A curious programmatic work in the late Romantic style, Edgar Stillman Kelley's New England Symphony was acclaimed as one of the most important American symphonies of its day when it premiered shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, but it quickly disappeared from the repertoire after the onset of the Great Depression.
The first movement is based around two contrasting themes labelled 'Duty' and 'Love of Life.' The pastoral second movement uses various birdsongs collected by Kelley as the main source for its musical material. The funereal third movement first revisits the 'Duty' theme from the first movement, then continues with a theme and variations section revolving around a popular New England hymn: 'China' by Timothy Swan. The fourth movement has a similar marital spirit to the first and concludes with a treatment of the 'Duty' theme in the parallel major.
My NotePerformer simulation of the 18-minute long opening movement (which features can be heard on the work's IMSLP page.
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.2,_Op.33_(Kelley,_Edgar_Stillman)
The first movement is based around two contrasting themes labelled 'Duty' and 'Love of Life.' The pastoral second movement uses various birdsongs collected by Kelley as the main source for its musical material. The funereal third movement first revisits the 'Duty' theme from the first movement, then continues with a theme and variations section revolving around a popular New England hymn: 'China' by Timothy Swan. The fourth movement has a similar marital spirit to the first and concludes with a treatment of the 'Duty' theme in the parallel major.
My NotePerformer simulation of the 18-minute long opening movement (which features can be heard on the work's IMSLP page.
https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.2,_Op.33_(Kelley,_Edgar_Stillman)