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2004 David Amram: His Life and Five Major Compositions That Utilize the Oboe in a Prominent Role Aaron Ichiro Hilbun

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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

DAVID AMRAM: HIS LIFE AND FIVE MAJOR COMPOSITIONS THAT UTILIZE

THE OBOE IN A PROMINENT ROLE

by

AARON ICHIRO HILBUN

A treatise submitted to the School of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music

Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2004

The members of the Committee approve the treatise of Aaron Ichiro Hilbun

defended on 17 February 2004.

______Eric Ohlsson Professor Directing Treatise

______Peter Spencer Outside Committee Member

______Eva Amsler Committee Member

______Jeffrey Keesecker Committee Member

The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the many people that contributed to the completion of this treatise: the FSU Office of Graduate Studies for providing me with a grant to defray my research expenses; Kurt Doles, for graciously donating his time putting the musical examples into Finale; Gene Caprioglio and Hector Colón in the Clearance Rights Division of C. F. Peters Corporation for granting permission to reprint the musical examples; Heidi Hodges of the FSU Office of Research for expediting my Human Subjects Review application; Bryan Meyer, for generously providing lodging while I was in New York interviewing Mr. Amram; my wife, Lisa Ferrigno, for all her support and help writing and proofreading; my major professor Eric Ohlsson, who has truly gone “above and beyond the call of duty” on my behalf; the rest of my supervisory committee members, Eva Amsler, Jeffrey Keesecker and Peter Spencer, and past committee member Nancy Fowler, for all their efforts in making my completion of this degree possible; my parents, without whose support and generosity my education would not have been possible; and finally, David Amram, who was not only generous with his time but also his scores and recordings. Thank you for continuing to teach us how to find “the diamonds in the sidewalk.”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures …………………………………………………………….. vi Abstract ……………………………………………………………………. vii

I. A Biographical Sketch and Analysis of Important Events in the Life of David Amram ……………………. 1

II. Analytical Essay on A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson for wind quintet, percussion, strings and narrator …………………. 26

III. Analytical Essay on the Quintet for Winds ………………………... 36

IV. Analytical Essay on the Shakespearean Concerto for oboe, two horns and strings ……………………………………. 44

V. Analytical Essay on the Trail of Beauty for oboe, mezzo-soprano and orchestra ……………………………. 51

VI. Analytical Essay on the Triple Concerto for brass, wind and jazz quintets and orchestra ……………………. 58

Appendices

A. Text to A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson …………….. 67 B. Text to Trail of Beauty …………………………………….. 73 C. Copyright Permission ……………………………………… 76 D. Human Subjects Review …………………………………… 78

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………….. 80

Biographical sketch ………………………………………………………… 83

iv

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1 – David Amram and Leonard Bernstein, 1967 ……………….. viii

CHAPTER TWO: A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson

FIGURE 2 – Movement one, measures 1-4 ………………………………. 27

FIGURE 3 – Movement one, measures 12-16 ……………………………. 27

FIGURE 4 – Movement two, measures 4-6 ………………………………. 28

FIGURE 5 – Movement three, measures 1-8 ……………………………... 29

FIGURE 6 – Movement four, measures 1-8 ……………………………… 30

FIGURE 7 – Movement five, measures 33-35 …………………………… 31

FIGURE 8 – Movement six, measures 1-3 ……………………………….. 31

FIGURE 9 – Movement seven, measures 1-8 …………………………….. 32

FIGURE 10 – Movement eight, measures 1-8 ……………………………. 33

FIGURE 11 – Movement eleven, measures 4-12 ………………………… 34

FIGURE 12 – Movement eleven, measures 25-33 ……………………….. 34

CHAPTER THREE: Quintet for Winds

FIGURE 13 – Movement one, measures 8-11 ……………………………. 37

FIGURE 14 – Movment one, measures 12-17 ……………………………. 38

FIGURE 15 – Movement three, measures 1-15 …………………………... 41

FIGURE 16 – Movment three, measures 59-65 …………………………... 42

v

CHAPTER FOUR: Shakespearean Concerto

FIGURE 17 – Movement one, measures 52-58 …………………………... 45

FIGURE 18 – Movement two, measures 33-40 …………………………... 47

FIGURE 19 – Movement three, measures 117-128 ………………………. 48

FIGURE 20 – Movement three, measures 129-140 ………………………. 49

FIGURE 21 – Movement three, measures 141-142 ………………………. 50

CHAPTER FIVE: Trail of Beauty

FIGURE 22 – Movement one, measures 1-15 ……………………………. 53

FIGURE 23 – Movement two, measures 44-51 …………………………... 54

FIGURE 24 – Movement three, measures 1-31 …………………………... 55

FIGURE 25 – Movement four, measures 1-4 …………………………….. 56

CHAPTER SIX: Triple Concerto

FIGURE 26 – Movement one, measures 1-4 ……………………………... 60

FIGURE 27 – Movement one, measures 23-28 …………………………... 60

FIGURE 28 – Movement three, measures 9-16 …………………………... 63

FIGURE 29 – Movement three, measure 253 …………………………….. 64

FIGURE 30 – Movement three, measure 254 …………………………….. 64

FIGURE 31 – Movement three, measure 255 …………………………….. 65

vi

ABSTRACT

David Werner Amram III, is a unique figure in American music to whom musical compartments mean nothing. He is a respected composer and conductor of western art- music, having served as composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic and having conducted his works with many major symphony orchestras. At the same time he is an accomplished jazz musician, having collaborated with greats such as Charles Mingus and Thelonius Monk, and also performs on many non-western instruments as well. Even his instrument of choice in jazz is unusual: the French horn. The title of his 1971 album No More Walls appropriately illustrates Mr. Amram's unique views on music and society. Mr. Amram is not known as a prolific composer for the oboe, and his compositions that utilize the oboe in a prominent role are not yet staples of the oboe and woodwind literature. These works would undoubtedly have tremendous audience and performer appeal. The musical language Mr. Amram employs in these compositions reveal the influence of such diverse musical cultures as that of Elizabethan England, American blues and jazz, and Native American and Middle Eastern music. This project does not purport to be a comprehensive survey of all of Mr. Amram's compositions that involve the oboe. Rather, the idea is to inspire in other oboists interest in Mr. Amram's work by examining in some detail five particular compositions that seem representative of his compositional output as a whole. These works are well-written for the oboe and show an understanding of the instrument’s strengths and limitations. Also included is a detailed biographical sketch that analyzes important events in Mr. Amram's life, which will hopefully shed light on the circumstances and philosophies that led to the creation of these, and other works.

vii

FIGURE 1 – David Amram and Leonard Bernstein, 1967 (Photo taken from http://www.davidamram.com; used with permission)

viii

CHAPTER I

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH AND ANALYSIS OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF DAVID AMRAM

David Amram is a unique figure in American music. "Musical compartments mean nothing to David Amram, whose compositions have fearlessly crossed back and forth between the classical and jazz worlds, as well as those of Latin jazz, folk, and television and film music."1 His jazz instrument, the French horn, is an unusual choice, and he has made recordings on piano, recorder, and a plethora of unusual non-western instruments including Native American and Asian flutes, and Middle Eastern percussion instruments. The object of his life is to, "educate the young and old in music, its diversity as well as its universality, so that it's demystified and off the elitist, ivory-towered shelves of black-tie pomposity (in terms of classical music) and industry domination (in terms of pop)."2 To this day, he remains completely without pretense and is ". . .unspoiled by success, informal in manner and dress."3 The following chapter is a biographical sketch of Amram's life and will provide insight into his unique outlook on music and life, and also explain how he came to hold those philosophies. David Werner Amram III was born on 17 November 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His earliest musical recollections include his father attempting to play “a Mozart Sonata or Brahms Symphony on the family Steinway after everyone had already

1 "David Amram," All Music Guide to Jazz, 1998 ed.

2 Matt Damsker, "David Amram Bridges the Gap," in Biography News (Detroit: Gale Research Co., April 1974), 370.

3 Charles Moritz, ed., "Amram, David (Werner)," in Current Biography 1969 (New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1970), 16.

1 gone to bed,” and receiving a toy bugle for his sixth birthday. Both recollections would hold important future ramifications.4 After living in Pass-a-Grille, Florida in 1937-1938, the Amrams moved to a farm in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, where, as a second grader, he began taking lessons on both piano and trumpet. Several other seminal events occurred during this time. One was his introduction and subsequent attraction to the French horn on having heard a performance of Peter and the Wolf at a Philadelphia Orchestra childrens’ concert. After hearing that performance, Amram sneaked into the school music room during lunch to try an unused French horn, but was caught and reprimanded by the school music teacher. Although the French horn would become his primary instrument later in life, he remained a trumpet player at that time. Also around this time Amram discovered jazz by listening to radio broadcasts. He even had his first impromptu jam-sessions with a local farmhand. The Amrams relocated to Washington, D. C., in 1942. Shortly thereafter, at age 12, Amram had his first professional engagement as a jazz trumpet player. He had attended a party where a band had been hired, and was invited by bandleader Louis Brown to “sit in.” Brown, impressed with Amram’s skill at improvisation, invited him to perform with a dance band at the D. C. Elks Club. About this engagement, Amram wrote, “Even though it was only a dollar, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life in music.”5 At this point, it is important to note that Amram freely associated with all types of people. This is especially remarkable considering that Washington, D. C. in the early 1940s remained a segregated society. This interest in peoples of different ethnic backgrounds and cultures would become a hallmark of his adult life. He later wrote that, "My life in the jazz world had nothing to do with white or black, but with music and fellow souls communicating with one another."6 By 1943, Amram had already completed a symphony. He recalled that the work had elements of Gershwin, “not because of Gershwin but because of what I heard from

4 David Amram, Vibrations: A Memoir (New York: Macmillan, 1968; reprint, New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2001), 1 (page citations are to the reprint edition).

5 Ibid., 21.

6 Ibid., 445.

2 my introduction to and participation in jazz.”7 Shortly after completing the symphony, he recalled that he became more fully aware of the concepts of counterpoint, form, and development through the works of J. S. Bach and Beethoven, and felt compelled to destroy his symphony. About Bach he wrote, “When I first heard the Brandenburg Concertos, I noticed that by listening to each line I could also hear these pieces as a kind of Baroque Dixieland. The polyphonic writing, the spirit, and the buoyant quality of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos were similar in many ways to some of those superlative [Bix] Beiderbecke recordings.”8 After attending an outdoor performance of the Beethoven Fifth Symphony by the National Symphony Orchestra, he said about the concert, “I heard for the first time how Beethoven used the opening four notes as the basis for the entire symphony. In some sort of primitive way I was slowly becoming aware of the existence of form and development in composition, something altogether different from the freedom of improvising. I decided that I had better get a composition teacher and begin to find out more about this.”9 After graduating from Gordon Junior High School, Amram went to a summer camp in Vermont at the famed Putney School, enrolling in school there the following fall in an experimental program for problem children. While he was enrolled there, due to braces on his teeth, Amram was unable to continue playing the trumpet. He chose to start playing the French horn, an instrument for which he had earlier shown an affinity. Almost immediately he decided not to go back to the trumpet after the braces were removed.

Playing the French horn opened up another world for me. As I began rehearsing Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony and other works, I found that I now had much more interesting parts to play. The horn was used orchestrally in many more ways than the trumpet. I also found that as a composer there were many more things I could hear. The French horn made me listen. There were so many colors that the instrument itself was capable of. Playing made me

7 Ibid., 30.

8 Ibid., 30.

9 Ibid., 31.

3 notice the other inner voices like the violas and how effective they could be in a well-orchestrated piece.10

At the same time, Amram was also thinking about the possibilities of the French horn in jazz, something he would spend a significant portion of his adult life doing, though, “this was something unheard of in those days.”11 Amram’s meeting with Dimitri Mitropolous in the summer of 1946 also had a profound effect on his ideas about composition. Mitropolous told Amram to keep up his work in music, and encouraged him to work more on harmony.12

I plunged into the study of harmony all over again. I sat at the piano for hours slaving over one or two measures, bashing away, hunting and searching, looking for the right notes. One day in the middle of the process I realized that the way I was playing the piano - backward and forward, slowly searching, finding, rejecting - was the way my father had played the piano in my earliest memories of music. I saw his approach was almost a compositional one. I realized the reason he was so laborious was that he wanted every note to be correct. If he missed a note, rather than going ahead, he would go back until he could make every sound the composer had intended, even it was completely out of meter and tempo. It was this painstaking and honest way of knowing exactly what I was doing that became the basis for my earliest compositional techniques. If I couldn’t hear it in my head and write it down, I would just sit there pounding away at the piano until I could.13

Two other important events took place later that year in school: Amram’s discovery of Renaissance music and theater. Amram’s impressions of the impact Renaissance music had on modern composers, particularly Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky, would be remarkably similar to peoples’ future impressions of Amram’s music.

10 Ibid., 43.

11 Ibid., 44.

12 Ibid., 49.

13 Ibid., 49.

4 The more I played Renaissance music, the more I found that while it was difficult to separate independent musical lines the way they moved melodically, or horizontally, from the way the sounded vertically, or harmonically, nevertheless that harmony fascinated me. I felt I had a good natural lyric feeling but needed to develop a good harmonic vertical feeling, so that what I wrote didn’t sound ordinary or primitive. The music of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky - especially the Symphonies of Wind Instruments, which was dedicated to Debussy - really caught my ear. These sounds were rooted in much older music but were still very new.14

Amram also became interested in theater for the first time, beginning an involvement that would continue throughout his adult life. This interest was first piqued on a school field trip to see Hamlet in Boston. Though he recalled that the music used in that production were recorded fanfares of poor quality, the use of music in the theater left an impression on him. Amram did take part in some school drama productions. But true to his personality, he felt that “there was something very constricting about the conventional idea of theater for a performer, being stuck with lines and a director’s dictatorial control.”15 He found his niche when organ-grinder music was needed for a scene in a school production. Since no one could find any recordings, Amram was asked to compose something that might pass for it. The music was successful.

