20th-Century Symphonists

America

• Aaron Copland
• Symphonic form not that important to him, but wrote much for the orchestra
• "Short Symphony"

• Henry Cowell
• varied sound materials
• experimental compositional procedures
• rich palette colored by multiple non-European and folk influences
• popularized the tone cluster as an element in compositional design

• Howard Hanson
• Teacher and director of the Eastman School
• conservative style
• "Romantic Symphony"

• Roy Harris
• "Folksong Symphony"

• Charles Ives
• 5 symphonies

• William Schuman
• chromatic themes
• polychordal harmony
• athletic rhythms
• "Symphony for Strings" (1943)

• Roger Sessions
• A pupil of Ernest Bloch
• very complex counterpoint that contained much dissonance
• He wrote eight symphonies, seven of which premiered after 1947

• Virgil Thompson
• student of Boulanger
• noted critic for the NY Herald Tribune
• "Symphony on a Hymn Tune"

Britain

• Ralph Vaughan Williams
• profoundly nationalistic
• use of folksongs
• modal harmonies
• freely unfolding, non-metrical rhythms
• fine orchestration - from studying Ravel
• non-developmental in character
• overall conservative
• 9 symphonies
• 1st - "Sea Symphony" (1910)
• for chorus and orchestra
• on Walt Whitman texts
• 2nd - "London Symphony" (1914, rev. 1920)
• evokes the sounds and atmosphere of London
• quasi-programmatic
• standard 4 movements
• 3rd - "Pastoral Symphony" (1922)
• four movements
• single mood throughout
• few contrasts in melody, dynamics or tempo
• 4th through 6th have been interpreted as being programmatically linked to the war, but not by Vaughan Williams

Denmark

• Carl Nielson
• 6 symphonies (1892-1925)
• built on 19th-century traditions
• anti-Romantic (not a lot of chromaticism)
• traditional forms
• triadic harmony
• textural transparency

Finland

• Jean Sibelius
• 7 symphonies (1899-1924)
• Post-Romantic
• objective approach
• compact
• thematic consistency
• thematic evolution
• didn't use established forms often
• distinctly national flavor
• dark coloring
• somber, muted orchestral writing
• folk qualities (but no real folk tunes)
• triadic/modal harmony

France

• Arthur Honegger
• 5 symphonies

• Darius Milhaud
• 6 chamber symphonies

Germany / Austria

• Paul Hindemith
• 7 symphonies
• includes "Mathis der Maler" (drawn from the opera)
• one symphony for band

• Gustav Mahler
• (See Mahler: Music and Musical Style)

• Richard Strauss
• "Alpine Symphony"

• Anton von Webern
• Symphony Op. 21
• the only one by the 2nd Viennese School composers

Latin America

• Hector Villa-Lobos - Brazil
• 12 symphonies
• nationalist elements - popular and folk music of Brazil

• Carlos Chavez - Mexico
• 7 numbered symphonies
• a primitivist
• use of native instruments
• modern technique
• "Sinfonia India" (1936)
• melodies from ancient pre-European melodies in Mexico
• other symphonies are abstract, without conscious effort at national flavor
• "Sinfonia de Antigona"

Poland

• Lutoslawski
• Penderecki

Russia

• Alexander Scriabin
• 3 symphonies (1900-04)

• Myaskovsky
• 27 symphonies (1908-50)

• Sergei Prokofiev
• 7 symphonies (1916-52)
• "Classical Symphony" (1917)
• makes references to 18th-century style
• small orchestra
• 4 movements - each follows a classical formal pattern
• sudden shifts of harmony and rhythm
• predates Stravinsky's "Octet" by several years
• 5th Symphony (1944)
• most frequently performed outside the "Classical"

• Dmitri Shostokovich
• 15 symphonies
• 1st Symphony (1925)
• a work of genius
• quite successful in Russia, Europe, and U.S.
• conservative tonal style
• 2nd Symphony (1927)
• 1st movement
• long
• formal choral setting of a Marxist text
• dense counterpoint
• tonal freedom
• 4th Symphony
• end of 1st movement has an allusion to Mahler's 9th
• potential political fallout - withdrew the work for 25 years
• 13th Symphony (1962)
• setting of poetry for bass, male chorus, and orchestra
• about the WWII evacuation of Russian Jews
• 14th Symphony (1969)
• in many ways a large song cycle

• Khachaturian