Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) was born on 22 August, 1862 near Paris. He was very much influenced by the art and literature of his day, especially the ‘Impressionist’ painters’, whose goal was to portray light and atmosphere rather than purely detail. Debussy brought this concept to music developing his own harmonic and structural language – to the chagrin of the conservative musical establishment. It is very interesting to observe these influences upon the development of jazz throughout the 20th century.
Syrinx was written in 1913 for solo flute as incidental music for the uncompleted play “Psyché” by Gabriel Mourey. As in the Greek myth, Pan spied the beautiful nymph, Syrinx, one day and immediately fell in love with her. He pursued her and she fled from him. Coming to a river, she called out to her friends, the water nymphs, to rescue her. Their solution was to change her into a patch of reeds growing on the edge of the water. The devastated Pan embraced the transformed Syrinx and upon whispering his dismay into the armful of reeds he heard her sing her mournful song. Thus the Pan flute came into being.
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 departments at Yale University.
More information concerning Mr. Hartman and his present activities is available at his website – www.slushpump.com
