DOCSLIB.ORG

Patriotism, Nationalism, and Heritage in the Orchestral Music of Howard Hanson Matthew Robert Bishop

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Patriotism, Nationalism, and Heritage in the Orchestral Music of Howard Hanson Matthew Robert Bishop Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2013 Patriotism, Nationalism, and Heritage in the Orchestral Music of Howard Hanson Matthew Robert Bishop Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC PATRIOTISM, NATIONALISM, AND HERITAGE IN THE ORCHESTRAL MUSIC OF HOWARD HANSON By MATTHEW ROBERT BISHOP A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2013 Matthew Bishop defended this thesis on March 29, 2013. The members of the supervisory committee were: Michael Broyles Professor Directing Thesis Michael Buchler Committee Member Douglass Seaton Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university accordance. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful to the superbly talented, knowledgeable, and supportive members of my committee. I am indebted to my thesis advisor, Dr. Michael Broyles, for his expertise in American music and his patient guidance. I also greatly appreciate the encouragement and wisdom of Dr. Douglass Seaton and Dr. Michael Buchler. The research behind this project was made possible by a Curtis Mayes Research Fellowship through the musicology program at The Florida State University. I am truly honored to work and learn among such impressive colleagues, in musicology and beyond. I am continually challenged by them to meet an impossibly high standard, and I am in awe of their impressive intellect, abundant support, and unending devotion to the cause of researching, performing, teaching, and celebrating the art of music. My work would be non-existent were it not for the constant love of my parents, Tracy and Suzanne, and the rest of my wonderful family. To my fiancée, Caitlin, words cannot express my thanks for your enduring patience as I undertake my many projects, for your honest critiques, and for the joy of your support. Lastly, I am grateful to Howard for leaving us this great music and much to discuss. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES .................................................................................................v ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 1. WAHOO AND THE UNPUBLISHED WORKS .......................................................................7 2. THE FIRST EUROPEAN SOJOURN ......................................................................................25 3. AMERICANISM AND THE EASTMAN YEARS ..................................................................47 CONCLUSION: A COMPOSITE NATIONALISM ....................................................................65 BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................69 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................73 iv LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES 1.1 Swedish Fantasia, measures 12-19 ..........................................................................................16 1.2 “Scandinavian” Sonata in D minor movement 1 “Allegro Vigoroso,” measures 1-5 .............17 1.3 “Scandinavian” Sonata in D minor movement 1 “Allegro Vigoroso,” measures 33-36 .........17 1.4 “Scandinavian” Sonata in D minor movement 2 “Adagio,” measures 3-10 ...........................18 1.5 “Scandinavian” Sonata in D minor movement 2 “Adagio,” measures 50-57 .........................18 1.6 “Scandinavian” Sonata in D minor movement 3, measures 1-10............................................19 1.7 “Scandinavian” Sonata in D minor movement 3, measures 151-58........................................19 1.8 “Scandinavian” Symphony in D minor movement 1 “Allegro molto,” measures 1-8 ............21 1.9 “Scandinavian” Symphony in D minor movement 1 “Allegro molto,” measures 59-72 ........22 1.10 “Scandinavian” Symphony in D minor movement 2 “Andante,” measures 21-28 ...............23 2.1 Symphony No. 1 in E minor, “Nordic,” Op. 21 movement 3 “Allegro con fuoco,” measures 113-129 .........................................................................................................................28 2.2 Symphony No. 1 in E minor, “Nordic,” Op. 21 movement 2 “Andante teneramente, con semplicitá,” measures 28-30 ..................................................................................................31 2.3 Symphony No. 1 in E minor, “Nordic,” Op. 21 movement 3 “Allegro con fuoco,” measures 81-88 ..............................................................................................................................33 2.4 Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Harp measures 35-43..........................................................44 2.5 Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Harp measures 211-18........................................................45 3.1 Symphony No. 3 movement 4 “Largamente e pesante,” measures 50-56...............................61 v ABSTRACT Composer Howard Hanson played a pivotal role in both the development and promotion of American concert music in the twentieth century. Born in Wahoo, Nebraska, to Swedish immigrants, Hanson grew up surrounded by people who followed Swedish customs (including folk song and dance), yet exhibited strong feelings of American patriotism. Hanson’s earliest works, left unpublished, display the influence of Swedish