''Gaelic Symphony'' or Symphony in E minor, Op. 32 was written by

Amy Marcy Cheney Beach Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Her "Gaelic" Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra i ...

in 1894; it was the first symphony composed and published by a female American composer. The piece debuted in Boston on Friday, October 30, 1896 to "public and journalistic acclaim." Beach drew inspiration for the large orchestral work from simple old English, Irish, and Scottish melodies; thus, she subtitled the work 'Gaelic.'

History

Beach began composing her symphony in November 1894. Although Beach would later become more accepting of music from North American traditions—such as Native American themes—Beach chose to incorporate songs of the European influence into her early works. One such (Celtic) tune was her song entitled, "Dark Is the Night!" which she set to the words of the English poet

William Ernest Henley William Ernest Henley (23 August 184911 July 1903) was an English poet, writer, critic and editor. Though he wrote several books of poetry, Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem "Invictus". A fixture in London literary circles, the o ...

. She borrowed this song for her symphony. Beach was heavily influenced by her contemporary

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

; naturally, she looked to Dvořák's compositions and publicized philosophies on American music while composing her symphony. Though Dvořák's nationality was Czech, he was in the United States for much of 1892–1895 as head of the National Conservatory in New York. He represented American art music in the late nineteenth century—specifically through his ''

New World Symphony New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

'' and ''

American String Quartet American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

''. Dvořák wove

pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many an ...

s from Native-American and African-American music and rhythms of slavic dances along with his European romantic style to create works unique to America—the melting pot. The "native" elements were not as readily embraced by Beach. Upon hearing of the derivations of Dvořák's ''New World Symphony'', Beach heartily responded, " of the North should be far more likely to be influenced by old English, Scotch or Irish songs, inherited with our literature from our ancestors." When her symphony premiered, Beach was barely 30 years old and in the throes of forming her own compositional style; in contrast, her later years brought maturity and an openness to infuse Native-American, specifically Inuit, and African-American songs into her music. The work was published by Schmidt in 1897, and was dedicated to "herrn Capellmeister

Emil Paur Emil Paur (July 19, 1855 – June 7, 1932) was an Austrian orchestra conductor. Biography Paur was born in Czernowitz, Austria, now Chernivtsi, Ukraine, to a Romanian family, and trained in Vienna before working as a conductor in Kassel, ...

".Score: Beach, Symphony, Arthur P. Schmidt, Boston, 1898.

Structure

In keeping with tradition passing through

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, and

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

, a

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

is divided into four contrasting movements. The Gaelic Symphony is typically performed in thirty-five to forty minutes. With a full romantic harmonic structure and a glimpse of the horizons of modern music, Beach's ''Gaelic Symphony'' set her apart as a prominent female composer at the turn of the twentieth century. The four movements of the symphony are as follows:

I. Allegro con fuoco

The symphony begins with a low chromatic rumble in the strings which provides the basis on which the romantic melody is built. Rich orchestration establishes the romantic style of the symphony. Its unusual key choices mirror those in the first movement of Dvořák's ''

''.

II. Alla siciliana – allegro vivace

The Gaelic themes are introduced in variation.

III. Lento con molto espressione

The third movement is melodic and slow in nature.

IV. Allegro di molto

The last movement of the symphony is brisk and thematic.

Reception and performances

The ''Gaelic Symphony'' was well received. Critic

Philip Hale Philip Hale (March 5, 1854 in Norwich, Vermont – November 30, 1934 in Boston, Massachusetts) was an American music critic. Hale attended Yale, where he served on the fourth editorial board of ''The Yale Record''. After graduating in 1876, ...

"was generally enthusiastic about the work" although he "felt that Beach's orchestration was at times excessively heavy." Composer

George Whitefield Chadwick George Whitefield Chadwick (November 13, 1854 – April 4, 1931) was an American composer. Along with John Knowles Paine, Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what is called the Se ...

' wrote a letter to Beach: saying that he and

Horatio Parker Horatio William Parker (September 15, 1863 – December 18, 1919) was an American composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the undergradu ...

, a fellow member of the unofficial

Second New England School The Second New England School or New England Classicists (sometimes specifically the Boston Six) is a name given by music historians to a group of classical-music composers who lived during the late-19th and early-20th centuries in New England. More ...

of leading composers, had heard and liked the Gaelic Symphony, and: "...I always feel a thrill of pride myself whenever I hear a fine work by any of us, and as such you will have to be counted in, whether you will or not—one of the boys." Not long afterward Beach herself became recognized as one of the School, thereupon called the

Boston Six The Second New England School or New England Classicists (sometimes specifically the Boston Six) is a name given by music historians to a group of classical-music composers who lived during the late-19th and early-20th centuries in New England. Mor ...

. The Symphony was "forgotten during the 1920s" but "made a comeback in the 1930s and 1940s," being performed by multiple orchestras, some multiple times each, although not by "major" orchestras such as the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

Boston Symphony The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

. The symphony has received continued praise from modern critics as well, such as Andrew Achenbach of '' Gramophone'', who in 2003 lauded the work for its "big heart, irresistible charm and confident progress."

References

Sources

* Block, Adrienne Fried (1998). ''Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer'', Oxford University Press, New York * Gates, Eugene, 2010, "Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, American Symphonist," ''The Kapralova Society Journal'' Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 1–10

External links

* * {{Authority control Compositions by Amy Beach 1894 compositions American music Romantic symphonies