Daniel W. Boothe OFFICIAL PAGE

Elgar's Secret

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:54:18 -0800

You’ve heard “Pomp and Circumstance” at graduations but its British composer, Edward Elgar, was relatively unknown even by his 40s. His “genius,” as Leonard Bernstein later described of him, was simply undiscovered.

That changed one day while he improvised various tunes on the piano for his wife.

She suggested that one particular theme showed great potential. His response was a wittily composed set of variations that mirrored the personality of many of his close friends.

To conceal their identity, he only used cryptic hints and titled the work, “Enigma Variations.”

Furthermore, he claimed that there was a larger hidden enigma theme but that “its dark saying is best left unguessed.”

Being a lifelong lover of cryptology and puzzles as he was, this was an authentic approach. It also made for a commercial success, as many in Europe came to know of this musical mystery and set out to solve it.

In doing so, Elgar was finally discovered for his musical greatness.

Many of the variations’ secret identities have been revealed either by Elgar’s admissions or by clever research into the musical clues.

For example, “David” was a fellow pianist who played with low accuracy but high effort. For this, Elgar humorously wrote dissonant “accidentals” to plink about confidently in the strings.

“Richard” was known for his scholarly mannerisms but also for his loud bicycle bell that would ring annoyingly every time he passed. Elgar gave the clarinets that dubious honor.

A dizzying tempo, flourish of strings and a perpetual panting of low instruments told the story of “Dan the dog” that fell into a river and barely paddled his way to safety. The bassoons and basses have the last bark!

Love and admiration weaved inconspicuously as well.

BOOK REVIEW: The Orchestral Conductor's Career Handbook by Carl Topilow

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:40:44 -0800

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in MUSIC REFERENCE SERVICES QUARTERLY on SEPTEMBER 21, 2022, available online: The Orchestral Conductor’s Career Handbook: by Carl Topilow, Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021, 247 pp., $40.00 (paper), ISBN 978-1-5381-5459-5: Music Reference Services Quarterly: Vol 0, No 0 (tandfonline.com)

The “art” of musical conducting is among the most mythical of all performing activities. It is a paradox. It presupposes that silence can activate sound in specific and remarkable ways. Many books illustrate the “how-to” in summoning such technique, as with Elizabeth Green’s industry-approved pedagogy, The Modern Conductor. Others take a distinctly skeptical approach, such as critic Norman Lebrecht’s brash manifesto, The Maestro Myth. The gulf between these two extremes is vast, but British conductor Mark Wigglesworth impressively navigates this chasm in The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters.

A prelude, “Shaping the Invisible,” begins with common conductor caricatures and cynical clichés which recognize the usual suspicions of the profession. His rebuttal often relies on metaphoric anecdotes and encouraged self-revelation. In describing the influences on a musical performance, he writes, “The life of a piece of music is like a river. On the surface it always looks the same but underneath there are a myriad elusive configurations that over time subtly alter its overall shape” (Wigglesworth 9). This is just one of his many illustrations with vivid and compelling insight that reveal the potential influence a conductor can harness.

Schopenhaur’s belief “about music being simple to understand yet impossible to explain” (6) is contrasted with malapropisms...Read More

BOOK REVIEW: The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters by Mark Wigglesworth

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:36:11 -0800

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in MUSIC REFERENCE SERVICES QUARTERLY on JUNE 21, 2021, available online: The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters: by Mark Wigglesworth, Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 2018, 250 pp., $25.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-226-62255-2: Music Reference Services Quarterly: Vol 24, No 1-2 (tandfonline.com)

Schopenhaur’s...Read More

Battling Beethoven

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 09:12:35 -0800

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Beethoven? For many, it might be his symphonies. Others might think of his piano sonatas or string quartets. Few would think of his theater music.

Wait … Beethoven's theater music?

Yes, his "Battle Symphony" (also known as "Wellington's Victory") dramatically portrays the success of the allied armies over the French in the Battle of Vitoria, Spain on June 21, 1813.

It is complete with musician-actors, artillery effects, staged and off-staged elements, and a patch quilt of famous tunes that even today's audiences will recognize.

There were several possible motivations for writing such a piece.

First, he needed the money. He had concerns for his future, including worries about family health. His brother was ailing, and Beethoven wanted to be prepared if his nephew, Karl, were to become his responsibility.

Second, he needed the money! The fact is, Beethoven's wild success had not translated into a wealth of financial security.