folk music traditions in either direct quotation or stylistic imitation. As the winner of the first American Prix de Rome, Hanson traveled to Italy to study at the American Academy, affording him the opportunity to travel for the first time to Sweden. While in Europe Hanson wrote some of his most important compositions, including the Scandinavian- inspired First Symphony (“Nordic”) and the symphonic poem North and West. The former pulls heavily from Swedish folk music, and the latter is autobiographical, representative of the composer’s identity struggles as he explored the role his heritage should play in what he increasingly realized was Americanist music. After he assumed the directorship of the Eastman School of Music, a position he held for forty years, Hanson’s music lost explicit programmatic elements inspired by Scandinavia. Hanson wrote hundreds of articles and speeches about the importance of furthering American music, became a community leader in Rochester and on a national level, and transformed Eastman into a vital center for the promotion of American composers. His affinity for Swedish music continued to be an important factor in his compositional process, as evidenced by his Third Symphony and the popular comparison of his music to that of Jan Sibelius. Despite this association Hanson is remembered as a transformative figure in American music. vi INTRODUCTION Despite recent dips in the popularity of his works in America’s concert halls, Howard Hanson’s contributions to American music culture have proven to be substantial. A proponent of American music’s founders, a necessary voice for new generations of artists, and a masterful composer himself, Hanson served as a prominent activist for American music on a stage dominated by the European greats. From his geographically isolated home in Rochester, New York, Hanson sold a specific and marketable brand: a recognizably American type of concert music enough akin to the European canon to claim validity, yet bathed in the new ideas central to the American persona. Hanson was not the first composer to attempt to nail down the characteristics that would make great American music (or make American music great), and when compared to those offered by his contemporaries who sought similar ends, Hanson’s solution was but one of many. An examination of the development of his musical style, his published and unpublished thoughts on American music and patriotism, and his placement in the realm of the American concert repertory, however, reveals the role of heritage and experience in the formation of his musical voice. References to the idea of nationalism in literature on the history of Western music tend to be applied to characteristics of European composers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries operating outside the powerful nations of Western Europe. The term is typically employed to describe music that evokes a sense of departure from the aesthetics of German, French, and Italian Romanticism and is often applied to composers such as Modeste Mussorgsky, Alexander Borodin, Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Isaac Albéniz, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Edvard Grieg. As vague as the descriptor may in many cases be, 1 nationalist historiography examines trends in various nations in which composers, either actively or as a genuine byproduct of different regional experiences, create or contribute to an idiom that is somewhat distinctively native. While the concept of large-scale nationalist stylistic features in the case of European classical music is often questioned, scholars of American music agree that trends of nationalism can be observed in the works of American composers in the latter half of the nineteenth century, if not before,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Acknowledgments
    Albany Symphony | David Alan Miller, conductor Tessa Lark, violin | Peter Kolkay, bassoon Ryan Roberts, oboe | Weixiong Wang, clarinet ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Producer: Silas Brown, Michael Torke Session Producer for West, East, South: Doron Schachter Mastering: Silas Brown Recorded at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Michael Torke March 6, 2017 (West, South, and East) SKY January 7, 2019 (Sky) Publisher: Adjustable Music; Bill Holab Music, Modern Works Music Publishing, agents. West, South, and East commissioned by Paul Underwood. This recording was made possible by a generous gift from Marsha Nickerson, a former member of the Albany Symphony Photo of Michael Torke: Bryan Hainer WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM TROY1784 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 © 2019 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. for less obvious solo instruments. This collection of concertos is my attempt to explore those THE COMPOSER options. Michael Torke’s music has been commissioned by such orchestras as For Sky, a concerto for violin, I took Bluegrass, a style I was not familiar with, studied its The Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the San vernacular, and then imposed classical forms onto it. In the solo part, you hear banjo picking, Francisco Symphony; by such ballet companies as New York City Ballet, a slow Irish reel (harkening back to the music of those who settled Kentucky), and triple time Alvin Ailey, and the National Ballet of Canada; by such opera companies fiddle licks.
