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Programme Note

Adagio for Small Orchestra was Rodriguez’ first work for orchestra. Completed in February 1967 while the composer was an undergraduate student of Hunter Johnson at the University of Texas at Austin, the Adagio was premiered by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Donald Johnson, conducting, in April of that same year.

Scored for flute, clarinet, oboe, two horns, two bassoons and strings, the Adagio is case in a simple, song-like adaptation of sonata form with its lyrical opening theme repeated with variation, followed by a short, closing phrase, a development, and a condensed recapitulation, While the tonal language of this early work differs sharply from the harmonic complexities of more recent scores, there remain many melodic and structural “fingerprints” which reveal hints of the composer’s next and more recognizably characteristic work, the Lyric Variations of 1971.