Symphonies and other "art music" were essential for his legacy, but there was more money to be made in a Hollywood-styled spectacle with mass appeal.

With that in mind, it begins from the left with a drum cadence that signifies the approaching British army. A bugle call signals for troop readiness, followed by a patriotic "Rule Britannia" march.

In response, the French approach from the other side with their own drum cadence, bugle call, and a patriotic "Marlborough" march (familiar to us as "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow").

This "jolly" soon turns deadly as bugle calls from both sides signal a charge into battle.

Fighting ensues with musical sounds of crackling gunfire and booming canons, each meticulously annotated in the score to occur from different positions. A fury of notes scream through the strings, brass fanfares blast overhead and gestures of desperation cry out from woodwinds.

This cacophony...Read More

Mendelssohn’s Redemption, a reformation re-do

Sun, 03 Mar 2019 09:48:30 -0800

Religious services, academic lectures and concert tributes are occurring all over the world this year to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, specifically Oct. 31, when German theologian Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Castle Church. It was his quest for truth amidst a rising sentiment of Catholic suspicion.

One of the most famous musicians in history, Felix Mendelssohn, wrote a heartfelt symphony in 1830 titled, “Reformation” with hopes that it would also be performed as part of Europe’s 300th anniversary commemorations at the time. However, it was rejected by musicians who claimed it was unplayable and by critics who scorned its lack of conventional melody.

Mendelssohn came to loathe his own composition. He withdrew it from the public during his lifetime, described it as “juvenile,” and left instructions that it should be burned rather than heard!

Symphonicity will perform it as part of our special “Ode to Hope” concert, not just for this year’s Reformation anniversary but because of the redemption that this particular work of art has truly earned through time.

Mendelssohn was actually born into a family of Jewish heritage. His grandfather Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) is considered to be the preeminent Jewish philosopher of the German Enlightenment. He had six sons, but due to the limitations in professional opportunity of practicing Jews, two sons adopted Catholicism and two others, including Felix’s father, became Protestant.

Felix Mendelssohn was baptised as a Lutheran by age 7, and the family even added the surname “Bartholdy” as a means to conceal their heritage against intolerance. Thus, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy grew up with a rather complicated strain of mixed religious influences and convictions. I believe this can be heard distinctly throughout his “Reformation” symphony.

First, the piece begins with an authoritatively beautiful...Read More

An unheard song to those who serve

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 17:40:21 -0800

Adolphus Cunningham Hailstork III is an internationally-known composer for operas and symphonies, among other forms, and has been recognized with many national and academic achievements. Virginia Beach is lucky to count him as a local while he spends time here serving as eminent scholar and professor of music at Old Dominion University.

Symphonicity commissioned him to write a 2017 season opener, a piece that has never been heard before, that reflects the attributes of our extraordinary region. The result is “To Those Who Serve,” a grandiose overture that pays a musical tribute to the largest single community within our community – our military.

Why the military? With every passing jet, the reason probably sounds abundantly clear. In addition to having the largest Naval base in the world, Hampton Roads marks the 250th Anniversary of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard this (2017) year.

Our entire region is woven with every branch of the U.S. military, both active duty and veteran members. We are a community of service through-and-through, and it seems fitting to fashion a piece of music about it.

But how does one write an orchestral piece of music to represent this?

For one, this piece has a military sound of drumbeat cadences and a fanfare of trumpets. This signature military music sound began in the days of Turkish military bands. Even France’s King Louis XIV used music in a similar way to intimidate the enemy.

You may even hear the Coast Guard through a manner of steady sweeping chords that pass by at the peripheral, keeping close watch of the orchestra’s harmonic borders.

Most of all, you will hear the U.S. Navy. First it is faint, with small bits of a tune you are certain is familiar, but which is never offered so familiar that you can recall its origin.

Finally, after a tense harmonic battle of pitches, you hear it emerge with unmistaken victory and clarity. Yes, that is the Navy hymn – “Eternal Father, Strong to...Read More

Accepting Symphonicity Invitation

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 16:52:55 -0700

Dear Family, Friends, Colleagues, and Patrons:

I'm pleased to announce that I have accepted an invitation to be the new Music Director & Conductor for Symphonicity, the symphony orchestra of Virginia's largest city, Virginia Beach! This is bittersweet news for it will also require my separation from the United States Air Force after eight faithful years serving as an Airman, officer, conductor, and public affairs professional.

