Legends, Myths, and Adios

With big bold strokes, the Coeur d'Alene Symphony completes its 30th season on Saturday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. at Lake City Community Church Auditorium.

The program will include Claude Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 45 and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade op. 35, Stephane Mallarme's poem L'Apres-midi d'un faune written in 1876, inspired Debussy to conceive an orchestral work in three parts.

Debussy never got beyond the most rudimentary sketches for the second and third sections. He abandoned them and instead revised the Prelude, extending it as a self-standing piece in which he felt the character of Mallarme's eclogue to be fully reflected. The Afternoon of a Faun was Debussy's first significant work for orchestra. It was to have profound effects on the generation of composers that followed.

The concept of a "symphony" as a multi-movement, stand-alone work for orchestra was nearly new when Haydn began his career. By the end of his life, he had written at least 107 such works.

The symphony's nickname Farewell comes from the extraordinary final movement. By tradition, each player departs the stage after completing his or her part, even though the remainder of the orchestra continues performing. This tradition is believed to stem from the piece's first performance. Haydn's musicians, weary after what had already been a long season, asked Haydn whether he might convey a message to their employer, Prince Nicolaus, about their fatigue. Rather than confront Prince Nicolaus, directly, Haydn decided to communicate through his new symphony. Nicolaus got the message - and granted the musicians their vacation shortly after the work's premiere.

Haydn's Symphony 45 will be led by Guest Conductor Michael H. Korpi, Sr., the winner of this year's "Golden Baton," a special program to allow an avid audience member the chance to lead the orchestra.

Though the subject of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov' Scheherazade is based on Arabian tales, the work is still firmly Russian in its sensibilities and its flavor of "oriental" sound. Rimsky-Korsakov himself wrote that the piece was not meant to be an exact depiction of Scheherazade's stories, and titles of the movements segues into a sweeping recapitulation of the Sultan's theme to "direct but slightly the hearer's fancy on the path my own fancy traveled."

The piece exhibits his skill in varying orchestral color, augmented by piccolo, harp, and extra percussion.

Celebrating the 30th season, the Coeur d'Alene Symphony has been filling audiences with unbridled enthusiasm for the performance and discovery of great orchestral music since 1979.

As the only professional orchestra in North Idaho, The Coeur d'Alene Symphony Orchestra is a nonprofit organization comprised of 65-plus orchestra members from the inland Northwest under the baton of David Demand, conductor and artistic director. The Symphony also provides scholarships for college music students.

Information: 765-3833

If you go

• Coeur d'Alene Symphony's season finale Spring Concert is 7:30 p.m., May 14 at Lake City Community Church, 6000 N. Ramsey Road. Admission is $20 for adults, $15 seniors, $8 students, children. Tickets/Info: 1.208.765.3833, http://www.CdaSymphony.org