I did not really think that this ten minutes of work was the most distinguished that I would do in my life, but it threw my fellow actors into a state of ecstasy. “Superlative, fabulous, evocative, magnificent,” were the response from these young masters of hyperbole. While I thought the organ grinder music was quite effective and fun to do, it certainly wasn’t that much musically. But apparently it had the kind of feeling that made the actors respond on stage. This was a gift that I have always seemed to maintain and while my interest was always music, I think that my affinity for theatrical music is something that comes through naturally.16

The following summer, Amram returned to Washington, D. C. and began his first formal studies in composition with Wendell Margrave. Margrave focused on analysis and counterpoint, and Amram wrote, “By the end of the summer, he had given me

14 Ibid., 50.

15 Ibid., 50.

16 Ibid., 51.

5 enough tools to work with so that I could educate myself in composition during my last year of high school.”17 Also that summer, Amram played his first jazz gigs on horn, piquing his interest in more avant-garde jazz, such as the music of saxophonist Charlie Parker. Upon graduating from high school in 1948, Amram enrolled at Oberlin College, but left after only a year saying that, “I felt the precious cloistered aura of the institution was more important than the students and the blandness of the Midwest was driving me crazy. I felt that four years there would be like a stretch in a refined reform school.”18 Amram returned to Washington, D. C. where the following fall, he enrolled at George Washington University, but not as a music major. Amram wrote, “I signed up at random for any course that sounded interesting. I knew I was going to study music now for the rest of my life anyway, but I thought I would be happier studying it privately rather than in an institutional situation.”19 He goes on to say that because of one particularly eloquent history professor, “I felt as if for the first time in my life that I had really entered school. Dean Kaiser made me realize learning could be a joy.”20 All of the returning World War II veterans that were then enrolling in school also had a strong impact on Amram. Amram was much younger than these returning veterans (the average age of the GWU student body at the time was thirty; Amram himself was only nineteen) and he enjoyed the down-to-earth atmosphere these veterans brought to campus.

The whole academic-game world crumbled during this time. The teachers couldn’t toy with these students, because many of them who had spent five years in a near life-or-death situation were so prepared for living that they could instinctively sense whether something was true or not. If a professor in any subject went into any kind of academic floor show, one of the veterans would raise his hand and challenge him.21

17 Ibid., 57.

18 Ibid., 64.

19 Ibid., 68.

20 Ibid., 71.

21 Ibid., 68-69.

6

This attitude also spilled over outside the classroom.

Because the school was in a mild state of chaos and because the institution had been suddenly forced to adapt itself to the needs of the huge student body, it was more intellectually challenging than any other place I’d been in my life. The fraternity members only numbered two hundred in a student body of fifteen thousand; they were completely swamped. When they drove around in their convertibles waving banners for school elections, thousands of GIs would stand on the street corners booing them. I really felt at home.22

During that year in school, Amram also moved out of his parents’ home and into a basement apartment, which became somewhat of a mecca for Washington’s “hipsters”23 over the next several years. The apartment played host to frequent jam sessions attended by both classical and jazz musicians, including a diverse assortment of luminaries ranging from Kenneth Pasmanick (who had a long and distinguished career as principal bassoonist of the National Symphony Orchestra) to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. “The classical musicians who were interested in jazz would come to play chamber music and then listen while we jammed. The jazz musicians became interested because they wanted to get together with classical musicians, an opportunity which at that time was very rare. Unfortunately in Washington, segregation was not only between the races, but also between different types of musicians.”24 Amram was deeply affected, both musically and spiritually, by Charlie Parker. Amram wrote this about Parker’s music:

Charlie Parker’s whole concept of music, his dedication to it, and the spirit he created, influenced me as a composer as much as any other musician that I can think of. His music made me aware that every sound is related to every other sound. He was like an architect and a painter and a poet all at the same time. His attitude of an open mind and an open heart, of playing with anybody, listening to everything, and then being able to distill all these experiences in

22 Ibid., 70.

23 1940s pre-hippie bohemian movement that would later become known as "beatnik."

24 Ibid., 74.

7 his own way - all this affected me and a whole generation of people who were aware enough to get the message.25

Amram goes on to write about Parker’s views on society:

I remember him saying that someday he hoped that his kids could go to school with my kids and be able to get along. I never talked about racial problems to black musicians. It is as offensive as people coming up to me and telling me how great it must be to be Jewish before I’ve said three words. Bird [Charlie Parker] didn’t mention it much either, but I could see that he was really conscious of the stupidity of our whole way of life and felt that the denial of people of each other on an individual human basis was even more upsetting to him than America’s denial of him as an artist.26

Later, in an interview for Life magazine, Amram would give more musically concrete notions about how Parker's music influenced him. He told interviewer Diana Lurie, "His use of the simple line against the harmonic background was as perfect as Bach's. It made me think of all composition as improvisation."27 The latter concept would certainly play a major role in Amram's own compositions. Also during this time, two other meetings of note took place. One was his meeting with oboist Marcel Tabuteau, who he described as, “the hero then of every orchestral player.”28 Tabuteau encouraged him to continue composing, “Even if you can never make a dime in music you must continue your composition because you’ll get more satisfaction from that than you ever will just from being a fine player. Fortunately I teach and conduct too or I would die.”29 Amram would dedicate his 1977 work Trail of Beauty, for oboe, mezzo-soprano and orchestra to Tabuteau’s memory. The other meeting of importance was with his neighbor, Owen Dodson, who was Howard

25 Ibid., 106.

26 Ibid., 104.

27 Moritz, ed., Current Biography 1969, 14.

28 Amram, Vibrations, 84.

29 Ibid., 84

8 University’s theatrical director. Amram ended up composing and directing incidental music for several of their plays, furthering his experience in theater music. In 1952, Amram graduated from George Washington University with a B. A. degree in European history, and enlisted in the United States Army that summer. Even though Amram felt an obligation to serve his country, he intensely disliked the institution of the army.

The army made me a confirmed pacifist. Of course because of my army training I know many ways to cripple or maim. This is one achievement I take no pride in. Most musicians I know feel the same way. From living together in our music we learn brotherhood, harmony, compassion, love, and the elevation of the spirit through the joys and sorrows expressed in so many different kinds of music from so many different kinds of people all over the world. If Western society can ever catch up with the message of its music we may still be saved, and if the world’s generals and statesmen could all get together for a jam session or some chamber music, more good would be accomplished than wrecking young people by training them in the art of legal violence.30

Amram also had difficulty accepting the de facto segregation that remained in the army, even after President Truman’s order integrating the armed forces. While in band school at Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky, Amram was asked to consider staying with the Breckenridge band. Amram declined, saying, “Since I was drafted into an army fighting for the freedom and equality of all people, I would feel funny playing in a segregated camp band since a lot of my friends, who were part of an African-American National Guard unit, were playing in another band across the street.”31 Amram also had difficulty relating to army musicians. “Music to them was just their way of getting through the army. They knew how hard it was to try to make a living playing and as military men they were doing a job that had a certain value. But I never could feel the psychic rapport I feel with most other musicians.”32

30 Ibid., 162.

31 Ibid., 121.

32 Ibid., 133.

9 Amram eventually was sent to Europe, where he first played in a band in Bremerhaven, Germany, before being sent on to the Seventh Army Symphony. His experiences with the Seventh Army Symphony were very different from his experiences thus far in the army. He described the scene in the barracks on the day of his arrival: “I got to the top floor and witnessed a panorama of total confusion. The wall lockers were covered with pictures and reproductions of paintings. Even though it was in the afternoon, the barracks were in a complete mess. All the musicians, whom I assumed were members of the Seventh Army Symphony, had long hair and were wearing sloppy, half-army, half-civilian clothes.”33 Amram also described, after a day of lengthy rehearsals, “I was pretty exhausted by the end and had a headache as well. I had never rehearsed that much in my life. And while the other musicians were exhausted too, it was really fun because we were young men all doing what we loved to do. I certainly didn’t feel like I was in the army anymore.”34 Amram’s talents for composing theater music was also called upon during his tenure with the symphony. He was asked by special services to compose and conduct incidental music and a dance number for a play based on a James Thurber story. Years later, reminiscing in New York City with conductor James Dixon, Amram still looked upon his years in the Seventh Army Symphony with fondness. When Amram was off-duty, one of his favorite hangouts was a Frankfurt bar called The Jazz Keller. The Jazz Keller was where he eventually met Gunther Schuller. Amram later said that, “I think if it hadn’t been for my association with jazz, I never would have met Gunther this way and would have delayed my return to America.”35 As it was, Amram spent over a year in Europe after his discharge from the army. For the first five months after leaving the army, Amram toured, presenting chamber music concerts on behalf of the Department of State. He then left Germany to visit friends in Paris and stayed nearly a year.

33 Ibid., 142.

34 Ibid., 145-146.

35 Ibid., 167-168.

10 In Paris, Amram immediately became a fixture on the Bohemian scene. He associated with such luminaries as sculptor Alexander Calder and composer Edgard Varèse. He was immediately impressed by how these people “. . .all had the same thing in common - a kind of natural openness, frankness, and a lack of pretense, and particularly a great kindness to the young people at the table. Neither their hard-earned reputations, their notoriety, nor their years seemed to present any barrier between us. They wanted us to communicate directly with them.”36 In contrast, Amram described a formal chamber music concert in which he took part in the premiere of a work by a student of Nadia Boulanger:

I felt as if I were in a wax museum. I really wanted to cry for all the people that were here, reliving a bad imitation of what once must have been so glorious, and exciting, and meaningful. I knew I wanted to spend my life in music, but I could never live with the idea of trying to please a gathering of this sort. Any contemporary artist would have to find his audience from the present and the future, rather than trying to appeal to people who obviously associated music and art with something that was out of the past. I realized that this was more like a costume party than a concert. The music was just an excuse for a social gathering. This was a perfectly good excuse, but it did not seem to me a reason for anybody to write music or perform it. At best it was simply the tail end of bygone times.37

Amram goes on to say that he tried to say hello to Madame Boulanger, but decided against it, as the people surrounding her were, “. . .too sinister looking.”38 After this performance, Amram went to an after-hours jam-session.

As I was playing, I saw how lucky I was to be able to play jazz, to be doing something that was alive and unpretentious. Here the whole atmosphere was so warm and real and electric. The music was the important thing. I was sure that when Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Brahms were writing music, they felt the same joy of life and vitality. I just hoped that jazz music would never

36 Ibid., 183.

37 Ibid., 199.

38 Ibid., 199.

11 become mummified or put in the kind of museum atmosphere that I had been in earlier that night.39

For a while, Amram was a successful jazz musician, performing with a cutting- edge jazz band at a Paris nightclub called the Rose Rouge, and even doing commercial jazz recordings with such musicians as Lionel Hampton. Unfortunately, the public was not as enthusiastic about this avant-garde jazz, and the Rose Rouge soon fell on hard times and closed. Amram had to take a short hiatus from playing while recuperating from having his wisdom teeth extracted, and began reading extensively. An interview with author William Styron was particularly influential. “A writer’s main job is to write and not be too pompous or waste time giving too many interviews. I liked his candor throughout the interview because he sounded so for real.”40 What Amram read made him think about his own musical voice.

I began to think that perhaps someday I would be able to write music that might have some of the quality that I felt in some of these writers I was beginning to admire more and more. I also thought from what I kept hearing in my head that my music could never take the route that composers were supposed to follow in 1955. I could never join others in chasing the ghosts of Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg. I loved their music, but I was from Pennsylvania, not Vienna. I felt that if I was going to accomplish my dream, I would somehow have to write down what I felt and what I heard and hope that it would have enough impact to mean something to the musicians who played it and eventually to the people that would hear it.41

Although Paris made such an impression on Amram that he decided to make it his second home for life, several events convinced him that he needed to eventually return to the United States. The first was attending a New Years Eve party with other American expatriates. Being around these people made Amram realize that, “America was my home and that somehow I loved it, even though I didn’t understand it and felt lost and out of place there most of the time. I had the first inkling that I would have to go back

39 Ibid., 200.

40 Ibid., 180.

41 Ibid., 180.

12 someday.”42 Another was Charlie Parker’s death, which finally allowed other jazz musicians to be noticed. “It was almost as if Charlie Parker’s death had made it possible for others to be heard. Although it broke every musician’s heart when he died, it seemed that his life had been a sacrifice for all of us, that it opened up doors for the kind of music he had been playing for the past ten years. This was one of the forces pulling me back to America.”43 Amram also decided that, “. . .there would be better training and more opportunity for my music there than would be in Paris.”44 Almost immediately upon his return in the fall of 1955, Amram found that New York was not Paris. Going to a club called the Open Door, Amram cheerfully asked, “Hey, I’ve just come back from Europe. Do you need a French-horn player to work here? The manager bared his fangs. It was my first experience with the old New York snarl.”45 Despite this initial setback, Amram did well for himself at first in New York. He enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music, studying composition with Vittorio Giannini and Ludmila Ulehla, and horn with Gunther Schuller, who also coached his student woodwind quintet. He had also not been in New York very long when Charles Mingus invited Amram to perform with him. Despite maintaining an active performing schedule and composing prolifically, Amram soon found himself as another struggling New York artist. After a year, due to chronically late GI Bill payments, he dropped out of the Manhattan School of Music. One of Amram’s first high-profile projects was composing the background music to a historical documentary of New York’s Third Avenue El.46 The project’s director, Hal Freeman, had been introduced to Amram’s music through a mutual friend. Amram described his compositional process: “What I was doing was what I’ve always tried to

42 Ibid., 172.

43 Ibid., 215.

44 Ibid., 215.

45 Ibid., 217.

46 Elevated train.

13 do - simply write good music and let it be called whatever it was. What I tried to do was not to write background music, but treat the whole situation as if it were a ballet in which the music and the visual image became one thing.”47 Some parts were “out and out jazz,”48 though the whole score was notated with the exception of eight improvised bars. Amram would later become a film composer of some renown, and wrote about this first experience in film music, “It was a wonderful introduction for me to learn how to write for films and served as a great apprenticeship for my later work.”49 Shortly thereafter, Amram began his long and prolific relationship with the New York Shakespeare Festival. Due to some cast members’ familiarity with Amram’s earlier work for the Howard University theater department, Amram was asked to compose incidental music for the play Titus Andronicus. The compositional approach to this project was not dissimilar to Amram’s approach for the documentary film music: “I hoped the music would make some contribution to the whole general atmosphere by virtue of being good music as well as relating to the production itself.”50 Amram also said several years later that, “I had no real system [for composition] but tried to make each play a unique situation. I explained how I thought the music should start and stop, the use of repetitive themes and their alterations, the dramatic fabric of the play and its relation to a musical scheme.”51 At the end of the play’s run, director Joe Papp told Amram, “I like your music. You frightened us a little bit at first, but you have something. Keep it up. I’ll see you next summer,”52 thus cementing the festival’s relationship with Amram. The next summer he was asked to compose music for productions of Romeo and Juliet and Two Gentlemen of Verona.

