The Montenegro-born guitarist Miloš has just released his fifth album, and the first in about 3 years. Sound of Silence (Decca) is, in a way, autobiographical: in 2016, just after the release of his Beatles-inspired disc, Blackbird, Miloš began experiencing a tightness in his hand that affected his ability to play. He eventually stepped away from his busy schedule of successful international concerts, and too the time to heal. He used this time to reacquaint himself with the simple joy of listening. Miloš heard old favorites in new ways (such as Simon and Garfunkel’s melancholy “The Sound of Silence”), and new songs by artists such as Portishead, Skylar Grey and The Magnetic Fields. He eventually regained his full playing ability, and now, with this new album, shares his own playing with listeners around the world once again. Only this time, he’s taking time to enjoy the silence between the notes.
When it comes to traditional Christmas carols, separating history from legend can be as tricky as detangling holly and ivy. Looking forward to our Festival of Carols, we’d like to share some of the true stories behind our favorite carols.
The First Nowell
It is thought “The First Nowell” originated as a Cornish gallery carol. During the 18th century, many small country churches in England lacked an organ, so amateur choirs formed to lead singing from the gallery, or balcony. These choirs were often accompanied by small bands, including a bass instrument, and sometimes a number of strings and winds.
“The First Nowell” was published in in 1823 in William Sandys’s collection of carols from the West Country, Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern. This carol frequently is sung in a beautiful harmonization by the eminent Victorian English church musician, composer, and musicologist, Sir John Stainer (1840-1901).
Adeste Fidelis
Despite the fact that the original text is in Latin, this one is probably not an ancient chant, as it hasn’t yet been traced earlier than the 17th or 18th centuries. The carol first appeared in print thanks to John Francis Wade (1711/2-1786), an English music teacher who created beautiful calligraphic copies of chant for the use of foreign embassy chapels in London. “Adeste fidelis” was included in Wade’s Cantus Diversi pro Dominicis et Festis per annum (1751), and it is unknown whether Wade authored the carol or simply copied it. “Adeste fidelis” also appeared in An Essay of the Church Plain Chant (London, 1782), an anonymous publication that has been attributed to Wade.
The familiar English translation “O Come, All Ye Faithful” was made by priest and author Frederick Oakeley (1802-1880), who served as Canon of the Roman Catholic diocese of Westminster.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
“Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” reached its holiday prominence by a circuitous route. The tune, which originally had nothing to do with Christmas, was composed in 1840 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), as the second movement of his Festgesang or Gutenberg Cantata. Mendelssohn composed this work for the Leipzig Gutenberg Festival, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press. Mendelssohn’s cantata, for male chorus and brass ensemble, was sung at the unveiling of Leipzig’s new statue of Johannes Gutenberg.
I suspect you can hear the music in your head as you read the tune’s original refrain:
“Gutenberg, du wackrer Mann, du stehst glorreich auf dem Plan!” “Gutenberg, you valiant man, you stand glorious on the square!”
Mendelssohn hoped to publish his Gutenberg tune with English words, but he couldn’t find a text to suit him. In a 1843 letter to Edward Buxton, one of his English music publishers, he explained: “If the right [words] are hit at, I am sure that the piece will be liked very much by singers and hearers, but it will never do to sacred words…”
In 1847, Mendelssohn directed the London premiere of his oratorio Elijah, and one of the alto choirboys was one William Cummings. Little did Mendelssohn know that in the 1850s, Cummings would be the one to attach his Gutenberg tune to a decidedly sacred poem entitled “Hymn for Christmas-Day,” from Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) by Methodist writer Charles Wesley (1707-1788), the first line of which is, of course, “Hark! The herald angels sing…”
Joy to the World
The text of this carol is actually an adaptation of Psalm 98, from hymnwriter Isaac Watts’s Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testament (1719). Watts called the poem “The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom,” probably not thinking particularly of Christmas or caroling.
In 1836, American composer and music educator Lowell Mason published the text with a tune entitled Antioch in The Modern Psalmist. Mason attributed the tune to Handel, but nobody’s sure what Handel melody Mason had in mind. It is speculated that the tune was inspired by the choruses “Glory to God in the Highest,” or “Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates,” from Handel’s Messiah, on the tenuous ground that the melodies of both begin with the same four notes as Antioch. It’s also possible that Mason adapted it from a preexisting anonymous hymn tune, as scholars have found earlier tunes published in America which resemble Antioch.
