ORIGINAL CONCERT PROGRAMME NOTES
Programme notes for the concerts of 26 and 27 February 1943:
SYMPHONY NO. 5
By Roy Harris
Born February 12, 1898, in Lincoln Count), Oklahoma
Completed at the end of 1942, this symphony is having its first performances.
The
following orchestration is called for: three flutes and piccolo, three
oboes and two English horns, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet and bass
clarinet, three bassoons and contra-bassoon, eight horns, three trumpets
and two cornets, three trombones, baritone and bass tubas, tenor
saxophone, timpani, percussion, and strings. The percussive instruments
include a marimba, vibraphone, chimes, cymbals, snare drum, two military
drums, and piano.
The first four symphonies of Roy Harris have been performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the First, Second, and Third having had their first public performances at its concerts. The new Symphony is appropriately introduced in the week which marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Russian Red Army, as will be seen by Mr. Harris’s dedication:
“Our
own Vice-President the Honorable Henry A. Wallace recently declared:
‘In all of Russian history there is no more striking example of courage
and willingness to sacrifice than Russia presents today.It is no
accident that Americans and Russians like each other when they get
acquainted. Both people know that their future is greater than their
past. It is my belief that the American and Russian people can and will
throw their influence on the side of building a new Democracy which will
be the hope of all the world.’
“As
an American citizen I am proud to dedicate my Fifth Symphony to the
heroic and freedom-loving people of our great Ally, the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, as a tribute to their strength in war, their
staunch idealism for World peace, their ability to cope with stark
materialistic problems of world order without losing a passionate belief
in the fundamental importance of the arts.”
Mr. Harris furnishes this information about the new Symphony:
“Since
the meaning of any music depends on the experience of the person who
hears it, I hesitate to specify what I hope to express in this symphony.
Yet people are often guided to a better understanding of music if they
have word ideas to help them in the appreciation of musical ideas. And
so I shall attempt to say in words what I have put into the music of
this Symphony.
“I
hoped to express qualities of our people which our popular dance music,
because of its very nature, cannot reveal. Our people are more than
pleasure-loving. We also have qualities of heroic strength —
determination — will to struggle — faith in our destiny. We are
possessed of a fierce driving power — optimistic, young, rough and ready
— and I am convinced that our mechanistic age has not destroyed an
appreciation of more tender moods. And it is right that these gentler
moods should live in us. Otherwise our strength and vitality might
degenerate into a ruthless brutality.
“These
were the feelings which aroused me to write the Symphony. But as the
work unfolded it seemed to assume the character of our times. It became
more martial — more savage — more ominously brooding and intense than I
had imagined it in the beginning. The Symphony seemed to possess an
independent life of its own which I had to accept and translate.
“I
had planned to write this Symphony during the late summer and fall of
1940. I had promised Dr. Koussevitzky that it would be ready for the
spring of 1941. But after working on it during the month of September, I
found I was not ready to write it.
“And
so it was not until the summer of 1942 while I was in Colorado Springs
at the great mountains near by that I knew that I could write the work.
We came home to Cornell University and began the Symphony in early
October. It was completed on Christmas morning, followed by great
rejoicing and festivities in our home, where students and friends and
fellow teachers came to drink a toast to the new Symphony and wish each
other a merry Christmas — knowing full well that “Peace on Earth, Good
Will to Men” was only something to hope and, ironically enough, to fight
for.
“The
Symphony is in three movements. The first movement is a Prelude of
about six minutes in length. It is very martial in character, and
according to its form moves always forward without development sections.
“The
second movement is in singing choral style, yet it is rhapsodic. After
opening with a dark savage introduction which leads to the first long
melody (bassoons, English horns), the violins take up the melody and
carry it upward to their highest registers, where they stay above a
3-voiced choral in brass and wood winds. The violas and ’cellos sing
through this choral from their low to their high registers, where they
join the violins. This marks the climax of the movement, from where all
the strings come slowly downward against brass and wood wind harmonies
to a long choral which opens antiplionally between fortissimo muted
strings and sonorous brass and wood wind passages. The whole orchestra
gradually wields together to close the chorals of hope and peace.
