As the winter season draws to a close the music of spring awakens with the Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra performing Tuesday at the historic Rexburg Tabernacle.
The orchestra will feature music by American composer Aaron Copeland. They will highlight his work of “Appalachian Spring,” a ballet which turned into an orchestral work. Around 1941 choreographer Martha Graham commissioned Copeland to create a dark ballet based on the Greek figure of Medea.
Copeland, at this time, wrote music focused on ordinary people and declined the offer. Through the influence of American pianist and music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Copeland agreed to write a ballet for Graham’s company.
Through lots of revisions by Graham and Copeland we get a ballet set in 19th century Pennsylvania where a couple lives in a small settlement. This ballet goes from the beginning of their marriage and includes themes of war and the husband leaving for war.
The music featured in this ballet is recognizable to most people. According to the Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra’s conductor Mark Seare.
“Most … music that backs up westerns imitates a lot of the music of this piece.”
Appalachian Spring isn’t the only piece you’ll hear. The orchestra will begin their performance with the overture of “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein, which was based on the 1776 novella with the same name. “Candide” will be followed by a piece called “A Lark Ascending” by Ralph Vaughan Williams composed at the start of WWI.
Seare started playing in the orchestra 17 years ago when his wife asked him to take her seat in the clarinet section for a performance. At the time, Seare was a music teacher and believed his time as a performer was over.
“When I got to play again ... the greatest music written in the world, I felt so blessed,” he said. “I used to pinch myself and say I’m really playing this Beethoven piece.”
His wife realized he loved it so much that she let him keep her seat and would occasionally play with him.
Some years ago, their conductor passed away from old age and illness and when the orchestra was looking for a new conductor, they came looking for Seare. He had received a master’s degree in orchestral conducting, so the job was perfect for him.
“Live music is different,” Seare said. “Watching the string players moving those bows as fast as they can and the percussion hitting their instruments … it just gives a totally different feeling for the music.”
To find more information go to Rexburgarts.org