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The unusual piece Rapsodie pour orchestre et saxophone by Claude Debussy (1892-1918):
The story behind this piece is quite unusual. For example:
The story behind this piece is quite unusual. For example:
...Two years after receiving the commission, an irrationally frustrated Debussy wrote to his wife Lilly, likening her looming expectations to the Commendatore who appears to Don Giovanni in Mozart’s opera. He writes that Hall has “bored him” and calls her an “old bat who dresses like an umbrella.”...Please see more from The Incredible Story of Elise Hall's Saxophone and Debussy's Trainwreck Commission. Excerpt:
In 1898, Elise Hall, an ambitious amateur saxophonist, was frustrated for a simple reason: there wasn’t enough music written specifically for her instrument. So she decided to go on a commissioning spree, asking leading composers of the late-19th century to write music for her and for her instrument.Read the rest HERE. Quite a story!
Hall was born in Paris in 1853, into the eminent Boston Coolidge family. She eventually wound up marrying a doctor, Richard Hall, whose name medical geeks might recognize — he performed the first successful appendectomy on American soil. After Hall began losing her hearing, he suggested she prevent further loss by picking up a novelty instrument: the saxophone.
When Dr. Richard died in 1898 (of all things, from an exploded appendix), Elise’s saxophone skills and dedication to music reached new heights. Hall started taking lessons with Georges Longy, the principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (and eventual founder of Longy Conservatory); she also founded Boston Orchestral Club. But she became frustrated by the appalling lack of serious saxophone literature, and set out commissioning piece after piece....
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