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Commedia, for Almost 18th Century Orchestra
Composers:- Bolcom, William
Duration: 10
Description:
Commedia, subtitled “for (almost) 18th-century orchestra,” boldly trots out some of the orchestral cliches of the late 8th and early 19th centuries. It was influenced, as its title suggests, but the commedia del ‘arte (albeit distrantly) – the stock characters tossed against eachother in a variety of situations, often comic, but, as evidenced in the paintings of a Longhi or a Magnasco, not without a dark side. Much of the piece consists of a tarantella or saltarello in fast 6/8 time. Commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and premiered by the orchestra under Sydney Hodkinson in March, 1972.