All things considered, Handel might be as confused as anyone about the attribution of this tune.
O Tannenbaum
Neither the text nor the music of this song began life associated with Christmas. Tannenbaum actually means “fir tree,” not “Christmas tree,” and songs honoring the evergreen as a symbol of constancy have been popping up in German culture for centuries, including a Westfalian folk song called “O Dannebom.”
In 1820, preacher and folk music collector August Zarnack published a love song entitled “O Tannenbaum” in which the evergreen fir tree is contrasted with a faithless lover. His poem was set to the German folk tune we associate with the carol, which had first been published in 1799 and which has also appeared attached to a German college student song in Latin, “Lauriger Horatius” (“Laurel-Crowned Horace”) and a German folk song, “Es lebe hoch der Zimmermannsgeselle” (“Long Live the Carpenter’s Assistant”).
About this time, the custom of evergreen trees as indoor Christmas decorations was gaining steam in Germany. In 1824, a schoolmaster and organist named Ernst Anschütz borrowed the first verse of Zarback’s arboreal love song and added two festive verses of his own, which transplanted the song firmly into the Christmas canon.
The tune of “O Tannenbaum” continues to serve many purposes to this day, as the tune of several American state songs and college Alma Maters.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Boston minister Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) spent the Christmas of 1866 in Bethlehem. Inspired by his pilgrimage, he wrote the poem “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in 1868 for the Sunday school at his parish, Trinity Church in Boston.
Brooks asked his church organist and Sunday school superintendent Lewis H. Redner to compose a tune for his carol. Redner (1831-1908), who was an estate agent during the week, reportedly finished his tune the night before it was sung in church. Known as St. Louis, Redner’s tune is still the most popular setting of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in America.
In England, however, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” is better known to the tune called Forest Green. Originally a folk song called “The Ploughboy’s Dream,” Ralph Vaughan Williams arranged the tune as a setting of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” for The English Hymnal in 1906.
Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
The author of this beloved German carol was Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), a priest who trained as a choirboy at Salzburg Cathedral. In 1818, Mohr was serving at a little parish in the town of Obendorf, in modern day Bavaria. He had written a poem entitled “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!,” and looking for a composer to set it to music, he approached Franz Gruber (1787-1863), organist and schoolmaster at the nearby town of Arnsdorf. Gruber and Mohr introduced their carol on Christmas evening Mass at Mohr’s parish of St. Nicholas: charmingly, Mohr sang and Gruber accompanied on guitar.
Various legends have sprung up around this carol, specifically regarding the guitar accompaniment. Mostly the legends suggest that the church organ was out of order and couldn’t be repaired in time for Christmas. Some versions blame a flood, some have a mouse chewing a hole in the leather of the organ bellows. The truth is, songs accompanied by guitar weren’t that unusual in 1818 Germany, so there’s no need to attribute this guitar accompaniment to a rodent infestation.
Angels from the Realms of Glory
This text was written in 1816 by Scottish writer James Montgomery (1771-1854), a newspaper editor who was imprisoned multiple times for the radical views expressed in his publications. “Angels from the Realms of Glory” is one of 400-odd hymns Montgomery penned.
This carol is popular with several tunes, including Regent Square by English law-student-turnedorganist and Henry Smart (1813-1879).
It is also sung to the French carol tune known as Iris, so christened after James Montgomery’s newspaper, The Sheffield Iris. This particular tune is a Christmas twofer, as it also appears under the name Gloria, particularly when accompanying the text of our next famous carol about angels:
Angels We Have Heard on High
This is a traditional noël, or French carol, which may have originated in the district of Lorraine. In French it’s called “Les anges dans nos campagnes,” and its lyrics are a dialogue between the shepherds and women of Bethlehem, who tell the Christmas story and quote the Latin text of the angels’ biblical nativity song, Gloria in excelsis Deo.
This carol became popular in France and Quebec in the mid-19th century, and it reached English speakers in a 1860 translation by James Chadwick in Holy Family Hymns.
