By Zach Brooks, Magazine Editor
On Friday, Oct. 4, Janaa Eborn ’24 performed her senior recital in Paul Recital Hall. Eborn is a music major studying violin under Elly Toyoda at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music. The recital fulfilled an important degree requirement for Eborn, as well as representing a culmination of their musical achievement.
Eborn’s first piece was unaccompanied Bach, Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Eborn says her connection to the piece was immediate and intense: “I heard it for the first time and, like many, immediately fell in love with it.”
Janaa Eborn (Photo by Wendy Halperin)
The chaconne is a part of the suite of dances that make up the baroque partita, and it follows a theme-and-variation form. It’s the style of baroque that has particularly resonated with Eborn from an early age.
“I’ve been drawn to Baroque music since I first started playing violin at about 6 years old, so the chaconne felt like an emotionally intense extension of the style I’ve always loved,” Eborn said.
One of Eborn’s favorite violin memories relates to the chaconne. Prior to her recital she demonstrated it on Sept. 26 as part of the Sunderman Conservatory of Music String Day for regional high school students.
“Playing the Bach chaconne for the visiting high school string players was truly an honor, and I was so happy hearing from the students themselves that I inspired them with my performance of this piece!” Eborn shared.
Eborn’s performance demonstrated the piece’s technical prowess through using chord, double and triple stops, where multiple strings are played at once, and arpeggios. The separate lines work together forming the choir all in one instrument.
Collaborative pianist of the Sunderman Conservatory Scott Crowne accompanied Eborn’s second piece, violin concerto “To the Memory of an Angel” by Alban Berg, commonly referred to as the
“Berg Concerto.” Movements titled are I. Andante and II. Allegro.
Eborn’s choice of repertoire comes from classroom curiosity. “I was curious from the moment I was introduced to Berg’s violin concerto in Dr. Dorman’s theory class, where we learned about post-tonal music and the 12-tone system,” Eborn said.
The piece combines the style of the Romantic-era and injects it with the twelve-tone technique transforming atonal music into grounds for rich storytelling. To achieve this Eborn undertook much preparation.
“With the Berg concerto being such a new and complex experience for me, I spent a lot of time listening to recordings of the piece while doing score study,” Eborn stated.
Written in 1935, it’s the last piece Berg would complete before his passing. The Berg Concerto is dedicated to the late Manon Gropius who passed away at age 18, whose parents were close to the Berg family.
The piece’s second movement has baroque influence, connecting it to the first, quoting directly from Bach’s chorale “Es ist genug” translated from German to “It is enough.” The choral’s spirit is felt in the piece reflecting on life and death.
In the performance several techniques are used such as col legno, where the wood of the bow is used to play. Berg further distinguishes the specifics of his intended sound by specifying partial col legno where both the wood and hair of the bow is used at the same time.
During the reception directly after Eborn’s performance, students, family and faculty shared Ziggy donuts in custom. Eborn shared that after graduation, she plans to teach private lessons for aspiring musicians, particularly those in underprivileged communities. She hopes to work towards a master’s degree in music and teach music and string classes back where she grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
This article originally appeared on page 7 of the No. 2 October 2024 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
