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Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2010 An Examination of Selected Works for Oboe and English Horn from the Compostitions of Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006) Sherwood W. Wise III
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COLLEGE OF MUSIC
AN EXAMINATION OF SELECTED WORKS FOR OBOE AND ENGLISH HORN
FROM THE COMPOSITIONS OF DANIEL PINKHAM (1923-2006)
By
SHERWOOD W. WISE, III
A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music
Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the following people for their valuable contributions to this study: Alex Diccico, Emily Gaberman, Andrew R. Holman, Michael Lister, Elizabeth Lojieuness, Eric Ohlsson, Daniel Pinkham, Kenneth Roth, Pierre Roy, Robert Richter, and Robert Sheena. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………… iii
List of Musical Examples………………………………………………… …….. vi
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… viii
1. INTRODUCTION...... 1
2. BIOGRAPHY...... 4
3. MUSICAL PHILOSOPHY...... 12 Blending Old Ideas with New………………………………………….... 12 Text Setting………………………………………………………...... 13 Short Form Composition……………………………………………….... 14 Experimentation………………………………………………………….. 15 Qualities of Instrumental Writing………………………………………... 15 Practicality and Accessibility………………………………...... 17 Marketability………………………………………………………………. 20 Summary………………………………………………………………….. 21
4. DUET FOR RECORDER (OR OBOE) AND HARPSICHORD (OR HARP) (1969)...... 22 Prelude……………………………………………………………………. 24 Aria………………………………………………………………………... 24 Dithyramb………………………………………………………...... 26 Recessional………………………………………………………………. 28
5. VARIATIONS FOR OBOE AND ORGAN (1970)...... 30 Prelude……………………………………………………………………. 31 Dithyramb………………………………………………………...... 32 Scherzo…………………………………………………………...... 32 Fantasia…………………………………………………………………... 33 Nocturne………………………………………………………………….. 34 Finale……………………………………………………………………… 34
6. FOR EVENING DRAWS ON (1976)...... 36
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7. REEDS (1987)...... 43 Under the shady trees, hidden in the reeds…………………………… 45 Reeds shall grow in the parched ground……………………...... 46 The golden reed………………………………………………………….. 47 The paper reeds by the brooks…………………………………………. 48 A reed shaken with the wind……………………………………………. 50
8. FOR ECHO IS THE SOUL OF THE VOICE (1994)...... 53 Echo……………………………………………………………………….. 54 Colours……………………………………………………………………. 56 The Conclusion of the Matter…………………………………………… 58
9. ODES (1999)...... 60 Ode to the Vigil at Twilight……………………………………...... 61 Ode to the Stillness of the Night………………………………………... 62 Ode to the Dawning of the New Day…………………………………… 63
10. THE SEVEN DAYS (2002)...... 65 Flowing……………………………………………………………………. 66 Serene…………………………………………………………………….. 66 Quick………………………………………………………………………. 68 Pensive……………………………………………………………………. 68 Questions and Answers…………………………………………………. 69 Playful……………………………………………………………………… 69 Quickstep………………………………………………………………….. 70
11. CONCLUSION...... 71
WORKS CITED………...... 73
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH...... 76 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
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LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES
Example 1: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 2, meas. 1-9, oboe part………………… 25 Example 2: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 2, meas. 1-8, harpsichord part………… 25 Example 3: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 3, meas. 1, harpsichord part…………… 26 Example 4: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 3, meas. 2, oboe part…………………… 27 Example 5: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 3, meas. 7, oboe part…………………… 27 Example 6: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 4, meas. 1-2, oboe part………………… 28 Example 7: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 4, meas. 1-4, harpsichord part………… 28 Example 8: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 1, meas. 4, oboe part…………….. 31 Example 9: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 1, meas. 1, organ part……………. 31 Example 10: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 2, meas. 17-18, oboe part……… 32 Example 11: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 3, meas. 1-11, oboe part……….. 33 Example 12: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 4, meas. 1, organ part………….. 33 Example 13: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 5, meas. 3, oboe part…………… 34 Example 14: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 6, meas. 63, oboe part…………. 35 Example 15: Pinkham, For Evening Draws On, p. 3, organ part…………… 40 Example 16: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 1, meas. 1-2………………………….. 45 Example 17: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 3, meas. 1-2………………………….. 47 Example 18: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 4, meas. 1-2………………………….. 49 Example 19: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 5, line 1………………………………. 50 Example 20: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 5, line 3………………………………. 51 Example 21: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 5, lines 4-5…………………………… 51 Example 22: Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, mvmt. 1, meas. 1-2………………………………………………… 55 Example 23: Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, mvmt. 1, meas. 3-4………………………………………………… 55 Example 24: Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, mvmt. 1, meas. 13-14……………………………………...... 56 Example 25: Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, mvmt. 1, meas. 21-22……………………………………………… 56
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Example 26: Pinkham, Odes, mvmt. 2, meas. 1-3, organ part……………... 62 Example 27: Pinkham, Odes, mvmt. 3, meas. 1-2, English horn part……… 64 Example 28: Pinkham, The Seven Days, mvmt. 2, meas. 1, oboe part……. 67 Example 29: Pinkham, The Seven Days, mvmt. 2, meas. 21, oboe part….. 67 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
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ABSTRACT ! Daniel Pinkham is best known for having produced one of the largest bodies of works for choir and organ of any composer of the twentieth century, most of which were written for the church. However, he also wrote extensively for other instruments, including guitar, harp, and brass ensemble, and all woodwinds. His instrumental writing includes solo and chamber works and in various combinations with other instruments, organ, and choir, in both sacred and secular settings. This instrumental output includes six works featuring oboe or English horn as a solo instrument. These compositions will be the primary focus of this treatise. They were written over the course of several decades of Pinkham!s life and are representative of his style from 1961 to his death. Although much has been written on the subject of Pinkham!s organ, choral, and sacred composition, very little discussion of Pinkham!s composition has focused on his instrumental writing. Writings on the more widely discussed areas of Pinkham!s composition will provide insight into characteristics that pervade his musical style. Comparisons between what is discussed and Pinkham!s oboe writing from the corresponding period in his life will then be drawn and discussed. It is hoped that this paper will expand the discussion of Pinkham!s work beyond the areas with which his music is most often associated into the area of his instrumental writing, in which his output is nearly equal to that of his choral and organ works.! ! !
C888 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006) was a Boston-based composer best known for having produced one of the largest bodies of work for choir and organ of any American composer of the twentieth century. Most of his choral and organ compositions are sacred and performed in church settings. His catalogue also includes numerous compositions for instruments other than organ, however, including guitar, harp, brass ensemble, and woodwinds. His instrumental writing includes solo and chamber works, both on their own and in various combinations with organ and choir, in both sacred and secular settings. Pinkham!s work is highly respected in the musical community, and much has been written about his choral and organ compositions. It is hoped that this project will expand the discussion of Pinkham!s music beyond the areas with which he is most often associated into the realm of his instrumental writing, an area in which the volume of his output is nearly equal to that of his choral and organ composition. To accomplish this, this paper will focus on seven of Pinkham!s compositions that feature the oboe or the English horn as a primary voice. Because relatively little material is available on Pinkham!s instrumental output, this paper will be largely based on my observations of the compositions themselves. Writings on the more widely discussed areas of Pinkham!s composition will provide insight into characteristics that pervade his musical style and how they manifest in his oboe and English horn writing. Pinkham!s instrumental output includes six works featuring oboe or English horn as a solo instrument, as well as several chamber works in which the oboe or English horn have prominent roles. These compositions were written over the course of several decades and are representative of his style throughout.
! While Pinkham often wrote with a particular performer in mind, these pieces were premiered by several different oboists. This speaks to an affinity that Pinkham had for the oboe, rather than for a particular musician. In addition, Pinkham!s oboe writing often displays an intimate knowledge of the instrument; for instance, he makes frequent use of harmonics and the extreme ranges of both the oboe and the English horn. These ranges present compositional challenges that can lead to excessive difficulty for the performer, but Pinkham!s writing always stays within the realm of playability. Pinkham also wrote numerous chamber works that featured oboe or English horn prominently. In addition, Pinkham wrote many pieces that pair oboe or English horn with choir and with larger ensembles in a manner reminiscent of J.S. Bach!s instrumental obbligatos. While the existence of these works speaks to the importance of the oboe in Pinkham!s compositional output, the scope of this project shall be limited to his works in which the oboe or the English horn is the primary voice, with one exception. For Echo is the Soul of the Voice is a chamber work in which the importance of the oboe part is equal to that of the vocal part, and is included because it provides an opportunity to discuss some of the vocal writing that predominated Pinkham!s career. No discussion of Daniel Pinkham would be complete without mention of his singular personality and collaborative style and their impact on his composition. Pinkham!s unique wit is in evidence throughout his body of work, and this evidence is an important part of the analysis of the pieces to be discussed in this paper. The purpose of this project is to increase awareness of this unique musician and his impact on the contemporary music scene not only of Boston but also that of the United States. While this paper focuses on Pinkham!s solo works for oboe and English horn, it may spark interest in his writing for other instruments and encourage further exploration of his remarkable compositions for other instruments that have thus far been neglected. To accomplish this objective, Pinkham!s biographical information will be presented and related to
! characteristic aspects of his compositional style. Each of the seven works for oboe and English horn will then be examined in chronological order with attention to Pinkham!s stylistic features that are present or absent in each work.
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! CHAPTER 2
BIOGRAPHY
Daniel Pinkham was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on June 5, 1923.1 Pinkham!s family had settled in Lynn by the 17th century and had been well- known for three generations since his great-great grandmother, Lydia E. Pinkham (1818-1883), made the family fortune with Lydia Pinkham!s Ointment, her patented “vegetable compound for female complaints,” a cure-all remedy that made the Pinkham name famous throughout the country.2 Having begun piano lessons at the age of five,3 Pinkham showed an early interest in music, which he earnestly pursued throughout his early education. This interest may have developed from the influence of both his mother, Olive Collins White Pinkham, who was a music educator, and his grandmother, who was an early graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts.4 Because of the lasting success of Pinkham!s Vegetable Compound, Daniel benefitted from the resources and opportunity to receive the best preparatory education available and attended Phillips Academy in Andover, MA as a teenager.5 While at Phillips Academy, Pinkham received fundamental musical training in organ and harmony from Carl Pfatteicher, an ordained
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 1"" DeBoer, Kee, and Ahouse, John. Daniel Pinkham: A Bio-bibiliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988, 3#"
2 Pollack, Howard. Harvard Composers. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1992, 189.
3 Ibid., 190.
4 DeBoer and Ahouse, 4.
5 Ibid., 3.
Lutheran minister and music director at Phillips.6 Pinkham also began his organ studies and became the school!s carillonneur under Pfatteicher!s tutelage.7 At the age of 16 Pinkham received what he later termed an epiphany when he attended a performance by the Von Trapp Family singers in Andover. He was struck by the family!s use of early instruments, including recorder quartet, virginal, and violas da gamba, as well as their purity of vocal tone. He proceeded to read everything he could find on 17th and 18th century music, later saying, “The Dolmetsch book on interpretation I simply memorized; it was my Bible at that time.”8 Pinkham!s experiences at Phillips Academy laid a great deal of foundation for the kind of composer he was to become. His organ studies began a process that led him to become one of the most famous composers of music for organ of his generation, and his interest in early music led him to become a pioneer in historical performance in the Boston area, a city that has become regarded as an important center in the field of early music in the United States.9 Even his work as a carilloneur had a lasting effect on his voice as a composer, as one of his signature compositional devices was the use of bell percussion and bell-like musical direction in writing for other instruments.10 The carillon also prompted him to study clavichord and harpsichord.11 In addition to his applied studies under Pfatteicher, he had the opportunity to try his hand at his first choral compositions. He was able to hear these early works sung by the school choir,
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 6 Pollack, 190; DeBoer and Ahouse, 3.
