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II. Alla siciliana - Allegro vivace - Andante
mm. 1-14 |
Skills & Techniques: Phrasing, Slurring Flexibility, Soft Playing
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Horn 1 (F)
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Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1992)
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Nashville Symphony Orchestra (2003)
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Composer & Composition Information
Amy Beach (1867-1944)
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Known as the first female composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra (her “Gaelic” Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896), she was also one of the first U.S. composers to have her music be recognized in Europe, and [the] first classical U.S. composer to achieve success without the benefit of European study.
A remarkable child prodigy, she made her public debut as a pianist in 1883, also the year of her first published compositions. In 1885 she performed with the Boston Symphony, but upon her marriage to the distinguished surgeon, Dr. H.H.A. Beach, she curtailed her performing in accordance with his wishes, and focused on composition. She made one performance per year, with the proceeds donated to charity, and one of these performances was of her own piano concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1900. Following the death of her husband in 1910, she resumed performing, and toured Europe to great acclaim, performing her own music, until the onset of WWI. The text is reprinted from Amybeach.org where more information about the composer can be found. The image is reprinted from Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. |
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Symphony in E minor, Op.32 'Gaelic'
When Antonin Dvořák was brought over from Bohemia in 1893 to direct the National Conservatory of Music in New York, he was tasked with sourcing and displaying the issue of American musical nationalism. His advocacy of African and Native American traditional songs as sources for concert music was challenged by Beach, who suggested that American composers choose traditional music from their own heritage. After hearing the Boston première of Dvořák’s Symphony From the New World, Beach was inspired to use four traditional Irish tunes of “simple, rugged and unpretentious beauty” as themes for her symphony. The original themes she composed “in the same idiom and spirit”.
Beach began composing the symphony in 1894 and decided to use a Celtic theme taken from one of her songs. Dark is the Night is about a turbulent sea voyage and provides much of the first movement’s music, its rumbling introduction, the first two themes, and the development section. The closing theme of the exposition, however, is an Irish jig.
The text is written by & reprinted from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra where more information about the composition can be found.
Beach began composing the symphony in 1894 and decided to use a Celtic theme taken from one of her songs. Dark is the Night is about a turbulent sea voyage and provides much of the first movement’s music, its rumbling introduction, the first two themes, and the development section. The closing theme of the exposition, however, is an Irish jig.
The text is written by & reprinted from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra where more information about the composition can be found.
Notable Performances/Recordings:
Nashville Symphony Orchestra (2003)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra (N/A)
Nashville Symphony Orchestra (2003)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra (N/A)