47 Ibid., 243.

48 Ibid., 243.

49 Ibid., 245.

50 Ibid., 261.

51 Ibid., 322-323.

52 Ibid., 261.

14 At about this time, Amram and his band were booked for an eleven-week run at a club called the Five Spot. Support from members of the artistic community helped transform the Five Spot into a jazz center. Amram described them as, “genuinely interested in the music,” and not like, “typical jazz fans who just wanted to come in to pick up chicks or make the scene. They were open-minded to any kind of music.”53 At this time in New York, Amram described a, “cross-pollination of music, painting, writing - an incredible world of painters, sculptors, musicians, writers, and actors, enough so we could be each other’s fans. When I had concerts, painters would come, and I’d go play jazz at their art gallery openings, and I played piano while the Beats54 read their poetry.”55 The club and the band’s success eventually got the attention of Esquire magazine and the Tonight Show. Unfortunately, Amram’s band was a victim of the club’s success. At the end of their run, the owners of the Five Spot replaced his band with groups with bigger names. This association with these Beat figures culminated in the making of a movie called Pull My Daisy in which the actors improvised around a scenario. The idea for Pull My Daisy came from painter Alfred Leslie. The “actors” were well-known writers such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso, in addition to Amram, who also wrote the music. The purpose in making the movie was to "capture a moment in time."56 Amram and these other Beat figures had become disillusioned with the Beatnik fad, which they felt was a warped perception of their ideas. Amram summarized their feelings by saying, "The company store had bought up our ideas and repackaged them into an image so specious that we were no longer welcome unless we wanted to join in the charade."57

53 Ibid., 263-264.

54 Beat, an abbreviation of "beatnik," refers to the pre-hippie bohemian movement centered around Greenwich Village in New York City during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

55 Dan Wakefield, New York in the Fifties (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1992), 7.

56 Amram, Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002), 84.

57 Ibid., 84.

15 In the spring of 1957, Amram’s band started making a recording for Decca records. They were harassed by the agent for being an integrated group. Amram described his tirade: “He shouted, fumed, and yelled at me trying to rattle us. But we refused to have our music ruined by him. Perhaps he thought this was the best way to work in music, but it was not the best way to get any kind of results. Good music is produced in an atmosphere of love and cooperation and joy, not hate and oppression and bullying, especially when the hater is incompetent and ignorant.”58 Several years later, while recording a movie score in Hollywood, Amram encountered a similar situation when he tried to hire an African-American jazz group to play part of the soundtrack, but held fast to his principles. Amram would undoubtedly have agreed with African- American musician Sonny Rollins, who was criticized by activists for performing with white musicians. Rollins said, “I thought it was a healing symbol, and I didn’t have any qualms about doing it.”59 In the late 1950s, Amram continued to gain fame as a theater composer. He continued his affiliation with the Shakespeare Festival, and was also asked by Stuart Vaughn, Artistic Director at the Phoenix Theater, to be its composer-in-residence and music director. This was a major milestone, as Amram said, “For the first time in my life I would have a tiny but guaranteed salary for a whole theatrical season. This seemed incredible to me, after nearly nine straight years of financial panic, excluding the two years I spent in the army.”60 In addition, on the recommendation of Joe Papp, Amram was asked to write the music to the Broadway play Comes a Day. He described his sudden success: “A week and a half later there were two big ads in the Sunday Times, one for the Phoenix announcing that I was writing the music for The Family Reunion and was the music director, and one for Comes a Day mentioning that I was writing the music. People started calling me up to congratulate me.”61

58 Amram, Vibrations, 266.

59 Wakefield, New York in the Fifties, 111.

60 Amram, Vibrations, 299-300.

61 Ibid., 302.

16 Because of all this notoriety, Amram was also asked to write the music for a new Archibald MacLeish play called J. B. He described his feelings after speaking to Elia Kazan, the director: “I left his office in a daze, finding it hard to believe that I would be chosen from nowhere to work on a play of this magnitude.”62 He went on to say, “I was being paid more for working on J. B. than all the other composing I had done in my life put together, and I was even going to get a $25 royalty for each week that the play ran.”63 At this point, Amram had become so well-known that, “every few weeks I was writing for some new play,”64 and, “I was getting phone calls day and night from people to write music for every conceivable venture.”65 Amram also won the Obie Prize, given by the Village Voice for his off-Broadway achievements. He also gained national exposure when he was asked to write the music for a television adaptation of Turn of the Screw, which starred Ingrid Bergman. Amram’s success never inflated his ego. Even when cast members of J. B. were badgering him about finding bigger-name management, Amram stuck to his convictions and replied,

People in big organizations like that have slammed the door in my face all my life. I have never been able to get past the receptionist. This woman [Barna Ostertag] was interested in me when I wasn’t even making a dime and she’s interested in me becoming a better composer and an artist. She’s someone I can trust. That’s something money can’t buy. And she’s plenty smart, too.66

Amram went on to say about the actors, “They seemed convinced that there was some easy way to do things that depended on connections and power. This might be true in the acting profession, although I doubt it, but it certainly isn’t true in music. Outside the commercial areas in music you can only achieve your desires through the quality of the

62 Ibid., 303.

63 Ibid., 305.

64 Ibid., 321.

65 Ibid., 334.

66 Ibid., 307.

17 music itself.”67 Amram also displayed this characteristic lack of pretense to a friend who was experiencing self-doubt in her skill as a writer:

I used to have arguments with Emma and try to encourage her to pursue her own dream and her work, but it was difficult. In a way she was so sophisticated, but in another way her constant concern about the politics of the New York world of fine arts, publishing, literature, social climbing and all the other refinements of urban living which I had been oblivious to and contemptuous of really worried her.68

Amram further strengthened his argument by telling her:

I never finished music school, you know. I wanted to, but I ran out of money and was too disorganized then anyway. I’ve never been to Tanglewood. I’ve never had a fellowship. I’ve never had a patron and I don’t even know the people in the musical establishment - whatever that is. Except for Dimitri Mitropolous, I don’t even know anyone in classical music that could be helpful, but I’m writing my music and now I’m starting to get some pieces played.69

Another milestone occurred in June 1959, the first professional performance of one of Amram’s concert works. Conductor Maurice Peress had approached him about composing a string orchestra work for his series at New York University. The work was based on a string quartet he had been working on, and was eventually called Autobiography for Strings. The work was premiered by the Washington Square Chamber Orchestra under Peress’s direction. Later that year, Amram’s work Shakespearean Concerto for oboe, two horns and strings was premiered at Grinnell College in Iowa and was played shortly thereafter in New York at Workmen's Circle.70 Amram commented on these two pieces,

67 Ibid., 307.

68 Ibid., 329.

69 Ibid., 329.

70 A Jewish community center.

18 These compositions I would put in a new kind of pile. They were my beginnings as a man. As I heard these wonderful musicians playing through my work [Lois Wann was the oboe soloist; orchestra members included such luminaries as Walter Trampler and Karen Tuttle] and how involved they were in the music, I saw that whether or not I appeared to take myself seriously from now on and whether or not people thought that I was serious, I was finally getting my chance to write music and hear it played. I felt that these pieces, while they were only the beginning of my dream, were definite statements of what I felt about music and would serve as a point of departure for where I wanted to go.71

Whitey Lutz, an old friend of Amram’s from The Five Spot, approached Amram about sponsoring a concert of his music at Town Hall. This concert took place on 8 May 1960. In addition to the Shakespearean Concerto, the program also included incidental music for the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night, the Violin Sonata, Autobiography for Strings, Overture and Allegro for solo flute, and the Trio for saxophone, French horn, and bassoon. Maurice Peress again conducted the orchestral works. The concert was a success and Amram fondly recalled that, “There was not that uptight world that seems to be so much a part of the concert scene, especially where contemporary music is concerned. People were coming to hear the music and to enjoy themselves. It was as much fun as any jazz concert that I had participated in and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves.”72 The review printed the following day in the New York Herald Tribune was favorable as well. Critic William Flanagan wrote that Amram's work was, "in a generally contemporary idiom untouched by the dictates of stylish fashion or, on the other hand, the opportunism that so often plagues the work of composers associated with commerical theater and cinema," and that it was, "everywhere musical, dedicated, and I should risk, passionately honest."73 At this point, Amram was no longer toiling in obscurity. He was asked to write the music for a Broadway production of Albert Camus’s Caligula, in addition to the music for a television adaptation of Hemingway’s play the Fifth Column, directed by

71 Ibid., 341.

72 Ibid., 357-358.

73 Moritz, ed., Current Biography 1969, 13.

19 John Frankenheimer, and for two film scores: Young Savages, also directed by Frankenheimer, and Splendor in the Grass directed by Elia Kazan. Amram accepted and completed these projects, however, he decided that he was not going to be pigeonholed as a film composer. He wrote:

I could have become Mr. Background Music if I wanted to, what with the work I had done in the theater, television, and now two big films. Because I always knew that my job in life was to try to have my music add something to the world, the only way films could be useful would be to interest people in my other music. I decided that I had better limit the amount of work I was going to do in this area. I could probably become a millionaire if I devoted myself to this work and nothing else. But even if I would improve the standard of film music, I would lose the meaning of my life in the process.74

There were many positive events in Amram’s life during the late 1950s and early 1960, though Amram did have a brush with McCarthyism when Joe Papp, Director of the New York Shakespeare Festival, was fired from CBS. Amram later said of this darker side of the times, “The fifties was a repressive time too, in spite of all the creative things going on.”75 Amram continued to be artistically, if not financially sucessful. After a performance of his Sacred Service, film director Mel Brooks called him, "The Jewish Bach."76 Amram was also asked by such luminaries as the Beaux Arts Trio and Jaime Laredo to write works for them, and was personally invited by Rudolf Serkin to be a guest composer at the Marlboro Festival during the summer of 1961. Marlboro's atmosphere appealed to Amram's nature. He wrote: "There were no conductors, no patrons, no authoritarian figures to relegate the performers into the roles of cabdrivers and servants."77 In February 1962, Amram mounted another large concert that was an artistic success but a financial disaster. Among the performers were the Beaux Arts Trio, pianist

74 Amram, Vibrations, 382-383.

75 Wakefield, New York in the Fifties, 251.

76 Amram, Vibrations, 387.

77 Ibid., 388.

20 Richard Goode and a professional freelance chorus that gave another performance of the Sacred Service. In spite of the bad financial situation producing this concert put him in, Amram wrote that he was glad that he did not "grovel, searching out potential patrons with the hope that they might throw me a few crumbs. Some people in the arts spend a great deal of time doing this. I had to be my own patron. I might be broke, but I was my own man."78 A bad experience at a fund raiser for an operatic version of Twelfth Night confirmed his distaste for the patronage system. While he did receive some encouragement from important figures such as playwright Arthur Miller, John Gutman of the Metropolitan Opera, and conductor Paul Calloway, his experience at this fund raiser was mostly a negative one.

Most of the people probably had thought that at most they would hear one singer, preferably one who would go into an old Broadway shout-honker extravaganza lasting perhaps two minutes followed by some more speech- making and a lot more partying. These people realized that they were stuck and had to hear some music. Most of them were not only bored, they were infuriated.79

Amram was approached a second time by John Frankenheimer to write a film score, this time for the Manchurian Candidate, which Amram wrote was a much more pleasant experience than his previous experiences in Hollywood. At about the same time, he was also asked by the production company Lumadrama to compose and conduct background music for a text by Archibald MacLeish called The American Bell, about the Liberty Bell. The MacLeish project was significant in that the orchestra recording the background music was the Philadelphia Orchestra. Amram was nervous about conducting his own music with such a renowed orchestra, but he was well received by the musicians. Also at about this time, Amram was asked to write the background music for a new Arthur Miller play called After the Fall. Amram immediately liked Miller, saying,

78 Ibid., 393-394.

79 Ibid., 427.

21 "He had absolutely no Broadway about him. He was all artist and a real guy."80 A friendship developed, and Miller commended Amram for having stuck to his principles, telling him:

When you see all those guys who gave up their dream to do hack work, I can't feel sorry for them. They all grow too rich and fat and lazy. I see the anxiety on their faces and when they start to tell me how awful it is that they've sold out, I can't sympathize with them. It serves them right. Don't ever stop doing what you're doing. Your own work is the most important thing. It's lucky you didn't get trapped. Don't ever change.81

Shortly thereafter Amram made the decision to retain all the rights to his concert music and most of his theater music. He terminated his agreement with his previous publisher and signed a contract with C. F. Peters, being impressed with the quality and integrity of their company. Amram's opera, The Final Ingredient, was perhaps the most high-profile work he had done by 1965. The Final Ingredient is set in a Nazi death camp and is about Jewish prisoners who attempted to break out in order to get an egg out of a nearby tree, the final ingredient necessary for a forbidden Passover dinner. The opera was commissioned by ABC television and was broadcast nationally on 11 April 1965. It continued to be aired through the 1960s. In the mid 1960s, although Amram was well known in musical and artistic circles, he was by no means financially well off. In 1966, Amram received an offer to teach composition as a sabbatical replacement at an unnamed, "excellent conservatory," but declined, not wishing to be part of an institution. He wrote that he had "been to a few colleges, speaking for just a day. I found that as an outsider simply coming in as myself, I could tell the students about the best of all possible worlds that I knew about. I knew that as a full-time instructor, I would have to do something else."82 While studying bartending in anticipation of working at a friend's bar, Amram received the life-changing

80 Ibid., 405.

81 Ibid., 411.

82 Ibid., 450-451.

22 letter from the Rockefeller Foundation saying that Leonard Bernstein had selected him to be Composer-in-Residence for the New York Philharmonic for the 1966-1967 season. Even though Amram was now part of the musical establishment, he continued to exhort his principles of "celebrating spontaneity and formality" and appreciating "all the beauty that our society ignores, overlooks, or discards," although he admitted that, "many at the Philharmonic thought I was somewhat deranged."83 But Bernstein appreciated what Amram was saying, telling him, "You were speaking from your heart and spreading a very important message. I try to do the same thing and the critics annihilate me."84 Shortly after being notified of his New York Philharmonic appointment, he received a letter from the Lake George Opera saying they were interested in producing his opera Twelfth Night (which had spent the past four years in a desk drawer) the following summer. Twelfth Night finally received its world premiere on 1 August 1968 under the baton of conductor Paul Calloway. On 30 November 1968, Amram presented a type of program in which he first conducted members of the Houston Symphony in a performance of his concert works, then following intermission, played jazz with George Barrow. The concert was sold out well in advance and Amram became in demand to perform these types of programs with orchestras throughout the country. Amram and Barrow also presented two very successful youth concerts on 19 February 1969. According to Carter B. Hersley of the New York Times, "students danced in their seats and interrupted the performances to applaud with their fists."85 Amram conducted youth, family, and parks concerts for the Brooklyn Philharmonic from 1972 to 2001, where he continued presenting "innovative programs of a multicultural nature."86 In 1995, he was recognized by the City of New York for being "a pioneer of multicultural symphonic programming for young people."87

83 Ibid., 150.

84 Ibid., 150.

85 Moritz, ed., Current Biography, 15.

86 "Amram, David Werner," Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2001 ed.