Away in a Manger
This carol appears to be American in origin, though it first attained popularity mis-attributed to Martin Luther. The text appeared in the March 2, 1882 edition of The Christian Cynosure, entitled “Luther’s Cradle Song.” It was accompanied by a wholly inaccurate byline: “The following hymn, composed by Martin Luther for his children, is still sung by many of the German mothers to their little ones.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546) did, in fact, compose Christmas hymns, including “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her” (“From Heaven High I Come To You,”) which he published in 1535 as “A children’s song on the Nativity of Christ.” However, this Luther hymn bears no textual or musical resemblance to “Away in a Manger.”
Like “Angels from the Realms of Glory,” “Away in a Manger” is sung to a variety of tunes. In America it’s best known with the tune Mueller, composed by songwriter and organist James R. Murray (1841/2-1905). In England, “Away in a Manger” is more frequently sung to Cradle Song, composed in 1895 by Philadelphia carpenter-turned-church-music director William J. Kirkpatrick (1838-1921).
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
This one is a folk carol from the West Country of England. It was sung by carolers, or mummers, as they were called in the 19th century: children who sang carols from door to door, expecting treats in return, such as Christmas pudding (which often contained sweet ingredients like figs).
Various versions exist, including this one, quoted as a traditional carolers’ refrain in an 1836 newspaper piece:
We wish you a merry Christmas And a happy new year, A pocket full of money And a cellar full of beer.
Deck the Hall
“Deck the Hall” is a Welsh New Year carol dating from the 16th century, its Welsh title being “Nos Galan.” The song gained popularity after it was published in John Thomas’s Welsh Melodies (1862), with a version of the traditional text rendered by Welsh poet Talhaiarn (1810-1869), plus English lyrics by Thomas Oliphant (1799-1873). However, the English lyrics weren’t an attempt to translate the Welsh, but rather a new poem altogether. What the two texts have in common is a goodly quantity of beverages and fa la las.
Here’s a literal translation of a Welsh version, from A Treatise on the Language, Poetry and Music of the Highland Clans, by Donald Campbell, published in 1862.
The best pleasure on New Year’s Eve, —Fa, la, &c. Is house and fire and a pleasant family, —Fa, la, &c. A pure heart and brown ale, —Fa, la, &c. A gentle song and the voice of the harp, —Fa, la, &c.
So then, Oliphant’s English version isn’t exactly an “ancient Yuletide carol,” but it does reference plenty of British yuletide traditions. Holly was a sacred plant since the time of the Druids, and after Christianity came to the British Isles, the berries were seen to represent Christ’s blood, and the leaves his crown of thorns. The Yule log burning on the hearth through the twelve days of Christmas is another tradition that may have pagan origins. Yule Log rituals include keeping a bit of its wood all year to protect the home from fires and to use in lighting next year’s log.
For Further Reading
If you’d like to know more about the history (not just the legends) behind Christmas carols, check out The New Oxford Book of Carols, edited by Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott, which features music, texts and copious historical notes on more than 200 holiday classics.
A Play On Words by All Classical Portland’s Music Researcher & Archivist Emma Mildred Riggle
When I was a kid my little brother and I liked to play Name That Tune when we turned on the radio in the middle of a classical piece, because we were geeks with a bad case of sibling rivalry. One day we were sitting in the back seat of the car, waiting for Dad to finish up at the pharmacy, when we turned on the radio and heard the middle of an orchestral piece that sounded vaguely Mozartean. It wasn’t any symphony we recognized so we fought over whether it was Mozart or Haydn while we waited for the host to tell us the title.
We sat impatiently through three movements, but the piece didn’t end. We heard four, five, seven movements and the thing was still going. At this point our rival composer estimates moved to the back burner as we listened, appalled, to what appeared to be the longest unknown pre-Bruckner symphony.
At last we heard the longed-for host’s voice – just at the moment when Dad loudly reentered the car, innocently unaware of what was at stake. All we could hear from the host amid the door clanging was something that sounded like, “That was a crustacean by Mozart.”
Nowadays kids have it easy. They can go to AllClassical.org, check the playlist and see exactly what was broadcast at what time. I, however, was without internet access, and was consequently left to wonder for years what “crustacean by Mozart” meant. The mystery remained until one day in Sophomore Music History 1 when I opened A History of Western Music and read a single, enlightening word.
