Improvisation Et Caprice Presentation Essays

Improvisation Et Caprice Presentation Essays Improvisation Et Caprice Presentation Paper Improvisation Et Caprice Presentation Paper IMPROVISATION ET CAPRICE September 13, 2011 By Eugene Bozza Saxophone Studio Presentation Presented by Robby Avila â€Å"The good man is the only excellent musician, because he gives forth a perfect harmony not with a lyre or other instrument but with the whole of his life. † Plato Eugene Bozza (4 April 1905 – 28 September 1991) Eugene Bozza was a 20th century French musician and talented composer who wrote many important works for not only the saxophone, but for nearly every wind instrument. He was born in Nice on the 4th of April 1905. He studied the arts of composition, conducting, and playing the violin at the Paris Conservatoire. There, he won the Prix de Rome for his work La legend de Roukmani, a cantata based on an Indian legend. After completing his course of study in Paris, he moved to Valenciennes, where he would become the director of the Ecole Nacionale de Musique. There he would remain until his retirement in 1975. Although retired from his major teaching career, he was still an active composer until his death in Valenciennes on the 28th of September 1991. Very gifted in the art of music, he has proven himself to be a highly prolific composer with very important works for many instruments (See outline for a list of the pieces composed for saxophone alone). Although he primarily known for his solo and chamber works, he also composed five symphonies, operas, and ballets. Unfortunately, his larger works are rarely played outside of France. Improvisation et Caprice (1952) Written by Eugene Bozza in 1952, this piece is dedicated to the professor of saxophone at the Paris Conservatoire, Marcel Mule, a great French saxophonist and model for saxophone playing. The piece is a challenging work, pushing students with demands of musicality, technique, tone, and rhythm. Not uncommon amongst composers, Bozza often â€Å"plagiarized† from himself, borrowing ideas he had used in earlier works to aid in the composition of a newer one. The Improvisation portion of this piece is no different. It is lifted from the middle section of his Image Op. 32, a piece he had written for unaccompanied flute. Although different in the sense that it transposed down a minor third with an added fermata at the end, all other aspects remain the same. The Caprice portion, however, appears to be completely original in Bozza’s library of compositions. On a related note, the outside sections of his Image appear in another work for saxophone. This composition Piece Breve, another unaccompanied saxophone piece, uses the rest of his musical ideas from Images. After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. † -Aldous Huxley Robby Avila (22 January 1988 – Present) Robby Avila is a Saxophone Performance Major at Kansas State University focusing on saxophone pedagogy, works for wind band, and jazz studies. He was born in Tulsa, OK on the 22nd of January 1988. Before coming to KState, he attended Campus High School in Wichita, KS, where he studied saxophone with Kim Whittemore, Brandon Morse, and Lisa Hittle. In Wichita, he was a member of the Wichita Wind Ensemble, The Kansas Music Ambassadors, and played with the Wichita State University Concert Band and Basketball Band. Upon graduating from high school, he came to Kansas State University and began study with Dr. Anna Marie Wytko. At K-State, he has been an active member in Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Saxophone Quartet, Jazz Band, Latin Jazz, Jazz Combos, Marching Band, and Cat Band. After completing his course of study, he hopes to continue on to graduate school to further his education and obtain a Master in Music and eventually complete doctorate work.