b'Sunrise, as a Symphonic Birthday Greeting fromit had died away, R. came into my room with the five Richard to Cosima . (Tribschen was the Wagnerschildren and gave me the score of his Symphonic home on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland; Fidi wasBirthday Greeting - I was in tears, so was everybody the nickname of their 18-month-old son Siegfried .)in the house. R. had placed his orchestra on the Wagner surprised Cosima with the Idyll, going tostaircase, and thus our Tribschen is consecrated great lengths to keep his rehearsals secret . At dawnfor all time. on Christmas Day 1870, Cosima was awakened byScholar and critic Ernest Newman describes the a small ensemble of 13 musicians arranged on theIdyll as a series of domestic confidences . Most stairs and landing outside her bedroom .of its themes are found in the opera Siegfried; The Idyll, a musical love poem, is full of privatethe opening melody comes from Act III, but it references known only to Wagner and Cosima .actually originated in a string quartet Wagner Cosimas reaction to her husbands gift was sowrote for Cosima six years earlier . Similarly, the profound she could not find words to describe herGerman folk lullaby Schlaf, Kindchen, schlafe, feelings . In her diary, Cosima wrote: played by solo oboe, was assumed to refer to I can tell you nothing about this day, my children,baby Siegfried; however, Newman discovered it nothing about my feelings, nothing about my mood,was actually linked to the Wagners older daughter nothing, nothing. I shall merely inform you, plainlyEva . These and other musical references, whose and simply, of what took place. A sound awoke memeaning remained hidden for many years, reveal which grew ever stronger; I knew I was no longerthe Idylls levels of personal significance for both dreaming, there was music, and what music! WhenWagner and Cosima .ELLEN TAAFFE ZWILICHPrologue and Variations for String OrchestraCOMPOSER:Born April 30, 1939, Miami, FLWORK COMPOSED:Work commissioned by the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra in 1983 .WORLD PREMIERE:Richard Cormier led the Chattanooga Symphony on April 10, 1984 .INSTRUMENTATION:String orchestraESTIMATED DURATION:13 minutesThe Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded inThis subtle change indicates Zwilichs expansive 1943, to William Schuman . Exactly 40 years later,approach to what constitutes a variation . Typical the Pulitzer committee chose Ellen Taaffe Zwilichstheme-and-variations begin with a theme, usually Symphony No . 1 for the top honor . Zwilich, the firsta straightforward melody, often well knownthink woman to receive the prize, also became the firstof Mozarts famous variations on Twinkle Twinkle woman to earn a doctorate in composition fromLittle Starand continue with a series of increas-the Juilliard School of Music . The Pulitzer broughtingly florid elaborations on that theme . Zwilichs music to national attention, establishingZwilichs Prologue is a series of musical ideas her as a significant American composer . and contrasting tempos . Most prominent among In a 1985 New York Times interview, Zwilichthese is Dmitri Shostakovichs famous musical told critic Tim Page, It is not enough to manip- signature D . SCH, which corresponds to the notes ulate abstract forms and ideas . A composer mustD-E-flat-C-B in German notation (Zwilich helpfully also provide color, thrust, and purpose, allowingplaces these four notes at the very beginning of the a work to unfold gradually over a length of time .Prologue, and follows them with a brief pause; the As such, composition is both a written and a per- D . SCH theme recurs throughout) .forming artit must sound . This compositionalThe four variations all use material from the credo perfectly describes Zwilichs Prologue andPrologue, but, as Zwilich explains in her comments Variations for Orchestra, one of the first worksin the published score, these are not variations in she composed post-Pulitzer . Note the use of thethe traditional senseIn using the word Prologue, word Prologue rather than Theme in the title .I meant to suggest a dramatic analogy, because, in 20202021Season 21'