Four Poems by Emily Dickinson

commission from the DSO

https://www.dallassymphony.org/.../prokofiev-piano.../

Andrea Basevi in Prima Mondiale a Dallas

Quattro poesie di Emily Dickinson | Commissione DSO, prima esecuzione mondiale

Sono doppiamente felice di questa commissione da parte del DSO e del mio amico Fabio Luisi. La prima felicità è il piacere di scrivere musica per bambini, aspetto gioioso della mia vita da tanti anni. La seconda è che questa commissione è inserita in un concerto sinfonico diretto ed eseguito da musicisti così straordinari.

Poiché scrivere musica dedicata ai giovani è una missione, dobbiamo scegliere i testi con attenzione e rispetto. La poesia di Emily Dickinson è fatta di piccole cose legate alla natura, agli uccelli e ai ricordi, concetti che sembrano abitare l'animo umano da sempre e che si ritrovano nella mia musica attraverso la leggerezza con cui ho cercato di trattare il canto puro delle voci dei bambini . Ho affidato ai bambini il compito di realizzare una traccia evocativa utilizzando suoni di respiri, canti di uccelli e brevi melodie in stile folk. L'orchestra suona il proprio commento al testo, offrendo diversi significati e interpretazioni.

Le quattro canzoni compongono un ciclo. Nella prima canzone il vento entra nelle voci dei bambini come il ricordo di un dolce nonno, portando con sé antiche melodie. Nella seconda il ronzio delle api in un prato verde trasmette un senso di leggerezza e luce. Nella terza le voci dei bambini si uniscono a quelle degli uccelli per creare un canto appassionato e festoso. L'ultimo riguarda le potenti emozioni che i nostri ricordi suscitano e la dolcezza di ciò che resta. Ho cercato di entrare nel mondo poetico di Dickinson, a piccoli passi, con grande leggerezza e umiltà.

Durante tutto il processo di composizione, mi sono ispirato al Coro dei bambini DSO, diretto dalla talentuosa Ellie Lynn, alla quale questo lavoro è dedicato. Sono grato a tutte le persone straordinarie della DSO che hanno lavorato al progetto che ascolterete tutti oggi. Grazie mille.

Andrea Basevi (b. 1957): Four Poems by Emily Dickinson

Andrea Basevi is a tenor, teacher, author, composer and choral director who specializes in children’s music. Born in Genoa, Italy, he earned undergraduate degrees in choral music, chorus conducting and composition from the Conservatory of Turin, then went on to study with Brian Ferneyhough at the Staatlische Hochschüle fur Musik, in Freiburg, Germany, and with Luciano Berio in Florence. Still not satisfied with his apprenticeship, he enrolled at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, in Siena, where he completed a course in ethnomusicology under Simha Arom (b. 1930), a leading authority on the music of central Africa.

Basevi’s diverse experience and restless curiosity inform all his compositions, whether the performers are adults or children. Over the years he has composed music for the stage (the Repertory Theaters of Genoa and Turin), for radio (RAI, or Radiotelevisione italiana, aka the NPR of Italy), and for film (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Rome). In addition to many songs, choral works and operas for children, he has written several music-education books for young readers, on such subjects as Western notation and orchestral instruments. He has directed choirs in primary schools throughout Genoa, as well as Le Piccole Voci of the Alessandria Conservatory and the Biblioteca De Amicis children choir with Roberta Paraninfo and the Laboratory of Paganini. He serves as president and artistic director of Music Association Sant’Ambrogio, which promotes contemporary music in Liguria and educational projects for children. He also teaches harmony and analysis at the Conservatory Paganini of Genoa.

As an educator, Basevi follows the general principles of the Kodály school of pedagogy, which was named after the Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Zoltán Kodály. The Kodály method emphasizes teaching folk music from the pupil’s native tongue and cultural traditions, starting in preschool with fun games and exercises that incorporate rhythmic movements and songs. Instead of pressuring the children to compete against one another, a Kodály teacher helps them discover music as a joyful and satisfying form of expression, a gift available to all human beings, regardless of individual talent or ability.

The singular poetry of American visionary Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) suits a children’s choir. Elusive and playful, more gnomic than naive, her lines sing and zing, seducing the ear with a deceptive simplicity, following familiar, hymn-based, iambic cadences that may bring to mind “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” Studded with dashes, Dickinson’s stanzas tumble out in epiphanic bursts and breathless exclamations. Her language delights in weirdness and mocks dogma, resisting analysis and paraphrase. Using repetition and dynamic variation, Basevi luxuriates in Dickinson’s slant rhymes (“bee” and “revery”), conjuring up a delirious pastorale out of sibilant breath sounds, contrapuntal buzzing, whooshing glissandi and simulated bird calls. At one point the altos sing Dickinson’s lines while the sopranos whistle, chirp and twitter; then the singers trade parts, with the sopranos handling the words and the altos the sound effects, colluding in a disorienting but blissful stereophonic effect, as if you’re listening to nature’s orchestra from the middle of a meadow—lost in reverie, sure, but attuned to the same vital frequencies as the birds and bees.

The Composer Speaks “I am doubly happy about this commission from the DSO and my friend Fabio Luisi. The first happiness is the pleasure of writing music for children, a joyful aspect of my life for many years. The second is that this commission is included in a symphony concert directed and performed by such extraordinary musicians.

“Because writing music dedicated to young people is a mission, we must choose lyrics thoughtfully and respectfully. Emily Dickinson’s poetry is made up of small things linked to nature, birds and memories, concepts that seem to have inhabited the human soul forever and are found in my music through the lightness with which I have tried to treat the pure song of children’s voices. I entrusted the children with the task of creating an evocative outline using breath sounds, birdsong, and brief folk-style melodies. The orchestra plays its own commentary on the text, offering different meanings and interpretations.

“The four songs make up a cycle. In the first song the wind enters the children’s voices like memories of a sweet grandfather, bringing ancient melodies. In the second the buzz of bees in a green meadow conveys a sense of lightness and light. In the third the children’s voices unite with those of the birds to create a passionate and festive song. The last one deals with the powerful emotions that our memories elicit and the sweetness of what remains. I tried to enter Dickinson’s poetic world, in small steps, with great lightness and humility.”

“Throughout the composition process, I was inspired by the Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus, directed by the talented Ellie Lin, to whom this work is dedicated. I am grateful to all the extraordinary people at the DSO who worked on the project that you will listen to today. Thank you all so much.”

—Andrea Basevi (translated from Italian)

Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus will sing a world premiere piece based on Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

Ellie Lin is the Artistic Director of the Dallas Symphony Children's Chorus.