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Join Us For Our 2024-2025 Season! |
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Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players “This was music-making of a very high order” Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun |
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Why the name Jupiter: When Jens Nygaard named his orchestra Jupiter, he had the beautiful, gaseous planet in mind—unattainable but worth the effort, like reaching musical perfection. Many, indeed, were privileged and fortunate to hear his music making that was truly Out of This World. Our Players today seek to attain that stellar quality. Take a look at our guest artists for this season. |
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Join us for our next concerts... Jupiter ~ Summer 2025
Monday, June 16 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Albert Cano Smit piano Danbi Um violin Cherry Yeung violin Cong Wu viola Gaeun Kim cello Sooyun Kim flute Vadim Lando clarinet Note: Danbi Um replaces Njioma Grevious for this concert The 5 composers, whose music is featured on the program, studied and/or taught at the Paris Conservatory, founded in 1795. Devienne was professor from 1795 to 1803. Dancla began his music studies there in 1828; Saint-Saëns and Ravel matriculated at ages 13 and 14, respectively; and Henri Rabaud, in 1893, and became its director in 1920. François DEVIENNE Flute Quartet in A minor Op. 66 No. 1 Born in Joinville in 1759, the brilliant flautist and virtuoso bassoonist, known as the “French Mozart,” was also a prolific composer. A workaholic, he composed 8 hours a day, performed regularly, taught, and compiled an influential treatise for playing the flute. Well known in his day, Devienne’s compositions raised the level of writing for wind instruments in France in the late 18th century. His works for flute, the fashionable instrument of the day, were revived by Jean-Pierre Rampal in the 1960s. Of his operas, Les visitandines (1792), among the most successful of the Revolutionary period, had a 5-year run of over 200 performances in Paris. In demand as a musician, Devienne was a bassoonist in the Paris Opéra orchestra, a member of the famous Loge Olympique during the 1780s after he became a freemason in 1781, and appeared numerous times both in solo concertos and symphonies concertante at the Concert Spirituel. After he joined the military band of the Paris National Guard in 1792, he taught at its Free School of Music, which became the National Institute of Music in 1793, and then the Paris Conservatoire in 1795. His famous Nouvelle méthode for the one-key flute, which includes interesting articles on the technique and style of the time, was published in 1794 and widely used. Devienne died in 1803 at Charenton, a Parisian asylum for the mentally ill, his faculties impaired. Charles DANCLA String Quartet No. 8 in G Major Op. 87 The quartet is a fine work with passages of rich string sonorities, a joyful and bright minuet, a sublime slow movement, and a bravura finale of perpetual motion. It was dedicated to his friend and compatriot François Soubies, a French politician of the extreme left wing group of the Montagne. Dancla (1817–1907) came from a talented French family of musicians; his 2 brothers played the violin and cello, and his sister, the piano. He attended the Paris Conservatoire from 1828 to 1840 and won a premier prix in 1833; his school mates included Charles Gounod and Cèsar Franck. Performances by Pierre Baillot (one of his teachers) of quartets by Boccherini, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven sparked his interest in chamber music, prompting him to form his own group, together with his siblings. Their concerts at the home of the postman Hesselbein were a regular feature of the Paris season. In 1842, he failed to secure the sought-after post of principal professor of violin at the Conservatoire. Six years later, still dispirited, he left Paris to work in postal jobs, first in Cholet, then in Paris. In 1855, however, he was finally offered a position at the Conservatoire and five years later, became professor of violin, a post he held until he unwillingly retired in 1892. As a violinist Dancla was praised for his trill, lightness of bowing, and his brilliance. The New Grove Dictionary gives a summary of other achievements: “He was highly respected at the Conservatoire as a person, musician and teacher.... He was a prolific composer and won prizes for four of his 14 string quartets and three of his works for male chorus; but it is only through his didactic works that his music survives.... He may be regarded as the last exponent of the classical French school of violin playing.” Maurice RAVEL Piece en Forme de Habanera In March 1907 Ravel received a commission from Amédée-Louis Hettich, a singer and teacher at the Paris Conservatoire intending to compile a repertoire of vocal exercises by contemporary composers. Thus, the Vocalise-Étude en forme de habanera for mezzo-soprano and piano was composed. Together with contributions from Vincent d’Indy, Paul Dukas, Reynaldo Hahn, and others, the Répertoire moderne de vocalises-études was published by Alphonse Leduc in 1909. Ravel’s song was premiered by Magdeleine Greslé and Marcel Chadeigne in a concert of the Société Nationale de Musique on 22 February 1919 at the Salle de la Société des Concerts. The piece became better known in his instrumental arrangement as Pièce en forme de habanera—a song without words. Bru Zane Mediabase notes, “In character and rhythm it recalls the Habanera written in 1895 that appeared as one of the two movements of his Sites auriculaires for two pianos and was later included as the penultimate movement of the orchestral Rapsodie espagnole (1907). Playing ‘almost slowly and with indolence,’ the left hand presents the ostinato that is typical of this dance, which French musicians believed to be Spanish although it in fact originated in Cuba. Melodic elements combining binary and ternary rhythms, and vocal melismas, measured or cadential (the latter marked ‘rubato’), are superimposed in the piece. Ravel’s Spanish inspiration was quite free, with some of the ornamental formulas calling to mind rather an imaginary East. As for the modal harmonies, they bear Ravel’s signature, with hardly any borrowings from the oral traditions of the Iberian Peninsula. They subtly articulate the minor colourings that dominate at the beginning of the piece, and the predominance of major sonorities in the final episode.” Ravel studied at Conservatoire de Paris from age 14, from 1889 to 1905, when he failed in his fifth attempt to win the Prix de Rome. “Ravel failed the preliminaries, summarily ending his already checkered career at the Conservatoire. Aspersions were cast in every direction as the pundits spun their tales and explanations; Gabriel Fauré’s accession as director after the unexpected resignation of Théodore Dubois was widely understood as a turn to the outside for someone to rescue a fading enterprise. But in fact Dubois had decided to resign well before the prize competition, and Ravel’s two principal detractors at the Academy, Charles Lenepveu and Émile Paladilhe, held scant claim to the compositional stature traditionally enjoyed by directors of the Conservatoire. Ravel himself was reasonably well established already; certainly he did not ‘need’ the prize…and he generally tried to hold himself above the fray [Holomon].” Allegedly, one of Ravel’s problems was his use of trombones, pianissimo. Henri Benjamin RABAUD Solo de Concours Op. 10 Rabaud’s solo piece was used five additional times. A solo de concours serves as a showcase for the performer’s technical skills, musicianship, and artistic expression. It was often used as a final performance for graduation or entrance into a specific program. Rabaud (1873–1949) held important posts as a conductor, composer, and academic. He was conductor of the Paris Opéra, the Opéra-Comique, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra; he composed several well-received operas and orchestral works; and in 1922 he succeeded Gabriel Fauré as director of the Paris Conservatoire, retiring in 1941. The Parisian was born into a distinguished musical family, studied at the Conservatoire in 1893 (composition with Jules Massenet), and won the Prix de Rome in 1894 for his cantata Daphné. As a composer, he was conservative and viewed modernism as an enemy. His music shows a tendency toward Wagnerian richness and a love of the exotic. During the German occupation, Rabaud sought to protect the Jewish members of the faculty, but fearful that the Nazis would close the Conservatoire, he cooperated with the authorities in regard to the Jewish teachers and students at the conservatory. Camille SAINT-SAËNS Piano Quintet in A minor Op. 14 Gramophone remarked that “its power, fertile ideas and scrupulous design (fugue, again, in the finale) are both arresting and appealing.” His first chamber work—the cyclic Quintet—written at age 20, was dedicated to his great-aunt, Charlotte Masson, who raised him after his father died of tuberculosis and taught him piano when he was 2 and a half years old. It was performed (apparently for the first time) at the Salons Érard on 10 April 1860 by Quatuor Armingaud with the composer at the piano. Adolphe Botte, in the Revue et Gazette musicale of 15 April 1860, noted Saint-Saëns’ “serious bent.” It was not published until 1865. Saint-Saëns began his studies at the Paris Conservatoire in 1848 at age 13. He recalled that he enjoyed being the wittiest in the class, the funniest, and would often play music that would amuse his classmates in its ridicule. In 1849 he won a second prix and in 1851, at 16, he won a brilliant premier prix for organists and began composition studies, taught by Fromental Halèvy. However, he failed twice in the Prix de Rome competition, but won first prize in a competition organized by the Société Sainte-Cécile. The following is merely a glimpse of the revered Paris institution. In the words of Kern Holomon, “Since its establishment…the Paris Conservatoire has functioned as the gateway to the upper echelons of classical music in France…. A premier prix from the Conservatoire launched careers in the best theaters and concert societies; the foremost instrumentalists rose to occupy, simultaneously, principal chairs at the Opéra and Société des Concerts du Conservatoire (the Paris Conservatory Orchestra) and a professorship at the school. Matriculation at the Conservatoire was so highly valued that families of gifted children would move to Paris and sometimes, like César Franck’s family, change citizenship, since admission required French nationality. In the early years even the best foreign students were routinely turned away, including Franz Liszt in 1823; though by the 1880s, a quota of 15% foreign students was deemed acceptable…. Apart from its direct pedagogical mission, the Conservatoire was home to three pillars of the nation’s musical culture: the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire (1828), the Bibliothèque du Conservatoire (1795), and the Musée Instrumental (1861…). A fourth pillar was the Prix de Rome…. After a year of organization and remodeling of facilities, the institution began to offer classes in 1796–97 to a student cohort of some 350 with a faculty of about 75.” The original concert hall, inaugurated in 1811, seated some 1055. While low on creature comforts, it possessed enviable acoustics and was known as “the Stradivarius of concert halls.” Ensuing