87 David Amram, "Music at the Millennium," Reflections on American Music: 20th Century and the New Millenium, College Music Society Monographs and Bibliographies in American Music 16 (2000): 49.

23 In the same vein as his new concert program formats, in 1971, Amram made a double album for RCA Red Seal called No More Walls (Matt Damsker later wrote in a 1974 article that Amram was, "actively engaged in tearing down the walls that separate one musical world from another").88 The occasion was memorable since, as he put it, "Spontaneity and formality now had a home with the oldest classical music recording company in the world."89 The first LP consisted of Autobiography for Strings, Shakespearean Concerto, and King Lear Variations, while the second LP was an eclectic sampling of improvised jazz and compositions inspired by non-western music. A perplexed RCA executive asked him, "What are you trying to do? You're all over the place. You're a symphonic composer and conductor and a jazz musician who also plays a dozen weird instruments. What's your specialty?"90 The reply, "Music,"91 was not only typical of Amram, but summarizes his all-inclusive philosophy regarding music. In 1969 and into the 1970s, for the first time since leaving Paris, Amram spent time touring overseas, eventually visiting twenty five countries as ". . .an ambassador of goodwill," sometimes sponsored by a government agency such as the State Department, and at other times self-appointed.92 The places visited included Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East and Cuba. Amram and fellow jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz and Earl Hines were the first American musicians to visit Cuba since 1961. Naturally, the music he heard in these locales and the instruments that were played there found their way into his compositions and "reflect his love of music of all cultures."93 Since 1980, Amram has kept busy as a guest conductor and by appearing at multicultural festivals and festivals that celebrate the Beat culture of 1950s New York, particularly those that celebrate the life and work of his close personal friend, author Jack

88 Damsker, Biography News, 370.

89 Amram, Offbeat, 177.

90 Ibid., 178.

91 Ibid., 178.

92 "Amram, David Werner," American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary, 1982 ed.

93 "Amram, David (Werner)," New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001 ed.

24 Kerouac. He has been a regular guest at events such as Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! in Massachusetts, and Orlando, Florida's Kerouac festival.94 Amram recently made recordings, accompanying (on a variety of instruments) recently discovered, self-made tapes of Kerouac reciting his own prose and poetry. These recordings are an attempt to recreate for modern listeners their jazz poetry readings of the late 1950s. Amram has also served as music director of the International Jewish Arts Festival Orchestra since 1987 and director of the Aaron Copland Music of the Americas Festival since 1998. Ever socially conscious, he has also appeared at benefit events, including Waltz III, a benefit for Chicago's homeless, and at Farm Aid with entertainer Willie Nelson.

94 Kerouac's hometown was Lowell, Massachusetts, and Kerouac penned On the Road in Orlando.

25

CHAPTER II

ANALYTICAL ESSAY ON A LITTLE REBELLION: THOMAS JEFFERSON FOR WIND QUINTET, PERCUSSION, STRINGS AND NARRATOR

The idea for A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson, for wind quintet, string orchestra and narrator, had its origins in 1993 when actor E. G. Marshall asked Amram to set some of the writings of Thomas Jefferson to music. Marshall then arranged for the Library of Congress to commission the work from Amram. The result was a forty- minute, twelve-movement work. The work receives its title from the final phrase of the first movement, "I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere." The work was formally commissioned by the Caroline Royall Just Fund of the Library of Congress to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the premiere of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. Amram chose to write the work for diminished forces consisting of only a wind quintet, string ensemble and percussion to pay tribute to Copland's original version of Appalachian Spring for thirteen instruments. Amram also professed an affinity for the medium of the wind quintet, seeing it as a "classic American chamber ensemble." Amram also stated that another reason for using the wind quintet was to "let the orchestra's principal players get together and play as a quintet, which they might not have a chance to do anymore because everyone is so busy."95 From a performer’s standpoint, this composition is appealing because it allows the wind players to serve in two distinct capacities: as a solo member of an orchestral wind section and as a member of a woodwind quintet. The writing for oboe is idiomatic throughout the work, and would not present any technical problems for a competent professional. The oboe parts are written entirely

95 David Amram, interview by the author, Putnam Valley, NY, 25 Sep. 2003.

26 within the two octave span between D4 and D6,96 a comfortable and effective range. The lyrical sections for solo oboe, such as in the Prologue (Figure 3), are well-suited for the oboe and serve as a good showcase for an oboist’s expressive abilities. In the parts of the work where the oboe is serving as a member of the quintet, the oboist must be aware at all times of intonation and blend so that the oboe is not perceived by listeners as an independent voice. The work was premiered by members of the National Symphony Orchestra under Amram's baton on 22 October 1995. Amram wrote that the new piece received "a warm and enthusiastic reception."97 The work made such an impression on Lowell Graham, the conductor of the Air Force Band, that Graham requested a transcription for band to perform at Constitution Hall later that year. A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson was recorded by the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and conductor Richard Auldon Clark in 2002. The first movement, Prologue, states the theme that provides the unifying thread throughout the work. The theme, seen in Figure 2, is first presented melodically by the timpani, then by the solo oboe (Figure 3).

FIGURE 2 – Movement one, measures 1-4

FIGURE 3 – Movement one, measures 12-16

With the exception of a two-measure fragment of lighthearted music immediately

96 C4=middle C

97 David Amram, Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002), 183.

27 preceding the words, "I was married on New Year's Day 1772," the movement is composed entirely of this theme and variations of it being stated conversationally by the different instruments of the ensemble. The timpani melody, which opened the movement, also closes it. The second movement, Native America, is in ternary form. The first part of the movement begins with a theme reminiscent of a Native American dance played by the quintet and percussion (Figure 4), which is soon juxtaposed with the first movement theme (Figures 2 and 3) in the violins.

FIGURE 4 – Movement two, measures 4-6

The strings and quintet then switch roles, as the strings begin playing the second movement motive and the flute, oboe, clarinet and horn play the first movement theme in unison (the bassoon is playing a drone). The two groups of instruments reverse roles again before the second section begins. The second section, where the narration takes place, is much slower in tempo, though the musical content is still the same. Members of the quintet alternate between playing the second movement theme and the first movement theme while the strings drone beneath. The final section is a six measure codetta where the second movement theme is

28 reprised once more at its original tempo. The third movement, Music, is also in ternary form. The text is taken from a letter from Jefferson to his friend Giovanni Fabbroni. The first section consists of a melody in the vein of Mozart (the score indicates con delicatezza alla Mozart), and the instrumental textures alternate between the solo quintet and solo strings. The movement is reminiscent of a classical divertimento.

FIGURE 5 – Movement three, measures 1-8

The first movement theme enters at the second section, at the anacrusis to measure 23, in the French horn part. The first movement theme is juxtaposed against the classical-style music, which is played alternately by the solo strings and the wind quintet. Some word-painting takes place in this section, such as measure 47, where the words, "deplorable barbarism" immediately precede a loud, dissonant chord (marked bruta in the score), and measures 49 through 52, where the solo French horn, clarinet, oboe and bassoon take turns accompanying the phrase, "on the French horn, clarinet, or hautboy, and bassoon," respectively. Another example of word painting takes place at the anacrusis to measure 39 where the first movement theme is played very strongly and espressivo in the strings, accompanying the words, "This is the favorite passion of my soul."

29 Unlike the preceding movement, the narration continues through the third section, which begins in measure 58. The classical-style theme is reprised by the solo strings and the woodwind quintet, while solo horn is simultaneously playing the first movement theme. The fourth movement, Slavery, is a passacaglia based on the first movement theme. This movement is scored for strings and horn. The cellos play the first movement theme, which is serving as the bass line in this passacaglia. The bass line has a regular eight-measure structure, accompanied by a figure in the violas derived from a blues scale.98

FIGURE 6 – Movement four, measures 1-8

The texture thickens for the first variation, which begins in measure eight, with the addition of the violins and horn. After the eight-measure bass line is done, there is a fantasia-like section between the first and second variations where the first movement theme and the accompanying blues figure are developed. The narration enters with the third variation in measure 32, which is a reprise of the theme. Another fantasia-like section, like the one that separated the first and second variations, closes the movement. The fifth movement, Fatherly Advice, is in ternary form. The text is taken from a letter from Jefferson to his daughter Patsy. The first section is entirely new material. The first movement theme does not enter until the narration begins in measure 33, and is difficult to distinguish, as it is played pizzicato by the first violins, accompanied by the second violins, violas and celli, all playing pizzicato.

98 A blues scale typically consists of two tetrachords consisting of alternating minor thirds and major seconds, i. e. C-E flat-F-A flat-B flat-D flat-E flat-G flat.

30

FIGURE 7 – Movement five, measures 33-35

The final section, beginning in measure 66, is a reprise of the first section, however this time the first movement theme does occur, starting in measure 70 in the oboe. The sixth movement, Religious Freedom, is a short, eighteen-measure ternary form movement that features the quintet alone. Amram uses the quintet by itself to achieve organ-like sonorities appropriate for the text. The instruments of the quintet take turns presenting short melodic motives.

FIGURE 8 – Movement six, measures 1-3

The first motive, presented by the clarinet, resembles the beginning of the first

31 movement theme. In the second section, where the narration takes place, these motives are rhythmically augmented. The third section is a shortened version of the first. The seventh movement, My Dear Daughter, is in ternary form. The text is taken from a letter from Jefferson to his family. This movement features a solo violin and is also subtitled Jefferson's Violin. This subtitle probably pays tribute to the fact that Jefferson was a very skilled amateur musician who played chamber music and composed. The first section presents a variation on the first movement theme in the solo violin accompanied variously by the quintet or the strings.

FIGURE 9 – Movement seven, measures 1-8

The second section is more subdued, and the flute introduces the prevalent melody in measure nine. The narration takes place entirely within this section, and the texture is thin at all times, usually with no more than four instruments playing at any one time. The third section reprises the opening section, however the solo violin line has been rhythmically augmented and is less florid than the opening. The first movement theme makes only one appearance in this movement, being played by the solo horn starting in measure 61. The eighth movement, Advice for Good Health and Canons for a Practical Life, is in a five-part (A B A C A) rondo form. The text states Jefferson's ideas about how he has remained healthy and advice on how to live a decent life. The angular rondo theme is introduced by the bassoon, accompanied only by pizzicato strings and percussion with an occasional interjection from the rest of the quintet.

32

FIGURE 10 – Movement eight, measures 1-8

The second section begins in measure nine where the clarinet plays a contrasting lyrical melody and is also where the narration begins. This new melody is passed around the quintet, still accompanied only by pizzicato strings and percussion. The narration continues through the next two sections. The rondo theme returns in the bassoon in measure 25, though altered and shortened. The C section, which begins in measure 32, is developmental, as both the rondo theme, the clarinet melody from the B section, and the first movement theme (which occurs in measure 48 in the horn) are all played against each other at various times. The strings are still relegated to mostly an accompanimental role, alternating between arco and pizzicato chords. The rondo theme, again played by the bassoon, is truncated for its last recurrence, constituting only the last two measures of the movement. Melodic timpani fragments, borrowed from the first movement also occur in several places: the first and third A sections, and the C section. Though the ninth movement, Newspapers, is short (only 27 measures in length), it is also a five-part rondo. The rondo theme consists of an angular ascending figure in the strings, punctuated by the quintet and percussion. The second section, which begins in measure six, contrasts in mood and texture with the first. The oboe and strings play lyrical lines for four measures before the rondo theme recurs. Another contrasting section begins in measure 13 with the quintet playing lyrical lines before the rondo theme recurs in measure 20. A short, three measure codetta completes the movement. The tenth movement, The Declaration of Independence, is the culmination of the entire work, and has a two part text that first deals with the creation of the Declaration of

33 Independence. The second part is an excerpt from the document. The movement is one of the longest, and certainly the most orchestral in texture thus far in terms of thickness and density. The movement is in ternary form. The first section is quite extensive, lasting 38 measures, and features the full ensemble. In the second section, beginning on the anacrusis to measure 39, the texture thins and is limited to the strings. The first movement theme is used in both the first and second sections, but is more readily apparent in the second. It is interesting that the change of texture does not coincide with the changing of the text (from Jefferson's letter to words from the Declaration of Independence). The third section, which begins in measure 55, restates the movement’s opening thematic material. A relatively lengthy coda of ten measures begins in measure 61 and finishes the movement. The eleventh movement, Retirement, is a passacaglia with a brief introduction and coda. The bass line, based on the first movement theme, is presented by the cellos after a four measure introduction.

