Arts and Music (Audio)

Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, created paintings and sketches for his own enjoyment. Some of these pieces were on loan from the Geisel estate and exhibited at the UC San Diego Library for the 16th annual Dinner in the Library gala. Join a panel of distinguished speakers as they explore broad themes woven throughout Geisel’s works and its literary and artistic impact. Panelists Mary Beebe, Stuart Collection, Seth Lerer, Professor of Literature, and Rob Sidner, Mingei International Museum, each bring a unique perspective. Series: "Library Channel" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35062]

Originally written as the second (slow) movement of a string quartet, Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" went on to become one of the most popular symphonic works of the 20th century in its final orchestral arrangement. The solemn character of the Adagio has led to its frequent use as mourning music, much to Barber’s distress since it was not his intention to write a requiem. It was broadcast following the announcement of President Roosevelt’s death in 1945, and performed by the New York Philharmonic to mark Barber’s own death in 1981. Indeed, the Adagio seems fated to be used whenever someone needs music that sounds both “ceremonial” and “American.” Whatever its unintentional cultural accretions, Barber's melody is still both beautiful and powerful after countless hearings. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35009]

A close friend of Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth was a largely self-trained composer who was immersed in English folk music. His works grew directly out of his contact with the English countryside, as exemplified by "The Banks of Green Willow" with its evocation of pastoral life in all its idealized simplicity and tranquility; indeed, the composer characterized it as an "idyll." As was common in his music Butterworth bases this piece on several old English folk melodies, creating a series of brief fantasias on each of the themes before drawing to a peaceful conclusion. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35011]

Commissioned in 1936 to compose a large-scale piece for a choral society's centenary celebration, Ralph Vaughan Williams instead wrote for them a cantata for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra titled "Dona Nobis Pacem" – and it was anything but a celebration piece. Dona Nobis Pacem (“Give Us Peace”) was the composer’s protest against war and a cry for peace at a time of growing international tension. Three years later, Vaughan Williams' worst fears would be realized. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35010]

Though suspicious of German music in general Maurice Ravel was an unabashed fan of the waltz, and wrote several pieces that incorporated that distinctive rhythm. Of "La Valse," the composer wrote that “I had intended this work to be a kind of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, with which was associated in my imagination an impression of a fantastic and fatal sort of dervish’s dance.” Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35007]

Charles Ives' "From Hanover Square North..." commemorates the sinking of the British liner Lusitania by a German submarine in 1915. That moment when Ives and his fellow commuters heard the news on a Manhattan subway platform - a sudden fusion of grief, anguish, and community spirit – became the inspiration for Ives' composition, but in typically idiosyncratic fashion Ives didn't render the scene realistically; rather, it was the starting point for a musical meditation in which Ives registered the emotional impact of what he had witnessed. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35008]

As noted by the title, this piece centers on the talents of virtuoso trumpeter Peter Evans in a performance that is largely (though not entirely) improvised in performance. Evans’ tones are manipulated at times by the composer through digital signal processing, in what amounts to another interdependent and improvised performance; indeed, the watchwords for the entire enterprise are exploration and collaboration. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33855]

Conductor Steven Schick leads the La Jolla Symphony in a performance of Jean Sibelius’ mighty "Symphony No. 5," which drives to its triumphant conclusion on six shattering chords for full orchestra. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34889]

La Jolla Symphony & Chorus closes its 64th season with a reflection on the composer/soldiers of World War I, from Maurice Ravel to Ralph Vaughan Williams to George Butterworth, whose life was tragically cut short in the war. Music from the same time by Charles Ives, and a favorite of Benjamin Britten, Barber's Adagio for Strings, rounds out a program that is both steeped in memory and full of messages for our own time. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34007]

Arthur Szyk often said, “Art is not my aim, it is my means.” In this talk, Irvin Ungar exposes the viewer to the breadth and depth of the power, purpose, and persuasion of the artist Arthur Szyk who saw himself as a fighting artist, enlisting his pen and paintbrush as his weapons against hatred, racism, and oppression before, during, and after World War II. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34901]