Monday Musicale with the Maestro – January 22, 2024 – In Remembrance of Three American Masters
Dear Friends of the Durham Symphony Orchestra,
Monday Musicale with the Maestro. In Remembrance of Three American Masters.
As always, you can read the full text or catch up on all of the archived posts in the Conductor’s Corner!
A belated Happy New Year to you all! The DSO has every reason to feel optimistic about 2024 partly due to those of you who made end-of-the-year donations to this wonderful ensemble. You have our heart-felt gratitude.
Looking back at 2023, I recall many positive experiences. Perhaps my favorite DSO moment was our November 5th, all-Tchaikovsky performance at the Carolina Theatre, featuring the concert premiere of the Tchaikovsky/Rapée Symphonie Élégiaque. In case you missed that event or the MMM about it, here is the link to that article.
Sadly, 2023 also brought losses to our musical community, including Hugh Partridge, retired principal violist of the NC Symphony, Hugh was also an esteemed local teacher and the founder/conductor of several youth symphonies in the Triangle, including the Triangle Youth Philharmonic.
Hugh Partridge (Aug 2, 1939 – Dec 14, 2023)
Please visit this link to learn more about Hugh Partridge and his incredible accomplishments.
Below is the eulogy I gave for my friend and colleague Hugh Partridge.
REMARKS AT HUGH PARTRIDGE MEMORIAL SERVICE, Cary Arts Center-January 5, 2024
Thank you all for being here. I admired Hugh Partridge for many reasons.
He loved music. And I mean… he really LOVED music. During my 20 years as Resident Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, Hugh Partridge was the principal viola for most of that time. In my very first season, I realized that being able to keep intact one’s love of music while maintaining high technical standards doing a grueling schedule of seemingly endless rehearsals and concerts was the biggest spiritual challenge a professional orchestral player can have. Those NCS players with superhuman hearts for music were my heroes, my angels. I conducted for them as much as I did for the music, myself, and the audience. Hugh was one of those inspirational angels.
As a violist, he was a great solo artist. One of my most memorable life experiences was when he played the solo role in Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with the UNC-Chapel Hill Orchestra. This work is both a tone poem and a viola concerto. I love the piece, partially because I myself was a violist. I was delighted to finally attend a live performance of it. Hugh Partridge played it flawlessly.
On my last two visits to the Partridge home, I was deeply moved when he bequeathed to me his conducting scores and the precious biographies of his two viola heroes: Lionel Tertis and William Primrose.
I was honored when Hugh Partridge the conductor programmed my compositions with the Triangle Youth Philharmonic. One of those pieces was my Eulogy for a Dream, a work for speaker and orchestra using excerpts from the speeches of Martin Luther King. I was delighted when he interpreted a certain section more beautifully than I, or anyone else, had ever done. Of course, I tried to emulate what he had achieved in that passage! But I failed. This was because I overthought how to do it–whereas Hugh felt it from within. He gave me a great conducting lesson in remembering to “let go” and let the message of the music govern you.
And there was Hugh Partridge the teacher and teacher/conductor of youth orchestras. To me, the two “God professions” are Medicine and Teaching. Hugh’s legacy of inspiring hundreds of young musicians strikes me as being far more important than the frenzied activities of dozens of “famous” globe-trotting maestri who leave no footprint in history.
The greatest compliment of my career was when a young woman came up to me at a North Carolina Symphony young people’s concert and said that she had played in a youth symphony when I conducted Shostakovich’s epic Symphony No. 5. She realized, she said, that my sometimes-grueling insistence that everyone play as well as they could was based wholly on my love and respect for the music. But more so, she began to understand that my devotion to the message–the underlying MEANING of great music– was what drove me to strive for excellence. This, because the music deserved it. Rebecca then told me that it was because of that experience with that Shostakovich symphony that she decided to become a music teacher! And she was in Meymandi Hall that day with her students! That was a beautiful day. Hugh Partridge’s legacy as a GREAT teacher was a blessing for him and his students.
We’ve heard a lot tonight about this great man’s life and legacy. What an honor it has been to hear these gifted musicians and to hear people’s stories and have this opportunity to share my own.
If I can leave you with one thought, it would be this: a eulogy can also be for a living person. Let us remember to eulogize people while they can still hear our positive comments about them! Everybody needs a compliment. Everybody can benefit from a smile of recognition. I’m reminded of the most eloquent line in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, which tells us HOW to be good to each other: “Attention must be paid.”
When we act as attentive Earth angels for each other, God is smiling at us. God bless Hugh Partridge… and us ALL.
William Henry Curry
In recent weeks, we also lost two superb American composers.
Peter Schickele (Jul 17, 1935 – Jan 16, 2024)
I conducted him in concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He was great fun to work with and had an irrepressible sense of humor. He is most famous for his creation of an imaginary composer named P.D.Q. Bach. The works by this fictional composer were modeled on those of the baroque master J.S. Bach but also included (to great comic effect) allusions to pop culture, including jazz and bluegrass.
I am especially fond of his Cantata: Blaues Gras (Bluegrass Cantata), which sounds like a lively musical conversation between J.S. Bach and Garth Brooks! Because P.D.Q. Bach was German, so are the lyrics. But they are–and are meant to be–nonsensical.
Blaues Gras (Bluegrass Cantata), S. 6 string (P.D.Q. Bach)
Professor Peter Schickele, bass, conductor, snake
The New York Pick-Up Ensemble, Robert Bernhardt, Conductor
John Ferrante, Tenor
Schickele was also a serious composer with an inspired melodic gift. I’ve conducted several of his pieces, and I hope his passing will remind people of the treasures he bequeathed to us.
One of these is his Pentangle: Five Songs for French Horn and Orchestra. It requires a virtuoso hornist who can also SING in the final section!
Peter Schickele, Composer
Pentangle, Five Songs for French Horn and Orchestra
Louisville Orchestra, Jorge Mester, Conductor
Kenneth Albrecht, French Horn
Ron Nelson (Dec 14, 1929 – Dec 24, 2023)
Visit this link to learn more about Ron Nelson, the American composer known for his significant contributions to band literature and his blending of traditional and contemporary harmonies.
Ron Nelson wrote Savannah River Holiday: Overture in 1952. Though an early work, it went on to become his most-performed composition. Indeed, it is one of the great American overtures, along with Bernstein’s Candide Overture, Samuel Barber’s School for Scandal Overture, and John Williams’ overture from the film The Cowboys. The inspired lyricism and morning-in-America exuberance of Nelson’s overture are irresistible.
Ron Nelson, Composer
Savannah River Holiday, Overture
Eastman Rochester Symphony Orchestra
Howard Hanson, Conductor
As we embark on this new year, filled with both reflection and anticipation, the DSO remains a testament to the enduring spirit of music. We honor the legacy of those we’ve lost, celebrate the contributions of luminous talents like Partridge, Schickele and Nelson, and look forward with excitement to the symphonic journeys ahead. Your continued support and engagement are the melodies that sustain this wonderful community. Together, let’s make 2024 a year of memorable music, shared experiences, and collective inspiration.
William Henry Curry
Music Director
Durham Symphony Orchestra
Comprehensive Editor (Text): Suzanne Bolt
Copy Editor & Digital Layout: Tina Biello & Marianne Ward
Thank you for being a important part of the Durham Symphony Orchestra family! We appreciate your support and vital impact on our community!
This DSO is funded in part by the City of Durham and is supported by the Durham Arts Council’s Annual Arts Fund and the N.C. Arts Council (a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources).
