Symphony in E, Irish
Encyclopedia
The Symphony in E, first performed on March 10, 1866, was the only symphony
composed by Arthur Sullivan
. It is frequently called the 'Irish' Symphony.
There are four movements:
The playing time is about thirty five minutes (or slightly longer if the exposition repeat is taken in the first movement).
.] The title did not appear on the published score until after Sullivan's death, in the Novello edition of 1915.
The first performance of the symphony was at The Crystal Palace
in March 1866, thanks to the popular singer, Jenny Lind
, who sponsored the concert and attracted an audience of 3,000 for her singing in the first half of the programme. The conductor was August Manns
, who had previously conducted the London première of Sullivan's incidental music
to The Tempest
.
The symphony was well received, though the music critics, both then and later, observed the influence of other composers. The Times
wrote, "Mr Sullivan should abjure Mendelssohn, even Beethoven and above all Schumann
, for a year and a day." In his 1960 study of Sullivan's music Gervase Hughes also detects echoes of Schumann, and of Schubert
as well.
The symphony was performed frequently during Sullivan's lifetime, but received few performances in the twentieth century. It has, however, been performed more frequently in recent years and was the major work of the opening concert of the first English Music Festival (broadcast by the BBC
) in October 2006. Four CD recordings of the piece are available, and a new study score edition has been published by a German firm, Musikproduction Jürgen Höflich and is available here (a reprint of the out-of-print Novello & Co edition, with a new introduction).
Hughes sums the symphony up thus: "In spite of the promising first movement and a modicum of competent thematic development, the symphony cannot be counted as a satisfactory achievement. Too much of the material is machine-made – as yet we find few signs of true spontaneity." By contrast, Greenfield concludes that the symphony is "a charming example of Victorian art at its least inhibited."
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
composed by Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
. It is frequently called the 'Irish' Symphony.
There are four movements:
- Andante – Allegro, ma non troppo vivace
- Andante espressivo
- Allegretto
- Allegro vivace e con brio
The playing time is about thirty five minutes (or slightly longer if the exposition repeat is taken in the first movement).
History
Sullivan began work on his symphony in 1863, very early in his career. From holiday in Ireland, he wrote that 'as I was jolting home through wind and rain... in an open jaunting-car, the whole first movement of a symphony came into my head with a real Irish flavour about it – besides scraps of the other movements." The composer later wrote, "I always meant to call it the 'Irish Symphony', but I modestly refrained, as it was courting comparison with the 'Scotch Symphony'." [i.e. Mendelssohn's Symphony No 3Symphony No. 3 (Mendelssohn)
The Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, known as the Scottish Symphony, is a work by Felix Mendelssohn. It is thought that a painting on a Scottish trip made by Mendelssohn had inspired the 33-year-old composer, especially the opening theme of the first movement.The emotional scope of the work is...
.] The title did not appear on the published score until after Sullivan's death, in the Novello edition of 1915.
The first performance of the symphony was at The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
in March 1866, thanks to the popular singer, Jenny Lind
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind , better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and for an extraordinarily...
, who sponsored the concert and attracted an audience of 3,000 for her singing in the first half of the programme. The conductor was August Manns
August Manns
Sir August Friedrich Manns was a German-born conductor who made his career in England. After serving as a military bandmaster in Germany, he moved to England and soon became director of music at London's Crystal Palace. He increased the resident band to full symphonic strength and for more than...
, who had previously conducted the London première of Sullivan's incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
to The Tempest
The Tempest (Sullivan)
The Tempest incidental music, Op. 1, is a set of movements for Shakespeare's play composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1861 and expanded in 1862. This was Sullivan's first major piece of composition, and its success quickly brought him to the attention of the musical establishment in...
.
The symphony was well received, though the music critics, both then and later, observed the influence of other composers. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote, "Mr Sullivan should abjure Mendelssohn, even Beethoven and above all Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, for a year and a day." In his 1960 study of Sullivan's music Gervase Hughes also detects echoes of Schumann, and of Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
as well.