Allow me to save you the years of sleep I lost over this by telling you exactly what the difference is between a crustacean and a cassation.
A cassation is a classical-period multimovement instrumental genre, more or less synonymous with serenade. (Fig. 1, 2)
Fig. 1: A cassation by Mozart.
Fig. 2. A serenade by Mozart.
(Note that both the cassation (Fig. 1) and the serenade (Fig. 2) are, in fact, music, not exoskeleton-bearing sea creatures.)
The genre of cassation was most popular in Austria, and was generally intended for nighttime outdoor performances – again, like the serenade, of which the most famous example is Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, whose very title [A Little Serenade, literally “A Little Night Music”] refers to that purpose.
If a cassation was pretty much the same thing as a serenade, why did Mozart, Michael Haydn and other classical-era composers opt for a title that sounds like “crustacean” instead of something I could understand in middle school, like “serenade”? As it happens, multiple theories exist regarding the origin of this colorful name.
One theory is that “cassation” derives from the German colloquialism gassatim gehen, which means to “walk about the streets.” A different theory, offered in the Musikalisches Lexicon (1802) by Heinrich Christoph Koch, claims the term derives from the Italian word cessare, which means “to dismiss.” In Koch’s theory, cassations were originally intended as concert closers, thus literally dismissing audiences.
That’s a cassation. A crustacean, on the other hand, is an exoskeleton-bearing member of the phylum arthropoda. Examples include lobsters, barnacles, and woodlice. (Fig. 3)
Fig. 3: a Dungeness crab, which is an example of a crustacean. Crabby is also how I felt after I realized that I had misheard “cassation.” Photograph by Gilphoto, via Wikimedia Commons
What’s more meaningful than a homemade gift – especially when the giver is a composer and the gift is music? Here’s a list of five classical compositions that were given as holiday gifts!
Johannes Ockeghem (c.1410-1497): An Illuminated Chanson
Johannes Ockeghem was a brilliant 15th-century Franco-Flemish composer. Gifted with a deep and beautiful bass voice, Ockeghem spent his career singing, composing, and directing church music, in places like the cathedral in Antwerp, and later, in the French royal chapel under several monarchs.
Ockeghem had a particularly good professional relationship with King Charles VII (1403-1461), who reportedly loved music – we have records indicating the king’s purchase of precious illuminated songbooks for personal enjoyment. As a New Year’s gift in 1454, Ockeghem offered the king a book of his own songs. The present must have been well-received, because for New Year’s Day 1459, Ockeghem went a step further and gave the king a lavishly illuminated copy of one of his chansons, or secular partsongs. We don’t know which of his songs was the gift on this occasion; any of them would be a worthy gift for a royal, as you can hear from Ockeghem’s chanson Ma Maistresse (My Mistress). Like many of Ockeghem’s works, this chanson features a glorious part for bass voices like his own.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847): A Year in Piano Music
In 1839, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel traveled to Italy with her husband Wilhelm and their young son Sebastian. She spent the better part of a year visiting Venice, Rome, and Naples, soaking up the musical and cultural flavors of Italy. One of the musical fruits of this trip was Hensel’s piano cycle Das Jahr, a set of thirteen pieces, one for each month of the year plus an epilogue. The cycle is full of musical images of the Italian trip, like a Tarantella for Carnaval season in “February.” Das Jahr also travels home to Hensel’s life in Berlin: “December” depicts a dramatic snowstorm, and ends by quoting the Lutheran Christmas carol, “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her” (From Heaven High I Come to You).
Fanny Hensel completed Das Jahr on December 23, 1841, and presented the set to her husband as a Christmas gift. Soon afterward the couple embarked on an artistic project together: a beautiful album edition of Das Jahr with epigrams from their favorite poets and handpainted illustrations by Wilhelm, who was a Court Painter and art professor in Berlin.
Clara Schumann (1819-1896): Three Love Songs
Soon after the Hensels’ return from Italy, another artistic couple celebrated their first Christmas as newlyweds. Clara Wieck married Robert Schumann in 1840 after years of fraught courtship. The two had met when Robert was studying piano with Clara’s father Friedrich Wieck, who threw Robert out of the house when he discovered their relationship. Clara and her father were close, and she felt torn between her loyalty to her father and her love for her sweetheart. Clara and Robert eventually had to sue Wieck for the right to marry.
