Arthur Nevin
Encyclopedia
Arthur Nevin was an American
composer, conductor, teacher and musicologist. Along with Charles Wakefield Cadman
, Blair Fairchild
, Charles Sanford Skilton
, and Arthur Farwell
, among others, he was one of the leading Indianist
composers of the early twentieth century.
, Nevin was the younger brother of composer Ethelbert Nevin, and a cousin of George Balch Nevin
and his son, Gordon
, both of whom were also composers. He received his first musical instruction from his father before enrolling in the New England Conservatory in 1889, studying piano with Otto Bendix and music theory
with Percy Goetschius
. Completing his work there, in 1893 he traveled to Europe, there receiving instruction in piano from Karl Klindworth
and Ernst Jedliczka
, and studying composition with Oits Boise and Engelbert Humperdinck
. In 1897 Nevin returned to the United States, and spend time teaching and conducting as well as writing music; some of his early pieces were published under the pseudonym
"Arthur Dale". In 1903 and 1904, he spent the summers living with the Blackfoot
tribe in Montana
, using the opportunity to study their music
and folklore
. He soon became recognized as an expert on Indian culture, and his interest in the Blackfoot led to the composition of an opera, Poia, on the subject of one of their legends.
Between 1911 and 1914, Nevin worked in Virginia
, also spending time in New Hampshire
conducting at the MacDowell Colony
. At the start of World War I
, he took a teaching post at the University of Kansas
, but gave it up when the United States entered the war in order to direct the army band and choirs at Camp Grant
in Illinois
. Post-war, he moved to New York
after spending time in Tennessee
; he suffered from poor health in the last two decades of his life. During this time he also traveled to Paris
. He was elected an honorary member of the Alpha Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men in music, at the New England Conservatory c. 1916-1917. Nevin died in Sewickley, Pennsylvania
, in 1943.
provided by Randolph Hartley. It was first heard in concert in Pittsburgh
in 1907, and received good reviews. That same year, Theodore Roosevelt
invited Nevin to the White House
to give an illustrated talk on his work, but further interest from the American musical establishment was not forthcoming. Instead, Poia was given its stage premiere in 1909 at the Royal Opera House in Berlin
, in a German
translation crafted in part by the composer's former teacher, Humperdinck. From there it fell into obscurity; it was only given again in the United States by a group in Great Falls, Montana
, in 2005.
Nevin composed numerous other works besides Poia. A one-act opera, initially titled Twilight, was said to have been accepted for performance at the Metropolitan Opera
, but never saw the stage there. It was given as A Daughter of the Forest in Chicago in 1918. Nevin's other output includes a number of other dramatic works, some pieces for chorus
, and some chamber music
, as well as four works for orchestra
.
release, as may a complete version of his Toccatella.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer, conductor, teacher and musicologist. Along with Charles Wakefield Cadman
Charles Wakefield Cadman
Charles Wakefield Cadman was an American composer.Cadman’s musical education, unlike that of most of his American contemporaries, was completely American. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he began piano lessons at 13...
, Blair Fairchild
Blair Fairchild
Blair Fairchild was an American composer and diplomat. Along with Charles Wakefield Cadman, Charles Sanford Skilton, Arthur Nevin, and Arthur Farwell, among others, he is sometimes grouped among the Indianists, although he had only a marginal association with their work.Fairchild was a native of...
, Charles Sanford Skilton
Charles Sanford Skilton
Charles Sanford Skilton was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. Along with Charles Wakefield Cadman, Blair Fairchild, Arthur Nevin, and Arthur Farwell, among others, he was one of the leading Indianist composers of the early twentieth century.-Life:Skilton was born in Northampton,...
, and Arthur Farwell
Arthur Farwell
Arthur Farwell was an American composer, conductor, educationalist, lithographer, esoteric savant, and music publisher.- Biography :Farwell was born in St Paul, Minnesota...
, among others, he was one of the leading Indianist
Indianist movement
The Indianist movement was a movement in American classical music that flourished from the 1880s until the 1920s. It was based on attempts to synthesize American Indian musical ideas with some of the basic principles of Western music...
composers of the early twentieth century.
Biography
Born in Edgeworth, PennsylvaniaEdgeworth, Pennsylvania
Edgeworth is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,680 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Edgeworth is located at ....
, Nevin was the younger brother of composer Ethelbert Nevin, and a cousin of George Balch Nevin
George Balch Nevin
George Balch Nevin was an American composer and businessman. A member of the Nevin musical family, his cousins were the composers Ethelbert and Arthur Nevin; his son, Gordon Balch Nevin, also became a composer....
and his son, Gordon
Gordon Balch Nevin
Gordon Balch Nevin was an American composer and organist. A member of the Nevin musical family of Edgeworth, PA., his cousins were the composers Ethelbert and Arthur Nevin, and he was the son of composer and businessman George Balch Nevin...