    [Show full text]
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Season 68, 1948-1949
    W fl'r. r^S^ BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOUNDED IN I88I BY HENRY LEE HIGGINSON ^r /^:> ,Q 'iiil .A'^ ^VTSOv H SIXTY-EIGHTH SEASON 1948-1949 Carnegie Hall, New York Boston Symphony Orchestra [Sixty-eighth Season, 1948-1949] SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY, Music Director RICHARD BURGIN, Associate Conductor PERSONNEL Violins Violas Bassoons Richard Burgin, Joseph de Pasquale Raymond Allard Concert-master Jean Cauhape Ernst Panenka Alfred Krips Georges Fourel Ralph Masters Gaston Elcus Eugen Lehner Roll and Tapley Albert Bernard Contra-Bassoon Norbert Lauga Emil Kornsand Boaz Piller George Zazofsky George Humphrey Horns Paul Cherkassky Louis Arti^res Harry Dubbs Charles Van Wynbergen Willem Valkenier James Stagliano Vladimir ResnikofiE Hans Werner Principals Joseph Leibovici Jerome Lipson Harry Shapiro Siegfried Gerhardt Einar Hansen Harold Meek Daniel Eisler Violoncellos Paul Keaney Norman Carol Walter Macdonald Carlos P infield Samuel Mayes Osbourne McConathy Alfred Zighera Paul Fedorovsky Harry Dickson Jacobus Langendoen Trumpets Mischa Nieland Minot Beale Georges Mager Hippolyte Droeghmans Roger Voisin Karl Zeise Clarence Knudson Prijicipals Pierre Mayer Josef Zimbler Marcel La fosse Manuel Zung Bernard Parronchi Harry Herforth Samuel Diamond Enrico Fabrizio Ren^ Voisin Leon MarjoUet Victor Manusevitch Trombones James Nagy Flutes Jacob Raichman Leon Gorodetzky Georges Laurent Lucien Hansotte Raphael Del Sordo James Pappoutsakis John Coffey Melvin Bryant Phillip Kaplan Josef Orosz John Murray Lloyd Stonestreet Piccolo Tuba Henri Erkelens George Madsen
    [Show full text]
  • The Federal Music Project: an American Voice in Depression-Era Music
    Musical Offerings Volume 9 Number 2 Fall 2018 Article 1 10-3-2018 The Federal Music Project: An American Voice in Depression-Era Music Audrey S. Rutt Cedarville University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings Part of the Composition Commons, Economic Policy Commons, Education Policy Commons, Ethnomusicology Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Music Education Commons, Musicology Commons, Music Performance Commons, Music Theory Commons, and the Social Welfare Commons DigitalCommons@Cedarville provides a publication platform for fully open access journals, which means that all articles are available on the Internet to all users immediately upon publication. However, the opinions and sentiments expressed by the authors of articles published in our journals do not necessarily indicate the endorsement or reflect the views of DigitalCommons@Cedarville, the Centennial Library, or Cedarville University and its employees. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their work. Please address questions to [email protected]. Recommended Citation Rutt, Audrey S. (2018) "The Federal Music Project: An American Voice in Depression-Era Music," Musical Offerings: Vol. 9 : No. 2 , Article 1. DOI: 10.15385/jmo.2018.9.2.1 Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings/vol9/iss2/1 The Federal Music Project: An American Voice in Depression-Era Music Document Type Article Abstract After World War I, America was musically transformed from an outsider in the European classical tradition into a country of musical vibrance and maturity. These great advances, however, were deeply threatened by the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the consequent Great Depression.
    [Show full text]
  • Sòouünd Póetry the Wages of Syntax
    SòouÜnd Póetry The Wages of Syntax Monday April 9 - Saturday April 14, 2018 ODC Theater · 3153 17th St. San Francisco, CA WELCOME TO HOTEL BELLEVUE SAN LORENZO Hotel Spa Bellevue San Lorenzo, directly on Lago di Garda in the Northern Italian Alps, is the ideal four-star lodging from which to explore the art of Futurism. The grounds are filled with cypress, laurel and myrtle trees appreciated by Lawrence and Goethe. Visit the Mart Museum in nearby Rovareto, designed by Mario Botta, housing the rich archive of sound poet and painter Fortunato Depero plus innumerable works by other leaders of that influential movement. And don’t miss the nearby palatial home of eccentric writer Gabriele d’Annunzio. The hotel is filled with contemporary art and houses a large library https://www.bellevue-sanlorenzo.it/ of contemporary art publications. Enjoy full spa facilities and elegant meals overlooking picturesque Lake Garda, on private grounds brimming with contemporary sculpture. WElcome to A FESTIVAL OF UNEXPECTED NEW MUSIC The 23rd Other Minds Festival is presented by Other Minds in 2 Message from the Artistic Director association with ODC Theater, 7 What is Sound Poetry? San Francisco. 8 Gala Opening All Festival concerts take place at April 9, Monday ODC Theater, 3153 17th St., San Francisco, CA at Shotwell St. and 12 No Poets Don’t Own Words begin at 7:30 PM, with the exception April 10, Tuesday of the lecture and workshop on 14 The History Channel Tuesday. Other Minds thanks the April 11, Wednesday team at ODC for their help and hard work on our behalf.
