Lunatics and Lovers
Shakespeare Suite #1
Lunatics and Lovers
Overture and Bacchanalia
Recent Performances include
Franklin and Marshall Orchestra (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
under the direction of Mariel Carter on April 28, 2022
Concord Chamber Orchestra (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
under the direction of Jamin Hoffman on December 7, 2019
LUNATICS AND LOVERS
AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE:
Overture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VTSow27kzo&t=12s
Bacchanalia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YzN6I4vF_I&t=29s
“Thank you for writing two such delightful pieces!”
Jamin Hoffman
Music Director and Conductor
Concord Chamber Orchestra
December 8, 2019
“Twelfth Night” Concert
“Thank you, Linda, for allowing us to play your piece.
We got great feedback from the audience and we
wish you could have joined us. Hopefully next time!”
Brendan Townsend, Music Director
Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra
"Linda, you are SO sweet!!!
Loved doing your composition on the last concert!!!
You are an incredible composer!!!
I am so looking forward to hearing a recording of your piece.
I really think that the orchestra did a wonderful job!!!
For anyone else reading this....Linda is the most creative composer in IOWA!!!
And with that being said...she is an incredible person...
genuine beyond words! I treasure her as a friend!!
Marybrent Debth, Principal Second Violin, Orchestra Iowa
Program Notes
Lunatics and Lovers, Overture and Bacchanalia from Shakespeare Suite #1, a joyful and effervescent romp through the ecstasy and madness of love, emerges from Linda Robbins Coleman’s twenty years in theatre. Based on her Kennedy Center ACTF Award-winning overture and incidental music for the 1997 Drake Theatre production of Shakespeare's romantic fantasy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and her 1979 score for “A Merchant of Venice,” the suite ranges from the unbounded delight of new love to the melancholy of passionate misunderstandings; and from a bacchanalian rite to the tenderness and triumph of true love.
Vivacious, tonal, and tuneful, Coleman’s celebration of the magical words of the Bard brings theatre to the concert hall with a nod, a wink, and a tip of the hat to the old masters.
Orchestra Iowa audiences who have delighted in seven of Coleman's previous works over the past sixteen years - including her overture to "In Good King Charles's Golden Days," “For A Beautiful Land,” and "The Celebration! A Symphonic Jubilee" among others - will hear her energy, melody, and enthusiasm in this music. “Lunatics and Lovers” was premiered in Atlanta, Georgia in May, 2005. At the time of its premiere, this work also celebrated Coleman's thirtieth anniversary as a professional composer and her fifteenth year writing orchestra music.
Lunatics and Lovers is an orchestra suite in two main movements. The first movement, the “Overture,” lasts approximately five and a half minutes. The second movement is actually four mini-movements rolled into one, played without interruption. The four sections are “1. The Fairies Dance, 2. Bacchanalia, 3. Nocturne 4. Jubilation.” It is approximately eleven minutes long.
This music can be performed in its entirety, or each movement can be performed separately. It is appropriate for masterworks, pops, and theme concerts (Shakespeare, Valentine’s Day, Love-themed concerts, concerts based on literary works, etc.).
Perusal scores are available upon request.
Shakespeare Suite #1
Lunatics and Lovers
1. Overture
2. Bacchanalia
Instrumentation
Piccolo
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets in B flat
2 Bassoons
3 Horns in F
1 Trombone
Harp
Harpsichord - an electronic keyboard is fine.
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Violoncello
Contra Bass
Timpani - 4 kettledrums
Percussion: (2 players)
Crash Cymbals – Overture and Bacchanalia
Suspended Cymbals – Overture and Bacchanalia
Orchestra Bells – Overture and Bacchanalia
Triangle – Overture and Bacchanalia
Wind Chimes – Overture and Bacchanalia
Sleigh Bells - Bacchanalia only
Tambourine - Bacchanalia only
Wood Blocks - Bacchanalia only
Overture 6:00
Bacchanalia 12:00
Total Duration: Approximately 18 minutes
This piece can be performed in its entirety, or each movement separately.
THESEUS.
More strange than true: I never may believe
These antick fables nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:-
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,-
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, 5/1/10
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And, as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That, if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy; 5/1/20
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
From “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” by William Shakespeare
LUNATICS AND LOVERS
Shakespeare Suite #1
performed by the
Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra
November 20, 2011
Thank you,
Maestro Brendan Townsend
and all the musicians of the LPO!
From: Iowa Public Radio- Classical Symphonies of Iowa
Date: 4/29/2010
Re: Please tune in Monday, May 03 at 7 PM for Orchestra Iowa’s Cupid’s Arrow concert
Featuring
Timothy Hankewich, Music Director
Michael Wayne, clarinet
Linda Robbins Coleman: Lunatics and Lovers
W.A. Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini, Opus 32
(Concert recorded February 13 & 14, 2010)
Iowa Public Radio is excited to be airing Orchestra Iowa’s Cupid’s Arrow.
Love is in the air! Bask in the light-hearted joy described in Lunatics and Lovers by Linda Robbins Coleman. Enjoy the soulfulness of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and the intensity of chivalric passion in Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. Tchaikovsky’s poetic symphonic fantasy inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy concludes this romantic musical tribute.
The statewide broadcast can be heard Monday, May 03 at 7 PM on the Iowa Public Radio classical broadcast frequencies
Cedar Rapids, Iowa City 91.7 Cedar Falls, Waterloo 89.5 Ames, Des Moines 90.1
Ottumwa 91.1 Dubuque 101.7 Mason City 90.7
Or online through the streaming media player found at http://www.iowapublicradio.org
Iowa Public Radio proudly announces the "Symphonies of Iowa" series, showcasing Orchestra Iowa, Des Moines and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphonies.
FEBRUARY 13 & 14, 2010 - MIDWEST PREMIERE OF
“LUNATICS AND LOVERS”
BY
ORCHESTRA IOWA
Timothy Hankewich, Music Director and Conductor
February is the month for lovers and this concert’s program explores the subject of love from different perspectives. Whether it’s the light-hearted joy described in Linda Robbins Coleman’s Lunatics and Lovers, the soulfulness of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, performed by guest clarinetist Michael Wayne, the chivalric passion in the Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod or the dramatic tragedy of Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini. Get your tickets now for an unforgettable Valentines event.
Founded in April 1921, Orchestra Iowa (formerly the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra) is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. Its 82 professional musicians perform more than 120 public performances throughout Eastern Iowa each year, many of which can be heard on Iowa Public Radio and seen on Iowa Public Television.
Single tickets for “Cupid’s Arrow”, sponsored by United Fire Group, are $14-$24-$39 and may be purchased online at www.orchestraiowa.org or by calling 319.366.8203 or 800.369.TUNE (8863). Tickets are also available through the Orchestra Iowa Ticket Office, 119 Third Avenue SE, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.– 5 p.m.
All rights of performance and broadcast are strictly reserved.
Copyright © 2005, by Linda Robbins Coleman.
This music is licensed through Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI).
Inquiries concerning performance, perusal scores, or recording should be directed to:
Coleman Creative Services
attn: Linda Robbins Coleman
1137 - 37th Street Des Moines, Iowa 50311-3616 U.S.A.
Telephone: (515) 277-8893
email: LindaRobbinsColeman@att.net
https://lindarobbinscoleman.com/