“The
last movement is structural in materials and form. This movement is a
triple fugue in three sections, A, B and C. At the same time it combines
the rondo principle in that the opening motif is used for strettos of
the first section of the fugue, the subject of which is announced after
an introduction of motif I.
“The
second section is in itself a double fugue, the two subjects of which
are generated from the opening motif. The last section further states
and develops the materials of section A and B, culminating in a broad
climax.”
SYMPHONY in B-flat major, No. 1, Op. 34 (Composed in 1927)
By Edward Burlingame Hill
Born in Boston, Mass., September 9, 1872
This
symphony was composed in 1927 and first performed by the Boston Symphony
Orchestra in Boston, on March 30, 1928. The symphony has also been
performed March 22, 1929, and December 21, 1934.
The
orchestration includes four flutes and two piccolos, two oboes and
English horn, three clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and
contra-bassoon, six horns, four trumpets, three trombones and tuba,
timpani, bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, triangle, tambourine,
glockenspiel, piano and strings. The score is dedicated to Serge
Koussevitzky.
The
First Symphony, so Mr. Hill explains, “has no descriptive basis, hints
at no dramatic conflict or spiritual crisis. It attempts merely to
develop musical ideas.
“After
three measures of introduction, the principal theme is announced by the
horns. After the usual transition, the second theme, given mainly to
strings, appears in the mediant major. The conclusion theme emphasizes
the same tonality. The development is based upon the principal subject,
and the conclusion theme up to the passage which leads to the
restatement. The'second theme is then given more orchestral emphasis.
The coda is brief, and the end quiet.
“In
the slow movement, a section in E-flat minor gives way to an episode in
the relative major. After some development, the first section returns
somewhat varied, and closes with an allusion to the central episode.
“The
finale is virtually in rondo form. The first theme is rhythmical; the
second lyrical. Towards the close of the movement, the second theme is
given to the brass, leading to a brief coda.”
Mr.
Hill has composed three symphonies. The Second, in C major, was
introduced at these concerts February 27, 1931, and the Third, in G
major, December 3, 1937. The Sinfonietta, in one movement, was played
March 10, 1933, and the String Sinfonietta April 17, 1936.
Programme notes for the concerts of 13 and 14 October, 1944:
SYMPHONY NO. 2
By David Diamond
Born at Rochester, New York, July 9, 1915
This
symphony, here having its first performance, was sketched early in
1942, completed in rough draft in January, 1943, and in full score in
the month following.
The
following instruments are required: three flutes and piccolo, two oboes
and English horn, two clarinets and bass-clarinet, two bassoons and
contra-bassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba,
timpani, bass drum, snare drum, triangle, cymbals, large gong,
glockenspiel, xylophone, and strings.
The composer disclaims any programmatic intentions in his symphony, leaving the individual listener to find what he may of this sort in its more “sombre and elegiac” portions. “Naturally enough, this work was composed during days of tense world unrest, and I am quite sure that a certain amount of exterior emotional influence has affected the quality of the symphony, though I cannot guarantee the raison d'être for its inspiration. Indeed, I have one or two friends
who, when I played sketches for them or described some of the material, immediately pounced upon all sorts of vague and ridiculous analogies of
the kind one associates with analyses of the recent Shostakovitch
symphonies. It was in no way my intention to have the musical substance
represent specific emotional reactions or to conjure up programmatic
fantasies. I have a horror of anything as prosaic as that, and since I
have never known that method of musical conception, I can only say that
the opposite is true. My emotional life and reactions to certain events
and situations have worked hand in hand with purely abstract musical
conception and manipulation of material; and it was always the material
that remained foremostly important to me in my working stages.”
