Harford String Orchestra (tracks 1-5)
Tim Reinhardt, Conductor
April 12, 2008

Dance of the Tumblers
Music was not the first career choice for Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908).  After graduating from the Naval Academy and serving as Lieutenant, his “practical music” was discovered by Mily Balakirev, who soon convinced Nicolai of his potential as a composer. He was quickly included in the so-called “Mighty Five” of Russian nationalistic composers.  He taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the Free School of Music, with pupils such as Glazunov, Arensky, Ippolitov-Ivanov and Stravinsky.

A master orchestrator, Rimsky-Korsakov produced a string of great symphonic works: Capriccio Espagnol, Russian Easter Overture, and Scheherazade.  Then he turned to opera.  His third opera, The Snow Maiden, was first performed on February 10, 1882 in St. Petersburg.  In the opera, Fairy Spring and Father Winter have a daughter, The Snow Maiden, who longs for human love, but is warned that it will literally melt her frozen heart. When she finds love, the warmth of her emotion causes her to die.  In the third act, the rollicking “Dance of the Tumblers” accompanies a feast before the Tsar.

Emperor Waltz
Johann Strauss Jr. (1825-1899), the Waltz King, personified the grandeur of imperial Vienna.  By the age of 35 he had composed 200 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and marches.  The Emperor Waltz was composed late in his life, in 1889.  The three-note introduction leads to a soothing, meandering melody, which quickly gives way to a sprightly new theme.  Tempo changes are one of the challenging requirements of any Strauss waltz.  Many melodies imply rubato, a certain liberty with the tempo, while other sections change speeds with no warning.  This arrangement by Merle Isaac captures all the splendor of the Viennese waltz.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 – Mvt. 3
Probably the most influential composer in the history of Western music, Johann Sebastian Bach (1680-1750) was most notable for his developments in both counterpoint and musical structure.  In 1717 he moved from Weimar to Cöthen, Germany to work at the court of Prince Leopold, a Calvinist ruler.  This meant that Bach could spend his time writing secular music.  In 1721 he published a set of six concerti grossi, pieces featuring multiple soloists, and dedicated them to the Margrave of Brandenburg. 

Each Brandenburg Concerto featured unorthodox collections of soloists, using instruments such as trumpets, oboes, recorders, harpsichords, etc. in combinations never heard before.  Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 was originally written for orchestra, solo violin and two solo flutes.  The third movement performed today is a fugue in which the violas first state the subject, which is then reiterated and interwoven throughout by all sections of the orchestra.  This arrangement combines the tutti and solo parts of this contrapuntal masterpiece.

Nessun Dorma
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was one of the most beloved Italian opera composers.  After completing popular works such as La Bohéme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, he spent the last three years of life writing Turandot, leaving it unfinished when he died of throat cancer in Brussels.  Turnadot is a Chinese princess who does not want to be married off, and so suitors must answer her three riddles to claim her as a bride.  If the answers are incorrect, they pay with their lives.  Nessun Dorma (Nobody Sleeps) is an aria from the second act, where the Unknown Prince, after correctly answering the riddles, confesses his love for Turandot.  Puccini was a master of creating heart-wrenching melodies with lush orchestration and Nessun Dorma is no exception.

A Pirate’s Legend
Soon Hee Newbold was raised in Frederick, Maryland and studied piano and violin at the age of five.  She pursued a double major in pre-med and music performance at James Madison University and eventually moved to Florida where she performed with various symphonies and worked for Disney.  She has also started an acting career, appearing in two movies, and is a black belt in Taekwondo. 

Just as her interests and career paths vary, so do her compositions, often paying homage to far away lands or mystical sagas.  A Pirate’s Legend tells the tale of adventure on the high seas.  It opens with “The Calm Before the Storm”, characterized by a viola solo with static accompaniment.  This is followed by “The Jolly Roger” and “The Storm”, represented by rolling arpeggios and soaring melodies.  The pirates land on “The Deserted Island” at which point if you listen closely, you can hear the seagulls in the cello section.  Finally, the pirates find treasure as the epic comes to an exciting conclusion.

Harford Youth Orchestra (tracks 6-11)
Brian Folus, Conductor
April 12, 2008

Spirit of Freedom opens with a brass fanfare augmented with a scale-like accompaniment by the woodwinds. A theme then appears in a slower, hymn-like section before reappearing at the original tempo. Originally written in 1997 for orchestra, the concert band version was commissioned by the Beaumont High School Band, Beaumont, California. Tracey Rush was born in 1955 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. She received her BS in Music Education from Bob Jones University, where she studied with Dwight Gustafson, and has completed her coursework for her Masters of Music Education from the University of Northern Iowa.