FIGURE 11 – Movement eleven, measures 4-12

However, only the third, sixth and seventh variations adhere to the regular, eight measure structure and the second and fifth variations employ a different bass line altogether.

FIGURE 12 – Movement eleven, measures 25-33

The bassoon introduces a theme in the introduction that is frequently used as a countermelody to the bass line and the first movement theme. . The first presentation of the bass line is structurally quite interesting, as the first movement theme is being played at several different speeds. The cellos are playing the

34 first movement theme in the slowest note values (the bass line), while the flute is playing it in the next slowest note values. The oboe is playing the first movement theme in the fastest note values. The seventh variation is notable from the standpoint that while it does adhere to the regular eight measure structure of the bass line, the last four measures consist of an extended narration with the low strings holding a G pedal. The eight measure coda repeats the theme presented by the bassoon in the introduction, with a few embellishments. The final movement, Epitaph, serves as a conclusion for the entire work. This movement reprises the opening movement, though in a shortened form. The initial twelve-measure timpani introduction from the Prologue has been shortened to eight measures. The lengthy oboe solo remains in tact, however. In the opening movement, after the oboe solo, string texture predominates. However, in this movement, the material played by the strings is given to the woodwind quintet by itself. After the quintet soli, an eight-measure coda consisting of the full ensemble playing chords, ends the work. None of the previous material is repeated as it is in the first movement. Although this work is not an oboe solo, it still affords oboists an opporunity to be featured as part of a woodwind quintet. Given the limited size of the entire ensemble, a performance would not be logististically difficult to arrange. However, Amram concedes that the forty-minute length may present programming issues. The composer also says that he does not mind if the work is presented in a shortened form if it makes more performances possible.99 Coupled with an effective reading of the text, this composition would have wide audience appeal.

99 Amram, interview.

35

CHAPTER III

ANALYTICAL ESSAY ON QUINTET FOR WINDS

Amram's Wind Quintet was completed on 6 January 1969, and received its premiere seven days later, on 14 January 1969 by the University of Maryland Woodwind Quintet. The performers were William Montgomery, flute; Greg Steinke, oboe; Norman Heim, clarinet; William Allgood, bassoon; and Orrin Olson, French horn. The performance took place at the Textile Museum in Washington, D. C. The work was commissioned by the Kindler Foundation and was presented at the foundation's annual memorial concert in memory of Hans Kindler, the first music director of the National Symphony Orchestra. Arthur Nagle, then vice president and secretary of the foundation remarked before the concert, "Actually this is the most contemporary work you've ever heard because it was completed only seven days ago."100 William Nazzaro of Philadelphia's Evening Bulletin wrote that, "Amram writes in a conservative idiom, with elements of folk and jazz contained within accepted classical forms."101 The first movement is in sonata form, the third, a theme and variations, and the second Amram describes as "pastoral."102 Though there are many areas containing difficult passages for the oboe, the writing shows an understanding of the oboe’s strengths and limitations. Even the more

100 "Amram Quintet Outstanding," Washington Daily News 14 Jan. 1969 [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/woodwind_quintet_2.html; Internet; accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

101 William J. Nazzaro, "Fair Wind for Quintet," Philadelphia Evening Bulletin 7 Dec. 1972 [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/woodwind_quintet_4.html; Internet; accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

102 Samuel L. Singer, "Good Woodwinds Blow No Ill, Take Slaps in Stride at Premiere," Philadelphia Inquirer 7 Dec. 1972 [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/woodwind_quintet_1.html; Internet; accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

36 angular-sounding passages containing large, dissonant leaps are not as difficult to execute on the instrument as a listener might be led to believe. The oboe part occurs entirely within C4 to E flat6, a comfortable range. The first movement begins with two dissonant, jazz-like chords that later return to mark the three major divisions of this sonata form movement. These chords are also heard in measure 29, which marks the beginning of the development section, and in measure 79, where they signal the start of the recapitulation. Several thematic fragments, accompanied by figurations derivative of jazz are passed around among the instruments, however, there is no clearly stated theme. By measure eight, the entire quintet is playing jazz-like figures of an improvisatory nature.

FIGURE 13 – Movement one, measures 8-11

37 This could be considered a transition to the second theme, which begins at measure twelve. Amram sets the second theme apart by marking it espressivo e poco rubato and poco meno mosso e pastorale in contrast to the opening tempo indication, which is Allegro con brio. The themes in this section are longer and more melodic in nature compared to the motivic fragments encountered in the first theme. There are some sequences that take place between the flute and the oboe, but this section, like the first, is free. The lyrical themes are occasionally accompanied by a dotted-note figure.

FIGURE 14 – Movement one, measures 12-17

The development begins in measure 29. There are several distinct sections within the development, and they are set off by changes in mood and tempo. The first section of the development begins at measure 29 and continues until measure 42. Thematic

38 fragments from both the first and second themes are manipulated motivically and undergo sequence. For example, the oboe melody from measure nineteen also occurs in measure 30, although shortened and transposed down a major third. The sixteenth note thematic fragments from the first theme are also developed sequentially. Beginning in measure 33, the chords that punctuate the major divisions of this sonata form movement are also developed, being transposed into different key areas. Measure eight is quoted verbatim in measures 38 and 39, but it has been displaced by two beats, now occurring over two measures instead of one. A ritard marks the transition into the slower, second area of the development, which begins in measure 42. This section recalls some of the thematic ideas of the second theme and builds in complexity until the third section of the development, marked marziale begins. This section juxtaposes the lyrical lines of the second theme with the short, fragmented motives of the first theme, along with the figurations derivative of jazz encountered in the transitional area between the themes. Not only are these many ideas played against one another, they are also developed sequentially. This section also grows in complexity until the two chords from the opening of the work mark the beginning of the recapitulation in measure 79. The recapitulation begins as an exact replication of the exposition through measure eight. However the transitional area between the themes has been truncated to two measures. The slower, pastoral melody in the oboe from measure fourteen does enter in measure 88, however this time the idea is not continued and the movement ends simply on a major triad. Amram does give a cautionary remark to performers about this movement: he asks that the markings on the page be followed as closely as possible. In places such as the first theme, when fragmentary materials are being passed between instruments, it is difficult to know which voice is to be predominant. For this reason, he wishes for dynamic markings to be adhered to closely. He also said that while there are rhythms and harmonies inspired by jazz, this work is not jazz and therefore should not be played with

39 the same sort of freedom. Amram said in his experience, it usually takes several performances of this movement for a group to become comfortable with it.103 The second movement is marked Andante pastorale and is in ternary form. The movement is based on music written for a 1952 production of T. S. Eliot's play The Family Reunion at Howard University in Washington, D. C. The original work was a trio for flute, French horn and bassoon, which explains the three-voice texture that predominates in this movement.104 The first section begins with the clarinet, accompanied by the bassoon and the flute. In measure nineteen, the flute and clarinet trade roles, the clarinet becoming accompanimental. The full quintet finally enters around measure 28, continuing to develop the previous themes by combining it with angular figures containing dissonant intervals and more complex rhythms. The second section, set apart by a slower tempo, introduces a contrasting idea containing grace notes, different from the long, lyrical lines of the previous section. What begins as a thematic fragment containing grace notes are later incorporated into longer, lyrical lines. The third section (which begins in measure 67) is an almost identical repetition of the first section, however, the grace note motive, played by the oboe, is occasionally interjected with the flute, clarinet and bassoon parts. The third movement is a theme and variations built around a modal theme that is reminiscent of Elizabethan England. The theme had been previously composed for a New York Shakespeare Festival production, and is played by bassoon alone. Amram said that it was his intent to feature each instrument over the course of the movement.105

103 Amram, interview by author, tape recording, Putnam Valley, NY, 25 Sep. 2003. 104 Ibid. 105 David Amram, interview.

40

FIGURE 15 – Movement three, measures 1-15

The first variation is a harmonization of the theme, in three parts, played by the clarinet, horn and bassoon. The second variation consists of a countermelody for solo flute; the theme itself is played with a few rhythmic alterations by the other instruments. The third variation, marked Alla marcia, is quite interesting. The flute, oboe and bassoon are all playing the theme at different speeds while the clarinet and horn provide embellishments. Furthermore, what the flute, oboe and bassoon are playing is intervalically identical to the theme, but all three are playing in a different key area; the flute beginning on a C, the oboe beginning on an F, and the bassoon beginning on a B flat. So not only is the theme being played at different speeds, it is being played in three different key areas as well. In measure 59 to measure 65, and again in measure 73 (stopped) the horn plays the tune Maryland, My Maryland, (a la Charles Ives)106 as an obbligato melody, in tribute to the University of Maryland Woodwind Quintet for which this work was written.

106 James Backas, "New Amram Quintet Given Expert Reading," Washington D. C. Evening Star 14 Jan. 1969 [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/woodwind_quintet_3.html; Internet; accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

41

FIGURE 16 – Movement three, measures 59-65

The fourth variation presents the theme in a fragmented form, alternating between longer note values in the lower voices, primarily the horn and bassoon, and faster moving notes, played by the flute and the oboe. The fifth variation is reminiscent of jazz due to the flute playing a countermelody derived from a blues scale.107 The theme is divided between the other four instruments. In the sixth variation, none of the instruments are played in the conventional sense and the theme does not occur. In this variation, Amram satirizes the extended techniques

107 A blues scale typically consists of two tetrachords consisting of alternating minor thirds and major seconds, i. e. C-E flat-F-A flat-B flat-D flat-E flat-G flat.

42 and special effects that were in vogue among avant-garde composers in the 1960s. These effects include key clicks, playing only on the reed, vocalizations made through the instrument, and hitting the horn mouthpiece with the palm of the hand. Mr. Amram stated that he felt the audience probably had enough music "to digest" at this point, and he describes this variation as "a different course in a meal; something to refresh the palate."108 The final variation is a chorale-like statement of the theme played backwards by the flute. The clarinet and bassoon then play the theme in its original form imitatively, though not in a fugal or canonic style. At measure 132, a reprise of the first variation takes place. The final coda begins after the reprise of the first variation, where the bassoon begins to play the theme an octave lower than at the beginning. However, the bassoon only plays the first measure of the theme before the movement quietly ends on a F major triad. The woodwind quintet literature certainly does not suffer for a lack of compositions by twentieth-century American composers. However, the virtuosic and ecletic nature of Amram’s quintet, from the jazz-influenced first movement, to the lyrical second movement reminiscent of Aaron Copland’s music, to the Elizabethan England- inspired third (with the touch of musical comedy in two of the variations) renders it accessible and likeable to performer and listener alike.

108 Amram, interview.

43

CHAPTER IV

ANALYTICAL ESSAY ON SHAKESPEAREAN CONCERTO FOR OBOE AND TWO HORNS AND STRING ORCHESTRA

The Shakespearean Concerto, for solo oboe and two solo horns was composed in 1959 at the request of Joe Eger, who wanted a piece to fit into a program with Mozart's Divertimento in D major, K. 251 for oboe, two horns and strings. The work received its title from the second movement, which contains a theme Amram had used in his incidental music to Twelfth Night. Amram stated that the rest of the work, "was in no way Shakespearean."109 He considered the Shakespearean Concerto to be among his first compositions that he would not, "throw away, revise or use as the basis for other pieces. These were the first pieces that I felt were any kind of statement that I could be proud of. These were compositions that I would put in a new kind of pile. They were my beginnings as a man."110 Like the Triple Concerto, the Shakespearean Concerto is more in the vein of a baroque concerto grosso than a virtuoso solo concerto. In addition to the solo oboe and horns, there are also many passages for solo violin and viola, "pitted against the rest of the string orchestra."111 Amram also said that the three soloists at any given time can be functioning as individual soloists, as a three-member concertino, or merely as members of the orchestra.112 Though the writing for oboe is idiomatic of the instrument (especially the lyrical passages in the slow movement) there are some difficult passages, particularly in the first

109 David Amram, Vibrations (1968; New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2001), 340.

110 Amram, Vibrations, 341.

111 Amram, Vibrations, 340.

112 David Amram, interview by the author, Putnam Valley, NY, 25 Sep. 2003.

44 and third movements involving awkward intervals in the third octave.113 Because of this work’s use of the oboe’s extended range (from D4 to F#6), the Shakespearean Concerto is more technically demanding than the other compositions examined in this treatise. The work was premiered by Eger's chamber orchestra in the fall of 1959 at Grinnell College in Iowa and was played shortly thereafter at Workmen's Circle (a Jewish Community Center) in New York City. In 1967, Amram would make his conducting debut with this work, conducting the Corpus Christi (Texas) Symphony. The first movement is in sonata form. The oboe plays the first theme after a short introduction. At measure nineteen, a transitional area begins, marked by rhythms derivative of jazz in the oboe. The E major second theme arrives at the anacrusis to measure 29, played by the violins. A more relaxed tempo is also indicated and string texture predominates. Another jazz-influenced section beginning in measure 37 is the transition to the development. The three soloists also reenter at this point. The development begins at measure 52. The character of the piece completely changes. The tempo is cut by half, and the oboe has an extended pastoral-sounding melody in seven-four time. The melody is in the tonal area of E flat major, and is similar to a cadenza in its loose treatment of the opening theme.114

FIGURE 17 – Movement one, measures 52-58

The solo horn continues the idea started by the oboe, until measure 66 where it is marked tempo primo. While this seems to be the start of a new section, it is still in the

113 Generally defined as pitches above D6 (middle C=C4)

114 This example is not a cadenza, however, and does occur in measured time.

45 development. The soloists and orchestra continue to develop motives from the first theme. The second theme only appears once, in measure 124, in the first violins. At measure 108, interestingly, the development begins developing itself, as the three soloists and strings begin developing the pastoral seven-four melody played by the oboe (Figure 17). The recapitulation begins in measure 152 with the same chords that opened the movement. The first theme is repeated verbatim. This time, however, there is no transition, and the music progresses directly into the second theme, this time starting in a F major tonal area, rather than E major as in the exposition. The second theme is also sequenced by a half step instead of a whole step, which is another variation from the exposition. After the second theme is repeated, a series of dissonant chords remiscent of jazz grows in volume and intensity until the oboe softly reenters with a rhythmically augmented version of the pastoral seven-four melody, accompanied in the strings by the opening chords of the movement. The second movement is also in sonata form. The first theme is simply stated by the first violins, accompanied by divisi second violins. A viola solo that begins in measure seventeen could be considered a transition to the second theme. The title, Shakespearean Concerto is derived from the second theme of this movement. The second theme is based upon Amram's setting of The Wind and the Rain, sung by the character Feste in the incidental music to the play Twelfth Night. Amram also said that this theme was later used in his opera Twelfth Night as a leitmotif that opens and closes the opera.115 The texture also changes, as the melody is played by the solo viola, accompanied by a second viola and a solo cello.