    [Show full text]
  • ALAN HOVHANESS: Meditation on Orpheus the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra William Strickland, Conducting
    ALAN HOVHANESS: Meditation on Orpheus The Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra William Strickland, conducting ALAN HOVHANESS is one of those composers whose music seems to prove the inexhaustability of the ancient modes and of the seven tones of the diatonic scale. He has made for himself one of the most individual styles to be found in the work of any American composer, recognizable immediately for its exotic flavor, its masterly simplicity, and its constant air of discovering unexpected treasures at each turn of the road. Meditation on Orpheus, scored for full symphony orchestra, is typical of Hovhaness’ work in the delicate construction of its sonorities. A single, pianissimo tam-tam note, a tone from a solo horn, an evanescent pizzicato murmur from the violins (senza misura)—these ethereal elements tinge the sound of the middle and lower strings at the work’s beginning and evoke an ambience of mysterious dignity and sensuousness which continues and grows throughout the Meditation. At intervals, a strange rushing sound grows to a crescendo and subsides, interrupting the flow of smooth melody for a moment, and then allowing it to resume, generally with a subtle change of scene. The senza misura pizzicato which is heard at the opening would seem to be the germ from which this unusual passage has grown, for the “rushing” sound—dynamically intensified at each appearance—is produced by the combination of fast, metrically unmeasured figurations, usually played by the strings. The composer indicates not that these passages are to be played in 2/4, 3/4, etc. but that they are to last “about 20 seconds, ad lib.” The notes are to be “rapid but not together.” They produce a fascinating effect, and somehow give the impression that other worldly significances are hidden in the juxtaposition of flow and mystical interruption.
    [Show full text]
  • 559862 Itunes Copland
    AmericAn clAssics cOPlAnD Billy the Kid (complete Ballet) Grohg (One-Act Ballet) Detroit symphony Orchestra leonard slatkin Aaron Copland (1900 –1990) not touch them.” They described Grohg as having large, 5. Grohg Imagines the Dead Are Mocking Him Grohg • Billy the Kid piercing eyes and a hooked nose, who was “… tragic and Grohg begins to hallucinate and imagines that corpses pitiable in his ugliness.” For what is essentially a student are making fun of him and violently striking him. Grohg (1925) for the big time: a one-act, 35-minute ballet for full work, Copland’s score is quite amazing, and on hearing Nevertheless, he joins in their dances. Chaos ensues, pit orchestra plus piano. There was a taste for the parts of it which were rearranged into the Dance then Grohg raises the street-walker over his head and As much as anyone, Copland, who was born in 1900 in bizarre at the time, and if Grohg sounds morbid Symphony of 1929, Stravinsky called it “a very precocious throws her into the crowd. Brooklyn, and died in 1990 in Tarrytown (now Sleepy and excessive, the music was meant to be opus” for a young man then in his early 20s. There are 6. Illumination and Disappearance of Grohg Hollow), New York, established American concert music fantastic rather than ghastly. Also, the need for many influences on the ballet, among them Mussorgsky, The stage turns dark except for a light focused on Grohg’s through his works and his tireless efforts on its behalf. He gruesome effects gave me an excuse for ‘modern’ Satie, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Schmitt, along with jazz and head, and he slowly disappears to music which echoes and his contemporaries not only raised this music to a very rhythms and dissonances.