7 DeBoer and Ahouse, 4.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., 5.
10 Ibid., 8-9.
11 Pollack, 191.
! and this experience established a habit of never allowing a work to be published without hearing it in a practical setting.12 After graduating from Phillips in 1940, Pinkham chose to enroll at Harvard instead of the Pinkham family!s traditional alma mater, Brown University.13 At Harvard Pinkham studied composition and counterpoint with Arthur Tillman Merritt (1902-1998),14 about whom he said he “learned more about composition than from any other teacher.”15 Merritt taught Pinkham about avoiding repetition in his composition, focusing on “the manipulation of notes and lines [in counterpoint] without reliance on rote or formula.”16 In addition to his approach to counterpoint, Merritt required his students to set Latin texts for all exercises, providing Pinkham with a core knowledge of a language that would become very important in his compositions.17 In his second year at Harvard Pinkham began composition studies with Walter Piston (1883-1961), from whom he learned stylistic consistency and practical application of writing idiomatic music for instruments, attributes for which Pinkham is renowned in his composition.18 While at Harvard Pinkham also studied choral composition with Archibald T. Davidson (1883-1961),19 and harpsichord with Jean Claude Chiasson, Putnam Aldrich (1904-1975), and Wanda Landowska, from whom he gleaned a great knowledge of early music and in whose memory he composed Homage to Wanda Landowska for organ
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 12 DeBoer and Ahouse, 4.
13 Pollack, 192.
14 Kozinn, Allan. "Arthur Merritt, 96, Renaissance Music Expert." New York Times 29 Oct. 1998, retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/#
15 Pollack, 190.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 DeBoer and Ahouse, 4.
(1958).20 Pinkham completed his B.A. in music at Harvard in 1943 and graduated with an M.A. from the same institution the following year.21 While at Phillips Academy, Pinkham met organist E. Power Biggs,22 whom he would come to regard as his most important organ teacher.23 Pinkham wished to learn more about Biggs!s unique style of playing the organ, which he described as “remarkably unlike the reverend and churchy legato playing then considered the decent way to play the organ.”24 Pinkham!s relationship with Biggs led to some of his first professional engagements both as a performer and as a composer, including filling in for Biggs on occasional weekly broadcasts from Harvard!s Germanic (now Busch-Reisinger) Museum. On one of these broadcasts, Biggs premiered Pinkham!s Sonata #1 for Organ in 1944.25 After graduating from Harvard Pinkham took lessons from Biggs at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1945.26 That same year he began studies with famed composer Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), who was also on the Longy School faculty, having moved to the United States at the onset of World War II. Pinkham first began working with Boulanger in 1941 when she allowed him to compose for her weekly Madrigal singing group at Longy. Beginning in 1945, Pinkham worked intensely with Boulanger. This period of study, while being a great period of growth for him, resulted in his becoming too self-critical to compose for the better part of a year.27 Pinkham remarked that he
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 20 Pollack, 192.
21 DeBoer and Ahouse, 4.
22 Pollack, 190.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 DeBoer and Ahouse, 5.
26 Pollack, 190.
27 DeBoer and Ahouse, 5.
! learned from Boulanger as well as Piston “the importance of the craft of composition. They were always much concerned, not with what musical language you chose, but with the consistency of the style.”28 Pinkham spent the summer of 1947 as a Composition Fellow at Tanglewood, where he studied with Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) and Samuel Barber (1910-1981). He served for the early part of the summer as Honegger!s translator and chauffeur, getting to know the composer intimately and garnering a great deal of influence. After a brief period, however, Honegger suffered a heart attack and returned home to Switzerland. Barber replaced Honegger for the remainder of the summer, and while Pinkham remarked that he learned less from him than he did from Honegger, he gained a great deal of insight into English text setting, which would become a major cornerstone of his composition.29 While at Tanglewood, Pinkham also studied orchestral conducting with Stanley Chapple and choral conducting with G. Wallace Woodworth.30 After completing his studies at Harvard, Pinkham!s initial career focus was on performing. He was one of the first professional harpsichordists in the Boston area before the Historical Performance movement took hold in that area, and he played harpsichord for the Boston Symphony from 1950-1956 under such conductors as Charles Munch, Igor Markevitch, and Thor Johnson.31 In 1948 Pinkham formed a violin-harpsichord duo with Boston Symphony violinist Robert Brink, whom he described as “a fine player with unlimited technical ability and an elegant, beautiful tone.”32 The duo!s repertory included the works of Corelli, Marini, J.S. Bach, and Mozart, which were, according to
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 28 Pollack, 194.
29 Pollack, 195; DeBoer and Ahouse, 5.
30 Johnson, Marlowe. "A Choral Composer for our Time: Daniel Pinkham." Music: The AGO Magazine"Jun."1968, 30#"
31 Johnson, 30; DeBoer and Ahouse, 5; Pollack, 192.
32 DeBoer and Ahouse, 5.
Pinkham, “up to the limits of the harpsichordist!s ability.”33 The duo worked with new music as well as early music, frequently commissioning new works from composers such as Henry Cowell, Alan Hovaness, and Walter Piston. Pinkham also wrote his Violin Concerto (1958) for Brink.34 In addition, Pinkham maintained an active solo career around the country, turning down a Fulbright grant to study in Europe in 1950 to avoid disrupting his career!s momentum. In the mid 1950s Pinkham and Brink founded the Cambridge Festival Orchestra, an ensemble of Boston musicians conducted by Pinkham in which Brink served as concertmaster.35 The group had its own concert series, provided musicians for local television, and provided orchestral support for numerous choral groups including the Handel and Haydn Society, a leading early music vocal ensemble.36 A hand injury forced Brink to shift his focus from performing to teaching in the late 1950s, ending the duo!s active tenure. In 1961, Pinkham suffered a bout of hepatitis, necessitating a less active lifestyle and a similar career shift from performance to composition and teaching.37 Pinkham!s teaching career began when he was appointed to the faculty of the Boston Conservatory at the age of 23. In 1953 he was named Special Lecturer in Music History at Simmons College in Cambridge, MA. In the summer of 1954 he visited Devon, England as a lecture-recitalist, and that fall joined the Boston University faculty as a teaching associate in harpsichord. He served as a visiting lecturer at Harvard during the school year 1957-1958, and in 1959 was appointed as guest faculty at the New England Conservatory in Boston, teaching
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 33 DeBoer and Ahouse, 5-6.
34 Ibid., 6.
35 Ibid.
36 Brink, Robert. "The Orchestras." Robert Brink Online. Web. 28 Jun 2009.
37 DeBoer and Ahouse, 6.
! undergraduate music history, theory, composition and harpsichord. This position became permanent the following year, and Pinkham remained at that institution for the remainder of his career.38 When Gunther Schuller became Director of the New England Conservatory in 1967, Pinkham was allowed to create and chair the Department of Early Music Performance at New England Conservatory, one of the first of its kind in the country.39 Degrees offered in this department included “Early Music Performance” and “Harpsichord as a Studio Instrument.” As chair of the Early Music Department, Pinkham did not teach applied lessons but taught numerous classes and influenced hundreds of students.40 Despite his prominence as a contemporary composer, Pinkham!s teaching duties at New England Conservatory were focused entirely on early music.41 In 1958 Pinkham became Music Director of King!s Chapel in downtown Boston. Founded in 1686, King!s Chapel is both a major historical landmark and an important institution in Boston!s musical history. It was the first American church to house a pipe organ in 1713, and was the site of the first known American music festival in 1786.42 Pinkham!s duties in this position included leading a small mixed choir in weekly Sunday services and an annual Christmas Eve concert with chamber orchestra. Pinkham also established a subscription concert series of ancient and contemporary music and occasional late night avant-garde concerts held, in his words, “at 11 PM when decent people are in bed.”43 At King!s chapel Pinkham had at his disposal a small mixed choir
######################################################## 38 DeBoer and Ahouse, 6.
39 Ibid., 6-7.
40 Ibid., 7.
41 Johnson, 22.
42 Ibid.
43 DeBoer and Ahouse, 8.
" comprised of both volunteers and paid music students.44 He frequently used this choir as a laboratory for his compositions. This helped him to adhere to his previously mentioned policy of hearing every work he published performed, which is a luxury that few contemporary composers share.45 Pinkham held the post at King!s Chapel until his retirement in 2000.46 Pinkham was the recipient of numerous honors and awards throughout his career. He received honorary doctorates from Nebraska Wesleyan University (1976), Adrian College (1977), and Westminster Choir College (1979). He was the Dean Emeritus of the Boston chapter of the American Guild of Organists, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was an honorary member of Phi Mu Sinfonia and the Signet Society of Harvard University. He was a recipient of the Bohemian Club Prize and the St. Botolph Club Award, and was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody as the first music advisor to the Massachusetts Council on the Arts.47 He is considered by many to have played an enormous role in Boston becoming one of the primary cities for early music in the country.48 Daniel Pinkham died of leukemia in Natick, MA on December 18, 2006. He composed as long as he was able, having had a world premiere of a choral 49 work, A Cradle Hymn, the evening before his death. " " " "
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 44 DeBoer and Ahouse, 7.
45 Ibid., 11.
46 Pinkham, Daniel. "Bio." Daniel Pinkham Composer. 2007. Web. 28 Jun 2009.
47 DeBoer and Ahouse, 12.
48 Ibid., 13.
49 Eichler, Jeremy. "Daniel Pinkham, 83: Composer Tackled Variety of Genres." Boston Globe 19 Dec. 2006, Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/.
!! CHAPTER 3
MUSICAL PHILOSOPHY
In order to discuss Pinkham!s works for oboe and English horn, it is important to look at his musical philosophies and how they contribute to his style. Pinkham combined influences from numerous sources in his approach to composition, and these influences manifest in different ways depending on his intention with a given piece. For this reason, those aspects which contribute most prominently to Pinkham!s style will be outlined in this chapter. Not all characteristics that are associated with Pinkham!s compositional style appear in every work, but the absence of certain features is also worth noting when looking at a piece.
Blending of Old Ideas with New A consistent aspect of PInkham!s writing is the blending of old ideas with new.50 His interest in early music, which began in earnest in 1947 or 1948, influenced all his composition in the use of church modes and Baroque dance forms.51 He is one of relatively few twentieth-century composers to write major works for early instruments, including harpsichord and recorder.52 Other characteristics of early music that Pinkham would often utilize include rhythmic flexibility reminiscent of Gregorian plainchant, works that could be played by different instruments, and the setting of old, as opposed to contemporary, texts. He would combine these elements with 20th century harmonies, orchestration,
######################################################## 50 Pollack, 198.
51## Johnson, 31.
52 Pollack, 200.
! and his own approach to serial techniques that helped to create his unique musical voice.53 Pinkham!s harmonies further show his interest in blending old with new. While his tonal scheme is largely based on tertian harmonies, the color is enriched by added tones, employing intervals of seconds, thirds, and fourths more often than open fifths. His melodic writing is predominated by diatonic motion but avoids exact repetition. Over the course of his career Pinkham increased the use of tri-tones and other dissonances in his writing, but usually balanced dissonance with sonorities and techniques that kept his music accessible to the ear.54
Text Setting Pinkham is best known as a composer of sacred choral music. This mostly stems from his position at King!s Chapel, where he wrote the bulk of his choral compositions.55 Pinkham benefitted greatly from a liberal administration at the church, which allowed him total freedom in his liturgical programming and composition.56 Pinkham!s choices of texts in his vocal writing indicates a preference for old over new, frequently using passages from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. However, he was not averse to using more contemporary sources for his texts, utilizing the work of Emily Dickinson and Richard Crashaw,57 as well as personal acquaintances such as longtime friend Howard Holtzman, Pulitzer prize winner Robert Hillyer, and children!s writer Norma Farber. Pinkham claimed that
######################################################## 53 Johnson, 43.
54 Ibid., 31.
55 Pollack, 197-198.
56 Ibid., 198.
57 Johnson, 31.
! he read modern poetry “…for the wrong reasons: I look at it from a cannibal!s point of view.”58 Pinkham is well-known as an expert at setting text, a mastery that dated back to his days with Arthur T. Merritt, who required his students to set Latin texts for all their exercises.59 Pinkham made a point of setting texts with attention to comprehensibility. This is a tenet of text setting dating to Palestrina, but Pinkham would likely claim practicality over any historic influence.60 Beyond his training and church position, however, Pinkham acknowledged an attraction to the liturgy and liturgical stories, as well as the fact that religious texts are in the public domain.61
Short Form Composition Pinkham!s compositions are mostly in short form or are broken up into short movements. Many of his works are brief songs or pieces for choral ensembles that are intended to be performed during an offertory or communion at a church service. Most of his instrumental works are made up of multiple, short movements. Even his large-scale compositions, such as the Bach-inspired Passion of St. Mark (1975), are sectionalized, or, as he put it, “mosaics of a lot of small things.”62 The consistent brevity and economy of Pinkham!s compositions led Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer to dub him “the master of the perfectly shaped miniature.”63 With the exception of For Evening Draws On, all the compositions that are to be discussed as part of this project consist of multiple movements that are each usually less than five minutes in length.
