Symphony No. 3 (Harris)
Roy Harris's Symphony No. 3 is a work written in 1939 and premiered by the conductor Serge Koussevitzky.
Harris wrote this symphony on a commission from Hans Kindler but he gave it to Serge Koussevitzky instead (Stehman, 1984). It has been described as "the quintessential American symphony" (Canarina, 1993) and "the most widely performed and recorded of all American symphonies".[1]
The music is scored for 3 flutes (the third doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, xylophone, vibraphone and strings.
The score was published by G. Schirmer in 1940.
In one movement, the work begins with a tragic melody played by the cellos, and turns more lyrical as other sections of the orchestra join in. An accelerando passage culminates in an energetic exchange between massed woodwinds and pizzicato strings and a timpani solo. The ensuing section, described by the composer as "fugal", is more accurately a kind of canonical development. The piece then slows (meno mosso, pesante), concluding with a final tonic chord (the only one in the entire Symphony) in G minor.
According to Harris, the symphony is in five connected sections: Tragic, Lyrical, Pastoral, Fugue Dramatic, Dramatic Tragic. "After the first performance, Harris made two cuts" to the Pastoral section, specifically, measures 274 - 301 and 308 - 316.[2]
[edit] Critical reaction
In 1939, Koussevitzky conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the premiere. While public reaction was initially chilly, the symphony has subsequently become more popular. This work is considered[who?] an influential work that uses a number of techniques that have become common in subsequent American classical music, including "massive but spacious textures; a new emphasis on vital, syncopated rhythms... and a rich harmonic palette."[3]
Koussevitzky made the world-premiere recording in a performance which Harris "regarded ... as the finest interpretation."[4]
Together with "the Second Symphony by Howard Hanson, [and] the Third by Robert Ward ... the Third of Roy Harris" is one of those American symphonies which "are within the capabilities of our [American] community orchestras."[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Neil Butterworth, The American Symphony. Aldershot: Ashgate (1998): 84
- ^ (Butterworth, 1998): 86
- ^ Haskins, Rob, "Orchestral and Chamber Music in the Twentieth Century", pgs. 173 - 178, in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
- ^ (Butterworth, 1998): 84
- ^ p. 74, Van Horn (1979) James. Westport, Connecticut The Community Orchestra: A Handbook for Conductors, Managers and Boards Greenwood Press
- John Canarina, "The American Symphony", A Guide to the Symphony, ed. Robert Layton. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1993): 408 - 410
- Kent Wheeler Kennan, The Technique of Orchestration. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Inc. (1952): 27, 200, 202, 207
- Dan Stehman, Roy Harris: An American Musical Pioneer. Boston: Twayne Publishers (1984): 63 - 69
