Passacaglia and Allegra Barbara, solo piano

Passacaglia Professor (1988) is a somewhat satirical tribute to academia, to the several institutions of higher learning in the greater Los Angeles area where Price has lectured. Based on the traditional passacaglia structure, here the repeated double pattern is chromatic and contrapuntal.

Allegra Barbara (1988) is a pun on Bartok’s “Allegro Barbaro” but here allegra means “happy” rather than “fast.” The feminine ending agrees with Barbara, the first name of Barbara Allen, pianist and soprano soloist who commissioned and later premiered the work. An optional vocal line was sung by Allen in her performances of the work at California State University at Long Beach and in Moscow and Novosibirsk (RUSSIA). Allegra Barbara shares with Passacaglia the same composite meter of 3 + 4 + 3 + 2, although with a quicker tempo.

Instrumentation
piano

Composer
Deon Nielsen Price

Time
7′

Composition Year
1988

Publication Year
1988

Recording Information
2000, Deon Nielsen Price, piano, SunRays II-City Views Cambria CD-1122

Excerpt and Digital Download: www.Classiconline.com

Performance Information
11/2/08 Sutherland Studio Santa Monica CA, 11/13/08 Los Angeles Steinway Hall, and 2/14/09 NACUSA House Concert: Passacaglia Professor, Dorothy “Spaffy” Hull, piano; Allegra Barbara, Deon Nielsen Price, piano

5/16/09 75th Birthday Celebration Culver City CA, Deon Nielsen Price, piano;

3/18/00 Univ. Unitarian Church, Seattle WA; 3/21/00 Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA; 3/22/00 Univ. of Idaho, Moscow ID; 3/23/00 Washington State Univ.;3/27/00 Chaffey College Recital Hall, Rancho Cucamonga CA; 1/20/1999 Howard Payne Univ. Texas; 1/22/1999 Univ. Southwestern Louisiana; 7/8/1999 St. Marks Hall, London England IAWM-ICWM; 4/24/1999, 6/30/99, 5/12/00 and 6/30/02 El Camino College CA Center for the Arts; 4/16/1998 and 10/8/1998 Mu Phi Epsilon Los Angeles; 3/19/1998 Festival of Women Composers, Indiana Univ. Pennsylvania: Deon Nielsen Price, piano

9/27/1988 Premiere, Barbara Allen,piano/soprano, El Camino College Performing Arts Center and 9/30/1988 Daniel Recital Hall, California State Univ.Long Beach; and 10/5 Distinguished Alumni Series, Madsen Recital Hall Brigham Young Univ. Utah; and 10/30/1988, Fireside Recital Series, Santa Monica, CA; and during 11/1988 in Moscow and Novosibirsk, Soviet Union; Barbara Allen Kovalenko

11/10/1989 American Music Week Calif. St Univ. Northridge; Althea Waites, piano