######################################################## 58 DeBoer and Ahouse, 9.
59 Ibid., 4.
60 DeBoer and Ahouse, 8, Johnson, 42.
61 DeBoer and Ahouse, 9.
62 DeBoer and Ahouse, 9, Henderson, 21.
63 Dyer, Richard. "Daniel Pinkham Tribute." American Organist Jun. 2007, 98.
! Experimentation Pinkham was always interested in keeping his music fresh and avoiding repetition. He took cues from Stravinsky!s philosophy of “setting a new problem for every piece he writes,” as opposed to the approach of Richard Strauss whom he criticized as having “hit the jackpot with Rosenkavalier and ... tried to keep cashing the same old opera.”64 He described his approach to a new piece as the setting of restrictions: “Every piece that I write I try to set myself a problem. The first decision is determining the medium. This dictates the nature of the style of writing. ...It!s what you reject which really gives you more the sense of style than what you accept. It!s kind of a curious, cumbersome point of view, but it!s the same thing if you!re determining organ registration. In certain pieces you are going not to use certain stops. In other words, you restrict yourself to certain colors because this gives a sense of style to the piece.” Once Pinkham solved a particular problem he had set for himself he would usually set it aside and move on to a new problem for the next composition.65 Pinkham was also interested in constantly exploring new and unusual combinations of sounds and instruments, leading him to gravitate toward less traditional instrumentation such as writing modern music for early instruments.66 He frequently used individual instruments or small chamber ensembles as companions to choir or solo voice in a manner very similar to J.S. Bach!s instrumental obbligato lines.
Qualities of Instrumental Writing Much of Pinkham!s purely instrumental work, while containing no text, springs from liturgical influences. His instrumental works are rarely programmatic, but they often include titles or brief remarks that he termed
######################################################## 64 Pollack, 194.
65 DeBoer and Ahouse, 12.
66 Pollack, 201; DeBoer and Ahouse, 12.
! “affective,” which he defined as providing a background to the music without a literal narrative.67 He had an affinity for brass instruments, both in solo works and ensembles. His music also often incorporates tonal percussion and other instruments with a bell-like tone such as harp and celesta, probably stemming from his work as carilloneur at the Phillips Academy.68 His interest in writing for woodwinds developed later in his career, starting in the mid- to late 1970s. While Pinkham wrote for strings, it was much less frequent than for wind and percussion instruments. He wrote nothing for string quartet until 1989 because he felt that that ensemble had been thoroughly explored. For similar reasons, he never wrote any piano works.69 Pinkham is less known for his writing for large instrumental ensembles than he is for choirs. He wrote relatively few works for full orchestra, largely because of the difficulty in getting proper rehearsal time for new music in that setting, stating, “Unless you write for a good civic or community orchestra, which I did for my Symphony #3 for the Plymouth, MA, Philharmonic, it is lucky if you get more than a reading before performance time.”70 He did compose some large-scale orchestral works in the 1960s, each of which draws ideas from old and new styles. His first two symphonies have little to do with traditional symphonic repertoire or form. The movement titles from the symphonies, which include Aria, Three Epigrams, Ballade, and Envoy, are taken from early musical forms.71 Despite the implications of the movement titles, however, Pinkham used 20th century techniques in producing these pieces. His Symphony #1 employs chromatic counterpoint and changing meters similar to
######################################################## 67 DeBoer and Ahouse, 8.
68 Johnson, 31.
69 DeBoer and Ahouse, 12.
70 Ibid.
71 Pollack, 201.
! those of Walter Piston and Stravinsky, whom he cited as his major influences from the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s.72
Practicality and Accessibility Practicality and accessibility were important priorities for Pinkham in his approach to composition. Hindemith was one of his earliest influences through his principal of Gebrauchsmusik. This is defined as music which, in Pinkham!s words, “has its own integrity as a piece of art but which is not geared only to professionals.”73 He is well-known for his consideration for the performer, often having written pieces with specific musicians in mind, saying, “I would have to say that I am very much aware of the performing groups for which I am writing for the initial commissioned work.”74 Music critic Paul Driver of the Boston Globe attested to Pinkham!s ability to write quality music for all levels of performer, describing “...a native gift for writing singable and playable music that is satisfying for professionals, amateurs and even children, and which always retains a personal accent and a serious, non-patronizing intent.”75 Pinkham credited his experience as a working, professional musician with keeping him grounded in making his music accessible to both the performer and the audience, remarking, “There are composers today who have never sung in a chorus, have never played in a symphony orchestra, who don!t realize what the problems of a performer are-- not only physical but psychological and physiological.”76 As a result of this philosophy, much of his music can be performed by amateur musicians, but has artistic integrity when played by ######################################################## 72 Henderson, Charles. "Daniel Pinkham." Music: The AGO and RCCO Magazine Dec. 1974, 21.
73 Ibid., 21.
74 McCray, James. "Pinkham: On Composing." Choral Journal. 17.2 (1976), 16.
75 Driver, Paul. "Somewhere, someone's playing his music." Boston Globe 26 Oct. 1983, retrieved from http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/.
76 Henderson, 21.
! professionals.77 This is in stark contrast to some of Pinkham!s contemporaries such as Elliot Carter who, when asked why his piano concerto was so difficult, replied, “Well, it!s just that I want to guarantee that no orchestra of less nobility than the Boston Symphony is going to attempt to play it.” While expressing admiration for Carter and his accomplishments, Pinkham stood in opposition to this approach, stating, “I!ve never scorned the idea of writing pieces for the amateur market or for the student performer.”78 Pinkham was also very practical in his approach to the business aspects of being a musician. He acknowledged that one of the reasons he wrote so frequently for choir is its marketability: “I think that one of the facts of life for a composer who depends on the income from his works is that the choral medium is still the most salable and also the most commissioned of any musical form.”79 While he felt a certain responsibility to produce pieces that would sell for his publisher, he was able to balance his more popular publications with more avant- garde work that would push his artistic envelope while carrying a lower projected sale. This is largely because of the philosophy of his most used publishers, E.C. Schirmer and C.F. Peters, who were interested in both sales and artistry.80 Being best known as a composer for the church, Pinkham felt occasionally stereotyped, remarking, “Unfortunately, the term "church composer! can be one of derision. I don!t consider that there is any difference in quality just because I have written something for a church. The fact that I!m interested in writing things that can be done by a good parish choir doesn!t mean that there!s a difference in quality to me.”81 Furthermore, in explaining his motivation for writing music for
######################################################## 77 Johnson, 31.
78 Henderson, 21.
79 Ibid., 21-22.
80 Ibid., 22.
81 Ibid.
! the church, he commented, “I just like to hear my pieces more than once, and when you write for the church, you have a better chance at that.”82 Regarding the inspiration behind Pinkham!s composition, it should be noted that most of his works were produced on commission, and he admitted that he wrote less when there was no commission stimulus.83 On his image as a composer-for-hire, he joked, “I have never been a church composer. I am a composer. I am perfectly willing and able to provide music for weddings, funerals, Bar Mitzvahs, and anything else.”84 Of the source of his inspiration, Pinkham stated, “I don!t have a chance to think about being compelled to do something. But I have to admit that when I go about getting a commission I have a pretty good idea of the kind of piece I want to write.”85 While Pinkham paid attention to accessibility in his composition, he was not afraid to push the tonal envelope and work outside the realm of tonality. But even his twelve-tone writing, which he worked with from the 1970s onward, is unusually accessible to the ear due to his careful selection of tone rows that allude to tonality.86 His Symphony #2 was composed using twelve-tone techniques and aleatoric writing.87 In this work, Pinkham masked the serial aspects of his composition with the frequent use of pedal tones and ostinatos, techniques that recall both the Renaissance and the work of Stravinsky.88
######################################################## 82 Dyer, “Pinkham Tribute,” 98.
83 McCray, “Pinkham: on Composing,” 15.
84 DeBoer and Ahouse, 9.
85 Henderson, 22.
86 Johnson, 31.
87 Pollack, 202.
88 Ibid.
! Marketability Pinkham!s attention to practicality and utility in his compositions made him one of the most often-performed living composers of his generation. Pinkham cheerfully acknowledged the popularity of his music, pointing out the similarity of his approach with another well-regarded composer who largely composed on commission: “I am perhaps one of the most "feet-on-the-ground! composers in existence. I think that any composer who considers himself a professional should be realistic to know what sort of market he is writing for, what kind of people will be attracted by his music. I am sure that Bach when he wrote the St. Matthew Passion realized that this was essentially a popular work: everybody knew the chorales, the language was the vernacular, the dramatic elements would have appeal. I!m also sure that he would have been the first to admit that Art of Fugue was not expected to be a popular work. I would myself be unhappy if I were not able to turn out a variety of pieces in a variety of musical styles, some very easy and some very complex. I am happy to have a technical command that allows me to go from one to the other.”89 DeBoer and Ahouse remarked on Pinkham!s style, “Pinkham the composer can be assessed as one whose musical principles were formed very early in life and who has remained remarkably true to most of them in spite of his penchant for experimentation and musical problem solving.”90 Dyer similarly comments, “Pinkham!s style has altered with the passing years, but the sound, seasoned sweetness of the voice remains unchanged. The earliest works and the latest profit from his studies of Medieval and Renaissance music, from his discriminating taste in texts, from the exactness of his prosody ... and from the elegance of his part-writing and unexpected twists of harmony. In more recent
######################################################## 89 Henderson, 22-23.
90 DeBoer and Ahouse, 8.
" years he has spiced the line with dissonance and experimented with electronics, …but all of it sounds wonderfully like itself.”91
Summary Pinkham!s music has several hallmarks that give his body of work a consistency that runs through about seven decades of composition. These hallmarks include a blending of old ideas with modern techniques, a connection to liturgical sources, accessibility for the listener, playability for the performer, marketability, and an experimental approach that keeps his music from becoming repetitive. It is largely due to his careful balance between marketability and artistic innovation that Pinkham was able to produce a body of work that can be accessed by musicians of all disciplines and skill levels, as well as by audiences and congregations around the country. In subsequent chapters the manifestation of these qualities in his oboe and English horn writing or the significance of their absence will be examined and discussed.
######################################################## 91 Dyer, Richard. "Pinkham Conducts Own Works." Boston Globe 2 Sep. 1983, Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe.
" CHAPTER 4
DUET FOR RECORDER (OR OBOE) AND HARPSICHORD (OR HARP) (1969)
Duet was published in 1969, making it the earliest work to be discussed for this project. Although the title of the publication implies that it was primarily intended for recorder, an alternate version was published at the same time entitled Divertimento for Oboe (Recorder) and Strings. Duet is a work in four short movements: “Prelude,” “Aria,” “Dithyramb,” and “Recessional.” These movements total about five minutes in length. This approach to musical structure led Richard Dyer to dub Pinkham “the master of the perfectly formed miniature.”92 Pinkham!s choice of instrumentation in this piece reflects certain aspects of his approach to composition that were discussed in Chapter 3. The flexibility of the scoring reflects his sense of practicality and marketability by increasing opportunities for performance. In addition to making the piece feasible for a wider range of musicians, Pinkham also wished to convey a certain freedom to the performer. While both accompanimental instruments are less common than the usual choice of the piano, it is often easier to secure a harpist for a performance than it is to acquire a harpsichord. Also, the option always remains to perform the work on piano, although close attention must be paid to dynamic and tone control if this is to be done properly. The instrumentation of Duet also exhibits Pinkham!s interest in writing modern works that involve instruments of previous eras, in this case recorder and harpsichord. While Duet is the only work that is being discussed in this project that offers multiple options in its instrumentation, this was a common practice for
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 92 Dyer, “Daniel Pinkham Tribute.” 98.