115 David Amram, interview.

46

FIGURE 18 – Movement two, measures 33-40

The development begins in measure 70, with a change to a faster tempo and a shift in mood. Both the first theme and The Wind and the Rain melody are developed and subjected to numerous rhythmic alterations. The solo viola at measure 90 begins a short fugal section that culminates in a plagal cadence in measures 113 and 114. The oboe leads into the recapitulation in measure 117 with a variation on the opening theme. The opening theme itself recurs in measure 125. The first twelve measures of the beginning are repeated verbatim, then a shortened transition leads into The Wind and the Rain theme, immediately after which the movement ends quietly on an open fifth (A and E). The final movement is in a sonata-rondo form (A B A C A B A). The first statements of the A and B themes are straightforward, and in keeping with the classical tradition, the A and B themes are in different tonal areas, B flat major and E flat major, respectively. The C section begins at measure 45 and it presents much new material. The tempo slows and the mood shifts as the strings and horns immediately present new material that can be described as ponderous and heavy. This alternates with oboe interjections of fragments of the lighthearted A theme. The A theme is then restated in its entirely and subjected to development. At measure 117, a blues section begins, with the violins playing a traditional twelve-bar blues phrase, complete with walking bass.

47

FIGURE 19 – Movement three, measures 117-128

The oboe then plays what would be the second chorus, accompanied by the strings tapping on their instruments to imitate the sound of bongos and congas.

48

FIGURE 20 – Movement three, measures 129-140

Amram said that when this work was premiered, jazz was still held in low regard by the majority of classical music concertgoers, and for this music to happen in an otherwise "classical" piece of music was shocking. Amram went on to describe this section as a switch from the Elizabethan to a jam session in someone's loft, or in Washington Square Park. Amram stresses, however, that this is not merely notated jazz, but was conceived symphonically.116

116 Amram, interview.

49 In measure 141, immediately after the second chorus, the horns play a two measure figure that is noteworthy, as this "fiery figure for the horns in the last movement was similar to a figure that I had played at the Five Spot as my sign-off."117

FIGURE 21 – Movement three, measures 141-142

The C section ends with an oboe cadenza composed freely of themes introduced earlier in the movement. In a style evoking operatic recitative, the cadenza is punctuated by pizzicato string chords. The overall effect is one of contemplation rather than virtuosic display. A B and A are then repeated exactly as they occurred the first time. The movement ends on a coda which begins in measure 217, after a grand pause.

117 Amram, Vibrations, 340.

50

CHAPTER V

ANALYTICAL ESSAY ON TRAIL OF BEAUTY, FOR OBOE, MEZZO-SOPRANO, AND ORCHESTRA

Trail of Beauty, for oboe, mezzo-soprano and orchestra was composed in 1977, and was commissioned by the Rittenhouse Square Womens' Committee of the Philadelphia Orchestra as a tribute to oboist Marcel Tabuteau. The texts are taken from the "poetry, prayers and speeches of native American peoples," found in a collection called I Have Spoken compiled by Gus Gray Mountain.118 119 Conductor Eugene Ormandy shed some insight onto this seemingly incongruous relationship between Native American texts and the French Tabuteau: "As Mr. Amram has indicated, the trail of beauty is followed by all great musicians, hence the connection between the texts (so American) and the memorial to a great Franco-American, whose art transcended all boundaries."120 The original request for the work came from John de Lancie, who was at at that time the principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. de Lancie suggested the combination of mezzo-soprano and oboe, as he had an affinity for the combination because it was used in Bach arias.121

118 Joseph McLellan, "David Amram's 'Trail of Beauty,'" Washington Post 8 Mar. 1977 [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/trail_of_beauty_3.html; Internet; accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

119 David Amram, interview by the author, Putnam Valley, NY, 25 Sep. 2003.

120 Eugene Ormandy, "Eugene Ormandy's Statement on David Amram's 'Trail of Beauty,'" [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/trail_of_beauty_1.html; Internet; accessed on 3 Sep. 2003.

121 Amram, interview.

51 The use of Native American texts and melodies came out of Amram's work with various performers, most notably Floyd Red Crow Westerman in the late 1960s. Amram noted that this was the first use of actual traditional Native American texts and musical materials in a symphonic work.122 Amram's idea to honor Tabuteau in this way came from a 1970 quote by Leonard Crowdog, a Sioux Medicine Man who said, "When you have grown old, when you are dead and gone, the younger ones among us will remember you. At a pow-wow somebody will give a donation to the drummers, go to the announcer, stand and tell the people - they'll sing a song for you."123 Amram goes on to say, "This is for Marcel Tabuteau."124 The texts have all been translated and are sung in English. The writing for oboe is idiomatic of the instrument and occurs entirely within the two octave span between D4 and D6, the oboe’s most comfortable and effective range. The oboe part presents no technical problems, and the lyrical lines are well-suited for the instrument. Though Amram uses Native American melodies in this work, the first movement, Prologue, is entirely original material. The movement is in ternary form.125 The first section is an extended solo for the oboe, which states most of the musical ideas in the movement. The opening interval of the descending fourth occurs frequently as an accompaniment, and the melody that begins on the anacrusis of the ninth measure is the primary melodic idea of the movement.

122 Amram, interview.

123 David Amram, Foreward to Trail of Beauty (New York, C. F. Peters, 1977) n. p.

124 Amram, Foreward to Trail of Beauty.

125 Mr. Amram used the term "cyclic" to describe the form, not only of this movement but the entire work, saying that this was another way to honor Tabuteau, since Franco-Belgian composers of the Romantic Era, such as Cesar Franck, were strong proponents of cyclic form.

52

FIGURE 22 – Movement one, measures 1-15

It is important to note that the oboe line generally is much more disjunct than the vocal line. Amram stated that to have a classically-trained mezzo-soprano trying to sing in the style of a Native American would sound mocking or disingenuous, so his solution was to have the singer sing in the traditional western art-music style, and have the oboe play figurations that would be characteristic of the Native American singing style. The composer did stress however, that this introduction (Figure 22) was not meant to resemble any specific Native American song or chant and is purely original.126 Amram does employ word painting techniques, such as the vocal line rising or falling when the words, "beauty above me," or "beauty below me," are sung, respectively. At measure 38, the tempo slows, the mood changes, and the voice sings new melodic material. The primary melody does recur in the oboe, voice and orchestra in several places, however, the more somber mood prevails until measure 75. There the final section begins as the solo oboe plays a shortened version of the beginning of the movement.

126 Amram, interview.

53 The text of the second movement, Thanks to the Earth Where Men Dwell, was taken from the Iroquois Constitution. The text celebrates nature's magnanimity to man. The movement opens with material derived from the Santee Sioux Rabbit Dance. The full version of this theme is stated beginning in measure 44 by the solo oboe.

FIGURE 23 – Movement two, measures 44-51 (Santee Sioux Rabbit Dance)

This movement is also in ternary form. The first section spans from the beginning to measure 65 and incorporates the Rabbit Dance and melodic material derived from it. At measure 65, the tempo slows, the mood relaxes, and the voice sings a simple melody with a simple chordal accompaniment. The final section, which once again is material based on the Rabbit Dance, resumes at measure 78 and continues to end of the movement. In keeping with Amram’s idea that the singer should not be trying to sing in a Native American style, it is noteworthy that none of the vocal lines in this movement are based upon the Rabbit Dance theme, and appear to be original. The third movement, Song of the Sky Loom, is based on a traditional Laguna Pueblo melody called Aiya Gaitani Loni. The structure of this movement is much more regular than the previous two. The movement is a passacaglia (a theme with three variations). The bass line (passacaglia theme) is based on the Native American melody, and is 31 measures long. The oboe presents the passacaglia theme in an extended solo at the beginning of the movement.

54

FIGURE 24 – Movement three, measures 1-31

The first variation, which is a duet for oboe and voice, begins at measure 32, where the voice enters with an original melody, while the oboe continues to play the passacaglia theme. As in the second movement, the vocal line is not based on any Native American music. The orchestra enters in the second variation, which begins in measure 63. This time, the passacaglia theme is played by muted upper strings, while the voice sings a variation of the melody sung in the first variation. The oboe interjects periodically with a variation of the passacaglia theme. The third variation, a duet for oboe and voice, is a shortened version of the theme, lasting only 21 measures. The oboe plays the first twelve measures of the passacaglia theme before beginning a coda that ends the movement. The voice sings an altered version of the first variation’s vocal line. Amram also uses word painting in this movement, such as a descending figure on the world "fallen" in measure 62, and a rising figure on the word "standing" in measure 69. The final movement, Every Part of this Soil is Sacred and Epilogue, is a lengthy ternary form movement with an extended coda, which features many Native American melodies. The text is taken from Chief Seattle's speech/warning to Governor Issac Stevens in 1854.

55 The movement begins with divisi celli playing a traditional Cheyenne melody that is commonly known as the AIM Song.127 This melody became a protest song of the American Indian Movement in the early 1970s, much in the same way that We Shall Overcome was the protest song of the Civil Rights Movement.

FIGURE 25 – Movement four, measures 1-4

The voice enters in measure 43, accompanied by motives from the previous movements, including the Rabbit Dance of the second movement, and the descending fourth motive and the primary melody of the first movement. Word-painting is used at measure 64 for four measures. A bass drum playing a dotted, heartbeat-like rhythm accompanies the words, "blood of our ancestors." The second section, a lengthy orchestral interlude, begins at measure 90. This section is where the vast majority of the Native American themes, used in an "Ivesian" way, occur.128 The first is Song of Geronimo, as it was sung to Natalie Curtis by Chief Geronimo in 1903, played by the solo oboe.129 The second is the Song of Sitting Bull, as collected by Francis Densmore in 1912 at the Standing Rock Reservation.130 Both themes occur simultaneously starting in measure 122. Neither is serving as an accompaniment to the other; they are of equal importance. In measure 141, a new melody called Tawi' Kuruks, Pawnee song of the Bear Society enters simultaneously with the Cheyenne melody played at the beginning of the movement. Yet another melody

127 An acronym for American Indian Movement

128 Amram, interview. Mr. Amram was referring to the seemingly random way in which Charles Ives juxtaposed American folk melodies against each other in many of his compositions.

129 Amram, Trail of Beauty, 36.

130 Amram, Trail of Beauty, 39.

56 begins in measure 155 and is called Tapko Daagya, the Kiowa Song of the Antelope Ceremony.131 The music then decreases in intensity, and in measure 189, a quiet, contrasting section begins with the winds only blowing air through their instruments, and the strings playing col legno. Amram stated that the effect he was trying to achieve was that of crickets chirping at night; he was trying to recreate the effect of "having the music segue into the sounds of the night," as he had heard many times on the reservations.132 The final native melody to be introduced is a Sioux Honor Song-Anthem, played by the solo oboe starting at the anacrusis to measure 206. The third section begins at measure 299, where the voice reenters. The voice is accompanied by both the solo oboe and the orchestra at various times, playing the descending fourth motive, the AIM Song, and the Rabbit Dance. The Epilogue, which functions as a lengthy coda for this movement, begins in measure 398. Though shortened, this coda is almost an exact repetition of the entire Prologue.

131 Amram, Trail of Beauty, 42.

132 Amram, interview.

57

CHAPTER VI

ANALYTICAL ESSAY ON THE TRIPLE CONCERTO FOR BRASS, WOODWIND AND JAZZ QUINTETS AND ORCHESTRA

The Triple Concerto for brass quintet, woodwind quintet, jazz quintet and orchestra, composed in 1970, was written for Leopold Stokowski and the American Symphony Orchestra. It was commissioned by the Samuel Rubin Foundation. Amram himself described the work as, "a contemporary symphonic jazz adaptation of the baroque concerto grosso in which there are solo groups, rather than the later virtuoso concerto with its highlighting of technical display for one instrument."133 The work is dedicated to "the spirit of jazz and all its players."134 The Triple Concerto originated when Amram was asked by the American Symphony Orchestra to write a work for the composer’s jazz ensemble and orchestra. He chose to also add the brass and woodwind quintets to allow musicians in the orchestra to function as soloists.135 Amram also goes on to say that, "rather than having the jazz ensemble play against the symphonic group, I have written a piece in which it functions as a natural part of the orchestra."136 Critic Daniel Webster of the Philadelphia Inquirer also observed, "What Amram has done is to cleverly unite jazz and classical idioms in a way that shows

133 Harriet Johnson, "Amram's Triple Concerto," New York Post, n. d. [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/triple_concerto_5.html; Internet; accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

134 David Amram, Triple Concerto (C. F. Peters, 1971) 1.

135 David Amram, interview by the author, Putnam Valley, NY, 25 Sep. 2003.

136 Arthur Bloomfield, "Triple Concerto Hits a High Mark, " San Francisco Examiner, 4 Apr. 1973 [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/triple_concerto_4.html; Internet; accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

58 there is very little difference - in intent, especially."137 This observation is reinforced by Amram's stated musical philosophy that there are, "no lines between one kind of music and another."138 The work is scored for a full orchestra of double woodwinds with traditional doublings (English horn, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, etc.), double brass and percussion, in addition to the solo brass, woodwind and jazz quintets. For the most part, Amram treats the ensemble as six distinct groups: the orchestral winds, the orchestral percussion, the solo brass quintet, the solo woodwind quintet, the solo jazz quintet and the orchestral strings. The combined forces rarely play together at the same time. Rather, Amram utilizes the different groups as individual choirs that discourse with each other. The oboe is not used in a direct solo capacity in this work. Rather, the composer has divided the woodwind quintet into two groups: high voices (flute and oboe), and low voices (horn and bassoon). The clarinet, by nature of its extended range, serves as a member of both groups. Throughout the composition, the oboe part is well written and is in a comfortable range, the highest note being E6.139 Though technically difficult in places, there is nothing that would require any special fingerings, and the writing is idiomatic for the instrument. The first movement, Allegro robusto, is in a clearly defined sonata form. The angular first theme is immediately announced by the woodwind quintet (Figure 26), accompanied by the brass quintet. The theme quickly loses its angular characteristics (from its use of dissonant intervals and disjunct motion) and becomes derivative of jazz through its rhythms and use of the blues scale.140

137 Daniel Webster, "Orchestra Concert Explodes with Life," Philadelphia Inquirer, 23 Jan. 1973 [posted on-line]; available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/triple_concerto_2.html; Internet; accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

138 Ibid.

139 C4=middle C.

140 A blues scale typically consists of two tetrachords consisting of alternating minor thirds and major seconds, i. e. C-E flat-F-A flat-B flat-D flat-E flat-G flat.