    [Show full text]
  • Orchestra Personnel
    FROM SUFFRAGE TO STONEWALL 2019 DAVID ALAN MILLER HEINRICH MEDICUS MUSIC DIRECTOR DAVID ALAN MILLER, HEINRICH MEDICUS MUSIC DIRECTOR Grammy®Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller has established a reputation as one of the leading American conductors of his generation. Music Director of the Albany Symphony since 1992, Mr. Miller has proven himself a creative and compelling orchestra builder. Through exploration of unusual repertoire, educational programming, community outreach and recording initiatives, he has reaffirmed the Albany Symphony’s reputation as the nation’s leading champion of American symphonic music and one of its most innovative orchestras. He and the orchestra have twice appeared at “Spring For Music,” an annual festival of America’s most creative orchestras at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Other accolades include Columbia University’s 2003 Ditson Conductor’s Award, the oldest award honoring conductors for their commitment to American music, the 2001 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming and, in 1999, ASCAP’s first-ever Leonard Bernstein Award for Outstanding Educational Programming. Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, Mr. Miller has worked with most of America’s major orchestras, including the orchestras of Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, as well as the New World Symphony, the Boston Pops and the New York City Ballet. In addition, he has appeared frequently throughout Europe, Australia and the Far East as guest conductor. He made his first guest appearance with the BBC Scottish Symphony in March, 2014. Mr. Miller received his Grammy Award in January, 2014 for his Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s “Conjurer,” with the Albany Symphony and Dame Evelyn Glennie.
    [Show full text]
  • This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie
    This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie Saturday, October 24, 2020 7:30 PM Livestreamed from Universal Preservation Hall David Alan Miller, conductor Kara Dugan, mezzo soprano Michael Maliakel, baritone F. Murray Abraham, narrator Welcome to the Albany Symphony’s 2020-21 Season Re-Imagined! The one thing I have missed more than anything else during the past few months has been spending time with you and our brilliant Albany Symphony musicians, discovering, exploring, and celebrating great musical works together. Our musicians and I are thrilled to be back at work, bringing you established masterpieces and gorgeous new works in the comfort and convenience of your own home. Originally conceived to showcase triumph over adversity, inspired by the example of Beethoven and his big birthday in December, our season’s programming continues to shine a light on the ways musical visionaries create great art through every season of life. We hope that each program uplifts and inspires you, and brings you some respite from the day-to-day worries of this uncertain world. It is always an honor to stand before you with our extraordinarily gifted musicians, even if we are now doing it virtually. Thank you so much for being with us; we have a glorious season of life- affirming, deeply moving music ahead. David Alan Miller Heinrich Medicus Music Director This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie Saturday, October 24, 2020 | 7:30 PM Livestreamed from Universal Preservation Hall David Alan Miller, conductor Kara Dugan, mezzo soprano Michael Maliakel, baritone F.
    [Show full text]
  • Eastman Notes July 2006
    Attention has been paid! Playing inside Eastman Opera Theatre & outside takes aim at Assassins New books by two faculty members Eastman 90 Nine decades of Eastman milestones Winter 2012 FOr ALUMni, PArentS, AnD FrienDS OF tHe eAStMAn SCHOOL OF MUSiC FROM THE DEAN A splendid urgency Every now and then I have the good fortune of hearing a concert that is so riveting, I am reminded why I got into music in the first place. The Eastman Philharmonia’s recent performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, under the guest baton of Brad Lubman, was just such an occasion. Prepared and conducted su- perbly by Brad, and exuberantly performed by students clearly amped up by the music and the occasion, the raw beauty of one of Stravinsky’s greatest works came to stunning life. The power of this experience had nothing to do with outcomes, technologi- cal expertise, assessment, metrics of excellence, or gainful employment upon graduation. This was pure energy funneled into an art form. It was exotically NOTES irrational. It was about the rigorous pursuit of beauty, Volume 30, number 1 pure and simple. Winter 2012 As the national “music movement” grapples with the perception that it has lost precious ground in the fight Editor to keep music in our schools, I was reminded of our na- David raymond tional obsession with practical outcomes, and the chal- Contributing writers lenge of making a case for subjective artistic value in the John Beck Steven Daigle face of such an objectivity-based national agenda. Matthew evans Although we tend to focus on the virtues of music it- Douglas Lowry self, what we are really talking about is the act of learning robert Morris music.