!! Pinkham that further shows influence from Baroque traditions. On his custom of making pieces available to a range of instruments, Pinkham remarked, “I don!t think that allowing a variety of performance media necessarily indicates indecision. It is a strength, not a weakness, that the pieces survive in more than one situation. I like to write scores which suggest to the creative performer a musical reading to which he himself can bring his own creativity in performance. Music should reveal both the insight of the performer as well as that of the composer.”93 In addition to being flexible in its instrumentation, this work is also written to be playable by musicians of any level of accomplishment. The instrumental parts require little practice to learn, and the piece is very simple to put together. This reflects Pinkham!s adherence to Hindemith!s principle of Gebrauchsmusik, which was discussed in Chapter 3. Also mentioned in Chapter 3 is a connection between much of Pinkham!s music and sacred literature and tenets. This is consistent in Duet despite the absence of any accompanying text, because the titles of three of the movements (Prelude, Aria, and Recessional) correspond with typical segments of some church services. Almost all church services begin with an instrumental prelude, usually played while the congregation is filing in. Many services include a solo song of some kind, and the idea of the Aria in the second movement may be borrowed from the sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach. Finally, every church service concludes with a recessional, as is the case with Duet. The title of the third movement, Dithyramb, refers to an ancient style of poem that is usually read in an exalted manner.94 While this title has little direct connection to the liturgy, it could imply a reference to the scripture reading in the middle of a typical service.
######################################################## 93 McCray, “Pinkham: on Composing,” 15.
94 Brown, Maurice, and Greaves, Denise. "Dithyramb." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2.7. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishers, ltd., 2001, 384.
! Prelude
The first movement is in ternary form, with the A section in and the B section in . The tempo is marked at 112 to the quarter note, but because of the placid style the actual beat is perceived as either the half note or the dotted half note at a very slow tempo. The A section consists mostly of quarter notes in the oboe and sustained chords in the harpsichord. The accompaniment is sparingly written, creating an almost desolate atmosphere. The oboe part is rhythmically quite plain, containing mostly quarter notes. The melody consists of two phrases that are about six measures long, separated by a two-measure interlude in the harpsichord. There is a pedal in the accompaniment throughout the movement on E, a tone around which the melody also centers. The use of E as a pedal throughout the section makes it sound like a dominant, implying a tonal center of A. The B section of the Prelude features a more active harpsichord part, with eighth notes in both hands moving in contrary motion over the continued presence of the E pedal. The oboe part travels much more in this section than it does in section A, and is marked piu forte to contrast with the A section!s piano.
While there is no tempo change in the B section, the shift to gives this section a sense of more forward motion than before. The movement concludes with an exact restatement of the A section. The atmosphere of this movement is one of desolation, as previously mentioned. At two minutes in length, this is the longest of the four movements, although its lack of activity and spare writing make it relatively insubstantial.
Aria The second movement has a desolate mood that similarly to that of the Prelude, but with greater harmonic motion. The movement omits the use of a pedal, making for a less grounded feel than that of the Prelude. The form of the
! movement, which is in a slow , is that of a theme with two variations. The initial theme statement is twenty-four measures in length, and the two variations are each about six measures long. The theme features a simple melody in the oboe:95
Example 1: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 2, meas. 1-9, oboe part.
This melody is played over rolled octaves in the harpsichord, each placed either one or two measures apart. While rolled tones on a harpsichord are usually played so that the top note is placed on a given beat, Pinkham directs the accompanist to place the bottom note on the beat in time with the notes of the melody, placing the top note of each rolled octave behind the pulse at all times. These rolled octaves in the harpsichord are the same pitches of the first eight measures of the oboe melody. The melody is played one note per bar and distributed over twenty four measures:96
Example 2: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 2, meas. 1-8, harpsichord part.
In the first variation, the harpsichord plays the first nine measures of the theme in double time, in stark contrast to its previous presentation of the theme. ######################################################## 95 Pinkham, Daniel. Duet for Recorder (Oboe) and Harpsichord (Harp). Boston, MA: Ione Press, 1969, 6.
96 Ibid.
! The harpsichord continues the previous rolled octaves in the left hand on each downbeat. The oboe plays the same notes as the left hand of the harpsichord in this section, but it plays them an eighth note after each downbeat, following the earlier pattern of the top note of every rolled octave falling behind the beat. The second variation, beginning in measure 30, has the harpsichord presenting the melody in its original form over rolled octaves while the oboe plays a pedal C. The movement concludes with three repetitions of a closing figure in the harpsichord under the oboe!s continued pedal.
Dithyramb The title of this movement takes its name from the Pagan god Dionysus. References to songs in his honor date from circa 700 BCE to circa 200 CE. Subsequent uses of the term have usually been used to evoke that god!s association with wild celebration.97 This is the most energetic and noisy of the four movements, featuring an agitated ostinato in the harpsichord that remains unchanged throughout the movement:98
>œ œ# >œ œ & œb œ œ œ f & œ œb œ# œ œ œ > > f Example 3: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 3, meas. 1, harpsichord part.
The movement is in with an occasional measure of in the oboe line. The ostinato, which repeats every measure, focuses on the interval between E ######################################################## 97 Brown and Greaves, 384.
98 Pinkham, Duet, 8.
! and A, filling the interval with D and B , which are a tri-tone from A and E, respectively. For this movement, Pinkham gives the direction, “Harpsichord should hold down all the notes until time to restrike key. On harp always let vibrate.”99 This creates a constant dissonance that adds to the agitation inherent in the ostinato. The melody, which resides entirely in the oboe line, contains the most chromaticism of any of the melodies in the piece. The chromatic tones mainly function in a neighboring or passing capacity. The melody mostly implies a tonal area of A minor, a tonal center that is strongly reinforced by the ostinato. Prevalent motives in the oboe line include a falling fifth,100
Example 4: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 3, meas. 2, oboe part.
and oscillating 16th notes:101
Example 5: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 3, meas. 7, oboe part.
These motives are presented in various transpositions and orders with little apparent formal structure. The first twelve measures are repeated, which may hint at a kind of sonata form, but with no primary or secondary themes to be developed or any recapitulation present.
######################################################## 99## Pinkham, Duet, 8.
100 Ibid.
101 Ibid.
! Recessional The fourth movement has a declamatory character that is in stark contrast to the relatively morose preceding movements. Marked at a fast 144 to the quarter note, the time signature mostly shifts between and . While the meter is constantly changing, the pulse remains constant and clear throughout. Rhythmically this movement is very active, with dotted rhythms throughout providing a march-like feel. This is the only movement with a key signature: G major. However, the melody mostly stays on the pentachord between A and D, making the sounding tonality more akin to D major:102
Example 6: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 4, meas. 1-2, oboe part.
The harpsichord accompaniment consists of rising, sustained notes that emulate church-bells:103
# 4 Ó 3 4 Ó 3 & 4 ˙ 4 œ œ 4 ˙ 4 œ œ Œ ˙. œ œ œ Œ ˙. œ œ œ ? # 4 3 ˙. 4 3 4 ww 4 4 ww & 4 j ‰ŒŒ w w Example 7: Pinkham, Duet, mvmt. 4, meas. 1-4, harpsichord part. œ
The oboe melody is very simple, mostly recycling variations on the aforementioned descending pentachord, with one brief interlude toward the end of the piece where it alternates between D and C for two measures. The piece ######################################################## 102 Pinkham, Duet, 11.
103 Ibid.
! concludes with two repetitions of the primary melodic theme marked diminuendo senza rallentare, illustrating the disappearance of the members of the recessional from the room.
#
! CHAPTER 5
VARIATIONS FOR OBOE AND ORGAN (1970)
Variations for Oboe and Organ was premiered by, and dedicated to, oboist Kenneth Roth in 1970.104 Roth was also involved with the premiere and recording of For Evening Draws On for English horn, organ and pre-recorded tape in 1976, a work to be discussed in a later chapter. Variations is a work in six brief movements which total about eleven minutes in length, thereby following Pinkham!s custom of composing larger-scale works from several miniatures. This work is tonally very free and features heavy chromaticism. Like most of the multi-movement works being discussed, some of the movements of Variations are free in form and rhythm while others are more clearly structured. This piece is very challenging for both instruments and does not appear to have been written with amateur musicians in mind. It should be noted that while most of the other works being discussed in this project feature remarks or instructions from the composer, Variations contains no such discussion other than a brief clarification regarding notation. As the title implies, the movements of Variations are bound together by certain recurring ideas, but the omission of a theme means that much of what holds this piece together is relatively hidden. One thread that runs through the piece is a highly disjunct melodic style that permeates all six movements. Frequently the instruments feature “wedge-shaped” themes that feature increasingly wide skips in the following manner:105
######################################################## 104 Pinkham, Daniel. Variations for Oboe and Organ. New York, NY: C.F. Peters, 1970, 3.
105 Ibid.
"
Example 8: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 1, meas. 4, oboe part.
In addition, most of the movements of the work contain a recurring chord: a widely spaced C-B-E-F in the organ with the oboe on one or more of the same pitches:106
˙. 4 ˙. & 4 Œ f & 4 Œ ˙. ˙. f Example 9: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 1, meas. 1, organ part.
In most instances the voicing of the chord makes it sound like C major with added tones.
Prelude
While set in for its entirety, this movement is marked molto liberamente e con fantasia, and its pulse is obscured by frequent fermatas and rhythmic changes. The movement opens and closes with the previously mentioned chord in the organ and a C4 in the oboe. This sonority is remarkable in that the timbre of the oboe fits seamlessly into the organ!s sound. In this movement, the chord sounds like C major with an added fourth and seventh. The oboe and organ engage in a question-answer exchange throughout the movement, with the organ building chords from which the oboe lines often emerge seamlessly. While this is not the most challenging movement of the
######################################################## 106 Pinkham, Variations, 3.
" work, the oboe part does feature numerous wide leaps that traverse most of the instrument!s range.
Dithyramb This movement shares its title with the third movement of Pinkham!s Duet for Oboe and Harpsichord. It features frequent meter changes, but is mostly in a fast . The two instruments are once again written very responsively and often take or answer each other!s musical lines. These lines are as disjunct as they were in the first movement, requiring the oboe (marked espressivo) to play smoothly across wide leaps:107
Example 10: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 2, meas. 17-18, oboe part.
The movement ends with the same chord that begins and ends the Prelude.
Scherzo This is a fast rondo in a frequently shifting compound meter. Unlike the previous movements which feature sustained tones and relatively legato lines, the oboe and organ parts mostly feature staccato writing in a pointillistic style that is frequently interrupted by brief silences. The recurring rondo theme consists of an angular line in the oboe that traverses the entire range of the instrument:108
######################################################## 107 Pinkham, Variations, 5.
108 Ibid., 6.
"
Example 11: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 3, meas. 1-11, oboe part.
This theme is presented four times throughout the movement in unaltered form. After the initial statement of the theme, however, it is presented as a variation in which the organ is given the theme in transposition. After a restatement of the rondo theme, the organ has an elaborate solo that comprises the B section of the movement. After the third statement of the A section, the oboe returns with a lyrical solo in a smooth . The movement closes with a final statement of the A theme, marked senza rallentando.
Fantasia This movement is marked senza misura and opens with a wedge-shaped theme in the organ consisting of a repeated cell that adds notes with each repetition:109
etc. Example 12: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 4, meas. 1, organ part.
The cell contains two lines that move steadily away from each other in half steps, adding a note with each repetition. Marked poco a poco accelerando, this theme has the effect of spinning out of control. After the organ!s statement of the theme and a brief interlude of chromatic chords in the organ, the oboe has the same theme in inversion. Following the two instruments! themes is a closing section which expands on the previous interlude. This section contains several unexpected unisons """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 109 Pinkham, Variations, 9.
!! between the oboe and the organ that serve to obscure the distinction between the two instruments, allowing them to grow out of each other!s sonorities. The movement concludes with the recurring chord, but with the oboe on a harmonic G instead of the previous C.
Nocturne
This movement is marked sostenuto and is in a slow, unchanging . The movement contains two musical lines. The left hand of the organ plays a wedge- shaped, unchanging ostinato that cycles every bar. The organ!s right hand and the oboe trade off a single, lyrical melodic line throughout the movement. The melody is in a free form, but with a recurring, rising motive that permeates and provides cohesion to the movement:110
Example 13: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 5, meas. 3, oboe part.
The movement ends with a C major chord under a held G in the oboe, which is a variation of the recurring C major chord heard in other movements.
