PAMÁTNÍK: Memorial for Orchestra (2019)
2 . 2 . 2 . 2 / 4 . 3 . 3 . 1 / timp . 3perc / str
2 . 2 . 2 . 2 / 4 . 3 . 3 . 1 / timp . 3perc / str
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PROGRAM NOTES
For many years, I have felt a strong connection to my Czech heritage on my father’s side of the family. Whether it manifests itself in music, literature, visual art, folk tradition, or (last but not least) food, the culture and history of the Czech people has resonated with me ever since I learned about my great-great-grandfather and his emigration from Bohemia in 1891. Because of this background and interest in history, I was aware that the year 2018 was a significant one for the Czech people: 100 years since independence from Austria, 50 years since Prague Spring, and 25 years since the founding of the Republic. I wanted to, in hopefully a significant but unassuming way, bring attention to this concurrence of anniversaries by composing a piece to commemorate these events and their significance to world history. Therefore, I was overjoyed when the Wisconsin Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned this large orchestra version of a piece I had composed for wind ensemble in March 2018, in conjunction with the Czech-Slovak 100/50/25 initiatives taking place throughout Midwestern America.
The resulting composition is entitled Památník (translated as “memorial” or “monument” in Czech), which truly describes my artistic intention for the work. The piece begins with a strong low brass motif (using the first four notes of the ancient Czech chorale Svatý Václave) which builds rapidly until a plaintively expressive tuba solo introduces the main theme of the work. After being passed to a solo trombone, the texture expands until a syncopated interlude leads to a flowing transition of solo winds and strings, both reusing and foreshadowing motivic material. As the section gains momentum, a solo oboe introduces the middle section’s jaunty main theme, a variant of the Czech furiant, which is a fiery folk dance known for its feeling of alternation between duple and triple meter. While the tune is original, it toys with strains of the Czech folksong Sedlák, sedlák, sedlák and Smetana’s Furiant from The Bartered Bride. Then, as tension and anxiety build, driving eighth-note rhythms carry remnants of the furiant theme into a reprise of the main theme with the violins in octaves. The underlying energy does not lessen, however, and gradually the emotion builds to a high, powerful climax, from which point the music cascades into the Czech national anthem, Kde domov můj. As the strings’ and woodwinds’ flurrying accompaniment mixes with what could be the bells of Prague pealing triumphantly, the main theme bursts forth once more in counterpoint with the anthem. The two push forward together until one last nod to the furiant carries the piece home to a jubilant conclusion.
Many thanks to Dr. Michael Alec Rose for his spirited guidance while I composed the wind ensemble version of this work, and to Dr. Michael Kurek and Dr. Michael Slayton for their direction while I orchestrated the current version.
—Jacob Beranek
For many years, I have felt a strong connection to my Czech heritage on my father’s side of the family. Whether it manifests itself in music, literature, visual art, folk tradition, or (last but not least) food, the culture and history of the Czech people has resonated with me ever since I learned about my great-great-grandfather and his emigration from Bohemia in 1891. Because of this background and interest in history, I was aware that the year 2018 was a significant one for the Czech people: 100 years since independence from Austria, 50 years since Prague Spring, and 25 years since the founding of the Republic. I wanted to, in hopefully a significant but unassuming way, bring attention to this concurrence of anniversaries by composing a piece to commemorate these events and their significance to world history. Therefore, I was overjoyed when the Wisconsin Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned this large orchestra version of a piece I had composed for wind ensemble in March 2018, in conjunction with the Czech-Slovak 100/50/25 initiatives taking place throughout Midwestern America.
The resulting composition is entitled Památník (translated as “memorial” or “monument” in Czech), which truly describes my artistic intention for the work. The piece begins with a strong low brass motif (using the first four notes of the ancient Czech chorale Svatý Václave) which builds rapidly until a plaintively expressive tuba solo introduces the main theme of the work. After being passed to a solo trombone, the texture expands until a syncopated interlude leads to a flowing transition of solo winds and strings, both reusing and foreshadowing motivic material. As the section gains momentum, a solo oboe introduces the middle section’s jaunty main theme, a variant of the Czech furiant, which is a fiery folk dance known for its feeling of alternation between duple and triple meter. While the tune is original, it toys with strains of the Czech folksong Sedlák, sedlák, sedlák and Smetana’s Furiant from The Bartered Bride. Then, as tension and anxiety build, driving eighth-note rhythms carry remnants of the furiant theme into a reprise of the main theme with the violins in octaves. The underlying energy does not lessen, however, and gradually the emotion builds to a high, powerful climax, from which point the music cascades into the Czech national anthem, Kde domov můj. As the strings’ and woodwinds’ flurrying accompaniment mixes with what could be the bells of Prague pealing triumphantly, the main theme bursts forth once more in counterpoint with the anthem. The two push forward together until one last nod to the furiant carries the piece home to a jubilant conclusion.
Many thanks to Dr. Michael Alec Rose for his spirited guidance while I composed the wind ensemble version of this work, and to Dr. Michael Kurek and Dr. Michael Slayton for their direction while I orchestrated the current version.
—Jacob Beranek