Quick question... Has Chadwick's Symphony No. 1 ever been recorded? I just heard his Symphony no 3 in F for which Dvorak awarded Ist price in a competition...(well obviously!!!!!!!!!!!!) What a stunning Symphony!
Short answer: no. At least not commercially. It would be interesting to know if it has even been performed by anyone and a recording made.
By the way, it's in C major, his op. 5, begun in 1877; finished 11/23/1881. See http://books.google.com/books?id=F-cOafRJIFQC&pg=PA8 (http://books.google.com/books?id=F-cOafRJIFQC&pg=PA8). (Premiered Feb. 23 1882.)
Eric
I cannot locate a score of the first symphony anywhere. Does it still exist?
Quote from: Alan Howe on Sunday 25 July 2010, 21:45
I cannot locate a score of the first symphony anywhere. Does it still exist?
Worldcat lists it twice (manuscript copy, archival, unpublished), but I can't seem to figure out at which libraries; and there's a dissertation about it by Mark Ignatovich (Catholic University of America, 1985), also. I'm guessing it still exists but am not 100% positive on that evidence.
And sadly, Victor Yellin who wrote the bio on Chadwick passed several years ago.
Quote from: mbhaub on Sunday 25 July 2010, 22:14
And sadly, Victor Yellin who wrote the bio on Chadwick passed several years ago.
Musicologist Bill F. Faucett (editor of several of Chadwick's works and author of several works about Chadwick I believe) may still be alive though... (apparently he teaches in Florida.)
I am reliably informed that the score (and parts) are held at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts.
The symphony was never published.
My source is Sebastiaan Geijtenbeek, the author of this website: http://members.home.nl/basboy/gwchfr.html (http://members.home.nl/basboy/gwchfr.html)
Well sniffed out, Gareth. Thanks!
I have today contacted the Head Librarian and ascertained that the MS score and parts do exist. They would be willing to send me a photocopy of the score for $105. That's about £68. I'm not sure if I'm that interested at present.
What about offering the possibility to Chandos, Gareth? They may feel like adding to their Chadwick recordings...
I was thinking of doing that. Do you have a contact at Chandos, Alan?
I'll e-mail you!
Alan
I was going to suggest Klaus Heymann @ Naxos because of their American Classics series (though it hasn't premiered any Chadwick to my knowledge, true) :)
Eric
That too is a good thought.
About a score for Chadwick's first symphony (Belatedly), I wonder if Faucett's book "George Whitefield Chadwick: His Symphonic Works (Composers of North America, No 19)" contains scores of the 3 symphonies or just analyses of them? It does contain the latter. I can't tell. I believe he's published new editions of his first three quartets and some works for orchestra (two of the overtures).
I'm about halfway through a biography on Chadwick that I just got last week, by Bill F. Faucett, and took a break from reading it tonight to look some stuff up online. Looks like imslp now has Chadwick's Symphony #1 up! It is, however, a scan of a very old version of the handwritten score. On the dedication page, that may even be Chadwick's own handwriting! Not sure. At the end of the last page, there's what very much does look like his signature, though whether that's him signing a copyist's version to certify it, or whether this is the scan of the actual original, I don't know. But I would love to know, I definitely would. It would be really special were this a scan of his original, in my opinion.
Would be difficult - impossible in practical terms - to perform this symphony from this scanned version. I've looked over it a bit, and even not knowing how to read an orchestral score, I can tell this needs to be put into a more clear version for performance.
Still, I was quite excited to see it, just looked it up on a whim and there it was! Looks like it was uploaded to the site about 2 years after this thread petered out, in December of 2014. I'm not sure whether it was gifted, or a charge was made by the NEC to copy it, and a generous individual donated the scan to IMSLP. However it was done, I think this is fantastic in its own right, and potentially even more fantastic if it ever gets its day in front of recording equipment. It's clear from this book that Faucett has examined the score and thinks it inferior to Chadwick's later 2 symphonies, but I'd sure love to hear it.
Sorry to dredge up such an old thread, but I was really excited about this accidental "discovery" and wanted to share it. Also sorry if it was already mentioned in a more recent thread, but I didn't find anything when I looked to make sure before posting here.
Here's a link to the score at IMSLP:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1%2C_Op.5_(Chadwick%2C_George_Whitefield) (http://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1%2C_Op.5_(Chadwick%2C_George_Whitefield))
and it's true it was digitized @ NEC only a few months (July 2014) before it was uploaded to IMSLP (December 2014), but I don't know if it was a special request or if the IMSLP uploader just noticed that it was available at the NEC website...
I have made the "scanned by" link (@ IMSLP, Symphony No.1 Chadwick) more specific so that it points to the workpage @ NEC and not just to their main page.
its worth a shot with Klaus at Naxos... however, as you know, most of the Chadwick was brought over from Delos from prior recordings, after Delos got into financial trouble. That score is pretty rough. Would be nice if it was published.