Finale This movement title is shared with several other concluding movements being discussed. This is a fast movement, as is typical of finales. Set in a frequently changing compound meter, the texture is very sparse throughout the movement. Rarely is more than one pitch heard at once, even in the organ part. The melodic content is as disjunct as in the other movements, but the compound meter gives it a jaunty feel.
######################################################## 110 Pinkham, Variations, 12.
! There is little in the way of musical contrast featured in this movement until the very end, at which point the organ breaks from the established pulse into a virtuosic, atonal flourish that culminates in a final statement of the recurring chord. In this presentation of the chord, the organ holds the accustomed voicing, but in the oboe part Pinkham takes the unusual step of writing a multiphonic with a provided fingering instead of placing the oboe on a single tone of the chord:111
Example 14: Pinkham, Variations, mvmt. 6, meas. 63, oboe part.
This multiphonic is notated B4-E5-D6, but Pinkham would certainly have known that the actual pitch content would vary according to the oboe. He gives the oboist the option of sustaining a D3 instead, but the fingering he provides for the final chord is fairly reliable and is likely to produce a solid multiphonic tone, if not one that contains the exact pitches prescribed. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ######################################################## 111 Pinkham, Variations, 18.
! CHAPTER 6
FOR EVENING DRAWS ON (1976)
For Evening Draws On was published in 1976 and is representative of a very specific segment of Pinkham!s catalogue: works that involve musique concrète, or pre-recorded sound. In the mid-1970s Pinkham!s interest in combining old and new ideas led him to experiment with music from electronic sources, usually combining live instruments with electronic tape.112 His explorations into combining voices or instruments with tape led him to become one of the leading composers of pre-recorded music in the mid-1970s.113 Pinkham!s strongest influence in this area of composition was the composer Richard Felciano (1930-), whose Gods of the Expanding Universe for organ and electronic tape (1971) showed Pinkham the richness that electronic music could add to a church!s acoustics. This would be of particular benefit to some of the smaller churches in New England, which were often built for speech instead of music.114 Pinkham!s remarks on Feliciano!s Pentecost Sunday for organ, choir, and tape reinforce the attraction that the wide tonal pallet of electronics had for him: “The marvelous piece convinced me that I could adapt the resources of tape to my own musical personality and enlarge the color possibilities of accompanied choral repertoire.”115 He was also attracted to the
######################################################## 112 Pollack, 203.
113 McCray, James. "Daniel Pinkham's Published Music for Chorus and Electronic Tape." Choral Journal. 19.7 (1979), 10.
114 Pollack, 203.
115 McCray, “Daniel Pinkham!s Published Music for Chorus and Electronic Tape”, 10.
! practicality of the use of electronic tape as a provider of cues and pitches for singers.116 In Pinkham!s works for choir or instrument and tape, he usually uses the tape to provide an atmosphere for the singers or the instrumentalist. The pre- recorded material usually consists of hums and buzzes and is intended to be in the background of the piece.117 The choral works are usually sacred in nature and are intended for smaller churches with limited resources that make employing a variety of musicians difficult.118 Pinkham determined that requiring rigid synchronization between the tape and performer would be both impractical and contrary to his compositional approach. As a result he devised his synthesized recordings to allow the performer to play at his or her own pace, thereby making the soloist or conductor an active participant in the compositional process.119 In Pinkham!s words, “I found initially that I was trying to get a synchronization between tape and live performances which was often unrealistic, inhibiting the musicians. I!ve tried to evolve a language now in which the performer will still have the traditional freedom to be a performer.”120 While most of Pinkham!s electronic compositions involved voices, he wrote several instrumental works that involved pre-recorded material. These compositions almost always include liturgical references and are therefore to be considered sacred in tone.121 The scores for these works do not outline the
######################################################## 116 DeBoer and Ahouse, 9-10.
117 Pollack, 204.
118 Henderson, 23.
119 Pollack, 203-204.
120 Henderson, 23.
121 McCray, “Daniel Pinkham!s Published Music for Chorus and Electronic Tape”, 10.
! contents of the tapes. Instead, they provide time indicators, requiring the performer to have a stopwatch on hand.122 McCray praises Pinkham!s efforts to expand the traditional tonal pallet, remarking, “Whatever the taste or situation, Pinkham has supplied the musicians with an appropriate work. We have been bombarded by electronic sounds in movies and television for many years. As comprehensive musicians we should have a curiosity and responsibility to bring this genre of music to our choirs and audiences.”123 This stage in Pinkham!s compositional life lasted about five years. He foreshadowed the end of his interest in composing for tape in a 1974 interview where he stated, “As it is now I find the [electronic] sounds to be not as exciting as acoustical. They are limited. That!s one of the reasons I like to combine live sounds with electronic ones. There!s still something quite magical about going to a performance where you have a performer who is doing something for you in real time, and is creating something in front of you.”124 Eventually Pinkham determined that composing with electronics had simply become too easy, remarking, “When you find that shopgirls are able to compose symphonies on their lunch break, then there!s nothing that!s really very distinguishing or personal about it. Although I have to admit the industry is still in its infancy, I!ve never been attracted to most of the sounds. They are perhaps too perfect, too regular; they don!t have that random quality you find in the sound of a good violin.”125 He also pointed out the missing human element in electronic composition: “...Speakers cannot stand up to acknowledge applause. In electronic music, everything is fixed, permanently. I missed presenting a core to
######################################################## 122 McCray, “Daniel Pinkham!s Published Music for Chorus and Electronic Tape”, 11.
123 Ibid., 15.
124 Henderson, 23.
125 DeBoer and Ahouse, 10.
! a creative performer with the hope that he would take the piece into his own personality.”126 For Evening Draws On is the only piece being discussed on this project that is in a single movement, making it an aberration from Pinkham!s usual practice of writing works that are comprised of multiple miniatures. It is dedicated to John Holtz and was written for the 1973 Hartt College of Music Contemporary Organ Music Workshop at the University of Hartford.127 It was recorded by Golden Crest Records with Kenneth Roth on English horn, who also premiered Pinkham!s The Seven Days for oboe and organ, and Larry Phillips on organ.128 In his review of Roth!s recording, Chipman comments on the lack of aleatoric writing in the English horn part: “The overside three pieces by Daniel Pinkham, written between 1972 and 1974, lean heavily on aleatoric and electronic effects. Except for the 1973 setting of “For Evening Draws On,” where the lovely English horn soliloquy is impressively spectral in the context of all that tape background...”129 As is the case with many of Pinkham!s works, this work takes inspiration from a Biblical source. The title is taken from Luke 24:29 in the New Testament, in which two men who are acquainted with the Apostles say to the resurrected Jesus, “Stay with us, for evening draws on, and the day is almost over.”130 At the following dinner, Jesus reveals himself to the men and subsequently vanishes.131 This work contains the most detailed composer!s remarks out of any of the works being discussed, primarily for the organist. These remarks are instructive in nature and provide little insight into the interpretation or meaning of the piece, ######################################################## 126 Dyer, “Pinkham Tribute”, 98.
127 Pinkham, Daniel. For Evening Draws On. Boston, MA: Ione Press, 1976, 2.
128 Ibid.
129 Chipman, Abram. "Classical." High Fidelity. Jun. 1976, 85.
130 Pinkham, For Evening Draws On, 2.
131 Nelson, Thomas. (ed.) Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version. 2. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, inc., 1972, 84.
! which is largely left to the English horn player. In a similar manner to his instructions regarding the balance of the oboe and the organ in The Seven Days, with this work Pinkham pays careful attention to the balance between the room- sized organ, the amplified electronic tape, and the comparatively limited English horn to ensure that the English horn is the primary voice. Unlike in his other works for oboe or English horn and organ, he requires the use of specific stops for the organist: soft flute 8! with optional celestes, box closed for the manual, and Bourdon 16! for the pedal. He also provides very descriptive remarks for the organist, stating, "The organ must sound veiled and distant, floating and weightless, like a cloud lazily assuming fantastic shapes in the late afternoon sky. The organ should be softer than the tape and much softer than the English horn."132 The organ accompaniment consists of an ostinato of descending ten-note chromatic fragments with the starting pitches arranged in the following twelve- tone row:133
Example 15: Pinkham, For Evening Draws On, p. 3, organ part.
Each of these notes is to be held as long as the organist!s corresponding finger is available, creating a series of tone clusters. The resulting effect is that of a constant, formless presence in the distant background and is, by design, impossible for the listener to follow. The organist is instructed to continue playing this pattern throughout the piece until signaled by the English horn soloist, at
######################################################## 132 Pinkham, For Evening Draws On, 2.
133 Ibid., 3.
" which point the organist plays a final descending chromatic row that is coordinated with the English horn!s final figure. His instructions for the running of the tape clearly express the intent that this voice is also to be subordinate to the English horn: “The tape sounds begin fifty-five seconds before the organ. The level should be set to accompany the English horn. One [sic] started the tape runs without pause for the duration of the work.”134 The contents of the tape consist of descending electronic tones of non- specific pitch at a very high frequency interspersed with pointillistic stacattos of similar timbre. Pollack describes the sounds on the tape as “chirps,” which raises the theory that in this instance Pinkham is alluding to cricket chirps, as are heard in the early evening.135 The tape is not designed to be coordinated with either the English horn or the organ, and provides an amorphous background effect similar to that of the organ part. The two accompanimental voices provide a neutral background for the solo English horn. The English horn part is unmeasured, and frequent tempo changes give the piece an improvisational feel comparable to that of a Baroque solo fantasy or ricercare. Pinkham provides timings at the start of certain phrases to give the soloist guidelines to the pacing of the piece. While the English horn part follows no particular form, it contains several motives that are reproduced throughout that provide a semblance of structure. The writing is very chromatic and sometimes hints at tonal centers, but the background accompaniment prevents any central idea from taking hold. While most of Pinkham!s electronic compositions place emphasis on aleatoric writing, For Evening Draws On contains no such writing in the solo part. This English horn part diverges from Pinkham!s tradition of Gebrauchsmusik, featuring leaps and extreme range that only a highly experienced English horn player can reasonably be expected to be able to ######################################################## 134 Pinkham, For Evening Draws On, 2.
135 Pollack, 204.
" achieve. The work calls for the English horn!s high G, which is one half step above what is widely regarded to be the highest usable note on the instrument. Since this note is usable on the oboe, it may be that this is a rare indication of limited familiarity with the instrument. However, it may also be that Pinkham knew intimately the capabilities of the player for whom this work was being written, and chose to use this piece as an opportunity to explore the limits of a relatively unexplored instrument.
" CHAPTER 7
REEDS (1987)
Reeds is a five movement work for unaccompanied oboe that was first performed at King!s Chapel in November 1987. The piece was premiered by and dedicated to New England Conservatory Master!s student Pierre Roy, who is the current principal oboist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Several characteristics that were discussed in Chapter 3 are present in this work. Corresponding with Richard Dyer!s dubbing of Pinkham as the “master of the miniature,”136 the durations of the five movements range between 1 minute 30 seconds and 3 minutes 40 seconds in length, totaling approximately twelve minutes for the entire piece. The work is not programmatic, but the movements feature titles that allude to programmatic ideas, which, as previously discussed, was a characteristic that Pinkham termed “affective.”137 These titles are paraphrases of verses from The Holy Bible, thereby following Pinkham!s custom of drawing inspiration from sacred texts. Finally, as will be discussed in detail, some of the movements appear to display influence from Benjamin Britten!s Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe. This could be drawing on Pinkham!s interest in the work of English composers. Pinkham provided no insight into the composition of Reeds, but Roy has been able to share his recollections of the process. The work wasn!t written on commission, but was instead inspired by Pinkham!s high regard for Roy!s playing.138
######################################################## 136 Dyer, “Daniel Pinkham Tribute”, 9.
