Michael Daugherty's "Alligator Alley"

Synopsis

"Alligator Alley" is the nickname for the east-west stretch of Interstate 75 between Naples and Fort Lauderdale that crosses through Florida Everglades National Park. This park is home to many endangered species, one of them being the American alligator, a critter that occasionally I-75 drivers might see perched on the roadside observing the traffic flow—or hunting for road kill.

"Alligator Alley" is also the title of a wind band score by the American composer Michael Daugherty, a work commissioned in 2003 by the American Composers Forum for their BandQuest series of new pieces written by leading American composers for middle and high school performers.

In the case of "Alligator Alley," Daugherty had a particular middle-schooler in mind, namely his own daughter who played bassoon in a middle school band.

Daugherty's "Alligator Alley" employs two main themes: the first, a slithery "alligator theme," is played at the beginning by bassoons; the second, a "hunter's theme," is performed by the brass, and the percussive sound of an alligator snapping its jaws is evoked by two pieces of wood being struck together.

Since its premiere performance on May 14, 2003, by band director Gene Bartley and the kids at Slausen Middle School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michael Daugherty's "Alligator Alley" has slithered its way into the band rooms and onto the music stands of young musicians all across the country.

Music Played in Today's Program

Michael Daugherty (b. 1956) Alligator Alley Suite U of Mn Band; Craig Kirchhoff, cond.

On This Day

Births

• 1885 - German conductor and composer, Otto Klemperer, in Breslau;

• 1917 - American composer Lou Harrison, in Portland, Ore.;

Deaths

• 1847 - German composer Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, age 41, in Berlin; She was the sister of Felix Mendelssohn;

Premieres

• 1723 - Handel: opera "Flavio, re de' Langobardi" (Flavio, King of the Langobards), in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: May 25);

• 1832 - Mendelssohn: "Hebrides" Overture ("Fingal's Cave"), in London, conducted by the composer;

• 1914 - R. Strauss: ballet "Josephslegende," in Paris;

• 1919 - Debussy: Saxophone Rhapsody (orchestral version by Roger-Ducasse), at a Société Nationale de Musique concert conducted by André Caplet at the Salle Gaveau in Paris;

• 1923 - Holst: "The Perfect Fool," in London at Covent Garden Opera House;

• 1941 - Cage: "Third Construction" for four percussionists, in San Francisco;

• 1942 - Copland: "Lincoln Portrait," by the Cincinnati Symphony conducted by André Kostelanetz, with William Adams the narrator;

• 1953 - American premiere of Stravinsky's opera, "The Rake's Progress," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with the composer conducting; The world premiere performance occurred on September 11, 1951, in Venice, again with the composer conducting;

• 1966 - Ginastera: "Concerto per Corde," by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1986 - Rautavaara: Symphony No. 5, in Helsinki, by Finnish Radio Symphony, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting;

• 1987 - Alvin Singleton: "Shadows" for orchestra. By the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Shaw conducting;

• 1992 - James MacMillan: "Sinfonietta" at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, by the London Sinfonietta, Martyn Brabbins conducting;

• 1993 - Philip Glass: opera "Orphée" (based on the Jean Cocteau film), by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.;

Others

• 1719 - Handel is commanded by the Lord Chamberlain (Thomas Holles, Duke of Newcastle), to hire singers for the recently established Royal Academy of Music's productions of Italian operas (Gregorian date: May 25);

• 1974 - Final London concert performance by conductor Leopold Stokowski, age 92 conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall: The program was Symphony No. 4 by Brahms, the "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" by Vaughan Williams, the "Merry Waltz" by Otto Klemperer, and the "Rapsodie espagnole" by Ravel; This was not Stokowski's "final" concert appearance, however; He was on the podium again in Venice in July of that year, and continued to make studio recordings; He died on September 13, 1977, at the age of 95 in his house in Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England;