As Igor Stravinsky’s "L’Histoire du soldat (The Soldier’s Tale)" opens a wandering soldier
rummages through his pack, looking for his St. Joseph’s medal. He hopes this medal of his namesake will
help guide him home.
Just in time for St. Joseph’s Day on Wednesday the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State
University will present the tale of a wandering soldier named Joseph.
Stravinsky’s haunting "The Soldier’s Tale" will be staged Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Donnell
Theatre in the Wolfe Center for the Arts on campus. The performance will be staged Thursday at 7 p.m. on
the Firelands campus in collaboration with the Elder College.
Based on a Russian folk tale the musical theater piece tells of Joseph, the possessor of a magic violin,
and his battle of wits with the devil.
The music faculty has been contemplating staging the work for several years.
Violinist Penny Kruse Thompson said when the Donnell Theatre opened in late 2011 she recognized it as the
perfect venue for the production.
The space is "so intimate," she said before a rehearsal on Sunday. It brings the performers and
audience together. "It’s just the perfect setting."
She said she first performed "The Soldier’s Tale" when she was a freshman at Northwestern
University. It proved a challenge, but when she showed she was up to it, she got other calls to perform
it.
"The Soldier’s Tale" is a favorite, and often required, audition piece for conductors, she
said.
The underlying pattern of meter, shifts constantly throughout, making it tricky even for the most skilled
players.
"It can be pretty difficult, with beats changing every measure," said bassoonist Susan Nelson
has played a key role in organizing the event. "’The Devil’s Dance’ is crazy difficult, but it’s
fun to listen to."
Recruiting an ensemble of faculty and graduate students wasn’t difficult though, she said. While faculty
frequently collaborate on recitals, a more involved project like this is less common. This piece,
though, is among musicians’ favorites. "It’s really exciting music to play."
"Each of the instruments in the seven-piece ensemble has its own personality," Kruse said. The
violin especially stands out, Kruse said. A section of dances is like a miniature concerto for the
violin.
"Everyone gets a chance to shine," Nelson said. The parts are difficult, but written to
showcases the particular qualities of each instrument.
Stravinsky incorporates elements for folk music, ragtime, waltz, tango, rousing marches and stately
chorales, for a score that’s at once sprightly, yet dark. The melodies ring out, colored by sometimes
jarring harmonies.
The narrative declaimed by a cast of three actors. Hephzibah Dutt serves as the narrator with Ken Bower
as the devil and Jason Wells-Jensen as the soldier.
The ensemble, conducted by Emily Freeman Brown, features in addition to Kruse and Nelson fellow faculty
members Charles Saenz, trumpet, William Mathis, trombone, and Robert Rohwer, bass, with graduate
students Matthew Tinman, percussion, and Gunnar Hirthe, clarinet.
Musicology instructor Alexa Woloshyn will provide an introduction to the music and historical context
before the performance.