And typeset parts created, true.
Though doubtless its original performance was given with the MS parts at NEC. And very possibly using this Full Score, which looks pretty neat to me compared with some I've seen.
It was premiered Feb. 23 1882 it seems by the Harvard Musical Association and composed 1877-81. Faucett's "George Whitefield Chadwick: His Symphonic Works" contains an analysis (part of which can be seen in Google Preview) of the first symphony, and a quote from the one contemporary review it received, @ Chapter 3 of Faucett's book (starting page 8.)
It's fascinating to follow this thread, initiated 7 years ago. The expertise, and tenacity, we have here at UC is amazing! :)
"It was premiered Feb. 23 1882 it seems by the Harvard Musical Association.... "
makes me wonder if the parts are still surviving...probably was all handwritten out by Mr Chadwick. Wonder if Sibley or Fleisher has any of the scores or parts??
The parts aren't on the Fleisher site. But I have a friend who graduated from NEC back in the 70's and he swears that every now and then the NEC Orchestra would play the First Symphony out of respect and honor to Chadwick. If so, they have parts. Would love to hear it.
QuoteThough doubtless its original performance was given with the MS parts at NEC
I refer to my post above. As I stated, the MS parts are at NEC.
makes me wonder if parts of the symphony were used in other published pieces?? not unusual for composers to write music and then recycle fragments into other works or even take a movement out of a symphony and rename it a symphonic poem.
...evidence?
For which part? "Night Flight" is just one example of the latter (2nd movement, Barber 2nd Symphony. And in this context remit is kind of irrelevant (unless one insists on examples within a sample set :)). Opposite example: Todtenfeier —> Mahler 2 ; unnamed movement —> finale of Rubbra 1... planned mvt from Mahler 3 ending up in 4...
Copeland---> Fanfare for the Common Man.. ended up in last movement of Symphony.
But there's no such evidence with regard to Chadwick 1, is there? It's just speculation. IOW a blind alley.
sorry, it wasn't clear to me what you were asking for by "evidence". I know of no such evidence, no.
Er, quite.
No I don't have any evidence... just saying.... I'd have to really study the score or listen to a performance to really determine if it was recycled. Too bad we don't have a performance to listen too.
It's not out of the question that Chadwick made a four-hand or two-piano reduction of his first symphony. Just saying. (Any such MS would serve as a secondary source in producing an Urtext.) But that, of course, is completely different from cannibalizing one's first symphony to produce some other work. Given Chadwick's rich vein of invention, such an action, though not impossible, seems implausible -- as well as undocumented.
QuoteNo I don't have any evidence... just saying
Unfortunately, that's how 'fake facts' go viral these days...
I went to NEC and in my two years there I did not hear a single note of Chadwick. However, NEC is where I first got to see scores by Henry Hadley.
NEC has however digitized a ton of - both composers? certainly Chadwick- Paine too I am almost certain. I think they're the sources of many of those composers' digital ms transfers further mirrored @ IMSLP... just to be fair though redundant
Do you have a link for those digital assets?
they should be linked from either the corresponding IMSLP pages or Chadwick's category on the same site or both. Will check in a few hours and edit this, sorry.
Ah, here's the Chadwick list @ NEC (or rather, at ir.flo.org, NEC subsite.) (http://ir.flo.org/nec/viewContributorPage.action?personNameId=1)
And there it is: the unpublished parts for the First Symphony are in the orchestra library.
Can anyone explain something about the Anniversary Overture: it says the original publication date is 1922, then it's also an Unpublished Manuscript. Seems contradictory or at the least confusing.
Thanks, Eric! I spent a half hour or more on the NEC website, finding little more than recordings and a few scores.
QuoteAnd there it is: the unpublished parts for the First Symphony are in the orchestra library.
I wrote that they were on pp. 1 & 2 of this thread. Does nobody
read anything?
I feel your pain, Gareth.
No one questioned whether the parts were at NEC at the premiere or for some time thereafter. What was in question was this: where are the parts now? Are they still in existence? Did someone misplace or ruin them? What condition are they in? I'm just saying that we now know for sure that they're at NEC. And hopefully well-preserved.
Please read what I wrote: "the MS parts are at NEC". (Twelfth post on p. 2). Present tense: ARE, not WERE.
I feel even more of your pain, Gareth...
ok, ok, ok...sorry!
Not to worry.
Just thought it worth adding to this old thread that there is an interesting article about Chadwick in the current issue of The American Scholar, at:
https://theamericanscholar.org/in-praise-of-chadwick/#.XKryXNgRWUl (https://theamericanscholar.org/in-praise-of-chadwick/#.XKryXNgRWUl)