program notes

Overture to “La Forza del Destino” Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901) Giuseppe Verdi was another in a long line of composers who began as child prodigies. He showed such interest

Capriccio Espagnole, op. 34 Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov was the youngest son of an aristocratic Russian family (Korsakov) that had years ago added the place-name of their region, Rimsky,

The Opera in Italy In no nation on earth is opera so revered as in Italy, and among those throughout the world of Italian descent. In other locales, and among

Fantasy and Fugue in C-Minor, BWV 537 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 -1750) (Orchestrated by Sir Edward Elgar) If music were architecture, Bach’s big organ works would be cathedrals, fortresses, Baronial

THE MOLDAU Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) edrich Smetana was the first major composer from Bohemia to view himself as a Czech, rather than part of the Austrian Empire that controlled the