Variations on a Shaker Melody  from ”Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copland. 
Aaron Copland was commissioned to write a ballet, Appalachian Spring, which he later arranged as a popular orchestral suite. The commission for Appalachian Spring came from Martha Graham, who had requested of Copland merely "music for an American ballet". Copland titled the piece "Music for Martha", having no idea of how she would use it on stage. Graham created a ballet she called Appalachian Spring (from a poem by Hart Crane), which was an instant success, and the music acquired the same name. Copland was amused and delighted later in life when people would come up to him and say: "You were so right - it sounds exactly like spring in the Appalachians", as he had no particular program in mind while writing the music. Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Lithuanian Jewish descent. Before emigrating to the United States, Copland's father had Anglicized his surname “Kaplan” to “Copland” while in Scotland. Throughout his childhood, Copland and his family lived above his parents' Brooklyn shop. At the age of fifteen he had already taken an interest in music and aspired to be a composer, even though his parents never encouraged him or directly exposed him to it. His musical education included time with Leopold Wolfsohn, Rubin Goldmark (who also taught George Gershwin), and Nadia Boulanger at the Fontainebleau School of Music in Paris from 1921 to 1924. He was awarded a Guggenheim in Fellowship in 1925 and again in 1926.

The Cowboys Overture by John Williams from the movie The Cowboys was directed by Mark Rydel and released in 1972 and featured John Wayne, probably Hollywood’s quintessential cowboy. The movie required a vigorous musical score to accompany virtuoso horseback riding and calf roping. Conductor/composer Andre Previn suggested to Mr. Williams to take music from the film score and set it as an overture. Mr. Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra premiered this work in 1980. John Williams was born in New York and moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1948. There he attended UCLA, Los Angeles City College, and studied composition privately with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. After service in the Air Force, Mr. Williams returned to New York to attend Juilliard University, where he studied piano with Madame Rosina Lhevinne. While in New York, he also worked as a jazz pianist, both in clubs and on recordings. He then returned to Los Angeles, where he began his career in the film industry, working with such composers as Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, and Franz Waxman. He went on to write music for many television programs in the 1960s, winning four Emmy Awards for his work.

Fiddle – Faddle Leroy Anderson 1908-1975
Leroy Anderson was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on June 29, 1908. His mother was a church organist, and it was she who gave him his first music lessons, which, of course, were on the organ. As he got older, he received piano lessons at the New England Conservatory of Music and studied double bass under the tutelage of Gaston Dufresne in Boston. By the time he was twelve he made his first effort at composing, a minuet for a string quartet. With the advent of World War II, Anderson was called to serve by the U.S. Military in military intelligence. Because of his Swedish ancestry and fluency in Scandinavian languages, he was stationed in Iceland. By the time the War ended, Anderson had become the Chief of the Scandinavian Desk of the Military Intelligence Service and had been transferred to Washington. He was offered a very attractive career in the Intelligence Service, which he declined in order to return the music he loved. He was discharged as a Captain, but later was called back in service for a short time during the Korean War. After leaving the military, Leroy Anderson settled down in Woodbury, Connecticut with his wife Eleanor and his family, devoting his time to music. Starting with his first big hit, Fiddle Faddle, he started to turn out his unique style of music. In the early 1950s, at a luncheon meeting of the National Press Club, a slim, sandy-haired man by the name of Leroy Anderson took the stage. As he sat down at the piano, he modestly announced the songs that he had written and would be playing. Even though his name was largely unknown, his compositions were becoming quite popular and well known. After he finished, the audience of newsmen, members of Congress, and other government dignitaries wildly applauded his performance. This young man from Boston was considered to be one of the most promising American composers of lighter works that had appeared in a long time.

