proudly presents the
2020-2021 Student Artist Series
Danielle Peterson, flute
Aimee Fincher, piano
Saturday, April 24, 2021
10:30 a.m., Livestreamed from Kitt Recital Hall
This Senior Recital is given
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Music in Performance degree.
Sonatina for Flute and Piano Eldin Burton
I. Allegretto grazioso (1913-1979)
II. Andantino sognando III. Allegro giocoso
Danielle Peterson, flute Aimee Fincher, piano
Agrestide pour flûte et piano Eugène Bozza
(1905-1991)
Danielle Peterson, flute Aimee Fincher, piano
~ Intermission ~
Sonata appassionata, op. 140 Sigfrid Karg-Elert
(1877-1933)
Danielle Peterson, flute
Duo for Flute and Piano Aaron Copland
I. Flowing (1900-1990)
II. Poetic, somewhat mournful III. Lively, with bounce
Danielle Peterson, flute Aimee Fincher, piano
Program
Please turn off or silence all electronic devices. Unauthorized audio and video recordings are prohibited.
Program Notes
by Danielle Peterson (2021) ELDIN BURTON (1913-1979)
Sonatina for Flute and Piano
Born and raised in Georgia, Eldin Burton was an American pianist who explored his composition ambitions at the Atlanta Conservatory and The Juilliard School of Music. Adapted from one of his piano composition exercises from his Juilliard classes, Sonatina for Flute and Piano is his best-known work that is still relevant in the flute repertoire today. It was dedicated to Samuel Baron, a well-renowned flutist and pedagogue who was a Juilliard student at the same time as Burton. Baron studied under Georges Barrère, the same flutist who taught William Kincaid, the father of the American school of flute playing. As a teacher, Baron’s pedagogy was so legendary that his methods donned the term “Baronisms.” In 1947, Baron debuted the Sonatina in New York City.
Sonatina won Burton the composition contest of the New York Flute Club in 1948, which awarded him a publishing contract for his composition with G. Schirmer, Inc. Afterwards, Burton worked for G. Schirmer, Inc. until he retired in Sarasota, FL. During this time, Burton had also composed a flute concerto but it was never published since his interest in composition diminished.
Burton chose to compose this as a sonatina, rather than as the more renowned sonata. The characteristics of a sonata change depending on which era of music is being observed. In later music, sonatas are typically seen as more large-scale, in-depth solo works consisting of three to four movements. On the other hand, sonatinas are shorter, more simplistic works in terms of technique. Additionally, sonatinas tend to exhibit a lighter, less serious character, which can especially be heard in the first and third movements of Burton’s Sonatina. As a staple within the flute repertoire, the Sonatina is pleasing to listen to while still showing moments of boldness for the audience. EUGÈNE BOZZA (1905-1991)
Agrestide pour flûte et piano
Eugène Bozza was a prolific twentieth-century French composer and violinist most known for his woodwind chamber music compositions. At the age of five, he began studying the violin through his father, amateur violinist Umberto Bozza. After having to move to his father’s hometown in Italy due to the outbreak of the First World War, Bozza continued his musical training (violin, piano, and solfège) at the Royal Conservatory of Saint Cécilia of Rome. Once he completed his studies there, Bozza returned to France after World War I ended and was admitted into the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1922 for the first time. Studying under Edouard Nadaud, he graduated in 1924 at the age of nineteen with the first prize in violin. Shortly thereafter, Bozza was appointed solo violinist with L’ orchestre Pasdeloup for five years.
Bozza returned to the Paris Conservatory for a second time in 1930, this time studying conducting under Henri Rabaud. He graduated with a first prize for conducting in 1931, and was appointed conductor of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the most prestigious ballet company of the era.