The symphony was performed frequently during Sullivan's lifetime, but received few performances in the twentieth century. It has, however, been performed more frequently in recent years and was the major work of the opening concert of the first English Music Festival (broadcast by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
) in October 2006. Four CD recordings of the piece are available, and a new study score edition has been published by a German firm, Musikproduction Jürgen Höflich and is available here (a reprint of the out-of-print Novello & Co edition, with a new introduction).
Musical structure
- The Andante introduction opens with the alternation in octaves of tonic and dominant in dotted rhythm, played by the brass, answered by a 'Dresden Amen' motif on the strings (a Mendelssohnian touch). The main Allegro part of the first movement has divided critical opinion. The GramophoneThe GramophoneGramophone is a magazine published monthly in London by Haymarket devoted to classical music and jazz, particularly recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie...
in 1969 commented, "The first theme in E minor may be very Mendelssohnian in shape, rhythm and key, but it provides the first real sign of Sullivan's genuine vitality of imagination," whereas Hughes considers that though sonata formSonata formSonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
is competently handled, the first subject, "a violin cantabile of soaring promise, falls to pieces at the seventh bar."
- The second movement, in B major, is based on "a very Mendelssohnian melody" which "survives Salvation Army treatment on horns and alto trombone in octaves, only to culminate in an outrageous crib of the second movement of Schubert's UnfinishedSymphony No. 8 (Schubert)Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor , commonly known as the "Unfinished Symphony" , D.759, was started in 1822 but left with only two movements known to be complete, even though Schubert would live for another six years. A scherzo, nearly completed in piano score but with only two pages...
, a phrase first on oboes and then on violins."
- The scherzo third movement, in C major, has attracted the most favourable comments from critics. Hughes notes that it is not in conventional symphonic scherzo form, following instead a pattern ABCA with a short coda based on B in which Edward Greenfield heard an astonishing similarity to the finale of Schubert's Great C major SymphonySymphony No. 9 (Schubert)The Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944, known as the Great , is the final symphony completed by Franz Schubert. Nicknamed The Great C major originally to distinguish it from his Symphony No...
. The jaunty main theme of the movement is given to the oboe, always one of Sullivan's favoured instruments.
- The finale contains no unconventional features, though Greenfield comments that it brings "one of those descants (fast dotted rhythm against a conventionally soaring melody) that became one of the trademarks of the operettas".
Hughes sums the symphony up thus: "In spite of the promising first movement and a modicum of competent thematic development, the symphony cannot be counted as a satisfactory achievement. Too much of the material is machine-made – as yet we find few signs of true spontaneity." By contrast, Greenfield concludes that the symphony is "a charming example of Victorian art at its least inhibited."
Recordings
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic OrchestraRoyal Liverpool Philharmonic OrchestraThe Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society is a society based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, that organises concerts and other events mainly in the field of classical music. The society is the second oldest of its type in the United Kingdom and its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic...
/Sir Charles GrovesCharles GrovesSir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors....
(EMIEMI RecordsEMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...
, 1968) - BBC Concert OrchestraBBC Concert OrchestraThe BBC Concert Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five which is not a full-scale symphony orchestra....
/Owain Arwel HughesOwain Arwel HughesOwain Arwel Hughes CBE is a Welsh orchestral conductor. Among his numerous titles are Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony in Denmark and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and Principal Guest Conductor of the Cape...
(cpoClassic Produktion OsnabrückClassic Produktion Osnabrück is a record label founded in 1986 by Georg Ortmann and several others. Its declared mission is to fill niches in the recorded classical repertory, with an emphasis on romantic, late romantic and 20th-century music...
, 1993) - BBC Philharmonic Orchestra/Richard HickoxRichard HickoxRichard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
(ChandosChandos RecordsChandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
, 2000) - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/David Lloyd-JonesDavid Lloyd-JonesDavid Matthias Lloyd-Jones is a British conductor who has specialised in British and Russian music. He is also an editor and translator, especially of Russian operas.- Biography :...
(NaxosNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
, 2007)