Symphony No. 1 (''Three Movements for Orchestra'')Pendle, Karin (1997). ''American Women Composers'', p.46. . (1982) is the first

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 ...

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Ellen Taaffe Zwilich ( ; born April 30, 1939) is an American composer, the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Her early works are marked by atonal exploration, but by the late 1980s, she had shifted to a postmodernist, ne ...

(b. 1939). Premiered May 5, 1982, by the

American Composers Orchestra The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is an American orchestra administratively based in New York City, specialising in contemporary American music. The ACO gives concerts at various concert venues in New York City, including: * Zankel Hall at ...

conducted by

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...

Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assist ...

and commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra and the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

with the support of the Guggenheim Foundation,Briscoe, James R., ed. (1987). ''Historical Anthology of Music by Women, Volume 1'', p.375. . it was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for Music The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted i ...

in 1983, making her the first female composer to win the prize. The symphony is built around a tonal axis on ABriscoe, James R. (2004). ''New Historical Anthology of Music by Women, Volume 1'', p.470. . and uses a technique common to many of Zwilich's compositions where the large scale work is elaborated from the initial material, "the fashioning of a

musical idea In music, a motif IPA: ( /moʊˈtiːf/) (also motive) is a short musical phrase, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition: "The motive ...

that contains the 'seeds' of the work to follow," along with

continuous variation In mathematics, a continuous function is a function such that a continuous variation (that is a change without jump) of the argument induces a continuous variation of the value of the function. This means that there are no abrupt changes in value ...

and, "older...principles, such as melodic and pitch

recurrence Recurrence and recurrent may refer to: *''Disease recurrence'', also called relapse *''Eternal recurrence'', or eternal return, the concept that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a self-similar form an infinite number ...

and clearly defined areas of contrast."Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 1 (Three Movements for Orchestra)
, ''Schirmer.com''. The entire three movements use continuous

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped *Photographi ...

of the material of the opening fifteen measures, which begin, "with a '

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

': three statements of a rising

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two com ...

, marked

accelerando ''Accelerando'' is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories written by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the CC ...

." #Allegro #

Song form Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples includ ...

Rondo The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period. Etymology The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round". Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...

Discography

*(December 8, 1992) ''Zwilich: Symphony No. 1, Prologue & Variations, and Celebration for Orchestra''. Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, John Nelson, conductor. New World Records: NW336-2.

Sources

External links

*(June 1, 2000).
Has Winning the Pulitzer Made a Difference? Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in Music
, ''NewMusicBox.org''. 1 1982 compositions Pulitzer Prize for Music-winning works Music commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra {{Symphony-stub