MANTOVANI PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES

PRESENTS


PROGRAM

DIE FLEDERMAUS: Overture

THE GREAT SONGS OF CHRISTMAS SUITE:*

On Wings of Song, The Great Songs Of Christmas, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, Adeste Fidelis, Silent Night, Joy To The World, The First Noel, Away In A Manger

CHRISTMAS EVE, 1913

STILL, STILL, STILL

TOY SHOP BALLET

THE TWELEVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
PUPPET ON A STRING

SANTA’S SLEIGH RIDE: - suite*

Sleigh Ride, Jingle Bells, Christmas Song, Let It Snow, Winter Wonderland, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

NAZARETH

AVE MARIA (Bach-Gounod)

HALLELUJAH CHORUS*

-Intermission-

NUTCRACKER SUITE: - selections
Trepak, Waltz Of The Flowers

NATIVITY SUITE:*

God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen, Canticle Noel, What Child Is This, Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring, O Tannenbaum, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, The Little Drummer Boy, Panis Angelicus

DANCE OF THE HOURS

ONCE AGAIN IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME THIS YEAR

MARY HAD A BOY CHILD

CHRISTMAS BELLS

CHRISTMAS TREE

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

HAPPY HOLIDAY SUITE:*

Happy Holiday, Ding! Dong!, Merrily On High, Deck The Halls, The Holly and The Ivy, Skaters’ Waltz, Good King Wenceslas, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Auld Lang Syne

WHITE CHRISTMAS

* denotes Orchestra and Chorus

Program subject to change without notice.

Program Notes

DIE FLEDERMAUS (Strauss) Isthere a more festive overture? A Christmas/New Year's special at leading opera houses today, this operatic masterpiece had its debut in Vienna on Easter Sunday (5 April 1874) curiously enough. It is a gay and bubbly curtain raiser in our program.

THE GREAT SONGS OF CHRISTMAS:- suite After a brief orchestral introduction that includes Mendelssohn's On Wings Of Song, we are taken through the title song by the chorus and into six traditional carols, all of which are familiar to us: 0 Little Town Of Bethlehem, Adeste Fidelis (sung in English as O Come, All Ye Faithful), Silent Night, Handel's Joy To The World, The First Noel and Away In A Manger. The arrangement, written by one of England's great orchestrators, Stanley Black, comes to a climax ina reprise of the title song.

SANTA'S SLEIGH RIDE The chorus joins the orchestra in a selection of popular songs celebrating the season. Arranged in "patrol" fashion (that is, it fades in, and, after it is played out in full, it fades away), we hear the approach of a horse-driven sleigh, bells a-jangling, presumably transporting a jolly santa on his way to chimneys of children who have been good all year. Sleigh Ride, Jingle Bells, The Christmas Song (with its memorable opening line about "chestnuts"), Let It Snow, Winter Wonderland, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Every one a winner.

AVE MARIA (Bach-Gounod) The first prelude in Bach's formidable collection of preludes and fugues, in C major, is unaffected and simple, in the serious sense of this word. To its changing harmonies, the French composer, Charles Gounod, the author of the opera, Faust, put a beautiful melodic line. It has become one of the most devotional arias in all of music. We hear it here in a Mantovani arrangement for orchestra.

HALLELUJAH CHORUS (Handel) George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was born in Germany, but is associated with two schools of music, Italian and English, in traditions different from the one he was born into. Traveling, and then living, in Italy, he wrote operas of passion and intimacy, disassociating himself from Bach and the German cantata. In England, he embraced the Oratorio, and, here, found the vehicle for his greatest writing. It is said that when his Messiah was first performed, at the end of the "Hallelujah" chorus, the English king, George III, stood to applaud. Standing for this ode to joy is still a tradition in England.

INTERVAL

THE NUTCRACKER (Selections) Go to any major city during the holiday season and you will find this immensely popular ballet by Tchaikovsky on display; go to a mid-sized town and you will find a touring company scheduled to dance it, so much in demand is this music at Christmas. The orchestra has selected three movements to play: the rousing Trepak and the delightful Waltz Of The Flowers.

