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30' | Recording | Sheet Music |
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2 versions: Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble
Chamber Orchestra
2222/31210/Timp/Perc(1)/Strings
Chamber Ensemble
Flute/Perc(2)/Harp/Viola |
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The Frog Prince with music by Victoria Bond and text by Bob and Anne McGrath will be performed in Oakland, CA on November 9 |
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg: In Tune with Justice
Program Note
Because Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a towering figure and an inspiration to me, I wanted to write a work that added music to her forceful words. Knowing that she loved opera, this was a natural. I chose Mozart’s overture to “The Marriage of Figaro” as the basis for my composition, borrowing freely and adapting his energetic pulse, so appropriate to RBG’s own boundless energy. My music weaves in and out of Mozart’s themes, beginning with a fast-paced overture and continuing with underscoring and interludes that highlight RBG’s words. I added quotes from “America the Beautiful” and “The Star Spangled Banner” to this mixture, expressing the patriotic pride that RBG felt towards this country. Jane Vial Jaffe has created a compact script, framing RBG’s words with her own original narrative and bringing into relief the struggle and triumph central to the story. |
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Victoria Bond's "Thinking like a Mountain" for narrator and orchestra, is based on an essay by American environmentalist Aldo Leopold. It tells how Leopold experienced an epiphany and converted from a hunter who shot wolves to someone whose life's work became protecting them and their habitat. The composition was commissioned by the Shanghai Symphony and performed and recorded by that orchestra. |
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Thinking Like A Mountain
The essay Thinking Like A Mountain crystallizes Aldo Leopold’s philosophy about the balance of nature and our ethical relationship towards its preservation. It is the personal confession of one who momentarily upset that balance and whose remorse became the catalyst which prompted him to become a leader in the environmental movement.
In setting this powerful essay, I wanted to paint a portrait of the mountain. I was fascinated by the overlapping life cycles of the many elements which shared the mountain’s space, from the slow progression of the rocks to the flickering instant of the insects. They simultaneously inhabited the same world and I saw a parallel in the music, where multiple tempos and melodic lines can co-exist. Rather than illustrating the literal sound effects of nature, this music seeks to give voice to an inner natural order built on the primary elements of acoustics as described by Pythagoras. At this level, mathematics and the natural order have much in common with the structure of mountains.
This composition was commissioned by a consortium including Explore Park in Virginia, The Billings Symphony in Montana, The Elgin Symphony in Illinois and the Shanghai Symphony in China.
_____Victoria Bond
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My variations are based on the theme of the Andante movement of the Brahms String Sextet number one in B-flat major, Op. 18. They consist of twelve variations and a coda. The theme itself is divided into two sections, each of which is repeated. I took the theme’s chromatically descending bass line as a first motive, out of which I constructed a twelve-tone row, and the theme’s ascending melodic line as a second motive. The twelve variations are divided into two sections: the first six of which consist of variations on the first motive, and the last five of which begin with a passacaglia bass line based on the second motive. Over this bass line, presented by itself in variation eight, the first three variations are contrapuntally added in reverse order, so that variation nine adds variation three; variation ten adds variation two to three and variation eleven adds variations one to the combined variations two and three, so that they are all sounding simultaneously. The seventh variation, called “celestial navigation,” is a distillation of the entire piece and forms the dividing line between sections one and two. |
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Protone Music; ASCAP
baritone-pno
From an Antique Land - Song Cycle on poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Gerard Manley Hopkins |
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THE FROG PRINCE
by Victoria Bond
The Frog Prince is a work for narrator and orchestra. It tells the classic Brother=s Grimm story of the princess who kisses a frog and turns him into a prince. The language is updated and geared toward the modern child, and the music has elements of contemporary jazz. It is written to be performed for young people=s concerts, and can be done in several ways: either with only a narrator, or with puppets, dancers, actors or mimes illustrating the action. It has been performed extensively throughout the United States, and recorded by Sesame Street star, Bob McGrath for whom the work was written. There are three versions, one for full orchestra lasting 24 minutes, one for woodwind quintet lasting 20 minutes, and one for chamber ensemble lasting 15 minutes. All are published by G. Schirmer, Inc.
The story of the Frog Prince has long held a fascination for me. Within the context of utter simplicity, a parable of great depth is revealed: each of the characters is transformed by a single act of compassion. In writing the music, I strove to achieve both the child-like directness of the text, and the inner emotions of the characters. The Princess and the Frog begin at opposite ends of the spectrum: she is romantic and dreamy, wrapped up in her own beautiful fantasy, while he is clever and witty, aware of his physical limitations, and philosophical about it. In choosing the themes to express both of these polarities I conceived the Princess as belonging to the Old World of grace and charm, and the Frog to the syncopated world of American jazz.
Having had the good fortune to collaborate with two extraordinary artists in the realization of this work, Ann and Bob McGrath, both of whom brought to the project a new infusion of understanding and insight, we re-worked the traditional text considerably, taking many liberties with it, but hopefully keeping within the spirit of the original. Ann brought her talents as writer to the project, and her great knowledge of many audiences, and Bob his special gifts as musician and communicator.
