Amy Beach: 3 Browning Songs, Op. 44 (1899/1900)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944) was an American composer. Having lived most of her life in Boston, she became associated with the Second New England School of composers, and in 1896, the Boston Symphony Orchestra premiered her "Gaelic Symphony," making her the first woman composer to have a symphony performed in the United States. However, though Beach is best remembered for this symphony (which also elicits many comparisons to Dvorak), it is not a complete representation of her compositional output as a whole or her contributions to American musical culture.
Amy Beach's compositional career overwhelmingly centered around creating music for women within the decidedly gendered context of women's social clubs and societies. Beach's largest and most consistent output included songs, piano works, and works for small vocal ensembles typical of the parlor or salon. In fact, Beach is speculated to be the most popular songwriter of the early 20th Century, and her music was written for and most often performed by women.
Women's music clubs not only provided an abundance of performance opportunities for Beach but also commissioned new works from her. In 1899, the Boston Browning Society requested Beach to set the text of "The Year's at the Spring" for their annual celebration of English poet Robert Browning's birthday. Travelling back from New York from the premiere of her Violin Sonata, Op. 34, "it occurred to [Beach] that time was getting short for [her] Browning song," so she "sat still in the train, thinking of Browning's poem, and allowing it and the rhythm of the wheels to take possession of [her]. By the time [she] reached Boston, the song was ready." In addition to that song, Beach composed two other songs on poems by Browning, "Ah love, but a day!" and "I send my heart up to thee!" On May 23, 1899, "The Year's at the Spring" was premiered by Katherine M. Ricker at a Boston Browning Society meeting.
(Quotes from Amy Beach's article, "The 'How' of Creative Composition.")
0:03 The Year's at the Spring
1:10 Ah love, but a day!
3:50 I send my hear up to thee!
Rebecca Regan, soprano
Lili Tobias, piano
Performed March 23, 2019 at Swarthmore College
Score: imslp.org/wiki...)
Very useful
Thank you for this! Beautiful set. Thank you for sharing your voice :)
Thank you for your comment! I'm actually the pianist here, but the singer is a good friend of mine, so I'll let her know you enjoyed the video :)
Maybe the poems are a little overly romantic to us today the music stands up very well indeed as a breath of fresh air. I wish however that the voice here was a little more sympathetic to the piano as they sound too far apart.
Thank you for your comment! We are very much amateur musicians and are always looking to improve our technique.
Hooo! Some air spin/balance things to work on in these pieces. A tad flat here and there! Thank you for the scores to read along!
Thank you for your comment! We are very much amateur musicians and are always looking to improve our technique. With this channel, I'm trying to make score videos for music by women composers, in order to increase the accessibility to their music!
These are not easy pieces to sing, even for a "professional." Nor, the accompaniment. As these type songs are 'out of style" in todays music, none the less, they are worth hearing and performing. It would be nice if 'someday' some of the 'great singers' would condescend to step back into this era and include some of it on their recitals.
I too would love to hear more singers perform this music! However, I would not call it "condescending," as these songs are no less dignified or valuable than any other music.