137 DeBoer and Ahouse, 8.
138 Roy, Pierre. Personal correspondence, 23 Oct. 2008.
" Each movement of this work is assigned a title which contains the word “reed.” Pinkham!s decision to base the titles of this work around this particular word may be a pun on the oboe!s most famous feature, the reed. The movement titles are adapted from selected Bible verses, each of which mentions either reeds or grass. As previously stated, the titles of the movements create specific imagery without being truly programmatic, thereby fitting the definition of Pinkham!s term “affective”. Roy is of the opinion that Pinkham actually titled the movements after he completed writing the music, which would lead one to minimize the importance of the titles in examining this piece.139 However, the assignment of the titles may provide insight into the composer!s interpretation of the meaning or character of the movements, thereby warranting some examination even though the assignment of the titles may ultimately be arbitrary. Pinkham appears to have chosen these Biblical verses solely based on their mention of the word “reed” or a similar idea, lending credence to the theory that the context of the verses is basically immaterial to the music. The connection between the music and the accompanying text is easier to make with some movements than with others, but this is largely up to the listener and can be seen as an example of Pinkham using the abstract nature of instrumental music to his advantage. As a twentieth century composition for solo oboe, Reeds invites comparison to Britten!s aforementioned Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, which is the most well-known twentieth century work with that instrumentation. Both works draw on material from sacred writings, although the Metamorphoses!s material comes from Classical Greek mythology rather than Christian text. Britten!s work is more directly programmatic than Pinkham!s, with passages meant to evoke very specific images of their subjects. But both works have similar rhythmic characteristics, featuring frequent metric shifts. Each of Britten!s Metamorphoses has a key signature and a clear tonal cadence at the end, but is
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 139 Roy.
!! often tonally ambiguous before that point. The tonality of Reeds is much more amorphous, featuring heavy chromaticism and avoidance of clear cadences.
Under the shady trees, hidden in the reeds Under the lotus plants he lies, in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh. (Job 40:21)140
Although this Biblical passage was selected for the piece after the music was written, the connection between the music and text is very strong. The subject of this verse is working to avoid detection, and the music reflects this mood. This movement does not have a time signature, and few bars contain the same rhythmic value. The first eight bars contain all the motivic ideas present in the movement. Each idea lasts no longer than two bars, and is separated from the others by double bars and a tempo change. The first bar, marked allegretto grazioso, features a rising F minor triad over a diminuendo, followed by a repeat of the same figure with an added sixth falling to the fifth:141
Example 16: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 1, meas. 1-2.
In the context of the title, this sounds like the subject poking his head out of the reeds and retreating back in. The following bar features a tempo change to allegro and takes the F minor triad and greatly expands upon it, wildly leaping over the range of the instrument before settling down with a ritenuto into a double bar. The following bars are marked lento and contain repeated low Cs that create a foghorn effect. The rest of the movement is made up of variations on
######################################################## 140 Nelson, 472.
141 Pinkham, Daniel. Reeds. New York, NY: C.F. Peters, 1988, 2.
! these ideas, often in inverted form or transposed, culminating in a series of cascading arpeggios that accelerated into a furious extended allegro section. The movement ends with a reprise of the first six bars of the piece, concluding with the repeated low Cs. This movement is reminiscent of the first movement of Britten!s Six Metamorphoses, entitled Pan. This work is also unmeasured with frequent pauses between ideas. Pan develops stepwise motives rather than the arpeggiation of Movement I of Reeds, but the structure of the movement is otherwise very similar, with a furious, out of control climax followed by an understated ending. Also worth noting is the inclusion of the word “reed” in Britten!s description of the character Pan, which states, “who played upon the reed pipe which was Syrinx, his beloved.”142
Reeds shall grow in the parched ground The burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. (Isaiah 35:7)143
This movement is completely unmeasured but is marked allegro sciolto with a metronome marking of the quarter note at 144. Rhythmically the piece is comprised entirely of eighth notes in various groups, usually in short, frenetic bursts separated by short rests. The writing is very disjunct, featuring wide skips that are unusual, but not unreasonably awkward, for oboe writing. The tonality of the movement is mostly chromatic, often alluding to a tonal center but never remaining in that place for long. The title!s connection with the music is more difficult to pinpoint than that of the first movement. The Bible verse describes a desolate waste that is rejuvenated, and the heavy chromaticism and wide skips in the music could be
######################################################## 142## Britten, Benjamin. Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, op. 49. London, UK: Hawkes and Son, ltd., 1952, 1.
143 Nelson, 627.
! seen to represent both parched ground and tall stalks, but this is by no means a definitive interpretation. This movement bears a similarity to Arethusa, the sixth movement of Britten!s Six Metamorphoses. Arethusa describes the title character!s metamorphosis into a fountain.144 Both works have similar tempi and are rhythmically similar: both are structured around steady streams of pitches in groups of six. But while Pinkham!s piece is atonal, Britten!s is in D major, making for a fundamental difference in musical character.
The golden reed And he who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. (Revelation 21:15)145
This is the only slow movement of Reeds and is marked Adagio sostenuto with the eighth note at 69. This and the following movement are the only two movements of Reeds to carry a time signature. The meter of the movement is , but the slow tempo and Pinkham!s frequent use of ties and syncopation serve to completely obscure the meter to the listener. At 3 minutes 40 seconds in length, this is the longest movement of the work. “The golden reed” is structured around a motive of a rising and falling half step over two dotted eighth/sixteenth note pairs tied across the beat:146
Example 17: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 3, meas. 1-2.
######################################################## 144 Britten, 7.
145 Nelson, 237.
146 Pinkham, Reeds, 6.
! Pinkham!s use of harmonics in this passage, which are marked with small circles above the pitches, is particularly notable. Harmonics are the result of alternate fingerings on the oboe that produce a timbre that is veiled and soft. Harmonics are unusual in oboe writing and Pinkham!s use of them displays an intimate knowledge of the instrument. Like the other movements of Reeds, this piece employs heavy chromaticism, but while hints of tonal centers can be found in the other movements, no tonal center is apparent here. “The Golden Reed” features numerous, wide leaps across multiple registers of the oboe. The widest of these intervals are usually major or minor tenths, but toward the end of the movement there is a leap from G4 to D6, a twelfth. Because of the extremely slow tempo and the amorphous tonality, the mood of this movement is one of melancholy or even despair. It lacks a clearly delineated structure or contrasting sections, making the movement difficult to follow for the listener and giving it a feeling of endlessness. The connection between the music and the text is not apparent at all and lends credence to Roy!s theory that the titles and passages were assigned after the music was written. In fact, the very connection between this particular Bible passage and the word “reed” is rather tenuous, having required some twisting of word meanings on Pinkham!s part to find a place to use the word. This may be a purely arbitrary assignment of a title to the movement by the composer who simply needed it in order to keep the piece consistent.
The paper reeds by the brooks There will be bare places by the Nile, on the Brink of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up, be driven away, and be no more. (Isaiah 19:7)147
As with the previous movement, Pinkham had to employ creative interpretation of this passage to find a use of the word “reed.” As previously
######################################################## 147 Nelson, 613.
! mentioned, this movement carries a time signature. “The paper reeds” is in and makes constant use of a dotted rhythmic figure, giving the movement a “lilting” feel:148
Example 18: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 4, meas. 1-2.
At the bottom of the first page, Pinkham gives the following instruction, in order to ensure that the integrity of the dotted rhythm be uncompromised:
“The rhythm should be executed throughout.” 149
While the phrasing obscures downbeats, preventing the quadruple meter from being apparent to the listener, the compound quality of the meter is explicit. Once again, the tonality of this movement is difficult to determine, with highly disjunct melodic motion combining with the bouncy rhythm to create an agitated mood. There is a repeat at the end of the third line with a highly contrasting section following the repeat. The opening material returns, in a modified fashion, at the end of the movement, creating a hint of a sonata form. The B section is comprised of slurred dotted quarter notes and features large intervallic leaps over much of the range of the instrument. The latter part of the B section, before the recapitulation, features an alternation between motives of the A section and B section, culminating in a very difficult crossing from D 5 to G6, which is at the top of the range of the instrument. While Pinkham makes frequent use of the high and low ranges of the oboe, use of the extreme ends of the instrument!s range is relatively rare in his music.
######################################################## 148 Pinkham, Reeds, 8.
149 Ibid.
! The connection between the music and the text of this movement is again somewhat tenuous, but the motion of the dotted rhythms and flowing quality of the B section are analogous to fast and slow flowing sections of a river, which in the context of the Bible verse is the Nile. The text describes something that is dry and parched, an idea that the chromatic tonality appears to reinforce.
A reed shaken with the wind As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?” (Matthew 11:7)150
This is the fastest movement of the piece, with a tempo marking of Presto and a metronome marking that places the quarter note at 192, or the half note at 96. This movement lacks both time signature and bar lines, which is a feature that is shared with the second movement. The metric structure of the fifth movement is also similar to that of the second movement in that the phrasing implies rapidly changing time signatures. This movement has two contrasting motivic sections. Section A, marked forte throughout, consists of rapid triplets alternating with tenuto quarter notes and is based on diminished seventh chords:151
Example 19: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 5, line 1.
Another prevalent motive in this section consists of repeated dotted eighth/sixteenth pairs over alternating semitones:152 ######################################################## 150 Nelson, 10.
151 Pinkham, Reeds, 10.
152 Ibid.
"
Example 20: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 5, line 3.
As is the case with the fourth movement, this section is repeated before moving on, and returns in modified form at the end of the movement, implying a variant of sonata form. The B section consists primarily of slurred quarter notes at the same tempo as that of the previous section:153
Example 21: Pinkham, Reeds, mvmt. 5, lines 4-5.
The tonality of the B section is not significantly different from that of the A section, although the intervallic content is more stepwise and doesn!t appear to be structured around the diminished seventh chord. This is because the tonality is still very chromatic and is not based on any particular scale. The character is highly contrasting from that of the A section, with a much more placid feel. After the initial statement of the B section!s motivic idea, the alternating semitone that brought the A section to a close returns to reintroduce material from the A section, and the two ideas alternate. As previously stated, the final section of the movement consists of a return to the A section, but in inverted form. The movement closes with a series of rapid-fire triplets on rising diminished triads that culminate in a strong D that brings the entire work to a satisfying close. This movement is the most frenetic of the entire work. This is the case even in the more placid B section because of the unchanged tempo and increased chromaticism. Pinkham!s assignment of the Biblical passage for this movement is appropriate. The agitated diminished chords and smooth quarter ######################################################## 153 Pinkham, Reeds, 10.
" notes can easily be seen as describing the different kind of effects that wind may have on a field of grass or reeds. As with the other titles of the work, this movement!s title focuses on a single idea and disregards the context of the Biblical verse, although one can detect a hint of impatience and agitation in the words of Jesus that could also be seen as matching the music. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
" CHAPTER 8
FOR ECHO IS THE SOUL OF THE VOICE (1994)
For Echo is the Soul of the Voice is a work for oboe and high voice with no keyboard accompaniment. It is the only piece in this study that is written for voice, thereby providing valuable insight into a major area of Pinkham!s composition that is absent in the other works being discussed. The work was premiered in 1994 by oboist Emily Gaberman and tenor Michael Calmés (to whom the work is dedicated) in Pinkham!s hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts.154 Pinkham took the text for this work from the poetry of Christopher Smart (1722-1771), an English poet whose most enduring work was largely driven by religious mania.155 Regarded as a producer of mediocre work for much of his career, Smart is best known for having lost his mind later in life, at which point the quality of his work changed dramatically but remained largely unnoticed during his lifetime.156 His most imaginative poetry was written in the latter part of his life, which was largely spent in insane asylums and debtor!s prison.157 For Echo is the Soul of the Voice features the same instrumentation as Ralph Vaughan Williams!s Ten Blake Songs for voice and oboe. For the Blake Songs, Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) set ten poems by English poet William Blake (1757-1827) from Blake!s Songs of Innocence and Experience.158 While
######################################################## 154 Pinkham, Daniel. For Echo is the Soul of the Voice. Boston, MA: Ione Press, 1994, 13.
155 Ibid., 2.
156 Brittain, Robert. Poems by Christopher Smart. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1950, 4.
157 Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, 2.
158 Vaughan Williams, Ralph. Ten Blake Songs. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1958, 1.
" there is little indication in For Echo is the Soul of the Voice that Pinkham took any musical influence from the Blake Songs, it is notable that Pinkham!s unusual choice of instrumentation is shared by the work of an English composer, and that both pieces are settings of the work of English poets who lived at roughly the same time. For Echo is the Soul of the Voice is a work in three movements: “Echo,” “Colours,” and “The Conclusion of the Matter.”
