2024-VCASS-MUSIC-Choral Fantasy-Program

Welcome to interactive presentation, created with Publuu. Enjoy the reading!

Oboe / Cor Anglais

Jade Cheung

Anthony Khoa Tran^

BassOOn

Poppy Savage^

Innes Thistleton

Horn

Freya Hombergen*

Georgie O’Malley*

Trumpet

Arthur Lou^

Harvey de Koster*

Harp

Imogen Handley

Gemma Tong*

Timpani

Jasmine Lai^

Percussion

Sophia Arcinue

Oscar Edwards

Ethan Nistor

^ Section leader

* Guest Musician

Debussy won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1884 which came with a multi-

year residency at the Villa Medici, beginning in 1885. He was largely unhappy

there, complaining about the quality of accommodation, food and company

and finding the Italian operas of Donizetti and Verdi not to his taste. Perhaps

as a memory of home, he took with him a copy of Verlaine’s Fêtes Galantes and

these poems became central to a number of his works including as inspiration

for the first two movements of this piece. The suite was composed initially for

piano four hands in the late 1880’s, most likely at the request of the famous

Paris publisher, Durand, for a work to satisfy the burgeoning market of skilled

amateurs looking for music to perform in their salons. It is vastly different in

style to other works composed in these years. The composer and Durand gave

the premiere in Paris in 1889. Debussy had become friends with the conductor

and organist Henri Büsser in 1902 when he conducted several of the first run

of performances of Pelléas et Mélisande and he later invited him to produce the

orchestration of the suite we hear this evening.

Stewart Kelly

PROGRAM NOTES

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36