NATIVITY SUITE The introduction features the strings of the orchestra bouncing its bows hard at the heel in a rousing rendering of God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen before the chorus intones, in French, Canticle Noel (O Holy Night), yielding to What Child Is This (the melody of Greensleeves) and Bach's Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring, before returning to 0, Tannenbaum, inGerman (the melody of which became Maryland’s state song), to the ever popular, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, the poignant Little Drummer Boy to the finale, CesarFranck's Panis Angelicus, sung in Latin to complete this attractive polyglot medley.

DANCE OF THE HOURS Neither in its original setting (in the opera, LaGioconda, by Ponchielli) nor in its comical adaptation ("Hello, Father; Hello, Mother" by Stan Freeberg) can this music be called festive enough to be included in a Christmas program. But its presentation in the Disney/Stokowski film, Fantasia, is festive indeed. Elephants on point, tippy-toeing under the Christmas tree? Now, that's festive!

Program Notes - continued

CHRISTMAS BELLS An original composition by the maestro in an arrangement that features his unique signature, the "cascading" strings. This "tumbling" effect, of course, is a musical one (as you can hear) and not the result of studio engineering In the early years this wasn't always understood, and when his orchestra was invited to tour Denmark, Mantovani was greatly amused to receive from the presenter a telegram that said, "please bring the sound box with you"(!)

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS As he grew more successful, Mantovani had less time to write his own arrangements, and he turned more and more to other orchestrators. He picked the best: Ronald Binge, Cecil Milner, Stanley Black and, for more "modern" harmonies to be applied to newer, less traditional tunes, Roland Shaw, who put this compositon to paper for the Mantovani Orchestra. It is a smooth, luxurious rendition of this popular favorite.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS SUITE As Gertrude Stein might have said, "A finale is a finale is a finale". This suite, featuring chorus and orchestra, is dotted with songs familiar the world over and ends with a spirited closer of closers, Auld Lang Syne.

CONDUCTOR

Charles Ellis

Maestro Charles Ellis, currently gracing the conductor's podium of the Mantovani Orchestra, is the object of admiration from his peers and from the members of orchestras in nearly every corner of the United States. Mr. Ellis is that rare individual who has succeeded in making an indelible mark for himself as a guest conductor, leaving behind him the memory of unforgettable musical experiences for both audiences and artists alike. Mr. Ellis has conducted in Boston, Baltimore, Washington and New York, among many cities, and was a resident conductor in Jacksonville for many years. He has appeared with orchestras in innumerable cities, large and small, as guest conductor and has shared the spotlight with artists including Doc Severinson, Judy Collins and John Denver. His work has covered the entire scope of a conductor's repertoire, from the Baroque and Classical chamber music, symphonies and choral works of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart, through the large-scale symphonic and operatic works of the nineteenth century and on into the twentieth - century works of composers as diverse as Stravinsky, Debussy and Copland. Mr. Ellis' familiarity with the "popular" genre is well-grounded in his resident work in Jacksonville, as well as in his broad experience as a guest conductor. It is this intuitive distinction and understanding of a great musical tradition which Mr. Ellis brings to the podium of the Mantovani Orchestra at each and every concert.

The Orchestra Founder

Annunzio Paolo Mantovani was born in Venice, a fact that may easily lend itself to explanations regarding the Maestro's lyricism, classicism and style. His father Bismark was a superb violinist who had not only served as concertmaster in the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, but who had also played under the direction of such great conductors as Arturo Toscanini, Hans Richter, and Camille Saint-Saens; he would later proudly play under the baton of his son, whom everyone called Monty.

The family's move to London in 1909 did nothing to dampen Monty's increasing interest in music. Though his father wanted him to study drafting, he nonetheless began teaching his son piano, harmony, and counterpoint until, at age 14, Monty began study of the violin, the instrument he had known all along was for him.

At age 17 he began earning a living as a musician by joining an orchestra and playing all over England. When two music authorities of the day, Thibaud and Ysaye, encouraged him to pursue a concert career, he applied himself toward achieving that goal. In 1930 he gave a recital at Aeolian Hall; one year later, he performed Saint-Saens difficult "Violin Concerto in BMinor" at London's Queen's Hall to a cheering audience and glowing reviews.

