Her Song in 3 Voices

It is a privilege and honor to be a featured soloist with the Idaho Falls Symphony and Music Director Dr. Thomas Heuser! I am grateful to ElevateHer Music for elevating women in music, and for their sponsorship of this exciting program!

Composer Jessica Meyer is a fabulous composer and musician, and it is a thrill for our community to have her come and be in residence for several days. I look forward to hearing her work Turbulent Flames performed by the IFS, in addition to the romantic Symphony No. 7 of Emelie Mayer.

The piece I will be performing is Tzigane, Rapsodie de concert by French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Tzigane is French for gypsy, or pertaining to gypsies. Ravel’s Tzigane is in the style of a Hungarian rhapsody, but not specifically Hungarian in any musical way. It is a virtuoso show piece that has been a favorite of violinists for generations.

Ravel heard the remarkable Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Aranyi (1893-1966) in recital with composer Bela Bartok on piano in Paris in1922, performing Bartok’s First Violin Sonata. A great-niece of famed violinist Joseph Joachim, Jelly was a renowned violinist of her time. Two months later, Ravel heard Jelly perform his own Sonata for Violin and Cello in London, and subsequently asked her to play gypsy music for him. This became the inspiration for Ravel’s composition, and Jelly is the dedicatee. Written in 1924 (exactly 100 years ago!), the version for violin and piano was premiered by Jelly on April 26 and received an enthusiastic reception; Ravel orchestrated it for violin and orchestra later the same year. I think this historical context is so fascinating, as it adds another - uniquely important and inspiring - woman’s voice to this program!

Sincerely,

Emma