This Saturday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Weis Center for the Performing Arts, the Bucknell Orchestra presents a concert featuring two late 19th century Russian musical masterpieces– Nikolai Tcherepnin’s Prelude to The Distant Princess, and Alexander Borodin’s monumental Symphony No. 2–and Franz von Suppé’s Light Cavalry Overture. Admission if free and open to the public.
Nikolai Tcherepnin wrote the incidental music to Edmond Rostand’s 1895 play The Distant Princess (La princesse lointaine) while he was a student studying composition with the great Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Rimsky-Korsakov’s influence can be heard in the work’s brilliant orchestration, and in its unmistakable Russian nationalistic sound. The prelude is a distillation of the play, musically recounting the story of 12th century prince and poet Joffroy Rudel. Upon hearing of the many virtues of the far off princess Mélisande, Joffroy falls in love with her and undertakes an arduous…show more content… Musical ideas from the opera found their way into the symphony, so much so that it has been suggested that the symphony is really Prince Igor without words. This idea may go a bit to far, but there is no doubt that the symphony was strongly influenced by the historical setting of his opera. Borodin’s friend, the music critic Vladimir Stasov, noted “Borodin was haunted when he wrote this symphony by the picture of feudal Russia, and he tried to paint it in his music.” The images in Borodin’s mind, according to Stasov¬–a gathering of 11th century warriors (movement I), a Slavic bard recounting stories of old Russia (movement III), and a warrior’s banquet with dances to the sounds of ancient instruments (movement IV). The symphony is a masterpiece of orchestral color, replete with memorable tunes and moments of symphonic