Echo For ECHO is the soul of the voice exerting itself in hollow places. For ECHO is greatest in Churches and where she can assist in prayer. For a good voice hath its Echo with it and is attainable by much supplication. For HARPSICHORDS are best strung with gold wire. For HARPS and VIOLS are best strung with Indian weed. For the TRUMPET of God is a blessed intelligence and so are all of the instruments in HEAVEN. For GOD the father Almighty plays upon the HARP of stupendous magnitude and melody. For innumerable Angels fly out at every touch and his tune is a work of creation. For it would be better if the LITURGY were musically performed.159
Pinkham sets “Echo” in two contrasting sections. The A section covers the first three lines of the poem and is largely concerned with the idea of echo.
The meter is , but this section is rhythmically very ambiguous. The tonality of is also ambiguous, but a relative lack of chromaticism and use of G under a pervasive A throughout the movement hints at use of a church mode. Pinkham uses the oboe to illustrate the idea of echo throughout this section. The movement opens with a strong A5 in the oboe, followed by a pianissimo harmonic of the same note:160
######################################################## 159 Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, 2.
160 Ibid., 3.
"
Example 22: Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, mvmt. 1, meas. 1-2.
Under this sustained A, the voice intones the first line of the poem on one note in the style of a chant. The oboe holds this harmonic A for most of the section, with note changes in response to the final figures of each vocal line:161
wo wo ˙ œ œ œ œ Oboe 4 ‰ J & 4 3 P F 3 3 3 3 j Voice 4 ‰ œ œ & 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ F For ECH------O is the soul of the voice ex er ting it self in hol low plac es. Example 23: Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, mvmt. 1, meas. 3-4.
At the end of the first and second lines, the oboe echoes the musical figure presented by the voice, at the end trailing off to let the voice intone the third line of the poem a capella.
The B section is highly rhythmic, set in with running eighth notes in both voices. The subject matter of this section of the poem concerns the qualities of various musical instruments and their meaning to the poet. The oboe writing in this section imitates the sounds of the instruments mentioned in the poem, with stacatto eighth notes illustrating the harpsichord:162
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 161 Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, 3.
162 Ibid., 4.
!!
Example 24: Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, mvmt. 1, meas. 13-14.
and arpeggiation illustrating the trumpet:163
Example 25: Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, mvmt. 1, meas. 21-22.
The tonality of this section is more chromatic than that of the previous, but the piece never becomes completely atonal. The movement ends with the voice chanting the final line of the poem on the A of the first section.
Colours For the colours are spiritual. For WHITE is the first and the best. For there are many intermediate colours, before you come to SILVER. For the next colour is a lively GREY. For the next colour is BLUE. For the next is GREEN of which there are ten thousand distinct sorts. For the blessing of God upon the grass is in shades of Green visible to a nice observer as they light upon the surface of the earth. For the next is YELLOW which is more excellent than red. For RED is the next working round the Orange, For Red is of sundry sorts till it deepens to BLACK. For black blooms and it is PURPLE. For purple works off to BROWN which is of ten thousand acceptable shades. For the next is PALE. For pale works about to White again. NOW that colour is spiritual appears inasmuch as the blessing of God upon all things descends in colour. ######################################################## 163 Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, 4.
! For the blessing of health upon the human face is in colour. For the blessing of God upon purity is in the Virgin!s blushes. For the blessing of God unto perfection in all bloom and fruit is by colouring. For from hence something in the spirit may be taken off by painters. For Painting is a species of idolatry, tho! not so gross as statuary.164
This poem is an exploration of the spiritual qualities of various colors, presented in order around an imaginary color wheel. Smart clearly sees personality in each color, showing, for instance, a particular fondness for the connection of the color green to nature while by contrast characterizing the color red as somewhat insidious.
The movement is in with a moderate tempo, marked “flowing.” At three minutes, this is the longest of the three movements, reflecting the relative length of the poem. Because Pinkham!s setting includes few rests, it is also the most tiring for both performers. While the setting is rhythmically very clear with near constant eighth notes in one voice or the other, the form is relatively amorphous with very few points of silence or repose in both voices at the same time. The tonality travels constantly, shifting its center at most points where the poem comes to a new color. Pinkham provides little in the way of dynamics, but dynamics do occur naturally through changes in texture. For instance, at the mention of “Pale,” the accompaniment in the oboe consists of three separated, descending quarter notes, creating the thinnest texture that includes both voices in the movement. The two voices, while largely independent of each other, often follow similar contours, creating a canonic feel at times. At other times Pinkham holds one voice on a single tone while giving the other moving eighth notes, creating a drone-like effect. The movement concludes with a sudden shift to when the poem mentions painting and sculpture as forms of idolatry. This could be seen
######################################################## 164 Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, 2.
! as an illustration by Pinkham of Smart!s return to concrete ideas after the lengthy, rambling rumination on abstract colors that comprises the bulk of the poem.
The Conclusion of the Matter Fear God - obey his just decrees, And do it hand, and heart, and knees; For after all our utmost care There!s nought like penitence and prayer.
Then weigh the balance in your mind, Look forward, not one glance behind; Let no foul fiend retard your pace, Hosanna! Thou hast run the race.165
At 1 minute 10 seconds, this is the shortest of the three movements. The setting of the text is fairly straightforward, with the rhythm and meter following the natural rhythm of speech. As is the case with the second movement, “The Conclusion of the Matter” has very few spaces where both voices are silent, with the exception of a quarter rest in the vocal part that marks the division between the two stanzas of the poem.
This movement is mostly in and is written is in a manner unlike that of the first movement, in which the rhythm obscures the meter. As is the case with in the previous movements, the two voices usually alternate active lines, with one voice or the other supplying eighth notes over the other voice!s quarter notes or drones. This movement has the strongest hints at tonal centers, with the opening a capella line in the voice in D minor and the oboe taking that tonality and shifting it to E major. The first section ends with the voice holding an F over the oboe!s C , giving a feel of F minor. The setting of the second stanza displays an increased intensity that leads to a strong climax on Hosanna, concluding the piece in a clear A major cadence.
######################################################## 165 Pinkham, For Echo is the Soul of the Voice, 2.
! Pinkham!s setting of the text in this movement is very easy to follow and understand, making for the most accessible movement in the work for the listener. In contrast to the somewhat rambling ruminations on instruments in the first movement or colors in the second movement, this poem is a simple statement of belief in God and the poet!s faith in prayer and salvation. Pinkham!s presentation of a clear-cut A major as a conclusion to a piece that begins with a center around a much more amorphous A may be an illustration of the poet!s clarity of belief in God as compared with the previous poems! relatively earth- bound discussions of the various spiritual qualities of physical objects. While Smart is no less resolute in his convictions regarding the relative spiritual merits of the colors on the visible spectrum and the materials of musical instruments, the subject matter of the third poem is one with which anyone of faith can identify.
! CHAPTER 9
ODES (1999)
Odes is a work in three movements written in 1999 that was premiered by Boston Symphony Orchestra English hornist Robert Sheena and organist Mark Steinbach.166 The combination of English horn and organ is highly unusual, possibly due to the fact that solo writing for English horn in general is relatively rare. The rarity of this combination may also stem from the relative similarity of the two instruments in tone color. Although the organ is capable of producing a wide variety of timbres, it is usually associated with a darkness of tone quality that the English horn shares. Pinkham may have been trying to use this similarity to his advantage, because the writing for the two instruments in Odes frequently has the two instruments passing melodic content back and forth seamlessly. Also, the English horn is not known for its ability to project. This would make a pairing with a room-sized pipe organ a daunting acoustical challenge, albeit one that Pinkham was well equipped to face. The titles of the three movements of Odes are as follows: “Ode to the Vigil at Twilight,” “Ode to the Stillness of the Night,” and “Ode to the Dawning of the New Day.” These titles fit Pinkham!s definition of “affective.” Pinkham provides a brief annotation for each movement, but these annotations are purely descriptive and provide no insight into any possible narrative content. Pinkham!s writing for the English horn is indicative of a thorough understanding of the capabilities of the instrument. He takes advantage of the English horn!s full range, freely utilizing its rarely used upper register. The resulting writing is therefore much more difficult for the soloist than that of most of Pinkham!s compositions, making Odes an exception to the previously discussed
######################################################## 166## Dyer, Richard. "Cohen leads the Camerata around the world." Boston Globe 11 Jun. 1999, retrieved from http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/.
" philosophy of Gebrauchsmusik. While the difficulty of Odes requires a highly advanced English horn player, Pinkham probably had Robert Sheena!s playing specifically in mind while composing it, and would therefore have felt liberty to push the instrument!s technical limits.
Ode to the Vigil at Twilight The opening movement, Ode to the Vigil at Twilight, is quiet, reflective and relaxed, with a hint of sadness. Much of it is a dialog between the two instruments.167
This movement is mostly in a moderate . Pinkham!s rhythmic approach in this movement is notably unambitious, featuring mostly quarter notes. The movement opens with a plaintive solo statement by the English horn for five bars that is answered by similar material in the organ. The two instruments either trade musical lines or share them as a duet throughout the movement, as per Pinkham!s description of this piece as a dialogue. Thematically the movement is rather amorphous, with some motivic ideas presented by the two instruments but no clear themes that are presented or developed. It is tonally free but not very dissonant, and concludes with a C major chord with the English horn on the third. Although lacking a literal narrative, “Twilight” is very evocative of the image its title presents, featuring a somber, still affect. In the premiere recording Mark Steinbach selects a tone quality that closely matches that of the English horn, obscuring the difference between the two instruments. The resultant neutrality of timbre clearly alludes to the muted colors one would see after sunset.
######################################################## 167 Pinkham, Daniel. Odes. Boston, MA: Ione Press, 1999. 2.
" Ode to the Stillness of the Night Ode to the Stillness of the Night is an extended tranquil cantilena for the English horn over a hushed six-measure ostinato in the organ.168
Pinkham!s refers to this movement as a cantilena, which is a Latin term meaning “melody” and is often used in reference to certain types of plainchant.169 The ostinato Pinkham describes is very chromatic and dissonant, with the two manual lines trading eighth note patterns:170
4 j œb & 4 œ ˙w œ œb œ œ œbw œ œ# œn œ œ œ# w œn œ œ œ œb
4 & 4 ‰ ‰ œ œb œb œ œ œ œ œ# œ œb œb œb sempre œb œ œn œ œ# œ œ Examplep 26: Pinkham, Odes, mvmt. 2, meas. 1-3, organ part.
The pedal interjects two sustained Bs in each statement of the ostinato. Marked piano sempre, the ostinato set a tone of quiet unease over which the English horn presents a similarly chromatic melodic line. The solo English horn line contains chromaticism similar to that of the organ!s ostinato, but is not always at a piano dynamic. At the beginning of the movement, the solo writing is relatively high in the English horn!s range, featuring frequent use of pitches above the instrument!s upper octave G. Music in this range, while common in oboe writing, is a challenge for the English horn player to both project and to play in tune. This requires an accomplished oboist!s proficiency on the English horn to be equal to his or her proficiency on the oboe. Pinkham is careful to keep the English horn line just above the top line of the ######################################################## 168 Pinkham, Odes, 2.
169## Sanders, Ernest. "Cantilena." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2. 5. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishers, ltd., 2001, 55.
170 Pinkham, Odes, 10.
" organ throughout the movement, thereby keeping the English horn from being obscured by the sonority of the organ. Like the first movement, “Stillness” is lacking in clear thematic content. The form of the movement is dictated by the organ!s ostinato, which is transposed twice during the movement. Both transpositions are to a pitch level that is a major third lower than that of the preceding section. Otherwise, the ostinato is given no variation until the very end of the movement. The range of the English horn line follows the organ accompaniment downward, settling in the lowest range of the instrument. In a manner similar to the first movement, this movement concludes with a major chord, this time in E major with the English horn playing the fifth.
Ode to the Dawning of the New Day Ode to the Dawning of the New Day is a joyous dance reminiscent of a baroque gigue. The form is ABA. The B section is by contrast lyrical and in duple metre. The movement concludes with a spirited burst of energy.171
This movement is the most challenging of the piece, featuring highly virtuosic writing for both instrumentalists. As Pinkham mentions in his annotation, the movement is in a clearly delineated ternary form. The A section is marked Allegro ballando and in a fast . Beginning with a brief, declamatory statement from the English horn that is answered by the organ, it mostly features the two instruments trading off eighth note figures in a contrapuntal fashion. This section has a stronger tonal sense than most of the other piece, with the English horn line often hinting at A major. While still lacking a clearly presented theme, the movement features this motivic figure that is frequently passed between the two instruments:172
######################################################## 171 Pinkham, Odes, 2.