For Christmas of 1840, Clara Schumann presented Robert with three songs she had composed that year: “Am Strande,” (On the Shore), “Volkslied” (Folk Song) and “Ich stand in dunklen Träumen” (I Stood in Dark Dreams). All three songs explore the longing of star-crossed lovers: for example, in “Am Strande,” a woman gazes across the stormy ocean which divides her from her beloved. Perhaps these songs were Clara’s way of telling Robert how she’d felt during the long, challenging courtship that led to their first Christmas together.
Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921): A Fairy Tale Opera
One musical holiday favorite actually started out as a Christmas gift. On Christmas of 1890, composer Engelbert Humperdinck presented his fiancée Hedwig Taxer with a singspiel he’d composed for voices and piano. (A singspiel, or “singing-play,” is an operatic work with songs and dialogue – Mozart’s Magic Flute is a famous example.) The libretto was written by Humperdinck’s sister Adelheid Wette, based on “Hansel and Gretel” by the Brothers Grimm. The next year, Humperdinck orchestrated Hansel and Gretel and expanded it into a full opera, in time to offer a draft of the complete work to Hedwig, now his wife, on Christmas of 1891.
In a couple of years, Humperdinck’s charming fairy tale became a sort of Christmas gift to the world, premiering in Weimar on December 23, 1873, under the direction of Richard Strauss. The opera was an instant hit and has been delighting audiences ever since, especially during the holidays.
Edward Elgar (1857-1934): A Musical Christmas Card
In 1897 Edward and Alice Elgar sent a musical gift to everyone on their Christmas card list. Elgar composed a charming little partsong to a traditional text honoring his home, the town of Malvern: “Grete Malverne on a Rocke.” The text came from a book entitled Historic Worcestershire, by W. Salt Brassington (1894). The Elgars had this little song printed on their Christmas cards, as a sort of Victorian corollary to the family photo cards you might send during the holiday season.
In 1907, Elgar’s publisher Novello received a request from their ailing retired employee J.A. Jaeger. Jaeger was Elgar’s close friend, immortalized in the gorgeous “Nimrod” variation from Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Jaeger wanted Novello to turn Elgar’s Christmas card tune into a published carol for all the world to enjoy. In 1908, poet Sharpcott Wensley wrote a Christmas text for Elgar’s tune, which was published as “A Carol for Christmastide.”
Violinist Margaret Batjer has been associated with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for a number of years. In their first CD for the Swedish BIS label, Batjer and the LACO begin with a new violin concerto by Quebec-born composer, Pierre Jalbert. With movements titled “Soulful, mysterious”, and “With great energy”, Jalbert’s concerto is in good hands with Ms. Batjer, no stranger to contemporary music. She ties this newest work to established, mystical pieces by Estonian Arvo Pärt (one of his Fratres pieces), and Latvian Peteris Vasks (Lonely Angel). Completing the circle among these spiritualistic composers, J.S. Bach’s Concerto in A Minor reminds us that whether sacred or secular, Bach approached composition with equal seriousness.
Inspiration for classical music comes in endless forms. Here’s a look at five classical music pieces inspired by young people.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): The Well-Tempered Clavier
Johann Sebastian Bach was surrounded by children for most of his life. In addition to fathering more than twenty (!) kids, he also taught choirboys at the St. Thomas School in Leipzig from 1723 to the end of his life. We know he cared about education because he composed beautiful, rewarding music for students, including the 48 preludes and fugues of his Well-Tempered Clavier. In the work’s preface, Bach says that the Well-Tempered Clavier is for young people, but also for grownups who need a bit of fun: “for the use and improvement of musical youth eager to learn, and for the particular delight of those already skilled in this discipline.”
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Spring Song Op.62 no.6
Among the countless “musical youth” to benefit from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier were precocious musical siblings Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. Fanny Mendelssohn, the elder of the two, was able to perform all 48 preludes and fugues from memory at the age of 12. Her brother Felix went on to compose his own music inspired by children. In 1842 Felix visited London and stayed with his wife’s relatives, the Benecke family. The Beneckes had seven children, with whom Felix enjoyed frolicking in the family garden. One day Felix found himself babysitting these kids alone while he was trying to work on some of his Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words). The little ones wanted his attention and kept playfully yanking his hands off the keyboard, a tease which reportedly inspired the frequent clipped-off notes in the piece he was writing: the famous Frühlingslied (Spring Song), Op.62 no.6.