But because of the hard time caused by the Depression, a career decision had to be made, and Mantovani chose not to pursue concerts. He instead formed the Tipica Orchestra, which became one of the most fashionable in London. He was making a name for himself, a name that he used to his advantage for his next project, the Mantovani Quintet.

Finally, with the formation of his own large orchestra, Mantovani achieved a goal that had been at the top of his list for some 20 years. By this time he had played in touring orchestras, he had led hotel orchestras and dance bands, he had performed recitals in great halls. But an orchestra with 28 strings as its centerpiece was just what his career and his psyche needed. He could compose, arrange, transcribe, and conduct for the orchestra, molding the sounds he heard into interpretations of the music he wanted to present to his audiences. This formula produced the unmistakable 'Mantovani sound'.

The ‘tumbling’ effect is purely musical, and is achieved in the strings by delaying the resolution of notes in a chord. The idea was born when Mantovani was looking for a sound to identify his new orchestra. The result was “Charmaine”, which Mantovani immediately made his signature melody. In September of 1955, the Maestro received in London a gold record from Decca/London commemorating the one million copies of “Charmaine” sold - a figure which, in those days, was practically unheard of.

Mantovani became an international star. He toured the United States, Canada, Germany, and Japan, often breaking attendance records. He came to be in constant demand for concerts, for tours, for radio and television shows, for recordings. He followed the success of “Charmaine” with such hits as “Greensleeves, “ “Moulin Rouge,”“Exodus,“ “Moon River,” and his own composition, “Cara Mia.” He was the first artist to sell one million stereophonic LPs, and during his lifetime he sold an amazing total of 35 million recordings. His popularity afforded him offers ranging from the ridiculous (100 marriage proposals in one year!) to the impossible to ignore (he said yeswhen the BBC offered him a TV seriesof his own). He toured North America for 15 consecutive years, performing from 35 to 40 concerts per tour. In Minneapolis one year, Mantovani was taken ill and his concert there had to be cancelled. When the audience of 5001 was given the choice of getting their money back or holding their tickets for a scheduled Mantovani concert the following year, not one person asked for a refund.

From the mid-60's, to the mid-70's, the public taste in music had changed and the standards of the music industry changed too. Mantovani was pressured to alter his style and update his sound to accommodate the rock’n roll listener. He staunchly refused, feeling he owed something to his loyal fans, and he began to control even more closely the content of his programs and the repertoire of his orchestra. When he found diffculty in locating new material, Mantovani reached back into the past for titles he had either missed or hadn't had time to arrange. His stubbornness paid off and his popularity peaked again as the result of some of his most memorable arrangements: “Deep Purple,” “Tea for Two,” and “September Song.”

When British Decca lost many of the pop groups it had signed during the heyday of the late 60’s, the company again looked to Mantovani. When a seven-album set of his recordings was released through the Reader's Digest Club in England, sales records were broken when over 450,000 volumes were purchased.

Mantovani was a perfectionist in the studio and a difficult taskmaster. Recording was probably his truest, most favorite form of expression, and he expected the same professionalism from his musicians that he exhibited himself. He would tolerate no lack of concentration; a mistake by a musician caused by a lapse in attentiveness could bring out a most severe temper in Mantovani. But when he was pleased he was very, very pleased, and he shared that pleasure with those around him.

He was an attentive family man. He lived in a quiet corner of Sussex with his wife, Winifred, and their children Kenneth and Paula. To thousands of fans he will be remembered as a man who introduced them to the concert hall as no other performer ever had. When he died in March of 1980, CBS reporter Jim Jensen noted, “He will be missed. He made millions of people happy.” Mantovani would surely be happy himself to know that the flame of his genius has not been extinguished.

Production Staff

Advisor...... Kenneth Mantovani

Production...... Mantovani Production Associates

President...... Tony D’Amato

Vice President and Company Manager...... Kenneth Moulton

Graphic Design/Printing...... CameoPublishingGroup

Exclusive Tour Direction by:

Windwood Theatricals

Paris, VA: 540-592-9573

New York, NY: 212-398-3170

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WARNING

The photographing or sound recording of any performance or the possession of any device for such photographing or sound recording inside this theater, without the written permission of the management, is prohibited. Violators will be ejected and may be liable for monetary damages. Please turn off all cellular phones and beepers before the production begins. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.