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FIGURE 26 – Movement one, measures 1-4

Beginning at measure seven, a transition begins as the theme undergoes development. Different instrument groups take turns playing and embellishing the theme for approximately one measure at a time. After a restatement of the theme, again stated conversationally between the different instrument choirs, the second theme begins. The second theme (Figure 27) begins at measure 23, and is marked by a relaxing of tempo and mood. The tempo is slower and the mood is more relaxed. The theme itself, reminiscent of the blues, is played by the solo alto saxophone from the jazz quintet. After the theme is played, the various instrument groups take turns in its development.

FIGURE 27 – Movement one, measures 23-28

A bridge section to the development is marked by an extended solo for Fender electric bass starting in measure 43, followed by a jazz chord progression that leads into the development proper in measure 49. The solo alto saxophone plays a new theme that over the course of the development will be altered, along with the two themes from the exposition. The music in this development section has an improvisatory quality. Up to

60 this point all the music has been notated, however now, the members of the jazz quintet are left mostly to improvise and their parts consist only of chord changes. The orchestral parts and the parts for the solo brass and woodwind quintets are completely notated. The jazz quintet is the predominant instrument group during the development, rarely resting. Amram uses the other instrument groups to either accompany or play against the jazz quintet, only using the full ensemble at particularly climactic moments. The texture gets extremely complex in this section, and Amram has indicated in the score where the various themes occur so that the predominant thematic voice is not obscured. Amram stated that he tried to limit the amount of improvisation, as not to present problems for an entirely classically trained orchestra to perform this work. He said that he feels a composer's job is to, "write it out and make it feel as if its improvised, much in the same way Vivaldi and Mozart sound as if its just happening naturally."141 The recapitulation begins in measure 119 with a return to the original tempo, and again, the first theme is played by the woodwind quintet accompanied by the brass quintet. The transition between the first and second themes is of a different nature than in the exposition. The tempo is slower, the mood more relaxed, and the jazz quintet improvises, while the strings accompany. Two brief solo sections occur in which the brass and woodwind quintets play glissandi, after which the second theme proper begins in measure 143. It is again played by the solo alto saxophone, but this time completely alone, with only brief interjections from the strings and the woodwind quintet. A solo trumpet and flute from the solo groups each play a fragment of the second theme as the movement comes to a quiet close. The challenging aspects of this movement for the oboist involve intonation and blend. As the oboe and flute are frequently in unison or octaves, intonation is critical. Also, during the more lyrical sections for the solo woodwind quintet, when the oboe is serving as an alto line, intonation and blend are both important so that the oboe does not stand out as an individual voice. There are places in which the rhythms are extremely complex as well.

141 Amram, interview.

61 The second movement, Andante espressivo, is a continuous series of twelve-bar blues phrases with an introduction, though not all the phrases adhere strictly to the twelve-bar length. The solo alto saxophone from the jazz quintet is the predominant voice, stating the primary thematic material in six of the phrases. In the introduction, the timpani and pizzicato strings present what will be the accompaniment for subsequent phrases. In the second phrase, the solo alto saxophone presents a melody derived from a blues scale. The next two phrases feature the three solo quintets, and the fourth phrase ends with an extended solo for the woodwind quintet playing blues-like material. For the fifth phrase, the solo alto saxophone presents an entirely new melody, with minimal accompaniment, also derived from a blues scale. The solo saxophone continues into the sixth phrase, now repeating the melody from the second phrase, accompanied by the solo woodwind quintet. The seventh phrase is an extended interlude for the orchestra without the solo quintets. The eighth phrase is again marked by the solo saxophone, again playing a new melody, accompanied by the orchestra. The ninth phrase is scored for the orchestral basses alone, and leads into a cadenza. On the recording of this work with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the David Amram Jazz Quintet, Amram plays a cadenza on the French horn, though it is indicated in the score that in Mr. Amram's absence, the pianist can improvise a cadenza instead. For a span of 41 measures, the structure becomes freer, as the improvisations in the jazz quintet continue, while being alternately accompanied by one of the other quintets or by the orchestral strings. This is another section in which only the chord changes are written out for the jazz quintet. The climactic part of this movement comes next, with the combined forces playing the melody first presented by the saxophone in the second phrase. The solo alto saxophone again predominates in the last two phrases of this movement, playing fragments of previous material. As in the first movement, for the same reasons, the primary challenges for the oboist are intonation and blend.

62 The final movement, titled Rondo alla turca, is in a large, five-part rondo (A B A C A) form. This was the first time Amram had incorporated elements of Middle Eastern music into any of his concert music, making use of Middle Eastern and Asian flutes and percussion instruments, folk melodies and rhythmic patterns.142 The movement is named for a Turkish folk melody called Sultan’s Lament, which is used in the C section. At the very beginning of the movement, after the percussion establish the rhythmic ostinato that underlies most of the movement, the initial theme, in the Phrygian mode, is played on an ethnic wooden flute. On the recording with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Amram plays the theme on a Pakistani flute, however, the composer indicated that in the absence of such a flute, the theme could be played on a piccolo (Figure 28). This first A section quickly takes on a fantasia-like quality as the theme is repeated and developed alternately by the wooden flute and solo quintets.

FIGURE 28 – Movement three, measures 9-16

The B section, beginning in measure 106, is an extended, improvised solo for the jazz quintet and wooden flute. The orchestra and other quintets are only punctuating the jazz phrases with short quarter-note chords or two-measure scalar flourishes. The A section returns in measure 185. The theme is again developed alternately by the solo quintets, but this section, unlike the first A section, has an extended interlude for the orchestra which leads into the C section. The C section, which begins in measure 253, is unrelated to any previous material. It is in an unusual 10/4 time, and is in its own self-contained ternary form. The percussion first play a rhythmic pattern called Samai Sakil143 (Figure 29) as an ostinato.

142 Amram, interview.

143 A 10-beat rhythmic cycle used in Arabic music which is subdivided into three units of three beats, three beats and four beats.

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FIGURE 29 – Movement three, measure 253

Then the harp and low strings initiate a recurring ground-bass pattern based on a Turkish folk melody called Sultan's Lament (Figure 30).

FIGURE 30 – Movement three, measure 254

The solo trumpet plays an original melody in the hijaz144 mode above these two ostinatos (Figure 31).

144 A mode used in Arabic music based on a tetrachord that approximates the following pitches: D, E flat, F sharp, G and A.

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FIGURE 31 – Movement three, measure 255

The brass and woodwind quintets then develop the original melody, while the orchestra joins in playing the Samai Sakil ostinato. After a climactic moment in measure 267 involving the combined forces, the orchestra plays the original melody by itself, then drops out, leaving only the percussion playing the Samai Sakil.145 In measure 270, the only special effect requested of the musicians in the entire work occurs. The solo brass and woodwind quintets are asked to blow air through their instruments, and the strings are asked to slide their bows down the fingerboard toward the scroll, to produce soft, non-pitched hissing sounds. Amram wrote that the inspiration for this section came from a late-night jam session at a New York Middle Eastern establishment called the Olive Tree. It was there he heard oud virtuoso George Mrgdichian play the melody Sultan's Lament, and Ali Hafid, a Moroccan dumbeg player, play the Samai Sakil pattern.146 The A section returns again at measure 315, and the movement grows in volume and complexity to the end. The oboe is used more soloistically in this movement, frequently playing short two-measure solos to add to the overall Middle Eastern ambience. Still, the quintet is for the most part treated the same way as in the previous movements, and the oboist must be aware of intonation and blend when playing in unison or in octaves with the flute or when functioning as an inner voice. The Triple Concerto presents more logistical performance problems than any other work examined in this treatise. When compared to concerti which consist of solo instrument and orchestra, this work is unconventional in its combination of three solo

145 Amram, interview.

146 David Amram, "Liner Notes," Triple Concerto, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Flying Fish Records GRO-751, 1978, LP.

65 quintets and large orchestra. In addition, the inclusion of a jazz quintet and its use in bridging the jazz and classical genres is unusual. A group of this size and variety presents unique challenges in its performance. The Triple Concerto merits examination for several reasons, most notably the originality of the aesthetic idea behind the work. Critic Arthur Bloomfield observed that though the concerto was certainly not the first to incorporate jazz into a “classical” composition, it distinguished itself from other works in the same vein. “Too often in this sort of piece the orchestra is simply the provider of fancy but dull floor-carpeting behind the more rhythmically alive jazz combo. Not so with Amram who has dove-tailed the elements so they activate together.”147 And, although the oboe is not used in a direct solo capacity, a performance of this concerto does provide orchestral oboists (and their principal-chair colleagues) a chance to appear as soloists in the woodwind quintet.

147 Bloomfield, “Triple Concerto Hits a High Mark,” San Francisco Examiner.

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APPENDIX A

TEXT OF A LITTLE REBELLION: THOMAS JEFFERSON

I. Prologue

I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the mind of man.

At the age of 77, I began to make some memoranda and state some recollections of dates and facts concerning myself, for my own ready reference and for the information of my family.

I was married on New Year's Day of 1772, and Mrs. Jefferson died in the autumn of 1782. I was educated at William and Mary College in Williamsburg. I read Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish and English, of course. I became a member of the legislature of Virginia in 1769 and continued in that until it was closed by the revolution. I made one effort in that body for the permission of the emancipation of slaves, which was rejected; and indeed, during the regal government, nothing liberal could expect success. I served with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before the revolution, and, during it, with Doctor Franklin in Congress. I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point which was to decide the question. If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? That 150 lawyers would do business together is not to be expected.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.

I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.

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II. Native America

Brother, I am very much pleased with the visit you have made us. I have joined with you sincerely in smoking the pipe of peace; it is a good old custom handed down by your ancestors, and as such I respect and join in it with reverence. I hope we shall long continue to smoke in friendship together. I hope it will please the Great Being above to continue you long in life, in health and in friendship to us; and that your son will afterwards succeed you in wisdom, in good disposition, and in power over your people. We do not wish you to take up the hatchet. We love you and esteem you. We wish you to multiply and be strong. This, brother, is what I had to say to you. Repeat it from me to all your people, and to our friends, the Kickapous, Piorias, Piankeshaws and Wyattanons. Hold fast to the chain of friendship which binds us together, keep it bright as the sun, and let them, you and us, live together in perpetual love.

III. Music

Giovanni Fabbroni, Sir-- Your letter of September 15, 1777 from Paris comes safe to hand. If there is a gratification which I envy a people in this world, it is to your country its music. This is a favorite passion of my soul. Fortune has cast my lot in a country where it is in a state of deplorable barbarism. In a country like yours, music is cultivated and practiced by every class of men who could perform on the French horn, clarinet, or hautboy and bassoon. Perhaps it might be practicable for you to find such men disposed to come to America. Sobriety and good nature would be desirable parts of their character. I am, Sir, with much esteem your humble servant, Thomas Jefferson.

IV. Slavery

There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners of our people produced by the existence of slavery among us. Our children see this and learn to imitate it; permitting one-half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other. If a slave can have a country in this world, it must be any other in preference to that in which he is born to live and labour for another; no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him. Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever. The spirit of the master is abating, that of the slave, rising from the dust for a total emancipation.

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V. Fatherly Advice

My Dear Patsy, With the respect to the distribution of your time, the following is what I should approve. From 8 to 10 o'clock, practice music. From 10 to 1, dance one day and draw another. From 1 to 2, draw on the day you dance, and write a letter the next day. From 3 to 4, read French. From 4 to 5, exercise yourself in music. From 5 till bedtime, read English, write, etc. I have placed my happiness on seeing you good and accomplished. If you love me then, strive to be good under every situation and to all living creatures, and to acquire those accomplishments which I have put in your power, and which will go far towards ensuring you the warmest love of your affectionate father.

P. S. Keep my letters and read them at times, that you may always have present in your mind those things which will endear you to me.

VI. Religious Freedom

We, the General Assembly of Virginia, enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, plan, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall suffer on account of his religious belief. All man shall be free to profess their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. But I have ever thought religion a concern purely between our God and our consciences, for which we were accountable to him. I never told my own religion, nor scrutinized that of another. I never attempted to make a convert nor wished to change another's creed. For it is in our lives that our religion must be read.

VII. My Dear Daughter

My Dear Daughter-- This is a scolding letter for you all. I have not received a scrip of a pen from home since I left it, which is now eleven weeks. I think it so easy for you to write me one letter every week, which will be but once in three weeks for each of you, when I write one every week who have not one moment's repose from business from the first to the last moment of the week. Perhaps you think you have nothing to say to me. It is a great deal to say you are all well, or that one has a cold, another a fever, etc. Besides that, there is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me, not anything that moves. Write then my dear daughter punctually on your day, and Polly on hers. I suspect you may have news to tell me of yourself of the most tender interest to me. Why silent then?

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I am still without a house, and consequently without a place to open my furniture. This has prevented my sending you what I was to send from Monticello. In the meantime the river is frozen up that no vessel can get out, nor probably will these two months: so that you will be much stronger without them than I had hoped. I know how inconvenient this will be and am distressed at it; but there is no help. My best affections to Polly and yourself. Adieu, my dear.