Mr. Diamond furnishes the following analysis:
I. Adagio funebre.
A lyric movement of elegiac character consisting of two subjects: a
long melody for the violins in unison (heard immediately after a short
introduction by violas and ’cellos divisi) and accompanied by an
ostinato figure in ’cello and basses; and a plangent melody for oboe
solo accompanied by trilling violas — heard midway during the movement.
The structure of the entire movement may be considered as a
sonata-allcgro movement in slow tempo, utilizing all the formal and
technical features of development and recapitulation.
II. Allegro vivo.
The Scherzo movement, which has for its basic material a rhythmic
figure mockingly tossed back and forth between ’cellos and basses and
one bassoon. The rhythmic figure out of which this movement is built is
derived from the second subject in the first movement. There is no trio
section by itself. The contrasting trio-like sections exist within the
movement itself, most prominent being the section for brass in octaves
accompanied by solo tympani and in later form by strings in unison
accompanied by tympani.
III. Andante espressivo, quasi adagio.
This movement makes use of rhythmic, harmonic and melodic elements
heard in the first movement. After a short introduction utilizing the
dirge-like motif (heard at the outset of the first movement in basses
and tympani) in the first movement, there grows a short theme for muted
violas (later to be developed in the fugato section). A clarinet solo
follows leading directly into a chorale-like section for strings, which,
for the main part, is played in unison by the first violins
unaccompanied. The clarinet solo heard in the opening is eventually
heard in the second half of the movement as the fugato subject played by
horns and strings in unison. As contrast, there are several wistful
episodes for strings alternating with passages of strong emotional
contrast. The movement is extensively worked out in restatement and
development of all the elements heretofore heard.
IV.Allegro vigoroso.
The function of this movement is definitely that of the lively
rondo-finale. The movement opens with a vigorous march-like subject for
unison strings. Several of the episodes have important thematic
functions; especially so the lyric folk-song-like B sec-tion and the
pizzicato C episodes for strings alone. The form is easily followed as:
A-B-A (modified)-B-A-C-A (modified)-C-A-B-A-C (modified)- A-Coda.
David
Diamond studied violin with André de Ribaupierre at the Cleveland
Institute of Music; composition with Bernard Rogers at the Eastman
School of Music, with Roger Sessions and Paul Boepple in New York, and
with Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau and Paris. He has had numerous
fellowships and other awards.
His
orchestral works include the “Psalm” for orchestra (1936), performed
recently by the San Francisco Symphony under Pierre Monteux; Concerto
for Violin and Orchestra (1936); Suite from the Ballet “Tom” to a
scenario by E. E. Cummings (1936); Aria and Hymn for Orchestra,
dedicated to the memory of Albert Roussel (1937); an Overture for
Orchestra (1937); Variations for Small Orchestra (1937); Heroic Piece
for small orchestra (1938); Elegy in memory of Maurice Ravel for Strings
and Percussion (1938); Concerto for ’Cello and Orchestra (1938); First
Symphony (1940), first performed by the New York Philharmonic under
Dimitri Mitropoulos in 1941; Concerto for Chamber Orchestra (1940).
Chamber
music works include a Sonata for ’Cello and Piano (1936-38); Concerto
for String Quartet (1936); Quintet for Flute, String Trio and Piano
(1.987); Quartet for Piano and String Trio (1938); String Quartet No. 1
(1940); String Quartet No. 2 (1943-44); Preludes and Fugues for the
piano; Concerto for Two Solo Pianos (1942), introduced by Bartlett and
Robertson and more recently by Morley and Gearhart; numerous songs to
texts by Shelley, John Clare, Katherine Mansfield, Katherine Anne
Porter, E. E. Cummings, Carson McCullers,- T. S. Eliot, Robert Penn
Warren and Kenneth Patchen. His most recently completed work is the
“Rounds” for string orchestra. The following are in course of
composition: a ballet, “The Dream of Audubon,” to a scenario by Glenway
Wescott; a Sonata for Violin and Piano; songs to texts by St. Teresa of
Avila, Herman Melville, James Agee and Thomas Mann.