The String Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96, B. 179, nicknamed the American, is one of the most popular pieces of chamber music by the Czech composer Antonín Dvorák. The Quartet is scored for the usual complement of two violins, viola, and cello, and comprises four movements: Allegro ma non troppo ,Lento , Molto vivace , Finale : vivace ma non troppo.
Dvorák composed the Quartet in 1893 during a summer retreat from his teaching post in New York. He spent his vacation in the hamlet of Spillville, Iowa, which was home to a Czech immigrant community including some of his cousins that had earlier immigrated. The quartet was written around the same time as the New World Symphony, the crowning masterpiece of Dvorák's years in the United States. Of his time in Spillville, Dvorak said "As for my new Symphony, the F major String Quartet and the Quintet (composed here in Spillville) -- I should never have written these works 'just so' if I hadn't seen America." In the second movement, a listener may detect the melancholic longing of an African American spiritual, a sentiment with which the homesick Dvorák sympathized. The spirited third movement imitates the rhapsodic song of an American bird, and in the final movement, the composition strongly suggests the presence of a railway or train.
Dvorák was born on September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, near Prague (then Austrian Empire, today the Czech Republic), where he spent most of his life. His father was a butcher, innkeeper, and professional player of the zither. Dvořák's parents recognized his musical talent early, and he received his earliest musical education at the village school which he entered in 1847, age 6. He studied music in Prague's only Organ School at the end of the 1850s, and gradually developed into an accomplished player of the violin and the viola. From 1892 to 1895, Dvorák was the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City.

Duke Ellington!  A Medley for Orchestra Arranged by Calvin Custer
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and band leader who was one of the most influential figures in jazz, if not in all American music. As a composer and a band leader, Ellington's reputation has increased since his death, with thematic repackagings of his signature music often becoming best-sellers. Posthumous recognition of his work includes a special award citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board.
Ellington called his style and sound "American Music" rather than jazz, and liked to describe those who impressed him as "beyond category", including many of the musicians who served with his orchestra, some of whom were themselves considered among the giants of jazz and remained with Ellington's orchestra for decades. While many were noteworthy in their own right, it was Ellington that melded them into one of the most well-known orchestral units in the history of jazz. He often composed specifically for the style and skills of these individuals, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Concerto for Cootie" ("Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me") for Cootie Williams and "The Mooche" for Tricky Sam Nanton. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan" and "Perdido" which brought the "Spanish Tinge" to big-band jazz. After 1941, he frequently collaborated with composer-arranger Billy Strayhorn, who he called his alter-ego. One of the twentieth century's best-known African-American celebrities, Ellington recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films. Ellington and his orchestra toured the United States and Europe regularly before and after World War II. Ellington led his band from 1923 until his death in 1974. His son Mercer Ellington took over the band until his death in 1996. Today the band performs under the direction of Barry Lee Hall, Jr.

This arrangement contains the Ellington hits; “Don’t Get around Much Anymore”, “Do Nothin Till You Here from Me”, “Sophisticated Lady”, and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it ain’t Got that Swing”).

In Appreciation

The Harford String Orchestra and Harford Youth Orchestra would like to thank our section coaches Ms. Lori Zimmermann, Mrs. Enid McClure, Mr. Dennis Hertzog, Mrs. Doris Reinhardt, Mrs. Barbara Bair, Ms. Sara Egner, Mrs. Margaret Holmes, Mrs. Susan Hopkins, Ms. Laura Ruth, Mr. Tim Reinhardt, and Mr. Brian Folus. We would also like to thank our rehearsal assistants, Mrs. Mary Bullock, Ms. Laura Ruth, and Mrs. Susan Hopkins and our Orchestra Personnel Managers, Mrs. Elaine Woolcott and Mrs. Christine Canter.. Thanks also to the Music Teachers of Harford and Cecil Counties for their support of these two orchestras and you the parents, friends and families of the orchestra members.

The Harford Youth Orchestra and String Orchestra is offered as a non-credit class through Harford Community College. We appreciate the College's commitment and support of music for young musicians.

Program Notes for Spring 2007 Performance

Harford Youth Orchestra (tracks 1-6)
Brian Folus, Conductor
April 21, 2007

Dubinushka, op.62
Dubinushka, whose title may be translated as “The Little Oak Stick,” was composed in 1905; the first performance was conducted by Alexander Siloti on November 18 of that year, in St. Petersburg. In the following year Rimsky-Korsakov revised the score to its present proportions. Dubinushka ,the folk-song had long been connected with revolutionary movements and for some time was actually prohibited. The four-minute piece is a robust, swaggering march, with Rimsky's characteristic directness and charm to make it vastly enjoyable, and yet at the same time it is clearly an expression of defiance and resolve. Without monumentalizing the issues, it is a striking document of a pivotal time in Russia's history.

