Dissertation: Music for Soprano, Horn and Piano
Twentieth-century music for Soprano, Horn and Piano is a relatively small genre that contains worthy pieces which deserve more frequent attention. In order to make such music more visible to the horn playing community, and the public in general, I present to you three large works of importance that are wonderful contributions to the horn player's repertoire: Arnold Cooke’s Nocturnes for Soprano, Horn and Piano (1956), Bernhard Krol’s Horati de vino Carmina (1959), and Verne Reynolds’ Songs of the Seasons (1988). As an addition to the category, I composed an original work in 2009 titled To the Seasons, which is a four movement composition based on poetry by William Blake.
The provided Youtube links are recordings from my 2009 doctoral dissertation project.
Arnold Cooke, Nocturnes for Soprano, Horn and Piano (1956)
Arnold Cooke was an English composer who studied with Paul Hindemith. He had a talent for setting English literature, and the texts for his Nocturnes are by five British poets: Percy Shelley, Lord Alfred Tennyson, D. H. Lawrence, Isaac Rosenberg, and John Davidson. While the first three poets are well-known, Rosenberg is remembered for his poetry depicting the trenches of World War I, while Davidson was a lesser-known Scottish educator, translator, journalist, poet and playwright.
Traditional symbols of night and death are portrayed in each poem, much like Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, and Franz Schubert's Auf dem Strom. Cooke's masterful use of text-painting makes the poetry come alive in haunting and beautiful ways.
Performers on the following links are Gina Gillie, soprano, Bernhard Scully, horn, and Vincent Fuh, piano.
2. Returning, We Hear the Larks
Bernhard Krol, Horati de vino Carmina (1959)
Horati de vino Carmina was written in 1959 for the Italian hornist Domenico Ceccarossi. In Krol's own words: "Domenico Ceccarossi (an Italian hornist) asked for music for his trio (soprano, horn, piano). For me it was not just a matter of politeness to offer to him music with the words of a Roman. To me, a Latin text appeared most appropriate: original words of a Roman for a hornist in Rome – a bridge between two thousand years! The words were at the same time a challenge and a matter of course. ‘Ad novos deducta modos’ (shown in a new way). Earlier and new ideas of music were blended together: Toccata-Ciacona-Ragtime. A successful attempt would establish in some way a proof of the timelessness of the text and the musical form. The Horati de vino Carmina are not a duet with horn obligato, but rather a trio, similar to the one by Johannes Brahms, but with soprano replacing the violin score."
Quote excerpted from Brian Thomas Kilp's dissertation, A discussion of selected works of Bernhard Krol featuring the horn: Thoughts on historical lineage and performance. Arizona: 1998.
Performers on the following links are Jennifer Lien, soprano, Gina Gillie, horn, and Vincent Fuh, piano.
Verne Reynolds, Songs of the Seasons (1988)
Reynolds composed his five movement Songs of the Seasons in 1988 on a commission by Peter and Pamela Kurau. When he was approached with the idea, he says he agreed immediately and selected texts based on the seasons and how they relate to human experience. Representing the various seasons are five texts by four authors: “Green, green and green again” by Conrad Aiken, “Velvet Shoes” by Elinor Wylie, “Dear March” and “It will be Summer” by Emily Dickinson, and “Mellowness” by Lin Yutang. Although there are only four seasons, Reynolds chose to set five texts. Compositionally, he has a propensity for a five-movement over-arching structure using the third movement as a central axis. These movements are all performed attacca, which Reynolds achieves by using single pitches as points of transition.
The work is unpublished and, before 2009, unrecorded. It is a challenging piece to tackle, but one well worth the effort due to masterful writing and rich intricacies.
Performers on the following links are Jennifer Lien, soprano, Gina Gillie, horn, and Vincent Fuh, piano.
Green, green and green again
Velvet Shoes
Dear March
It will be Summer
Mellowness
Gina Gillie, To the Seasons (Composed 2009, Published 2012, available from Wavefront Music)
The composition was written in 2009 for a doctoral dissertation in horn performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
To the Seasons is a four-movement work for soprano, horn and piano which sets four poems by William Blake. These four poems, “To Summer,” “To Autumn,” “To Winter,” and “To Spring,” address each of the seasons in colorfully characteristic ways, expressing unique personality traits and revealing interesting glimpses into the interaction of the seasons with the people of the land.
“To Summer” contains two key musical elements which weave together throughout the movement. The stark open chords in the piano represent the harshness and heat of Summer’s unrelenting character, while the horn solo represents the attempts of the narrator, speaking for the people, to calm and relinquish said heat. The voice adopts the tone of the poetry, fierce and forward when speaking of Summer’s angst and softer and more lyrical when seeking to persuade and flatter. Throughout the movement the voice and horn interact with the piano as they attempt to persuade Summer to behave more pleasantly, and the movement ends with a blending of the two musical components, representing an acquiescence of the request.
The poetry of “To Autumn” describes an autumnal celebration in which the music is characterized by a dancing, folk-like melody in the voice and horn. The middle of the movement features the voice as the character of Autumn singing a song about his bountiful season. The movement is book-ended by unaccompanied voice and horn which serve as the narration for the opening and closing of the song.
“To Winter” is characterized by jagged melodic lines and diminished chords which provide a fair amount of dissonance. This dissonance is meant to portray the tyrannical and frightening character of Winter, who shows no mercy to any living thing, but rather delights in robbing the land of life. The horn solo which opens the movement introduces many of the musical motives that are found throughout this portion of the piece, such as the interval of an augmented second and jagged leap of a major seventh. At the end of the movement, the coming of Spring transforms the music into a major sonority which drives the wintery monster “yelling to his cave.”
After the chilling effects of Winter, “To Spring” is meant to renew and restore. The rolling major arpeggiation in the piano is calming, and the lyrical lines of the horn and soprano, as well as the sonorous harmonies, allow one to bask in beauty, soothing cold and awakening new life. An exultant fanfare from the horn and piano proclaim the poetry’s declaration of the coming of Spring. A brief horn solo near the end of the piece represents a transformation out of the previous season as it works its way through some chromaticism back to the tonality of F major. The end of “To Spring” brings the entire composition full circle and leaves the listener with the warmth and beauty that characterizes the text of this poem.
Performers on the following links are Bernhard Scully, horn, Vincent Fuh, piano and Gina Gillie, soprano.