessary medallion. It is Professor Abner Ravenwood, Jones’ mentor who possesses the medallion, having found it during one of his archeological expeditions. Jones hopes to reunite with Professor Ravenwood in Tibet; however, Jones arrives to find that Ravenwood has died. Jones discovers that Marion, Professor Ravenwood’s daughter, now has the medallion. Jones’ reunion with Marion is interrupted by Nazi agents who try to steal the medallion from Marion.

Escaping with the medallion in hand, Marion and Jones fly to Cairo, Egypt. There, they join up with Jones’ old friend, Sallah, a skilled Egyptian archeologist. Jones, Sallah, and Marian must retrieve the Ark before the Nazis and French archaeologist Rene Belloq, Jones’ adversary, acquire it first. Adventure, humor, and danger ensue as Jones and his friends struggle to prevent the Nazis from harnessing the awesome power of the Ark for evil.

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
The Pines of Rome (1924)

Ottorino Respighi is often credited with being the first turn-of-the-century Italian composer to achieve popularity for composing purely orchestral works. Such fame distinguished him from Italian masters like Puccini, Rossini, and Verdi, who gained acclaim for their devotion to the opera.

Respighi was born in Bologna and studied violin at its conservatory. He was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg and Max Bruch in Berlin. In 1913 Respighi was appointed professor of composition at Saint Cecilia Conservatory. After several unsuccessful operas he turned his attention towards symphonic poems, a form of pictorial music that aims to portray events or locations. Respighi gained critical success with his first symphonic poem, The Fountains of Rome, in 1917. Seven years later, Respighi composed his next symphonic poem, The Pines of Rome. The premiere of The Pines of Rome was held on December 14, 1924, at the Teatro Augusteo in Rome.

At the beginning of the score, Respighi published descriptions of the settings he envisioned for each movement. The first movement, “Pines of the Villa Borghese,” is dedicated to the pines of Villa Borghese. Respighi writes: “Children are at play in the pine groves of Villa Borghese; they dance round in circles. They play at soldiers, marching and fighting, they are wrought up by their own cries like swallows at evening, they come and go in swarms.” The movement opens with fragments of military fanfares and children's songs, including the Italian version of Ring-around-the-rosy. Building to a crescendo, the movement comes to a sudden halt with a discordant note sounded by the trumpet.

And, as Respighi writes: “Suddenly the scene changes—we see the shades of the pine trees fringing the entrance to a catacomb. From the depth rises the sound of a mournful chant, floating through the air like a solemn hymn, and gradually and mysteriously dispersing.” So begins “Pines Near a Catacomb.” While the low strings play melancholic chords, the trombones sound a quiet, Gregorian chant-like theme. An offstage trumpet introduces a second motif, followed by rhythmic pulsing in the strings. Respighi suggests that the ominous chant “rises from the depths, re-echoes silently, like a hymn, and then mysteriously dies away.”

A quiet piano cadenza opens the next movement, “The Pines of the Janiculum.” Respighi writes: “There is a thrill in the air: the pine-trees of the Janiculum stand distinctly outlined in the clear light of the full moon. A nightingale is singing.” A clarinet plays over sustained chords in the strings. After the flutes and strings develop the first motif, the oboe introduces a theme quickly taken up by the strings. Arpeggios in the celeste, harp, and piano complement the strings. Then the recorded nightingale makes its appearance: Respighi called for the playing of a specific recording of an actual nightingale's singing rather than designating a musical instrument to mimic the birdcall.

This reflective mood is disrupted by low brass, low strings, and piano as the final movement, “Pines of the Appian Way,” begins. The army approaches with bass clarinet and low brass sounding military fanfares while the upper strings move in descending half-steps. An English horn solo marks the “misty dawn on the Appian Way” and the brass begins to call out, both offstage and on. Respighi writes: “solitary pine trees guarding the magic landscape; the muffled, ceaseless rhythm of unending footsteps. The poet has a fantastic vision of bygone glories: trumpets sound and, in the brilliance of the newly-risen sun, a consular army bursts forth towards the Sacred Way, mounting in triumph to the Capitol.”

The Recording

A recording of selections from the music that will be played at the concert is available here.

If you have any questions, please contact syorchestra@yale.edu.

Return to SYO Education Initiative homepage.

Learn more about SYO educational programs:

• 2005 Educational Concert
• Symphonic Concerts
• Chamber Ensemble Site Visits

Learn about past educational projects:

• 2004 Educational Concert
• Symphonic Concerts