VIII. Advice for Good Health and Canons for a Practical Life

Like my friend, Dr. Rush, I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principal diet. I double, however, the doctor's glass and half of wine, and even treble it with a friend but half its affects by drinking the weak wines only. We could, in the United States, make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly the same kinds, but doubtless as good. I have been blessed with organs of digestion which accept and concoct without ever murmuring, whatever the palate chooses to consign them, and I have not yet lost a tooth by age. I enjoy good health. I ascribe this partly to the habit of bathing my feet in cold water every morning for sixty years.

In practical life, never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself. Never spend your money before you have it. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold. We never repent of having eaten too little. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened. Take things always by their smooth handle. When angry, count ten before you speak. If very angry, a hundred.

IX. Newspapers

To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted so as to be most useful, I should answer, by restraining it to true facts and sound principles only. Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehood and errors. Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them. I am convinced that those societies as the Indians - which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under European governments.

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X. The Declaration of Independence

I have received a letter from a friend in Philadelphia asking information of the house and room where the Declaration of Independence was written, with a view to future celebrations of the Fourth of July. Now, I happen to still possess the writing-box on which it was written. It claims no merit of particular beauty. It was made from a drawing of my own, by Ben Randall, a cabinet maker in whose house I took my first lodgings on my arrival in Philadelphia in May, 1776. And I have used it ever since. If things acquire a superstitious value, surely a connection with the Great Charter of our Independence gives a value to what has been associated with that. We may see it carried in the procession of our nation's birthday, as the relics of the saints are in those of the church. Your statements of the corrections of the Declaration of Independence by Doctor Franklin and Mr. Adams are neither of them all exact. I should think it better to say generally that the rough draft communicated to those two gentlemen, who each of them made two or three short and verbal alterations only, but even this is laying more stress on mere composition than it merits, for that alone was mine. The sentiments were of all America.

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

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XI. Retirement

The motion of my blood no longer keeps time with the tumult of the world. Tranquility is now my object. I have seen enough political honors to know that they are but splendid torments. I am but a son of nature, loving what I see and feel. It is now more than a year since I have withdrawn myself from public affairs, which I have never liked in my life, but was drawn into by emergencies which threatened our country with slavery, but ended in establishing it free. I have no ambition to govern men. It is a painful and thankless office. I have returned with infinite appetite, to the enjoyment of my farm, my family and my books. And like a bow, though long bent, which when unstrung flies back to its natural state, I resume with delight the character and pursuits for which nature designed me. I myself am a nail-maker. On returning home after an absence of ten years, I found my farm so much deranged, it was necessary to begin a manufacture of nails. I now employ a dozen little boys from 10 to 16 years of age, overlooking all the details of their business myself and drawing from it a profit on which I can get along till I put my farms into a course of yielding a profit. As much as I am an enemy of tobacco, I shall endeavor to grow some for taxes and clothing. The whole of my life has been a war with my natural taste, feelings, and wishes. Domestic life and literary pursuits were my first and my latest inclination. Circumstances, and not my desires, led me to the path I have trod. The circumstances of our country, at my entrance into life, were such that every honest man felt himself compelled to take part and to act up to the best of his abilities. Can one generation bind another, and all others, in succession forever? I think not. The Creator has made the earth for the living, not the dead. Rights and powers can only belong to persons, not to things, not to mere matter, unendowed with will. The dead are not even things. The particles of matter which composed their bodies make part now of the bodies of other animals, vegetables or minerals of a thousand forms. To what, then, are attached the rights and powers they held while in the form of men? A generation may bind itself as long as its majority continues in life; when that has disappeared, another majority is in place, holds all the rights and powers their predecessors once held and may change their laws and institutions to suit themselves. Nothing, then, is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.

XII. Epitaph

Could the dead feel an interest in monuments or other remembrances of them, when, as Anachreon says, and small we lie a dust of loosened bones, the following would be to my Manes the most gratifying. On the grave a plain die or cube of three feet without any mouldings, surmounted by an obelisk six feet height, each as a single stone, on the faces of the obelisk the following inscription, and not a word more. "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia." Because by these as testimonials that I have lived, I wish most to be remembered. "Born April 2, 1742 O. S. Died..." I have sometimes asked myself whether my country is better for my having lived at all? I do not know that it is. Would I agree to live my years over again? I say yes.

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APPENDIX B

TEXT OF TRAIL OF BEAUTY

I. Prologue

To the house of my kindred, there I return, child of the yellow corn am I. To the red rock house, there I return, where the blue kethawans are by the doorway, there I return.

The pollen of the evening light on my trail, there I return, at the Yuni the Haliotis shell hangs with the pollen going round, with it I return, taking another I walk out with it. With it I return to the house of old age. Up there I return to the house of happiness, up there I return, beauty behind me, with it I return, beauty before me, with it I return, beauty above me, with it I return, beauty below me, with it I return, beauty all around me, with it I return.

Now in old age, wandering, I return. Now on the trail of beauty I return, there I return.

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II. Thanks to the Earth Where Men Dwell

Thanks to the earth where men dwell, to the streams of water, the pools, the springs, the lakes, to the maize and the fruits, to the medicinal herbs and the trees. To the forest trees for their usefulness, to the animals that serve as food and who offer their pelts as clothing. To the great winds and the lesser winds, to the thunders and the sun, the mighty warrior, to the moon, to the messenger of the great spirit who dwells in the skies above, who gives all things useful to men, who is the source and the ruler of health and life. Thanks to the earth where men dwell.

III. Song of the Sky Loom

O our mother the earth, o our father the sky, your children are we, and with tired backs we bring you gifts of love, then weave for us a garment of brightness.

May the warp be the white light of morning, may the weft be the red light of evening, may the fringes be the falling rain, may the border be the standing rainbow.

Thus weave for us a garment of brightness that we may walk fittingly were birds sing, that we may walk fittingly where grass is green, o our mother the earth, o our father the sky.

IV. Every Part of this Soil is Sacred and Epilogue

Every part of this soil is sacred. In the estimation of my people, every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. The very dust upon which you now stand, responds more lovingly to their footsteps than to yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors.

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And our bare feet are more conscious of the sympathetic touch. Even the little children who lived here, and rejoiced here for a brief season will love these somber solitudes and at eventide. They greet shadowy returning spirits.

And when the last red man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the white men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe. And when your children's children think themselves alone, in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent, and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land. The white man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say there is no death, only a change of world.

To the house of my kindred, there I return, child of the yellow corn am I. To the red rock house, there I return, where the blue kethawans are by the doorway, beauty behind me.

With it I return beauty before me, with it I return beauty above me, with it I return beauty below me, with it I return beauty all around me, with it I return. Now in old age wandering, I return. Now on the trail of beauty I am, there I return.

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APPENDIX C

COPYRIGHT PERMISSION

Permission to reprint the following excerpts was granted by the Clearance Rights Division of C. F. Peters Corporation:

A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson Movement 1 - timpani part, measures 1-4; oboe part, measures 13-16 Movement 2 - wind quintet parts, measures 4-6 Movement 3 - flute, oboe, bassoon, violin 1 and 2 and cello parts, measures 1-8 Movement 4 - viola and cello parts, measures 1-8 Movement 5 - violin 1 and 2, viola and cello parts, measures 33-35 Movement 7 - solo violin part, measures 1-8 Movement 8 - bassoon part, measures 1-8 Movement 11 - cello part, measures 4-12, measures 57-65

Quintet for Winds (all parts unless otherwise noted) Movement 1 - measures 8-11; measures 12-17 Movement 3 - bassoon part, measures 1-15; all parts, measures 59-65

Shakespearean Concerto Movement 1 - oboe part, measures 52-58 Movement 2 - solo violas and solo cello part, measures 33-40 Movement 3 - string parts, measures 117-128; full ensemble, measures 129-140; solo horn parts, measures 141-142

Trail of Beauty Movement 1 - solo oboe, measures 1-15 Movement 2 - solo oboe, measures 44-51 Movement 3 - solo oboe, measures 1-31 Movement 4 - piano reduction, measures 1-4

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Triple Concerto Movement 1 - solo wind quintet, measures 1-4; solo alto saxophone, measures 23-28 Movement 3 - solo wooden flute, measures 9-16; percussion parts 253; viola, cello and bass parts, measure 254; solo trumpet from the brass quintet, measure 255

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APPENDIX D

HUMAN SUBJECTS APPROVAL

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STATEMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT

I freely and voluntarily and without element of force or coercion, consent to be interviewed in the research project entitled "The Compositions of David Amram That Utilize the Oboe in a Prominent Role."

This research is being conducted by Aaron Ichiro Hilbun, a candidate for the Doctor of Music degree at the Florida State University, for his doctoral treatise. This study will hopefully bring further exposure to these five compositions that utilize the oboe in a prominent role (Little Rebellion - Thomas Jefferson, Shakespearean Concerto, Trail of Beauty, Triple Concerto, and the Wind Quintet), and also give future researchers of the Bohemian subculture of 1950s New York another perspective.

I understand that will be interviewed about these five musical compositions and the circumstances that led to their creation and that my answers will be published in Mr. Hilbun's doctoral treatise. I understand my participation is totally voluntary and I may stop participation at any time.

I understand that this interview will be recorded. These recordings will be used strictly as a memory aid for the purposes of completing this study. Upon completion of this study these recordings, or transcripts thereof, will be stored in a secure filing cabinet and will not be reproduced or released to third parties without my express written or verbal consent. I understand that upon my request, these recordings will be destroyed.

I understand that this consent may be withdrawn at any time without prejudice, penalty, or loss of benefits to which I am otherwise entitled. I have been given the right to ask and have answered any inquiry concerning the study. Questions, if any, have been answered to my satisfaction.

I understand that I may contact Aaron Ichiro Hilbun, (407) 963 3141, for answers to questions about this research.

I have read and understand this consent form.

______David W. Amram Date

______Witness Date

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Amram, David. Interview by author. 25 September 2003, Putnam Valley, NY. Tape recording.

______. A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson. New York: C. F. Peters, 1995.

______. A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson. Members of the National Symphony Orchestra. Archival recording, 1995. Cassette.

______. "Music at the Millennium," Reflections on American Music: The 20th Century and the New Millennium. College Music Society Monographs and Bibliographies in American Music 16 (2000): 49-54.

______. Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002.

______. Quintet for Winds. New York: C. F. Peters, 1971.

______. Quintet for Winds. Clarion Quintet. Golden Crest CRS 4125, 1970. LP.

______. Trail of Beauty. New York: C. F. Peters, 1977.

______. Trail of Beauty. Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Archival recording, 1986. Cassette.

______. Triple Concerto. New York: C. F. Peters, 1971.

______. Triple Concerto. Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra with the David Amram Jazz Quintet. Flying Fish Records GRO-751, 1978. LP.

______. Shakespearean Concerto. New York: C. F. Peters, 1964.

______. Shakespearean Concerto. RCA Records VCS-7089-2, 1971. LP.

______. Vibrations: A Memoir. New York: Macmillan, 1968. Reprint, New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2001.

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"Amram, David Werner." American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary, 1982 ed.

"Amram, David Werner." Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2001 ed.

"Amram, David (Werner)," New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001 ed.

"Amram Quintet Outstanding." Washington Daily News, 14 Jan. 1969. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/woodwind_quintet_2.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

Backas, James. "New Amram Quintet Given Expert Reading." Washington, D. C. Evening Star, 14 Jan. 1969. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/woodwind_quintet_3.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

Bloomfield, Arthur. "Triple Concerto Hits a High Mark." San Francisco Examiner, 4 Apr. 1973. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/triple_concerto_4.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

Damsker, Matt. "David Amram Bridges the Gap," in Biography News, 370. Detroit: Gale Research Co., April 1974.

"David Amram." All Music Guide to Jazz. Ed. Michael Erlewine. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 1998.

Johnson, Harriet. "Amram's Triple Concerto." New York Post, n. d. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/triple_concerto_5.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

McLellan, Joseph. "David Amram's 'Trail of Beauty.'" Washington Post, 8 Mar 1977. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/trail_of_beauty_3.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

Moritz, Charles, ed. "Amram, David (Werner)," in Current Biography 1969, 16. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1970.

Nazzaro, William J. "Fair Wind for Quintet." Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, 7 Dec. 1972. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/woodwind_quintet_4.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

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Ormandy, Eugene. "Eugene Ormandy's Statement on David Amram's 'Trail of Beauty.'" 1977. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/trail_of_beauty_1.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

Singer, Samuel L. "Good Woodwinds Blow No Ill, Take Slaps in Stride at Premiere." Philadelphia Inquirer, 7 Dec. 1972. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/woodwind_quintet_1.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003

Wakefield, Dan. New York in the Fifties. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

Webster, Daniel. "Orchestra Concert Explodes with Life." Philadelphia Inquirer, 23 Jan. 1973. Posted on-line. Available from http://www.fmp.com/amram/classical_reviews/triple_concerto_2.html. Internet. Accessed 3 Sep. 2003.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Aaron Ichiro Hilbun is an active freelance performer and private teacher in the Central Florida area. He performs regularly with the Bach Festival Society in Winter Park, the Brevard Symphony in Melbourne and the Sarasota Opera. He has also performed with the Jacksonville Symphony, the Columbus (GA) Symphony and the Naples Philharmonic, and has toured with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. He served as principal oboe of the Orlando Philharmonic for the 2001-2002 season, and has served as guest principal oboe of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Trujillo in Perú. Hilbun has appeared as a soloist with the Okinawa (Japan) and Albany (GA) Symphonies, and at the Festival Internacional Bach in Trujillo, Perú. In addition to private studio teaching, Hilbun has also served as the oboe instructor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Grinnell College and Luther College's Dorian Music Camps. Hilbun received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois where he studied with Blaine Edlefsen and Nancy Ambrose King, and was the recipient of the Guy M. Duker Award from the University of Illinois Bands. He received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa where he studied with Mark Weiger. He also studied with Bobby Taylor and John Dee at the Sewanee Summer Music Center. In 1998, Hilbun began doctoral studies at the Florida State University where he studied with Eric Ohlsson. Hilbun is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta and Pi Kappa Lambda honor societies, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the International Double Reed Society, the College Music Society and the American Federation of Musicians.

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