I am truly humbled to follow their founder, Maestro David Kunkel, who built this orchestra from the ground up with a core of dedicated music-loving community performers and patrons. During his 35-year tenure, they created more than just a formidable community orchestra but a cultural gem that has been recognized with a nomination for the Governor's Award for the Arts and a third-place recognition by The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for Adventurous Programming.

Now they are a resident company at the beautiful Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Town Center, Virginia Beach. Their season consists of 12 to 14 concerts per year, to include five Masterworks subscription concerts, an annual Messiah Sing-along, an annual Nutcracker performance series, Read More

My Music, My War: The Listening Habits of U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by Lisa Gilman

Thu, 16 Mar 2017 18:33:37 -0700

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in MUSIC REFERENCE SERVICES QUARTERLY on MARCH 15, 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10588167.2017.1269590

MUSIC REFERENCE SERVICES QUARTERLY 2017, VOL. 20, NO. 1, 57–67

BOOK REVIEWS

Lisa Gilman (2016). MY MUSIC, MY WAR: THE LISTENING HABITS OF U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. 240 pp., $26.95. ISBN 978-0-8195-7600-2 (softcover).

From the battle rhythms of field cadences during the American Revolutionary War to the country-pop strains of patriotic pride after 9/11, music and war have long been inextricably linked. Lisa Gilman provides a contemporary ethnographic study of this topic by exploring the tectonic shifts in music’s digital availability and its relationship to the American troop experience in Afghanistan and Iraq. My Music, My War offers a compelling survey of the complexities of music’s military role within the racial, gender, socioeconomic, and political subcultures of the military. It explores how modern musical genres, advancing technology, and shifting attitudes illuminate what is seldom debated but easily understood: that music is very personal. Its connections to memory and identity uniquely color how we hear and see ourselves, our world and our wars.

Gilman’s background as a folklorist and ethnomusicologist prove useful, as her approach is thoroughly deliberate and well-sourced. For primary sources, she interviews 35 troops formally and numerous others informally. All but one (a military spouse) were serving or had served duty that included deployments to the Middle East. In addition to a robust index, she references 159 separate sources and provides in-depth chapter notes following the appendix. With such a wealth of information, there is no shortage of credible...Read More

America Owes Us A Band

Fri, 30 Sep 2016 09:50:32 -0700

Throughout 2016, I posted a few articles and personally authored essays concerning recent congressional and media scrutiny of U.S. military bands. Of particular note, an amendment by Rep. Martha McSally passed the House of Representatives prohibiting all military bands from performing non-ceremonial events such as parades, community concerts and national anthems, or even our national holiday celebrations. As of today (Oct 1, 2016), it appears that amendment may ultimately fail. However, it is just another sign of the ongoing misunderstanding or unfortunate ignorance concerning the unique role that the arts and culture can play within our societal relationships and institutions. To this very point, I was struck by a poignant response by Mr. Gene F. Barfield to my essay, Should Congress Pick Low Hanging Fruit or Lower the Tree? I offer his perspective below and believe it not only speaks for generations of Americans in towns big and small across this land, but more importantly it speaks for the generations of Americans yet to be born who deserve more than what we are promising.

I thank Mr. Barfield for his eloquent response to this issue and provide it below:

"The only military presence in our small, out-of-the-way town in recent times has been: 1. The visible presence of our...Read More

U.S. HOUSE New National March: "The Stars and Stripes ForNever"

Sun, 19 Jun 2016 12:42:33 -0700

Pull up your chair, folks! Grab your flags for wavin' and your sparklers for shakin'! Our July 4th Independence Day Concert will now begin!

If you were expecting The Stars and Stripes Forever, our national march played by a U.S. military band, perhaps you didn't get the MEMO? Congress is playing a different tune:

As reported here, Rep. Martha McSally has sponsored an amendment here to H.R. 5293 banning the use of U.S. military music for "social" performances to include international partnership events, all parades, and even national holiday celebrations. The reason for these drastic measures is quite simple. According to the U.S. House of Representatives, we simply cannot afford military band music, not even for the 4th of July! By voice vote, this amendment was accepted.

Also noteworthy was an amendment by Rep. Ted Poe to reduce the amount of U.S. military aid to Pakistan by 200 million dollars. This 200 million dollar reduction could make it more difficult for the Pakistan military bands or their Army School of Music to purchase instruments or to travel to an international tattoo Read More