Ottawa Youth Orchestra - Swan Lake No. 2 Waltz HD

Ottawa Youth Orchestra - l’Orchestre des jeunes d’Ottawa Winter Fantasy - Fantaisie hivernale February 26, 2017 Conductor / Chef d’orchestre JOHN GOMEZ Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy – Académie des Orchestres des jeunes d’Ottawa Ballet Suite from The Swan Lake, op. 20 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was born into a well-to-do middle class Russian family. Apart from piano lessons from his French governess, music was not an important part of his early education. Tchaikovsky graduated from the School of Jurisprudence at the age of nineteen and it was only after taking a position as a legal clerk in the Ministry of Justice that he decided that music was his true vocation. He enrolled in the St. Petersburg Conservatory and, upon graduation in 1865, was appointed professor of theory at the Moscow Conservatory. Scholars have not always been kind in their assessment of Tchaikovsky’s music. Although his air for melody and orchestration are widely acknowledged, the weak thematic development and overt sentimentality in much of his work have often been criticized. Notwithstanding the critics, however, Tchaikovsky is arguably the most popular of all Russian composers. His six symphonies, four orchestral suites, the violin and piano concertos, the Overture to Romeo and Juliet, and ballet music from The Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker have become mainstays of the orchestral repertoire. The Swan Lake was a failure when it premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1877. Neither the conductor nor the dancers were up to the challenge. It re-appeared with new choreography in 1895, two years after Tchaikovsky’s death, and has since become the most popular of all classical ballets. It tells the story of the beautiful Odette, the handsome Prince Siegfried, the evil sorcerer Rothbart, and Rothbart’s daughter Odile. Rothbart has cast a spell over Odette such that she is swan by day, only returning to human form at night. A ball is held to celebrate the Prince’s coming of age at which he is to choose the girl that he will marry. Knowing that Siegfried has fallen in love with Odette, Rothbart transforms his daughter Odile into her exact double. Initially fooled, Siegfried proposes to Odile. When he discovers his mistake, he rushes to the Swan Lake. Odette is distraught and plunges into the lake. Siegfried, rather than marry Odile, leaps into the lake himself and, through this act of devotion, breaks the evil spell. Suite de ballet tirée du Lac des cygnes, op. 20 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaïkovski (1840-1893) naît dans une famille russe bourgeoise. Hormis les cours de piano que lui donne sa gouvernante française, la musique ne tient pas une grande place dans l’éducation qu’il reçoit enfant. Diplômé en droit à 19 ans, ce n’est qu’après avoir obtenu un poste de clerc au ministère de la Justice que Tchaïkovski se rend compte que la musique est sa véritable vocation. Il s’inscrit au Conservatoire de Saint-Pétersbourg puis, après avoir obtenu son diplôme en 1865,