renovations, which included the restoration of the breathtaking décor, eventually reduced the seating capacity to 500 and compromised the legendary acoustics. “Nearly all the major French composers of the nineteenth century passed through the Conservatoire, with its faculty of a half-dozen active composers who provided entrée to the best opportunities in the capital…. The Prix de Rome in composition (sojourns in Rome and sometimes Germany, major public performances, and a handsome multiyear stipend) drew ambitious young composers to the Conservatoire from the beginning.” The Société des Concerts (a philharmonic society) held weekly concerts. “The orchestra was soon made up almost entirely of famous-name professors and premiers prix, almost without exception French and graduates of the Conservatoire…. For more than half the nineteenth-century, every concert was technically sold out, with the only hope of admission for others being to take, at the last minute, seats left empty by the subscribers. Subscriptions were passed from fathers to sons (but not wives or daughters…)…. The orchestra boom lasted until the 1920s, when such competing allures as the motorcar, tennis, cycling, and the very concept of the weekend began to compete for leisure time each Sunday afternoon.” |
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Jupiter 2024 - 2025 Season Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservation advised Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive Concert Venue:
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As promised, here are the videos of John Field’s Divertissement No. 1 and Sir Hamilton Harty’s Piano Quintet. Fortuitously, our Jupiter musicians had the good sense to record the rehearsal in an impromptu decision, literally minutes before pressing the record button. Pianist Mackenzie Melemed (replacing Roman Rabinovich at the last minute) learned the music in 2 days! Bravo to him. Both works are Irish rarities that were scheduled for the March 16 performances which had to be canceled because of the coronavirus epidemic. Even though the entire program could not be recorded because of technical issues, we are pleased to be able to share with you the 2 musical gems. Enjoy. John FIELD Divertissement No. 1 H. 13 We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music. Mackenzie Melemed piano
Sir Hamilton HARTY Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12 Andrew Clements of the Guardian proclaimed the beautiful Quintet “a real discovery: a big, bold statement full of striking melodic ideas and intriguing harmonic shifts, which adds Brahms and Dvořák into Harty’s stylistic mix, together with Tchaikovsky in some passages.” There’s folk music charm as well, reminiscent of Percy Grainger—notably in the Scherzo (Vivace) with its folksy quirks and nonchalance, and the winding, pentatonic melody in the Lento. Our gratitude to the Queen’s University Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a copy of the autograph manuscript of the music. Much thanks, too, to Connor Brown for speedily creating a printed score and parts from Harty’s manuscript. Mackenzie Melemed piano I Allegro 0:00 | ||
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Jupiter featured on Our Net News American program opener on March 18, with grateful thanks to Michael Shaffer of OurNetNews.com for recording the matinee concert, and making available the Horatio Parker Suite video for our viewing pleasure. Horatio Parker Suite in A Major, Op. 35, composed in 1893 Stephen Beus piano
More video from this performance can be viewed on our media page |
Jupiter on YouTube NEW YORK CANVAS : The Art of Michael McNamara is a video portrait of the artist who has painted iconic images of New York City for more than a decade, capturing the changing urban landscape of his adopted city. Our Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players provide the music from Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, underscoring the inspiration the artist has drawn from Jens Nygaard and the musicians. Michael was also our Jupiter volunteer from 2002 to 2010. Here is a video of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players performance of the Rondo alla Zingarese movement:
The producer-director, Martin Spinelli, also made the EMMY Award-winning “Life On Jupiter: The Story of Jens Nygaard, Musician.” For more information, visit our media
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“Some great musicians get a statue when they pass away. Some get their name imprinted on the roof of a well-known concert hall. But the late conductor Jens Nygaard has a living tribute: an entire ensemble of musicians and a concert series to go along with it... It is one of the city’s cultural jewels... In the end, if Mr. Nygaard was known for anything, it was unmitigated verve. That’s what the audience regularly returned for, and that’s what they got Monday afternoon. To have a grassroots community of musicians continue to celebrate Mr. Nygaard with indomitable performances like these week after week, even without the power of world-famous guest soloists, is proper tribute. And with more large orchestras and ensembles needing more corporate sponsorship year after year, I, for one, hope the Jupiter’s individual subscriber-base remains strong. New York’s musical life needs the spirit of Jens Nygaard, and Mei Ying should be proud she’s keeping it alive.” Read the complete article on our reviews page. |
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office address: |
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MeiYing Manager All
performances, except where otherwise noted, are held at: Copyright © 1999-2025 Jupiter Symphony. All rights reserved. |
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