Amy March Beach (1867-1944): Children’s Carnival, Op.25
Amy Marcy Beach was one of the first American women to become an internationally celebrated composer. She was a virtuoso pianist who debuted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra when she was 18, and her Gaelic Symphony (1896) became the first internationally acclaimed symphony by an American woman. In addition to her large-scale compositions, Beach composed a number of delightful works for children, including music for children’s chorus and suites for children studying the piano. Her Children’s Carnival, Op.25, was published in 1894, and it includes this charming movement entitled “Columbine.”
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Children’s Corner
In 1905, Claude Debussy and his lover Emma Bardac had a daughter, whom they named Claude-Emma (Chouchou for short). Debussy was overjoyed to be a father: at Chouchou’s birth, he wrote to his friend Louis Laloy, “This joy has quote bowled me over and still bewilders me!” Debussy composed his Children’s Corner, a suite for piano, between 1906 and 1908, while Chouchou was a toddler, and dedicated the work to her: “To my beloved little Chouchou, with tender excuses from her father for what follows.” The set offers musical pictures of Chouchou’s playtime and her favorite toys, including a lullaby for her lumbering little velvet elephant Jumbo – whose name Debussy, possibly as a joke, misspelled as “Jimbo.”
John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951): Adventures in a Perambulator
Chicagoan John Alden Carpenter was another composer inspired by the antics of a baby daughter. He was very close to his daughter Ginny: “inseparable,” in fact, according to Ginny’s governess, who wrote of the composer and his little daughter playing games and taking walks together. Carpenter’s orchestral suite Adventures in a Perambulator (1914) comes with copious program notes from the point of view of the heroine of the piece: a baby. In the fifth movement, “Dogs,” the Baby is overjoyed to encounter raucously barking pups during her perambulator ride:
“…It is Dogs! We come upon them without warning. Not one of them—all of them. First, one by one; then in pairs; then in societies. Little dogs, with sisters; big dogs, with aged parents. Kind dogs, brigand dogs, sad dogs and gay. They laugh, they fight, they flirt, they run. And at last, in order to hold my interest, the very littlest brigand starts a game of ‘Follow the Leader,’ followed by the others. It is tremendous!”
For more music for children, tune in to ICAN, our International Children’s Arts Network! You can listen at KQAC HD-2 in Portland, 89.9, or stream anywhere in the world at icanradio.org.
To introduce a pianist saying that he or she started lessons at the age of five is probably not going to raise eyebrows. However, to say that this particular pianist advanced at such a rate that she entered the Curtis Institute at age 13 is something that might catch notice. That’s the first part of Wei Luo‘s story, as the now-19 year old is introduced to the world on the Decca Classics label.
Her disc illustrates her love of Russian repertoire, including some rarities by Rodion Shchedrin (b. 1932), whose Two Polyphonic Pieces were discovered by Luo “by random.” They make for a thrilling and, in her word, “cool” conclusion to her debut disc. Ms. Luo shares more of her story with John Pitman, along with music excerpts.
The “war to end all wars” claimed many lives, and forever altered the lives of those who survived. Here’s a look at some of the composers who served in World War 1 and the music they created.
George Butterworth (1885-1916)
George Butterworth (1885-1916) was a promising young English composer who collected folk songs and found inspiration in the poetry of A.E. Houseman, whose texts he set to music in Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (1911). The next year, Butterworth revisited his Houseman settings in an orchestral rhapsody. It closes by quoting his setting of Houseman’s text, which seems almost prescient of the coming war’s loss of life:
With rue my heart is laden For golden friends I had.
Butterworth enlisted in 1914, served at the Battle of the Somme, and died shortly afterward. The place of his death is named Butterworth Trench in his memory.
