Jeanne Behrend Festival Fanfare
Jeanne Behrend Festival Fanfare Program Notes
Native Philadelphian Jeanne Behrend was a pianist and composer who graduated from Curtis, going on to teach at various times at Temple University, Philadelphia’s Conservatory of Music, and the Juilliard School. As a performer, she emphasized American composers, and as a scholar, researched and published music by Stephen Foster and Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Honors awarded to Behrend included Brazil’s Order of the Southern Cross. Her papers, including several compositions for piano, orchestra, or chamber ensemble, are held by the Free Library of Philadelphia. Behrend composed the Festival Fanfare – Prelude to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” in 1959, and it received its first performance that year at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that September, played by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and conducted by their associate conductor, William Smith. (Smith, who passed away in 1993, first joined the Orchestra in 1952 as staff pianist, and would go on to lead the orchestral program at Curtis and serve as Music Director of the Allentown Symphony.) The short Behrend fanfare leads directly into The Star-Spangled Banner, a tune originally composed by John Stafford Smith for a gentlemen’s club in London. As was common with these kinds of anthems, all sorts of words were written to go with it, and following the war of 1812, the poem by Francis Scott Key concerning the Defense of Fort McHenry. The United States adopted this combination of tune and poem as the national anthem in 1931. Born: May 11, 1911, Philadelphia Died: March20 1988, PhiladelphiaFestival Fanfare is a bright, celebratory orchestral work by American composer and pianist Jeanne Behrend, written in a festive style befitting its title. Behrend was a champion of American music and a respected performer and educator.
Behrend composed Festival Fanfare in the mid-twentieth century as part of her commitment to creating and promoting American concert music. She was a student of the legendary teacher Rosario Scalero at the Curtis Institute of Music.
A typical performance lasts approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
Listen for the bold brass writing and the energetic rhythmic drive that give the piece its celebratory character. Behrend's confident orchestration makes the most of the full ensemble in a compact and effective form.
Behrend was one of the first American women to achieve recognition as both a serious concert pianist and a composer. She was a tireless advocate for the music of American composers at a time when it was frequently overlooked in favor of European repertoire.