Slane, Impressions of an Irish folk tune
Slane, Impressions of an Irish folk tune is also known as Be Thou my Vision. Douglas Wagner has taken this folk –hymn melody and woven a beautiful tapestry of orchestral sounds and colors. Words: Attributed to Dallan Forgaill, 8th Century (Rob tu mo bhoile, a Comdi cride); translated from ancient Irish to English by Mary E. Byrne, in “Eriú,” Journal of the School of Irish Learning, 1905. Slane Hill is about ten miles from Tara in County Meath. It was on Slane Hill around 433 AD that St. Patrick defied a royal edict by lighting candles on Easter Eve. High King Logaire of Tara had decreed that no one could light a fire before Logaire began the pagan spring festival by lighting a fire on Tara Hill. Logaire was so impressed by Patrick’s devotion that, despite his defiance (or perhaps because of it), he let him continue his missionary work. The rest is history.

"Hymn to the Fallen"
"Hymn to the Fallen" by John Williams scored for orchestra and choir for the Paramount and DreamWorks Motion Picture “Saving Private Ryan. This composition is played over the end credits, and is never heard in the actual film. The piece opens with a slow snare drum before the choir, scored for strings in this performance, is heard for the first time, very subtle, supported by primarily woodwinds. The music builds up, with powerful brass and choir to a wonderful emotional climax. This work is without doubt going to become a classic. "It's a piece of music and a testament to John Williams' sensitivity and brilliance that, in my opinion, will stand the test of time and honor forever the fallen of this war and possibly all wars", to quote Spielberg in the liner notes. The Harford Youth Orchestra dedicates this performance to the fallen heroes of Harford County

Harford String Orchestra (tracks 7-12)
Tim Reinhardt, Conductor
April 21, 2007

Prelude
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) is usually heralded as the greatest Norwegian composer of all time.  His music, often typified as heroic and lyrical, combined nationalistic folk melodies with the traditional German romanticism in which he was trained.  The Holberg Suite was written to honor Ludwig Holberg, a great Danish writer, on the bicentennial of his birth.  Originally written for piano (1884) and later transcribed for orchestra (1886), Grieg chose to use a suite of classical dance forms from the seventeenth century.  The Prelude offers a strong melody with a restless rhythm, often punctuated with accents and fortepianos.

Adagietto
Gustav Mahler was born in Bohemia in 1860.  His life was fraught with tension and angst, having lost his siblings, parents, and eldest daughter to various ailments.  He described himself as “thrice abandoned: as a Bohemian among Austrians, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout the world.”  His unbearably tyrannical nature as a conductor often put him at odds with his orchestras, but it was the same exacting ingenuity that made his music so powerful and inventive.

The Adagietto was made popular as the film score for the classic movie, “Death in Venice”, and thusly, is often performed at a very stagnant, deathly tempo.  This is understandable, as Mahler was somewhat obsessed with his own mortality. However the Adagietto was actually Mahler’s declaration of love to his fiancée, Alma.  He sent the score to her with no words attached; they were married a year later.  The nuanced combination of beauty, desire, longing, and fate will satisfy the listener’s interpretation, whether it is one of death or love.

Palladio
Palladio is more commonly recognized as “Diamond Music”, made famous by the Zales’s Diamond commercials.  Although it sounds like the work of Vivaldi, it was actually written by the British contemporary composer, Karl Jenkins (1944-).  Jenkins writes in many, incredibly diverse styles including jazz, classical, new age, and ethnic music.  Palladio employs driving rhythmic figures, traditional harmonies, and exciting dynamic contrasts to reinvent the Baroque era.

English Fugue
William Selby (1738-1798) is a lesser-known English composer who focused most of his compositional energy on keyboard works.  After holding several posts in London, he immigrated to America in 1771 and worked in Boston.  Art Scheinberg has arranged this fugue, originally for keyboard, for string orchestra.  The stately fugal subject is handed to every section of the ensemble, beginning with the first violins.

The Syncopated Clock
The music of Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) is characterized by light, catchy melodies often using special effects for novel programmatic settings.  After studying music at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University, he was employed as an arranger for the Boston Pops.  The U.S. Army drafted him during World War II as an interpreter and it was at this time, while serving at the Pentagon, that he composed the syncopated clock.  The solo temple block part caricatures a clock that is slightly off kilter, while the alarm sounds periodically throughout the middle section.  Other famous works by Anderson include Sleigh Ride, Blue Tango, Plink Plank Plunk, The Typewriter and Bugler’s Holiday.

