The Philadelphia Orchestra
Performers
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director and Conductor
Joyce DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano
Program
WAGNER Prelude to Lohengrin
MASON BATES Anthology of Fantastic Zoology (NY Premiere)
CHAUSSON Poème de l'amour et de la mer
RESPIGHI Fountains of Rome
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
A medieval German legend, the magical realism of Jorge Luis Borges, French poetry, and the sights of Rome inspired the four works on this evening’s program.
Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin concerns the mysterious knight of the Holy Grail, the son of Parsifal, who attempts to keep his identity a secret. The ethereal Prelude begins with shimmering strings playing in the highest register to evoke the sacred vessel.
American composer Mason Bates’s Anthology of Fantastic Zoology is based on Borges’s book of the same name. The 11 continuously performed movements of varying lengths evoke both mythological and newly imagined creatures in what Bates calls a “psychedelic bestiary.” This is a Carnival of the Animals for the 21st century.
French composer Ernest Chausson set poetry by his friend Maurice Bouchor, resulting in his Poème de l’amour et de la mer (Poem of Love and the Sea) for voice and orchestra. The piece, which owes a considerable debt to Wagner’s music, includes an orchestral interlude between the two vocal sections, “Water Flower” and “The Death of Love.”
The concert concludes with Ottorino Respighi’s colorful Fountains of Rome, the first of a trilogy of works he composed honoring the Eternal City and the piece that won him international fame. It unfolds in four movements that depict celebrated Roman fountains at different times during the course of the day.