Paul Fetler's "Capriccio"

Synopsis

On today's date in 1985, a brand-new piece of music had its premiere in a brand-new concert hall in Minnesota. The American composer Paul Fetler wrote his jaunty "Capriccio" to celebrate both the first concert of the 7th season of conductor Jay Fishman's Minneapolis Chamber Symphony and the 1st of the Ordway Music Theater in St. Paul, which had just opened its doors to the public that year.

"When Jay Fishman commissioned me to compose a dedicatory work for their opening concert," wrote Fetler, "I immediately thought of a composition which would be light-hearted, buoyant, and playful. I felt for once that the 'serious' contemporary music scene (which I often find to be 'super-serious') could stand a bit of contrast. Perhaps the time is ripe to have a few pieces which are less 'profound,' something with the flair of Rossini to divert the listener from the 'daily burdens of life.'"

Several decades later, the 'daily burdens of life' are no less onerous—so one would think light-hearted works like this would be very welcome on contemporary concert programs!

As Fetler put it, "Webster defines a 'capriccio' as 'an instrumental composition in more or less free form, often in a whimsical style.' The definition suited me perfectly. There is no story behind the 'Capriccio,' but the whimsy and playfulness are intended to suggest a musical caper of a kind. To bring this out, I made primary use of the woodwinds, in particular the flute and piccolo, with their skips, runs, and arpeggios."

Music Played in Today's Program

Paul Fetler Capriccio Ann Arbor Symphony; Arie Lipsky, cond. Naxos 8.559606

On This Day

Births

• 1757 - Austrian-born composer and piano maker Ignaz Joseph Pleyel, in Ruppertsthal, near Vienna; He studied with Haydn and was one of the older composer's favorite pupils;

• 1904 - Birth of French composer and conductor Manuel Rosenthal, in Paris; His ballet arrangement of Offenbach melodies, "Gaîté Parisienne," is his best-known work;

• 1843 - Austrian cellist and composer David Popper, in Prague;

• 1905 - Estonian-born Swedish composer Eduard Tubin, in Kalaste, near Tartu (Dorpat) (Julian date: June 5);

• 1942 - English singer, composer and former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney, in Liverpool;

Deaths

• 1726 - French composer Michel-Richard de Lalande (La Lande, Delalande), age 68, at Versailles;

Premieres

• 1821 - Weber: opera "Der Freischütz" (The Freeshooter), in Berlin at the Königliches Schauspielhaus;

• 1923 - Gershwin: musical revue, "George White's Scandals of 1923" at the Globe Theater in New York City;

• 1958 - Britten: opera "Noye's Fludde," in Orford Church, near Aldeburgh;

• 1980 - Persichetti: "Three Toccatinas" for Piano, by contestants in the International Piano Festival and Competition at the University of Maryland;

• 1992 - Anthony Davis: opera "Tania" at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia;

Others

• 1837 - Mendelssohn finishes his String Quartet in e, Op. 44, no. 2, in Freiburg (Germany), while on his honeymoon.