After leaving the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Bozza enrolled in the Paris Conservatory once again to study composition under the tutelage of Henri Büsser. In 1934, he won the first prize in composition and the Premier Grand Prix de Rome— an annual competition amongst musicians, sculptors, architects, and artists—which granted him financial support for a four-year study in Rome. This trip inspired some of his first flute works, including Trois impressions for flute and piano and Deux
impressions for flute and harp. Upon his return to France from his studies in Rome,
Bozza was appointed conductor of the Opéra Comique for eleven years, and then became director of the École Nationale de Musique in Valenciennes, France for fifteen years. In 1975, he retired from his pedagogical, conducting, and performing careers and focused instead on composing.
Agrestide is a through-composed, single-movement work, with three distinct
sections—similar to the sonatinas of the French conservatory. These types of compositions became popular with composers within the Paris Conservatory who composed these pieces for the end-of-year examinations, also known as the Concours du Conservatoire. They were short pieces that were not as in-depth as longer, more developed multi-movement works, but still exhibited the player’s skills and capabilities for these examinations.
SIGFRID KARG-ELERT (1877-1933)
Sonata appassionata, op. 140
Sigfrid Karg-Elert was a prominent German composer and organist of the twentieth century. As the youngest of twelve children, he began showing a keen interest in music after the passing of his father in 1889, which sent his family into a life of poverty. He was accepted as a soprano voice in the Leipzig choir at St. John’s Church, where he became obsessed with musical notation. With the encouragement of his mother and sister, Karg-Elert wrote sacred works for choir, motets, and a Christmas cantata with no formal music theory training.
When Karg-Elert’s passion for music matured, he began studying at university, where he learned how to play the oboe, flute, and clarinet. However, he decided he did not want to be a school teacher—he left university shortly thereafter and sought to make a living on his own as a freelance musician. After some time away from his education, he returned to the Leipzig Conservatory, studying under influential figures such as Karl Wendling (piano and organ), Salomon Jadassohn (music theory), and Carl Reinecke (composition).
Throughout his musical career, Karg-Elert constantly battled between his love for virtuosic performing and composition. Deemed one of the greatest colorists of the age—German composers and organists who heavily ornamented their music—he furthered his composition skills after his studies with Reinecke through the befriending
of Edvard Grieg, a notable Norwegian composer. Introducing composition as “the expression of one’s own independent personal feelings,” Grieg encouraged Karg-Elert to study the contrapuntal techniques and dance styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which helped to clarify Karg-Elert’s compositions. With his many influences ranging from Bach to Schoenberg, he often found himself shifting his compositional style between tonality and atonality.
In 1915, Karg-Elert enlisted in the 107th German Infantry Regiment. Because he was a well-known musician at this time, he was not allowed to go into battle, rather, he played oboe in the band next to flutist Carl Bartuschat, who was the inspiration for his flute compositions.
Karg-Elert’s eight compositions consisting of a primary flute role—chamber music, piano accompaniment, and unaccompanied works—were all composed around the First World War when he performed with Bartuschat in the regiment band. His passion for flute grew when Bartuschat arrived to rehearsal with a Boehm flute instead of a Reform flute. The Boehm flute introduced the use of a completely metal headjoint, body, and key mechanism with an improved acoustic structure. Because the new and refurbished Boehm mechanism allowed for more efficient playing in terms of technique and much larger tone production, Karg-Elert sought to exploit this as much as possible, which is captured in his 30 Caprices and his unaccompanied Sonata
appassionata (1917). With his Sonata appassionata, Karg-Elert aims to provide a bridge
between the styles of solo and etude literature for flute and orchestral music of the same period.
AARON COPLAND (1900-1990) Duo for Flute and Piano
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and conductor responsible for the establishment of a purely American style of composition, involving more angular rhythms, articulations, and melodic lines in contrast to the French fantaisie and pastoral style. He began composing on piano at the age of nine, and traveled to Paris in 1921 to study with Nadia Boulanger, one of the most prominent pedagogues in music composition at the time. During his studies with Boulanger, he published his earliest works: La Chat et la souris for piano, Passacaglia for piano, and his first ballet, Grohg.