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
By 1917, the United States had entered the Great War, and among American composers to enlist was William Grant Still (1895-1978). Still’s professional training was interrupted by the war: in 1918 he left his music studies at Oberlin College to serve in the Navy. After his military service, Still went on to compose pioneering works like his blues-inflected Afro-American Symphony (1930), the first symphony by an African-American to be premiered by a major orchestra.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Maurice Ravel tried to enlist in the French Air Force, but due to his age and small stature, he was assigned to drive a lorry instead. Ravel drove petrol and other supplies to the front lines during the Battle of Verdun in 1916, wearing a thick coat to try and stay warm in his open truck (which he named Adelaide). After the war, Ravel composed his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand for Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm while serving in the war.
Alban Berg (1885-1935)
In 1915, Serialist composer Alban Berg was coming off several years of intense composition study with Arnold Schoenberg and trying to establish an independent musical career when he was called up to serve in the Austrian army. The rigorous army camp training proved too much for his health, so he was transferred to serve in a War Ministry office until 1918. Berg’s opera Wozzeck, completed in 1922, was inspired partly by his own traumatic experiences upon enlistment.
Ivor Gurney (1890-1937)
English poet and composer Ivor Gurney left the Royal College of Music in 1915 when he joined the 2/5th Gloucesters to serve in France, where he was wounded. Gurney published two collections of war-influenced poetry, Severn and Somme (1917) and War’s Embers (1919), and he published his first collection of songs in 1920. Tragically, Gurney struggled with his mental health throughout his life, dying in 1937 while hospitalized for his condition. Among Gurney’s sensitive, rhapsodic songs is “Severn Meadows,” a setting of one of his own poems from Severn and Somme:
Only the wanderer Knows England’s graces, Or can anew see clear Familiar faces.
And who loves joy as he That dwells in shadows? Do not forget me quite, O Severn meadows.
Guitarist Sharon Isbin has recorded nearly everything in her instrument’s repertoire. Still, it’s refreshing to hear that, when an artist such as Ms. Isbin revisits a work (such as the Vivaldi D Major concerto), she gives us an interpretation with subtle differences from what came before. On “Souvenirs of Spain and Italy”, Isbin partners with Pacifica Quartet, so the Vivaldi has an especially intimate feel to it. The disc also sheds light on works that have stayed in the shadows somewhat. The Quintet by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco is such a work. Turina’s “Bullfighter’s Prayer” and Boccherini’s Quintet with the Fandango finale (complete with castanets and tambourine) give us a well-rounded tour of the Iberian and Italian peninsulas.
In the United States, National Hispanic Heritage Month is recognized from September 15th to October 15th. It is a time allotted to recognize the influence of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the history of the country.
Although Hispanic and Latino are often used interchangeably, they mean two different things. The term Hispanic refers to people who speak Spanish, or are descended from communities who speak Spanish, while Latino refers to people who are from or descended from people from Latin American regions. This article includes both Hispanic and Latino composers.
Spain
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
Listen: “El retablo de maese Pedro” (“Master Peter’s Puppet Show”) “El retablo de maese Pedro” is a one-act puppet opera commissioned by the Princess of Polignac in 1919 and premiered in 1923. The libretto was based on chapter 26 of the Spanish novel “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes.
De Falla studied both piano and composition formally from various instructors. In 1904 he won both the Real Academia de Bellas Artes composition and a prestigious piano prize by the piano makers Ortiz y Cussó. He wrote works that were successful in multiple countries including Russia, England, and France, and his native country of Spain, and is recognized as the most distinguished Spanish composer of the early 20th century. His portrait was featured on Spain’s 1970 100-peseta banknote.
Mexico
Manuel Ponce (1882-1948)
Listen: “Concierto del Sur” Composed in 1941, “Concierto del Sur” is a guitar concerto dedicated to Ponce’s long-time friend and guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia.
Manuel Ponce was a pianist and composer whose earlier style was inspired by Moszkowski and Chaminade, and included lots of light compositions for piano and many sentimental songs. After studying the works of Dukas later in his life, he developed a style that combined both French Impressionism and neo-Classical contrapuntal techniques. This later practice is reflected in his guitar music and more of his serious and larger works.
Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940)
Listen: “Sensemayá” (1937) “Sensemayá” is an orchestral composition written in 1937 based on a poem of the same title by Cuban poet Nicolàs Guillén.
In 1924 and 25, Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Chàvez organized the first concerts of contemporary music in Mexico. Until then, that kind of music was unknown to the capital. He held the position of assistant conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de México from 1929-1936. His works as a composer were original and technically inclined and contributed significantly to the form of the national Mexican symphonic poem.