It Takes Five to Tango
Originally written for brass quintet by Tim Reinhardt, this original work was transcribed and expanded for string orchestra, then dedicated to the HSO in 2003.  Five soloists begin It Takes Five to Tango and they re-emerge in various interludes throughout the piece.  Energetic rhythms and Latin harmonies drive this tango as the main melody is developed and distorted.  Many special techniques are also used such as glissandos, left hand pizzicato, and a snap pizzicato in the bass section.

In Appreciation

The Harford String Orchestra and Harford Youth Orchestra would like to thank our section coaches Mrs. Enid McClure, Mr. Tim Reinhardt, Mr. Brian Folus, Mr. Dennis Hertzog, Ms Laura Ruth. We would also like to thank our rehearsal assistants, Mrs. Mary Bullock and Mrs. Susan Hopkins and our Orchestra Personnel Managers, Mrs. Susan Bowen and Mrs. Cheri Zimmerman. Thanks also to the Music Teachers of Harford and Cecil Counties for their support of these two orchestras and you the parents, friends and families of the orchestra members. The Harford Youth Orchestra and String Orchestra is offered as a non-credit class through Harford Community College we appreciate their commitment and support of music for young musicians.

Program Notes for Fall 2007 Performance

Harford String Orchestra (tracks 1-6)
Tim Reinhardt, Conductor
November 10th, 2007

Posthorn Serenade
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is best known as a prodigy who set the musical world ablaze beginning with his compositions at the age of five and continuing for the 30 short years remaining of his life.  The Posthorn Serenade, K. 320, dates from 1779 during Mozart’s Salzburg years.  This serenade is a multi-movement work in a light-hearted vein, and was commissioned as “finalmusik,” a piece used to celebrate the conclusion of examinations and classes at the University.  The title of the serenade is derived from the use of a posthorn, a sort of bugle used to signal the arrival of the mail coach, in the second trio of one of the minuets.  The finale, performed here, is a vigorously exultant movement employing spiccato bowing and extreme dynamic contrasts.

Barber of Seville
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) is best known for his witty and fanciful opera buffas (comic operas).  He was easily the most popular, most prolific, and wealthiest composer in the early 19th century.  He had written 39 operas by the time he was 37 years old, and never wrote another for the next 40 years of his life. Rossini died at the ripe old age of 76.

The Barber of Seville was commissioned in January 1816.  Three weeks later, Rossini completed his masterpiece…with a little help from some of his failed operas from the past.  One such borrowed portion was the overture.  Originally used for two unsuccessful operas, Rossini’s stubbornness struck genius as he crossed out the two other titles and wrote Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the top.  Opening night was catastrophic; the audience jeered and hissed as one thing after another went wrong.  Count Almaviva broke a string on his guitar, a soprano fell through a trap door, a singer tripped onto the stage and bloodied his nose, and to top it all off, a cat was released onto the stage by someone in the audience.  The second night met with much more success and the opera has stood the test of time ever since. 

Deep River
Deep River is an African American spiritual, one of the first spirituals to move from the realm of folk music to the concert stage, thanks to the work of H.T. Burleigh, a composer at the turn of the 19th century.  He brought to the public eye the depth and beauty of the spiritual through his published arrangements for solo voice and piano.  In this arrangement, Carrie Lane Gruselle captures the beautiful, longing melody, while employing jazz harmonies to create an unforgettable rendition of this classic spiritual.

Concerto Grosso
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was one of the most prominent composers of the baroque period.  Born in Halle, Germany, he gained English citizenship in 1727.  The Allegro is the second movement of his Concerto Grosso, Op.6, No.1.  The concerto grosso was the principal form of orchestral music during the Baroque era, created by Stradella and made popular by Corelli.  It is characterized by contrasts between a small group of soloists, or concertante, and the full orchestra, or ripieno. 

Blue Rhythmico
Blue Rhythmico is an exciting, minimalist piece that incorporates driving rhythms and the “blue” notes of a jazz scale.  The opening rhythmic ostinato creates the foundation for the proceeding contributions from the various sections of the orchestra.  A short ‘B’ section incorporates a hemiola with a crescendo that finally releases to powerful glissandos in the violins.  The piece winds down at the end, with all sections playing in unison.  Kirt Mosier presently teaches high school in Kansas City, Missouri.

Pirates of the Caribbean
Ted Ricketts has arranged the beloved film score of Pirates of the Caribbean:  The Curse of the Black Pearl in a fashion that is every bit as mysterious and adventurous as the original movie.  Complex rhythms and meter changes characterize the many melodies offered in this medley, such as The Medallion Calls, Blood Ritual, Walk the Plank, and The Black Pearl.  Come sail the seas with Captain Jack Sparrow in this exciting Disney favorite.