Wanting to adhere as closely as possible to the natural rhythm of speech in notating the spoken and sung role of the narrator, I asked Bob to make a tape of the text. This I then transcribed into musical notation, and tailored it specifically to Bob’s voice and spoken inflection.
The instrumental music, too, is written with the Empire State Youth Orchestra in mind, its particular strengths and abilities, and the individual personalities of its members.
The genesis of the entire project rests with Patricia Snyder, who was responsible for bringing the Frog Prince into being as a commission for the tenth anniversary celebration of the Empire State Institute’s Performing Arts Center. For this great gift, I would like to wish the Institute a Very Happy 10th Birthday.
The Story
A beautiful young Princess accidentally loses her golden ball in a well. She is distraught, until a frog offers to rescue it for her. She agrees that if the frog gets the ball, she will allow him to be her friend and live in the castle with her. However, once she gets her ball back, she runs home and forgets all about the frog. He follows her and asks her to honor her promise. At first she tries to go back on her word, but her father, the King reminds her that Aa promise is a promise@and she must keep her word. Reluctantly she allows the frog to eat next to her at the table, but she is disgusted by him and when he tries to hop onto her bed, she throws him against the wall, nearly killing him. She feels so terrible about what she has done, that she rushes over to him and gently kisses him. All at once, he is transformed into a handsome prince by her act of kindness. The story ends with a triumphal march, and the couple live happily ever after.
There are three versions of this piece:
Full Orchestra and narrator
2222/4331/timp,perc/strings 24'
Chamber Orchestra and narrator
1111/3110/perc/strings 15'
Woodwind Quintet and narrator 20'
flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn
Score and tape are available through G. Schirmer/ 257 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10010/ Phone: (212) 254 2100 fax (212) 254 2013
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THE FROG PRINCE
by Victoria Bond
The Frog Prince is a work for narrator and orchestra. It tells the classic Brother=s Grimm story of the princess who kisses a frog and turns him into a prince. The language is updated and geared toward the modern child, and the music has elements of contemporary jazz. It is written to be performed for young people=s concerts, and can be done in several ways: either with only a narrator, or with puppets, dancers, actors or mimes illustrating the action. It has been performed extensively throughout the United States, and recorded by Sesame Street star, Bob McGrath for whom the work was written. There are three versions, one for full orchestra lasting 24 minutes, one for woodwind quintet lasting 20 minutes, and one for chamber ensemble lasting 15 minutes. All are published by G. Schirmer, Inc.
The story of the Frog Prince has long held a fascination for me. Within the context of utter simplicity, a parable of great depth is revealed: each of the characters is transformed by a single act of compassion. In writing the music, I strove to achieve both the child-like directness of the text, and the inner emotions of the characters. The Princess and the Frog begin at opposite ends of the spectrum: she is romantic and dreamy, wrapped up in her own beautiful fantasy, while he is clever and witty, aware of his physical limitations, and philosophical about it. In choosing the themes to express both of these polarities I conceived the Princess as belonging to the Old World of grace and charm, and the Frog to the syncopated world of American jazz.
Having had the good fortune to collaborate with two extraordinary artists in the realization of this work, Ann and Bob McGrath, both of whom brought to the project a new infusion of understanding and insight, we re-worked the traditional text considerably, taking many liberties with it, but hopefully keeping within the spirit of the original. Ann brought her talents as writer to the project, and her great knowledge of many audiences, and Bob his special gifts as musician and communicator.
Wanting to adhere as closely as possible to the natural rhythm of speech in notating the spoken and sung role of the narrator, I asked Bob to make a tape of the text. This I then transcribed into musical notation, and tailored it specifically to Bob’s voice and spoken inflection.
The instrumental music, too, is written with the Empire State Youth Orchestra in mind, its particular strengths and abilities, and the individual personalities of its members.
The genesis of the entire project rests with Patricia Snyder, who was responsible for bringing the Frog Prince into being as a commission for the tenth anniversary celebration of the Empire State Institute’s Performing Arts Center. For this great gift, I would like to wish the Institute a Very Happy 10th Birthday.
The Story
A beautiful young Princess accidentally loses her golden ball in a well. She is distraught, until a frog offers to rescue it for her. She agrees that if the frog gets the ball, she will allow him to be her friend and live in the castle with her. However, once she gets her ball back, she runs home and forgets all about the frog. He follows her and asks her to honor her promise. At first she tries to go back on her word, but her father, the King reminds her that Aa promise is a promise@and she must keep her word. Reluctantly she allows the frog to eat next to her at the table, but she is disgusted by him and when he tries to hop onto her bed, she throws him against the wall, nearly killing him. She feels so terrible about what she has done, that she rushes over to him and gently kisses him. All at once, he is transformed into a handsome prince by her act of kindness. The story ends with a triumphal march, and the couple live happily ever after.
There are three versions of this piece:
Full Orchestra and narrator
2222/4331/timp,perc/strings 24'
Chamber Orchestra and narrator
1111/3110/perc/strings 15'
Woodwind Quintet and narrator 20'
flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn
Score and tape are available through G. Schirmer/ 257 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10010/ Phone: (212) 254 2100 fax (212) 254 2013
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