Arturo Màrquez (1950- )
Listen: “Danzón No. 2; Conga del Fuego” This full orchestral composition was commissioned by the National Autonomous University of Mexico and premiered in 1994. It was inspired by a visit to a ballroom in Veracruz; it reflects the dance style known as danzón, a very important part of the folklore of the Mexican state of Veracruz.
Màrquez began to study various instruments and methods of composition while in junior high in the early 1960s. At 17, he was named director of Municipal Band Director in Navojoa. He studied further in Mexico, France, and the U.S., finally receiving an MFA degree from the California Institute of the Arts.
José Pablo Moncayo (1912-1958)
Listen: “Huapango” Composed in 1941, “Huapango” is a bright, short symphonic piece composed for orchestra.
In 1931, Moncayo joined the Mexican Symphony Orchestra as a percussionist, and became the conductor from 1949 to 1954. He formed the notorious Group of Four in 1934 with Blas Galindo Dimas, Daniel Ayala Pérez and Salvador Contreras. The group’s mission was to withhold Mexican nationalist spirit within new, original Mexican music. Moncayo uses inspiration from indigenous music and Mexican tradition in many of his compositions. His work helped define Mexican modernism, and his death in 1958 is considered by many to mark the end of the nationalist school of Mexican music.
Argentina
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)
Listen: “Estancia” (“The Ranch”) “Estancia” is an orchestral suite and one-act ballet. The music references gaucho literature, rural folk dances, and urban concert music. It was commissioned in 1941 and premiered in 1943 in its orchestral form and in 1952 in its ballet form. The story of the piece tells of a city boy who wins the heart of a rancher’s daughter. The concert suite is made up of four dances: “Los trabajadores agrícolas” (“The Land Workers”), “Danza del trigo” (“Wheat Dance”), “Los peones de hacienda” (“The Cattlemen”), and “Danza final (Malambo).” The last movement, inspired by the Argentinian malambo dance, is one of Ginastera’s most popular pieces.
Ginastera is known for his use of both local and national musical idioms in his compositions. He was a musically talented child who studied in Buenos Aires at the Conservatorio Williams and the National Conservatory and received a Guggenheim award for his artistry. Although he is considered a traditionalist, he commonly mixed traditional musical ideals with modern techniques, including microtones, serial procedures, and aleatory.
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Listen: “Libertango” The word “Libertango” is a portmanteau blending the words “Libertad” (“Liberty”) and “Tango.” Written in 1974, this piece is a prime example of Piazzolla’s switch from the classic tango to the nuevo tango.
Piazzolla popularized the tango and its principal instrument, the bandoneón, which he began playing at age 8. Through his composition and performance, he created a new type of tango, nuevo tango, that blended elements of jazz and classical music. Many of his compositions were written for his quintet Quinteto Nuevo Tango, formed in 1960. His music was also featured in many 1970s and 80s commercials, television programs, film scores.
Paraguay
Augustín Barrios (1885-1944)
Listen: “La Catedral” Written in 1921, “La Catedral was performed very often by Barrios throughout his lifetime. Small sections of the piece were changed over time as Barrios performed, and even to this day the work has many different interpretations and arrangements that can be performed.
Barrios is considered one of the most prolific Latin American guitarists, although his music was hardly known for over three decades after his death. He never studied music formally, and spent his life traveling, playing guitar, and composing.
Venezuela
Antonio Lauro (1917-1986)
Listen: “Natalia” “Natalia” is one of three valses venezolanos (Venezuelen waltzes) that Lauro composed for guitar between 1938 and 1940.
Lauro grew up studying piano and composition at the Academia de Música y Declamación. In 1932, he witnessed a concert by guitarist Augustín Barrios that inspired him to focus primarily on guitar in his music. He was a Venezuelan nationalist who toured nearby countries with other musicians to introduce more people to Venezuelan music. He composed a variety of works for orchestra, piano, and voice, but is most known for his guitar work. He was appointed professor of guitar at multiple distinguished schools including Juan José Landaeta Conservatory, was named president of the Venezueland Symphony Orchestra, and presented with the Premio nacional de música, Venezuela’s highest artistic award.