Harford Youth Orchestra (tracks 7-12)
Brian Folus, Conductor
November 10th, 2007 

Marche Joyeuse by Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) certainly lives up to its title. This march employs a reoccurring rhythmic phrase in the opening section that has quite a comic feel to it. The second phrase equally energetic has a soaring melody in the french horns. Emmanuel Alexis Chabrier was a French Romantic composer from the Auvergne region of central France and was born in Ambert. Although his parents, sensing his musical abilities, brought him to Paris in 1856, he did not toe the line by studying at the Paris Conservatoire or even at any of the less prestigious musical institutions. Many music critics have commented that “his individual style of orchestration seemed to come from nowhere”. The impressionistic harmonies used by Chabrier are both enticing and exotic.

The Walk To The Paradise Garden by Frederick Delius (1862-1934) Delius's musical style is one of the most unusual in Western musical history. Characterized by a curious mixture of pentatonic figures and  chromatics  although still largely tonal, it reflects a move from the textbook post-romanticism of the years following the death of Richard Wagner (1883) to a style that was unique to Delius, blending Impressionism with the slightly older post-romanticism and northern European and African-American folk idioms. His use of luscious harmonies - mainly slow moving, and constantly evolving melody, with the frequent use of leitmotifs - is what prompted Sir Thomas Beecham to describe him as "the last great apostle of romantic beauty in music." His harmony and melody were influenced greatly by African-American music of the time, using blues harmony and melodic characteristics that would become distinctly jazz and blues 20 years later.

Danse Macabre by Camille Saint – Saens (1835-1921) is of course a Halloween favorite and it is Halloween that this piece describes. The very opening invokes mystery and suspense as the harp chimes twelve tones against the horn and string chords. Death then appears portrayed by the out of tune violin calling the dead to rise and dance for him as he does every Halloween. After which the main theme is heard on a solo flute and is followed by a descending scale on the solo violin. The rest of the orchestra, particularly the lower instruments of the string section, then joins in on the descending scale. The main theme and the scale is then heard throughout the various sections of the orchestra until it breaks to the solo violin and the harp playing the scale. The piece becomes more energetic and climaxes at this point; the full orchestra playing with strong dynamics. Towards the end of the piece, there is another violin solo, now modulating, which is then joined by the rest of the orchestra. The final section, a pianissimo, represents the dawn breaking and the skeletons returning to their graves.

The Waltzing Cat by Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) Leroy Anderson has been called the "most famous unknown composer" because his music has rooted itself in American culture, becoming as iconic as the flag and apple pie. He was born into a family of first-generation Swedish immigrants. In 1919, he began his music and piano studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. At Harvard, he studied composition, and later served as the director of the Harvard University Band. The Waltzing Cat is one of Mr. Andersons fun loving and comical pieces and even makes an appearance in a “Tom & Jerry “cartoon. The cat is enjoying a wonderful day dream where everything comes his way. All is peacefully portray by a lilting melody and the gentle cat’s meowing until the dream is interrupted by the cat’s nemeses –the dogs. The cat then scampers away and gives one final hiss to his enemy.

Farandole by Georges Bizet (1838-1875) is from the L'Arlésienne, Suite Number Two which was published four years after Bizet's death in 1879. The suite was collected by Ernest Guiraud, who compiled some of Bizet's original themes and formed the second suite. Although the work was never sanctioned by Bizet and was performed posthumously, the second suite is generally credited to Bizet since Bizet wrote the themes in the work. The work performed today is an arrangement by Merle Issac world renowned orchestra arranger.

In Appreciation

The Harford String Orchestra and Harford Youth Orchestra would like to
thank our section coaches: Mrs. Enid McClure, Mr. Dennis Hertzog, Mr. Tim Reinhardt, Mr. Brian Folus, Ms Lori Zimmerman, Mrs. Doris Reinhardt,Mrs. Margaret Holmes, and Mr. Mark Lashof.  We would also like to thank our rehearsal assistants, Mrs. Mary Bullock, Mrs. Susan Hopkins, and Ms Laura Ruth and our Orchestra Personnel Managers, Mrs. Christine Canter and Mrs.Elaine Woolcott. Thanks also to the Music Teachers of Harford and Cecil Counties for their support of these two orchestras, and you the parents, friends and families of the orchestra members. The Harford Youth Orchestra and String Orchestra are offered as noncredit classes through Harford Community College. We appreciate the College’s commitment and support of music for young musicians