NEW WORLD SYMPHONY WITH HEYWARD
Yaseen Jones the day while working for music publishers on Tin Pan Alley , singing and playing the sheet music for interested customers .
Throughout his career , he managed to inhabit the two worlds of popular and classical music with relative ease . The premiere of his jazzinfused concerto Rhapsody in Blue in 1924 was a resounding success and led Walter Damrosch , the conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra , to immediately commission Gershwin to compose a full-scale piano concerto . Though Gershwin employed classical techniques in his Rhapsody , he did not actually orchestrate it himself — that job was left to composer and arranger Ferde Grofé — but for this new concerto , he took on every aspect of the process , writing sketches for two pianos and then hiring an orchestra to try out his ideas for instrumentation .
Gershwin described the first movement as “ quick and pulsating , representing the young , enthusiastic spirit of American life .” Charleston rhythms abound , providing an energetic momentum . The second movement , Gershwin noted , is “ almost Mozartean in its simplicity ,” with a “ poetic , nocturnal tone ” that “ utilizes the atmosphere of the American blues .” A solitary horn opens the movement , followed by a hauntingly bluesy trumpet melody . The piano enters with a jauntier mood , injecting the music with a lively spirit before the ensemble returns to more improvisatory , meditative wanderings . Of the final movement , Gershwin wrote that “ it is an orgy of rhythms , starting violently and keeping to the same pace throughout .” The repeated notes are lightning fast and the syncopation creates a breathless energy . A gong strike fills a brief moment of silence before the piece rushes to a theatrical finish .
Instrumentation Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , Bass Drum , Gong , Suspended Cymbal , Slapstick , Wood Block , Xylophone , Orchestra Bells , Snare Drum , Cymbal .
Antonín Dvořák
Born September 8 , 1841 in Nelahozeves , Bohemia Died May 1 , 1904 in Prague , Czech Republic
SYMPHONY NO . 9 , “ FROM THE NEW WORLD ” [ 1893 ]
Antonín Dvořák was relatively unknown outside of Prague for much of his life . A turning point came at the age of 36 , when he submitted a score to an Austrian composition contest and caught the attention of the great German composer Johannes Brahms , who was serving on the jury . Dvořák won the award and Brahms , who was at the height of his fame , used his clout with his publisher to ensure that Dvořák ’ s music be published and circulated . As a result ,
Dvořák ’ s music became widely available , and he gained international recognition as the leading voice in Czech music .
His popularity brought him to the attention of Jeannette Thurber , a wealthy arts patron and founder of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City . She was eager to establish a distinctly American style of classical music and believed that Dvořák who had so successfully defined his own country ’ s musical identity , would be perfect for the job .
Dvořák landed in Hoboken , New Jersey , in September of 1892 with his wife and two of their six children . He began teaching immediately and threw himself into researching Black spirituals and Native-American songs . He read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ’ s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha and considered using it as the basis for an opera but soon turned his wealth of ideas toward composing a new symphony . Within eight months of his arrival , he had completed what he described as an aural postcard of America : his “ impressions and greetings from the New World .”
The symphony begins slowly with soft chords in the strings and woodwinds that grow steadily more agitated until the main theme enters in the horns , a robust rising and falling melody that Dvořák incorporates throughout the symphony ’ s four movements . Later , a gentler theme introduced by the flute resembles the song “ Swing Low , Sweet Chariot .”
The highlight of the Largo is the expansive and yearning English-horn solo , whose melody took on a life of its own when one of Dvořák ’ s students , William Arms Fisher , added words and published it as a song titled “ Goin ’ Home .” The nostalgic melody is an expression of Dvořák ’ s longing for his home and also captures the essence of Americana with its spaciousness .
Drawing on Longfellow ’ s poem , Dvořák noted that the third movement was inspired by the scene of the Indian dance at Hiawatha ’ s wedding feast . The energetic whirlwind of the opening subsides into a stately dance in the central trio section . The last movement contains a myriad of new melodic material and reappearances of themes from the first three movements . With great drama and intensity , the movement concludes with a grand statement of the opening theme . A bright chord in the woodwinds adds a surprising final color .
Instrumentation Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoon , four horns , two trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , cymbals ( pair ), triangle .
22 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org