    [Show full text]
  • FREDERICK FENNELL and the EASTMAN WIND ENSEMBLE: the Transformation of American Wind Music Through Instrumentation and Repertoire
    FREDERICK FENNELL AND THE EASTMAN WIND ENSEMBLE: The Transformation of American Wind Music Through Instrumentation and Repertoire Jacob Edward Caines Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Master of Arts degree in Musicology School Of Music Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Jacob Edward Caines, Ottawa, Canada, 2012 i Abstract The Eastman Wind Ensemble is known as the pioneer ensemble of modern wind music in North America and abroad. Its founder and conductor, Frederick Fennell, was instrumental in facilitating the creation and performance of a large number of new works written for the specific instrumentation of the wind ensemble. Created in 1952, the EWE developed a new one-to-a-part instrumentation that could be varied based on the wishes of the composer. This change in instrumentation allowed for many more compositional choices when composing. The instrumentation was a dramatic shift from the densely populated ensembles that were standard in North America by 1952. The information on the EWE and Fennell is available at the Eastman School of Music’s Ruth Watanabe Archive. By comparing the repertory and instrumentation of the Eastman ensembles with other contemporary ensembles, Fennell’s revolutionary ideas are shown to be unique in the wind music community. Key Words - EWE (Eastman Wind Ensemble) - ESB (Eastman Symphony Band) - Vernacular - Cultivated - Wind Band - Wind Ensemble - Frederick Fennell - Repertoire i Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the support of many people. Firstly, my advisor, Prof. Christopher Moore. Without his constant guidance, and patience, this document would have been impossible to complete.
    [Show full text]
  • Seattle Symphony Gerard Schwarz
    AMERICAN CLASSICS PETER MENNIN Moby Dick • Symphony No. 3 Symphony No. 7 ‘Variation-Symphony’ Seattle Symphony • Gerard Schwarz Peter Mennin (1923-1983) Philharmonic under the young Leonard Bernstein. This of strophic paraphrases of a single subject melody. Moby Dick • Symphony No. 3 • Symphony No. 7 ‘Variation-Symphony’ success prompted the Philharmonic to schedule the Instead, it employs variations of its thematic material premiere performance of Mennin’s next symphony, which within a supple symphonic framework. Peter Mennin was a leading member of the school of about collaborating on an opera based on Herman he completed on his 23rd birthday, in 1946. With its initial The Symphony begins in slow tempo and with what American symphonic composers who came of age in the Melville’s famous novel. As a result of this proposal, the performance, in February of the following year, the piece Mennin described as a “ruminative” theme in the deep 1930s and 1940s, a group that also includes David composer reread Moby Dick. In the event, he decided proved no less successful than the Second Symphony, voices of the cellos and basses. Variations and Diamond, William Schuman and Vincent Persichetti, against composing an opera on the subject. But Melville’s leading to the composer’s appointment at Juilliard and the extensions of this idea bring other parts of the orchestra among others. Born Peter Mennini, in Erie, Pennsylvania, powerful tale cast its spell on him, and when he received beginning of a long string of commissions. into play and lead to an initial climax, whereupon the in 1923, he began musical studies at the age of seven a commission to write a piece for the Philharmonic Mennin cast his Third Symphony in a traditional music returns quietly to the string choir.
    [Show full text]
  • Sven-David Sandstrã¶Mâ•Žs Five Pictures from the Bible
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 Sven-David Sandström's Five Pictures from the Bible: Historical Precedents, Development, and Analysis Joshua Bronfman Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM’S FIVE PICTURES FROM THE BIBLE: HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS, DEVELOPMENT, AND ANALYSIS By JOSHUA BRONFMAN A Dissertation submitted to the College Of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010 The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Joshua Bronfman, defended on June 14, 2010. _________________________________________ André J. Thomas Professor Directing Dissertation _________________________________________ Evan Jones University Representative _________________________________________ Judy Bowers Committee Member _________________________________________ Kevin Fenton Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii To Niki, Lucia, and Leah. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to my supportive and helpful committee, including Dr. Andre Thomas, chair, and Drs. Judy Bowers, Kevin Fenton, and Evan Jones. I owe debt of gratitude to the administration, faculty, and staff at the University of North Dakota. Without their support and assistance, this document would never have happened. Specifically, Chris Gable, Mike Wittgraf, James Popejoy, Janice Hoffarth for transcription and cheerleading, and Dean Martha Potvin for encouraging me to continue. Thank you to Philip and Carolyn Brunelle, who opened up their home to me while I was researching this document. Additionally, Philip and the staff at VocalEssence were especially welcoming and accommodating, and made my visit to Minneapolis both fruitful and enjoyable.
    [Show full text]