The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra is famous worldwide for the talented performances of great historical and contemporary composers’ works. The attendance of one of the recent orchestra’s concerts produced indelible impression.
Besides a variety of performances, one of the most outstanding was Falla’s Three Dancers from the Three-Cornered Hat. Manuel de Falla is a representative of Western classical music who worked in the first half of the 20th century.
Falla composed emotional Three Dancers from the Three-Cornered Hat at the beginning of the 20th century; however, its dynamic sounds still touch every string of the soul. Falla launched this masterpiece in 1919 as a ballet based on a Spanish novel about a love triangle – a miller, his wife, and a magistrate.
Though the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra only performed the music accompaniment to the ballet, it was still possible to feel the Spanish coloring provided by Falla’s Spanish heritage.
As most of Falla’s works, Three Dancers from the Three-Cornered Hat are filled with a variety of flavors of the Spanish folk music – the shuffling dance rhythms, clicking castanets, flamenco melodies, and strumming guitars. Thus, the music of the ballet is tonal, colorfully evocative, and rhythmically vital.
While listening to the music sounds, it seems that one is watching a ballet version with actors moving along the scene, their mimics, and gestures. Moreover, it is possible to image the story performed in its natural Spanish setting.
Rough guitar sounds accompanied with percussion reflect strained moments of the story, while light piano sounds show lull periods. Constant music shifts create tension; thus, one is fully involved in this musical performance. One of the most impressive musical moments of this work is a kaleidoscopic range of instrumental colors, interspersed with powerful sounds of Spanish percussion.
Moreover, Three Dancers form the Three-Cornered Hat is performed by a variety of instruments – winds, brass, guitars, percussion, piano, and soprano – that create an imitable music sounding. The removal of musicians from microphones provides a spacious, quasi-live effect of this masterpiece.
The music piece starts with fanfare like introduction; one may enjoy the combination of drums, guitar, and piano sounds roughly blowing up the silence and engaging the audience in the world of roar passion and ruffle emotions.
It is so unexpected that there is nothing left to do that to let the music absorb one in the story performed. The sweeping from the feet introduction is followed with clicking castanets and imaginary hand clapping that produces an impression of traditional Spanish atmosphere.
Afterwards, castanets are changed for energetic dance sounds which, probably, represent a traditional Spanish dance – jota. This piece of performance introduces the audience with the miller and his wife. Grotesque sounds of piccolo and strings represent the appearance of the magistrate and the absurdity of his look.
The story has a happy ending; therefore, the musical performance finishes with accarezzevole sounds of flamenco dance followed by jota’s energetic sounds. In general, Three Dancers from the Three-Cornered Hat performance starts and finishes so sharply as if one was caught by a hurricane and whirled for a while in its dangerous, but exciting dance.
While listening attentively to music sounds, one could move to Spain of the 19th century. Thus, there is an enormous difference between listening to a music piece in a home setting, or attending a musical event.
The home atmosphere does not allow the mind to concentrate fully on the story performed as there are many outside predictors. In the concert hall, the atmosphere is spiritual and imagination-friendly. Hence, being an attentive listener attending a musical event undoubtedly reflects on the social, cultural, and intellectual experience of a person.
A social effect of the music on a person depends on its style and the way of performance. For example, rock music advertises usage of drugs and free attitude towards sex; the most of the rock musical events are considered with drug overdoses, naked fans, inappropriate behavior, etc. Unfortunately, rock culture has been widely spread in the modern society; besides music, its culture is also presented on TV and cinema.
Classical music is of entirely another kind and is targeted to arouse emotions and feelings only through its sounds. Moreover, the works of classical music composers are performed by a variety of instruments – piano, percussion, guitars, electric guitars, violins, soprano, etc. This instrumentalization provides a range of sounds that are often unpredictable or may seem impossible.
The attendance of a classical music performance requires proper grown-up behavior. There should not be any conversations, phone talks, or rude attitude towards other attendees. Thus, an attender of a classical music event should respect other and respect him- or herself.
When a person comes to a classical music concert, he or she is not seeking strong impressions or unusual experiences, but is eager to join the cultural heritage of humanity.
Therefore, love for classical music and attendance of its performances may change social perception of the world. Everyday quarrels and confrontations do not seem that significant; if one thinks of eternal values such as love, freedom, family, etc.
Another important advantage of attending musical events is a cultural experience of a person. In everyday life, one is always involved entirely in the completion of the routine tasks such as go to work, study, or earn for a living.
Modern life has a quick tempo as a piece of music that one may listen to; however, it is possible to make a pause in a music performance, while it seems almost impossible to stop even for a moment in life. Thus, people rush from morning to evening; they rush to live, and there is usually no time to make a stop for a good piece of music.
The attendance of musical events is a way of socialization when people exchange thoughts and ideas; in terms of going to classical music performances, musicians provide their knowledge of beauty to the audience.
At school institutions, students are not introduced with splendid works of Beethoven, Falla, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Wagner, etc., except for those with a musical major. The works of such composers are not only of cultural significance, but also of historical one.
The geographical background of the composer is also reflected in his or her works, and provides unique music sounds. For example, Falla’s works, as it has been already discussed above, move the listener to a Spanish setting of the 19th century, and it is possible to imagine traditional Spanish dances full of vivid emotions, castanets clipping, and hands clapping.
In addition, listening to classical music changes a spiritual state of a person; one becomes partially withdrawn from negative effects of the contemporary society. It is essential for personality development to find time for experiencing something beautiful.
It is easily understandable that the join to classical music is possible mostly through attendance of an orchestra or symphony performance as in everyday life people hardly ever spend time on something of such a kind. Therefore, the attendance of musical events is critical not only for a person’s social and cultural experience, but it also plays a significant role for intellectual advancement.
References
Falla, Manuel de. Three Dances from The Three-Cornered Hat. [Ballet, piano]. 1919.