Upon his return to New York City, Copland committed himself to creating works that were identifiably American; turning to jazz for inspiration. The publishing of his jazz-inspired Piano Concerto in 1924 brought forth mixed reactions from his audience, ranging from scorn to praise. This attention was the impetus for furthering his career as a composer.
Once Copland felt that the expressive possibilities associated with symphonic jazz had been fully exhausted, he developed a sense of obligation to the common man, with the belief that contemporary music should not be confined to music specialists, but should rather attract and embrace the general public. This viewpoint led to Copland’s new approach to composing, which he described as “imposed simplicity” or, in other
words, establishing a relationship between the composer and the audience. To aid in nurturing this relationship, he began to incorporate folk songs, triadic harmonies, and diatonic melodies into his music. This made his music approachable to the audience because it was recognizable. Despite his concept of “imposed simplicity”, there was no specific compositional process that Copland used. Rather, his compositions were deemed functional and dependent on his chosen audience, encouraging an orientation towards artistry, aesthetics, and accessibility. This idea of accessibility was confused by critics with a sense of triviality compared to Copland’s more abstract compositions, and was also seen as a response to the Great Depression and the Second World War.
Copland’s Duo for Flute and Piano (1969-1971) was his last substantial work, dedicated to William Kincaid, the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra for thirty-nine years and a crucial player who developed a uniquely American style of flute-playing. Kincaid’s “American style” distinguished a new approach to articulation, vibrato, and phrasing, quite different from its French roots. Duo for Flute and Piano was commissioned by seventy pupils and peers of Kincaid, and was therefore composed specifically to fit their American playing style. This work is comprised of three movements, each offering its own take on openness and reflection. Duo was premiered by Elaine Shaffer, principal flute of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, in 1971 at the Philadelphia Settlement Music School.
Artist Profiles
DANIELLE PETERSON (flute) is currently a senior in her last semester as an undergraduate at Northern Arizona University, studying both flute performance under Emily Hoppe and graphic design. Over her four years as a music major at NAU, she has performed as a principal flute in the Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Wind Symphony, and Symphonic Band, as well as performing in multiple woodwind chamber groups. In addition, she has competed in the NAU concerto competition for three years. Prior to her undergraduate studies, Peterson auditioned for and played in the Arizona Western Regional Band and passed Level 10 in both the performance and theory sections in the Royal Conservatory Certificate Program under the guidance of Sherry Finzer. After achieving her undergraduate degrees, Peterson is looking to pursue an additional performance certificate at NAU and eventually wishes to pursue a master’s degree. Her concurrent goal is to become a private flute instructor.
Alabama native AIMEE FINCHER (piano), earned her doctorate in collaborative piano at Arizona State University, where she held a teaching assistantship for three years. Fincher earned performance and pedagogy degrees from the University of Alabama and the University of South Carolina, where she frequently performed with distinguished guest artists including Timothy Smith, Kenneth Tse, and Mariano Garcia. She is active in national conferences and international chamber music festivals, most recently the College Music Society National Conference, the Society of American Music Conference, and the Vianden (Luxembourg) Chamber Music Festival. Together with her duo partner, violinist Hannah Leland, Fincher recently released Duo Odéon’s debut album, Specter. The album, released on the Sono Luminus label, features premiere recordings of unpublished manuscripts by composer George Antheil and violinist Werner Gebauer. Fincher can also be heard on Summit Records’ album, Table for Three at Chez Janou, in collaboration with Arizona State University horn professor John Ericson and trombone professor emeritus Douglas Yeo.
Acknowledgements
Danielle would like to thank everyone who has been supporting her throughout her four years at NAU up to this culmination of her undergraduate degree:
JACKIE and JOHN PETERSON, for offering emotional support and for checking in with her to assure that everything is okay;
BRANDYN LEVERAGE, for being her rock when she felt things were unfeasible; the NAU FLUTE STUDIO, for unconditionally supporting her flute endeavors throughout this school year; and
DR. EMILY HOPPE, for believing in her growth and potential as an aspiring musician, flutist, and artist.