, both of whom were also composers. He received his first musical instruction from his father before enrolling in the New England Conservatory in 1889, studying piano with Otto Bendix and music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
with Percy Goetschius
Percy Goetschius
Percy Goetschius won international fame in the teaching of the theory of composition.-Life:Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Goetschius was the piano pupil of Robert E. H. Gehring, a prominent teacher of that era. Goetschius was the organist of the Second Presbyterian Church from 1868–1870 and of the...
. Completing his work there, in 1893 he traveled to Europe, there receiving instruction in piano from Karl Klindworth
Karl Klindworth
Karl Klindworth was a German composer, pianist, conductor, violinist and music publisher.-Biography:Klindworth was born at Hanover in 1830. For a time he conducted a traveling opera troupe, but settled in Hanover as a teacher and composer. From there he went to Weimar, 1852, and studied the piano...
and Ernst Jedliczka
Ernst Jedliczka
Ernst Jedliczka was a Russian-German pianist, piano pedagogue, and music critic. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition stated that Jedliczka "did much to spread Russian music in Germany, placing Russian composers in a prominent place within his concerts and devoting them to a series of...
, and studying composition with Oits Boise and Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel. Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province; at the age of 67 he died in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.-Life:After receiving piano lessons, Humperdinck produced his first composition...
. In 1897 Nevin returned to the United States, and spend time teaching and conducting as well as writing music; some of his early pieces were published under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Arthur Dale". In 1903 and 1904, he spent the summers living with the Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
tribe in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, using the opportunity to study their music
Blackfoot music
Blackfoot music is the music of the Blackfoot tribes . Singing predominates and was accompanied only by percussion. Bruno Nettl Blackfoot music is the music of the Blackfoot tribes (best translated in the Blackfoot language as nitsínixki - "I sing", from nínixksini - "song"). Singing predominates...
and folklore
Blackfoot mythology
The Blackfoot are a tribe of Native Americans who currently live in Montana and Alberta. They lived north and west of the Great Lakes and came to participate in Plains Indian culture.-Cosmology:...
. He soon became recognized as an expert on Indian culture, and his interest in the Blackfoot led to the composition of an opera, Poia, on the subject of one of their legends.
Between 1911 and 1914, Nevin worked in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, also spending time in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
conducting at the MacDowell Colony
MacDowell Colony
The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
. At the start of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he took a teaching post at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
, but gave it up when the United States entered the war in order to direct the army band and choirs at Camp Grant
Camp Grant (Illinois)
For other uses see Camp Grant.Camp Grant was a U.S. Army facility located in the southern outskirts of Rockford, Illinois named in honor of General Ulysses S. Grant...
in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. Post-war, he moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
after spending time in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
; he suffered from poor health in the last two decades of his life. During this time he also traveled to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He was elected an honorary member of the Alpha Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, the national fraternity for men in music, at the New England Conservatory c. 1916-1917. Nevin died in Sewickley, Pennsylvania
Sewickley, Pennsylvania
Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 at the 2010 census...
, in 1943.
Music
Nevin is best known for his three-act opera Poia, based on the Blackfoot legend describing the origin of the Sun Dance. The opera had been commissioned in 1903 by Walter McClintock, and was composed on a librettoLibretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
provided by Randolph Hartley. It was first heard in concert in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
in 1907, and received good reviews. That same year, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
invited Nevin to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
to give an illustrated talk on his work, but further interest from the American musical establishment was not forthcoming. Instead, Poia was given its stage premiere in 1909 at the Royal Opera House in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, in a German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
translation crafted in part by the composer's former teacher, Humperdinck. From there it fell into obscurity; it was only given again in the United States by a group in Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County...
, in 2005.
Nevin composed numerous other works besides Poia. A one-act opera, initially titled Twilight, was said to have been accepted for performance at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, but never saw the stage there. It was given as A Daughter of the Forest in Chicago in 1918. Nevin's other output includes a number of other dramatic works, some pieces for chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, and some chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, as well as four works for orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
.
Recordings
Little of Nevin's music has been committed to disc. Excerpts of his orchestral suite From Edgeworth Hills of 1903 may be found on an Altarus RecordsAltarus Records
Altarus Records is a classical music record label.-Featured pianists:* Donna Amato* Joseph Banowetz* Charles Hopkins* John Ogdon* Jonathan Powell* Ronald Stevenson* Adam Wodnicki...
release, as may a complete version of his Toccatella.