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Deux rapsodies (1901)
Charles Martin Loeffler based the piece Deux rapsodies (1901) on his previous work Rapsodies (1898), a vocal setting of three poems by the French poet Maurice Rollinat (1846-1903). In this arrangement, Loeffler replaces the original voice and clarinet parts with a prominent oboe part. Two of the poems serve as an unspoken program to the direction of the music, which includes rippling piano passages evocative of a splashing pool and oboe melodies recalling the sound of a bagpipe. The somber tone of Rollinat's verse is held through much of Loeffler's work, with a quotation of the Dies Irae plainchant in the first setting.
In contrast to many United States composers of the late 19th century, Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935) was influenced more by French and Russian music than by the commonly-practiced German style. He took his inspiration from a number of sources, from the literary (Virgil, Walt Whitman, William Butler Yeats) to the musical (Gregorian chant, national musics, and jazz). Although his work was considered at the time to be avant garde, Loeffler's connections as a violinist in the Boston music scene allowed him frequent performances of his music.
Born in Schöneberg, Germany (he later claimed Alsatian birth), Loeffler began his musical training at an early age and decided at 13 to become a professional violinist. His studies in performance and composition took him to the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, Germany, and Paris, France, where he played in two orchestras during his late teenage years. In 1881 he travelled to the United States; he would return to Europe several times to continue his studies, but eventually decided to become an American citizen in 1887.
Loeffler's success as a violinist came quickly: he played in two orchestras in New York before joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra as second concertmaster in 1882, a position he held for 21 years. A favorite soloist of the Boston concertgoing public, he performed United States premieres of works by such composers as Max Bruch, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Edouard Lalo. His own compositions began to receive performances in the 1890's, including the Boston Symphony premiere of his first orchestral work, Les veillées de l'Ukraine, in 1891.
After retiring from the orchestra to focus on composition, Loeffler settled in Medfield, Massachusetts, where he divided his time between music, farming, and thoroughbred horses. He taught violin, coached chamber groups, and remained active in many Boston-area music organizations. Some of his best-known pieces were written during these last decades of his life, including the orchestral work A Pagan Poem (1906), and Five Irish Fantasies (1920) for solo voice and orchestra.
John Mack was principal oboist with the Cleveland Orchestra from 1965 to 2001, as well as the New Orleans Symphony, National Symphony, and Casals Festival. Also active in music education, Mack served as head of the oboe department at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Ohio, chairman of winds at the Cleveland Orchestra's Blossom Festival School, and principal teacher at the John Mack Oboe Camp in North Carolina. His solo and chamber performances can be found on the Crystal, Koch International Classics, London/Decca, and Summit labels.
The late Abraham Skernick performed with the symphonies of St. Louis and Baltimore before joining the Cleveland Orchestra as principal violist, with which he performed from 1949 to 1976. He also took part in many music festivals including the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico and those in Chautauqua and Aspen, Colorado. Skernick was a member of the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington.
Pianist Eunice Podis has performed with orchestras in Chicago, Houston, Chautauqua, Rochester, and Berlin, and has appeared in over 100 concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra since 1941. She was the soloist in a piano concerto written by composer Peter Mennin for the orchestra's 40th anniversary celebrations. An artist-in-residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music for nearly 30 years, Podis was dedicated to both cultural and civic causes, for which she received a number of awards and honors. Her performances can be found on the Crystal and Telarc labels.
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