Program Notes
Musetta’s Waltz is extracted from Giacomo Puccini’s opera, La Bohème, which is based on Henri Murger’s “Scènes de la vie de Bohème,” – or – Scenes of the Bohemian life. The term ‘bohemian’ is used to describe people, usually poor starving artists, who live a lifestyle outside of the generally accepted norm of society. The characters of the opera are drawn from Murger’s own experiences as a struggling writer in Paris in the 1830’s and also reflect many of Puccini’s own personal experiences as a young composer. Like Colline in the fourth act of the opera, Puccini once pawned his coat for money – not to pay for medicine, as in the opera – but rather, to subsidize an evening out with a young ballerina friend!
Musetta’s Waltz is Musetta’s attempt in the opera to attract the attention of Marcello, her former lover, who initially ignores her but finally succumbsto her charms. The music is charming and flirtatious and audiences invariably find the music as seductive as did the artist, Marcello. In Murger’s book, Scènes de la vie de Bohème, the surviving bohemians of the story all forsake their disrespectful ways and join the mainstream establishment. Ironically, our bohemian, Marcello, becomes a successful painter and sells a painting to a man whose mistress is Musetta. I wonder if she knew…
Scott Hartman received his BM and MM degrees from the Eastman School of Music and began his career by joining the Empire Brass Quintet and the Boston University faculty in 1984. As a trombone soloist and with his various chamber ensembles, Scott has taught and played concerts in all fifty United States and throughout the world. Mr. Hartman presently
performs and records with Proteus 7, the Millennium Brass, the Brass Band of Battle Creek, the Yale Brass Trio and the trombone quartet – Four of a Kind. Scott heads the trombone department at Yale University. More information concerning Mr. Hartman and his present activities is available at his website – www.slushpump.com
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