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Arizona State University

School of Music

GRADUATE RECITAL SERIES

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PROGRAM
Concerto for Bassoon, Strings &
Basso Continuo

1.
2.
3.

Johann Friedrich Fasch

1688-1758

Allegro assai
Andante

Allegro giusto

Sonata for Bassoon & Piano (1981)
1.

Prelude

2.
3.

Browning
[,ament

John Steinmetz
b. 1954

**There will be a I}-minute intermission**

Toccata per Fagotto & Pianoforte (1974)

Carignane (1953)

Nino Rota
19tL-1979
Jacques Ibert

1890- 1962

Concerto in F ftir Fagott & Orchester

1.
2.
3.

Franz Danzi

1763-1826

Allegro
Andante
Pollacca: allegrctto
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This recjtal is given in partial fulfillment of the graduate requirements
for the degree Master of Music in bassoon performance.
Don Hassler is a student of Dr. Jeffrey Lyman.

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EVENTS HOTLINE

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EXOTIC BASSOSNffiY

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Johann Friedrich Fasch was born on Apr-i1 1S, 1588, in Buttelstedt near
Weimar. As a boy he krag a singer in Weissenfels, and in 1?01 he became a
Thomaner pupil in Leipzig under Johann Kuhnau. He learned to play the
piano without an instructicn, and he used Telemann's works tc +"each himsetf
composition.
In the summer of 1708 he entered the university and conducted
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In 1711 Fasch left. Leipzig, and at Naurnburg at the instigaticn of his
sovereign,'Wilhe1m von Sachsen-Seitz, he composed the operas CLomire,
-Lucjus, Verus and Dida. In 17'13 he $oved tc Darxnstadt for- cornposition
instruction, where his former pre'fect Christoph Graupner and Gottfried

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The concerto at hand is preserved in a contemporarji copy (sccre) in the
Hacc i 6^h^ r n-.isc- und Hcchsch.ulbib I iothek j n Darms Ladl. The year of origin
and the date of a performance are not kno-*n.
TTLJOISUIIL

LOAIT

John Steinrnetz is a worker bee bassoonist in the great musical hive af Los
Angeles, buzzing between concerts, operas, and movie soundtracks
everything from Tristan ufid Isofde tc Leave it ta Beaver, He is principal
bassoonist of L"A. Opera, he plays chamber music with XTET and Camerata
Pacifica, and he tours with the Bill Dcuglas Tric (cne of thcse bassoonoriented jazz*funk-Latin-Renaissance-Afro-Irish ensembles) " He has been a
radrrl
oF
nor*iz L.cipant in the Oregcn Bach Festlvalrc6uist
and a guest faculty member
t,ar
at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music"
The Sonata is in three movements and uses a glissando effect for a unifying
element in the 1st and 3rd movements. This glissandc is intended tc
irnitate as closely as possible the unbroken mcvernent cf the human voice,
hearing all of that musical space between the written notes. Browning is
cne name for the cantus firmus cf the Znd movement. A number of English
Renaissance composers made consort settlngs of the tune. This partlcular
version was by Elway Bevin fcr three viols, in which the 8-bar theme
contatntly repeats, moving to a different voice each time. The gradual
accelerando toward the end adds interest for the l-istener and increasing

technical difficulty for the performers. Listen for the hemiola affects,
4
against 6.
In the Lament there are two kinds of time. The piano plods e.,,er onward
with steady. unceasing pulses. But the basson plays in a slower and
flexibl-e tempo---rather like a jazz ballad-singer bends time" That is,
holding back some here, and rushing there, to stretch a familiar tune
where you wiII find passages with 3 against 4, 2 against 3 and even

almost beyond recognition.

Nino Rcta (Rinaldi) was born in Mitran on December 3, 1911, grandson of the
pianist-composer Giovanni Rinaldi (1840-95). In 1919 he began stud.ying the
piano wi+,h his mother and solfege with A. Perlasco, and at the age of ei,ght
he composed an oratiorio for soloists, chorus, and orchestra which was
performed in Milan and Lillie in 1923.

Rcta rcas well acquainted with new musical deveiopments from his },outh,
during which he enjo;:ed a long per"sonal friendship with Stravinsk),, but he
f,oilowed a quite different path in his own music. He owed his inter"nationai
renown largely tc his sccres for the cinerna, man;, cf them conposed for
impor"tant films {including thcse of F'ell-ini, whc then used no other
cornposer ) . Rota died in I ta13, oa Apr:i1 10 , 197-q .
The Toccata perfornned here is a shcw piece for bassoon and piano that was
also used as a morzement in Rcta's Concerto for Bassocn and piana.
Jacques Itrert was born in Paris oa August lS l8g0 and died ther.e Februar;.
5, 1962. He made important contr-ibuticns in nearly all genres of

campcsition. As a whole his

+.,ork is stylistically
difflcult tc define
ucL&usE lha
Ltt- cr€lneots
are, like the output itsef f , extrememly dir.zerse. ,A11
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systems are lraliC', he said, 'provided that Gne der-ives music fram them,.

hancr.ca

The piece Carignane is narned fcr a popular grape variet3.. used in
t'inemaking, especially in the Rhone valie5. 6114 the Languedac region of
France. Perhaps the extrerne rhythmic complexit), cf the piano part in thls
kcrk has scmething to do with that name. Or, sGme might say that Ibert was
partaking liberally cf the ultimate product of that grape when he wrote the
piece. Thrcughout, the piano music keeps moving with 3, 4 and 6 against
the basic pulse of ? per bal'. The basscon plays a pastcr-a} ffielcd5.6.,,s1" the
canstantlSz mslring piano.
Tlanoi
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bcrn on May 15, j7e3,

pe,;e_t

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the scn af the
r--cr_l r.t
--zioloncellist lnnozenz Danzi. He receirred
his f irst rnusic instruction f rorn
hls uncle, the rnusic directcr'). Canl Giuseppe Toeschi. Danzi is regarded aS
one of the forerunners of Romanti.cism. His clcse friend Carl Marii vcn
Weber in par"ticular had Danzi to thank fcr the basic stimulus for creating
his own operatic anC instrurnental works.
This wcrk in three movernents comes f rorn Danzi, s years as the rnusic director
in Munich. It is a technical showpiece for bassoon yet does not abandon
the appeal cf lol.ely sounds, using a1t the bassoon's tonal capabitities.
The concerto opens with a light and lively allegro movement futl of melodic
richness and harmcnic colorfulness. Then follows the slorg movement,
profoundly singing andante. The final mor.ement is a witty and pla5,gs1a
pclacca, io triple time. The +,er"m "polacca" ma5, imply a pctrish po1ka, but
this section is really more like a fast waltz and ver5, dance-lfka.
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