172 Ibid., 10.
" 4 j œb & 4 œ ˙w œ œb œ œ wœb œ œ# œn œ œ œ# w œn œ œ œ œb
4 & 4 ‰ ‰ œ œb œb œ œ œ œ œ# œ œb œb œb sempre œb œ œn œ œ# œ œ Example p27: Pinkham, Odes, mvmt. 3, meas. 1-2, English horn part.
The B section is marked Piu mosso and is in a steady . While still fast, this section is more subdued than the A section. The English horn has a more subordinate role in this section, with much of its writing set below the top organ line. The structure of the B section is difficult to follow because the relentless writing in the organ tends to obscure the English horn line. The use of heavy chromaticism in both parts makes for a less centered tonality than that of the A section, and imbues this section with a sense of foreboding. The return of the A section is much shorter than its initial appearance. It reverses the roles of the two instruments, with the initial statement given by the organ and answered by the English horn. After a brief Lento that recalls both a slower version of the movement!s B section and the second movement, the final movement concludes with a virtuosic flourish that culminates in a bright E major chord. In the premiere recording, Steinbach selects a bright stop for the organ that creates a contrast with the sound of the English horn that is not present in the previous two movements. This brightness of timbre in the recording reflects the optimistic mood of the movement!s title, which is reinforced by Pinkham!s repeated use of a rapidly rising motivic figure, illustrating both the rising sun and the optimism of greeting a new day.
" CHAPTER 10
THE SEVEN DAYS (2002)
The Seven Days was published in 2002, and is it the latest of all the works discussed in this study to be composed. It was premiered by oboist Jane Harrison with Pinkham playing organ, making this the only piece in this project to have been premiered by the composer. The Seven Days is a work in seven movements for oboe and organ. Each movement has a duration of under two minutes, with the exception of the fourth movement which lasts about four and a half minutes. This is in keeping with Pinkham!s predilection toward short-form composition. The total length of the piece is about twelve minutes. Pinkham provides no clues as to what the title of the piece is meant to reference. Since almost all of his compositions are in some way inspired by Biblical sources, it is reasonable to speculate that the title refers to the seven days of the Creation as outlined in the Book of Genesis. This speculation, however, is reinforced neither by anything Pinkham wrote nor by the respective characters of the movements. The title may function as a convenient framework for a brief piece in seven movements in a similar manner as the titles of the five movements of Reeds. Pinkham provides brief notes on the performance of the work, but these focus mostly on achieving the correct balance between the oboe and the organ and give no insight into any programmatic content. Pinkham!s remarks are meant to address the acoustic challenge presented by pairing a pipe organ, which can be the size of a room, with the comparatively diminutive oboe:
The Seven Days is essentially a chamber work. Great care should be taken that the organ not dominate its smaller partner. The organ part, modest in both technical and registrational demands, can prove successful
" on a small, unenclosed two-manual instrument or even on a well-voiced Positive, since the use of Pedals is optional. The dynamic indications in the organ part should be modified to suit the instrument!s resources.173
Each movement has a descriptive title that functions as a tempo and style marking, and are not affective in the manner of the titles in Odes or Duet. Pinkham provides brief descriptions of each movement, but these only refer to their respective characters and styles.
Flowing The genial Prelude presents the two instruments in a lyrical dialogue.174
The first movement is in and marked “moderately fast” at 116 to the quarter note. True to its title, the movement features nearly constant, flowing eighth notes passed between the two instruments. Pinkham describes this movement as a dialogue between the oboe and the organ, and the two parts usually alternate presenting lyrical lines. With the respective lines rarely overlapping, the dialogue between the instruments could be interpreted as relatively agreeable in nature. As a Prelude, this movement serves to set the stage for the upcoming sections of the piece, but presents little beyond that.
Serene The oboe plays a reposed melody over an ostinato in the accompanying organ part.175
The second movement features the oboe playing a smooth melody over cycling, held chords in the organ. The organ part consists of a five-chord ostinato that is unaltered throughout the movement, with chords changing on the """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 173 Pinkham, Daniel. The Seven Days. Boston, MA: Ione Press, 2002. 2.
174 Ibid., 3.
175 Ibid.
!! downbeat of each measure with the exception of the penultimate bar. The ostinato opens with a dominant seventh chord in E minor. This chord also closes the movement, and the restatements of the ostinato do not line up with any cadential figures in the oboe part. This gives the movement a feeling of timelessness and incompletion, as if the listener is hearing a segment of a continuing piece. The chord progression is vaguely in E minor, but the use of added tones and the lack of any cadential motion keep the tonality amorphous. The oboe part in this movement presents certain motives in varying forms. The most prevalent motive is that of a rising third or fifth followed by falling stepwise motion:176
Example 28: Pinkham, The Seven Days, mvmt. 2, meas. 1, oboe part.
Another recurring motive consists of a single tone separated by its upper and lower neighbors:177
Example 29: Pinkham, The Seven Days, mvmt. 2, meas. 21, oboe part.
These two motives comprise much of the melodic material in the oboe part. The melody forms an arc over the length of the movement with a peak in both dynamic and pitch near the halfway point, but otherwise contains very little tension.
######################################################## 176 Pinkham, The Seven Days, 8.
177 Ibid., 9.
! Quick This movement is a fleeting scherzo.178
The third movement is the fastest and most agitated of The Seven Days.
It is mostly in but with frequent interjections of other time signatures. This movement is also the most rhythmically complex of the piece, with frequent sixteenth note flourishes and registration changes in both parts. The two instruments collaborate heavily in this movement, with frequent use of hocket between the oboe and organ lines. Pinkham also places the oboe and organ in brief unisons throughout the movement, which has the effect of the combined tone colors playing single lines for a very unusual sonority.
Pensive This contemplative and extended cantilena is in the form of a baroque trio, with the oboe playing one voice and the organ playing two.179
The fourth movement is twice as long in duration as any other movement in the work. The movement is set in at an extremely slow 66 to the eighth note. As quoted above, Pinkham describes the movement as a cantilena, which, as mentioned in the chapter on Odes, is a term for plainchant.180 The form of a Baroque trio which Pinkham references manifests with a continuo part played by the left hand in the organ and the other two parts covered respectively by the organ right hand and the oboe. This movement is in a rough binary form. It opens with a slow eighth note pedal in the organ under a melancholy offbeat melody in the oboe. The eighth note pedal is nearly constant throughout. The B section contains the same musical material as the A section, but it is transposed up a fifth and rearranged
######################################################## 178 Pinkham, The Seven Days, 3.
179 Ibid.
180 Sanders, 55.
! among the three voices so the organ takes on much of the material previously covered by the oboe. The movement concludes with a complete role reversal, with the oboe providing the pedal that was in the organ at the start of the movement and the organ playing the oboe!s initial melody.
Questions and Answers The organ is the stern interrogator. The replies from the oboe range from elusive to coy to sharp denials.181
The fifth movement is the briefest of the work and boasts the sparsest texture. The organ asks the titular questions in the form of brief bursts of tones in a high register, each marked Rapido. The oboe!s answers are typically more sedate and thoughtful, marked Lento. This movement is notable for its use of soft harmonics in the oboe, an effect that may be what Pinkham refers to as “coy” in his remarks.
Playful This saucy rondo is largely in five-eight meter.182
The titular playfulness of the sixth movement is derived from its fast meter. The movement is in rondo form (ABA!CA!!) with a recurring theme that features a descending fifth in the oboe part. The oboe has the primary line throughout this movement, supported by near constant eighth notes in the organ. The rondo theme is stated three times throughout the movement and is separated by two episodic sections that are of similar character. The mood shifts in the C section when the organ takes an extended solo in that is accompanied by long tones in the organ. While most of the movement is tonally ambiguous, this section is largely in F minor. While the rondo theme is repeated in its first
######################################################## 181 Pinkham, The Seven Days, 3.
182 Ibid.
! two statements, the movement concludes with a single statement of the rondo theme marked pianissimo and transposed up an octave.
Quickstep The finale, in rapid two-two time, is a lively march and brings the work to a brilliant conclusion.183
The seventh movement, “Quickstep,” is in a fast and features a recurring oboe melody in E major accompanied by steady quarter notes in the organ. This folk-like melody is unique to the piece in its simplicity and its unambiguous tonality. Between statements of the melody, the movement features meandering chromaticism. This chromatic motion takes the music to a recurrence of the melody about halfway through the movement, with a transposition to B major. The movement then works its way back to E major for a recapitulation of the original statement of the melody, followed by a virtuosic flourish that brings the piece to a close. This work typifies Pinkham!s custom of writing multiple movement works in short form. It is also highly accessible to both the performers and the audience, being relatively easy to prepare despite the number of movements. The work rarely boasts much ambition in either rhythmic complexity or expressive content, and functions well as a brief divertimento that can be used as part of a recital or interspersed throughout a church service.
######################################################## 183 Pinkham, The Seven Days, 3.
" CHAPTER 11
CONCLUSION
While Pinkham!s most commonly performed music involves voices, his interest in exploring every avenue of musical expression available to him has resulted in an enormous body of work that can be performed by almost any musician and is appropriate for a wide variety of occasions. The oboe was clearly an instrument for which Daniel Pinkham felt a particular affinity. Every area of his catalogue includes writing for oboe and English horn, including solo and chamber instrumental works, large ensemble pieces, and accompaniment to vocal music. The works discussed in this project represent only a small sample of Pinkham!s writing for oboe and English horn, but they are representative of his approach to instrumental composition and share many characteristics of Pinkham!s writing that were discussed previously. These characteristics, which manifest in varying degrees in the individual works, include accessibility to the ear, a relatively moderate level of difficulty for the performer, and a connection to liturgical sources. A common thread that runs through all of them without exception is an experimental approach and a variety of style that are also important facets of Pinkham!s work. Pinkham!s ideas sprang from a variety of impetuses, be they from commission, the individual performer, or his own inspiration, making for immense diversity in his body of work. True to his beliefs as a composer, one cannot impose on all his works a single set of rules. In his tribute following Pinkham!s death, however, Richard Dyer references the closest he ever heard Pinkham come to summing up a single musical philosophy: “I believe there will always be oases populated by out-of-touch people like myself who bravely go on doing the
" things they are committed to, and that there will always be other people who will hear and respond.”184
######################################################## 184 Dyer, R. “Daniel Pinkham Tribute.” American Organist, 99.
" WORKS CITED
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Dyer, Richard. "Daniel Pinkham Tribute." American Organist Jun. 2007: 98-99. Print.
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"
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McCray, James. "Pinkham: On Composing." Choral Journal. 17.2 (1976): 15-17. Print.
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"
Vaughan Williams, Ralph. Ten Blake Songs. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1958. Print.
" BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Oboist Sherwood Wise is Instructor of Double Reeds at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. At Saint Rose he teaches applied oboe and bassoon as well as music theory, ear training, woodwind methods, and music appreciation. He holds the BM in Oboe Performance with a Minor in Voice from Oberlin Conservatory where he studied with oboist James Caldwell and soprano Marlene Rosen. While at Oberlin Wise was a recipient of the Ernest Hatch Wilkins Award for Academic Excellence. He holds the MM with Distinction in Oboe Performance from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Boston Symphony oboist Marc McEwen. He holds MME from Florida State University, and he expects to complete the DM in Oboe Performance from the same institution under the direction of Dr. Eric Ohlsson in 2010. While at FSU he was the winner of the Doctoral Concerto Competition, performing the Oboe Concerto by John Harbison with the FSU Symphony Orchestra in 2007. Wise has performed with professional orchestras around the country, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Springfield Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony, Florida West Coast Symphony, Northwest Florida Symphony, and Albany Symphony in Georgia. He has held positions with the New Bedford and Hingham Symphonies in Massachusetts, Sinfonia Gulf Coast in Destin, Florida, and the Columbus Symphony in Columbus, Georgia. He is currently in his eighth season as second oboe of the Vermont Symphony under music director Jaime Laredo. Wise is a former member of the music faculties of Camp Encore/Coda in
Sweden, ME, and the FSU Summer Music Camps in Tallahassee, FL.
"