Thirty-Four Songs on Poems of Emily Dickinson; For Voice and Piano by Arthur Farwell;Emily DickinsonReview by: Neely BruceNotes, Second Series, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Dec., 1985), pp. 408-410Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/897462 .

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408 MLA Notes, December 1985

and textural complex; an "image" Shapey has called it, and it is an image that is "ro- bust and nourishing" (to quote Baude- laire's description of a painting by Ingres). The image undergoes intricate shifts and interpolations among other related mate? rials. The shape with its concomitant tex? tures returns at the end of the third move? ment where it burgeons into a final, unaccompanied cadenza for the violin. The second movement projects another related image in the violin, whose quirky rhythms and cheeky scrapings convey an atmo- sphere at once humorous and ironic. The piano and percussion articulate a fleet and subdued background figure that is re? peated with frequent witty results and that culminates in the statement of the percus? sion line as an independent solo. The third movement begins with yet another derived image, this time lyrical and intimate in character. The piano gendy repeats a widely spaced chord (B-A in the highest register, Bk in the lowest) in the spaces left in the violin melody. As this music dies away, the bold image from the first movement re? turns.

The publication of Evocation twenty-five years after its completion can only serve to win this music new friends among per-

formers and listeners. Three scores are provided for performance.

Donald Erb's Three Pieces were com- missioned by the Nashville Symphony Or? chestra. The work requires a harpist and four percussion players, one of whom plays timpani. The harp is not used soloistically but participates in the percussion ensemble as an extension of the tuned and untuned percussion instruments.

Each of the Three Pieces is a study in contrasting ensemble effects. In the first, rapid tremolandos and quick figurations provide the basic texture. The second piece contrasts isolated single attacks or bursts of rapid attacks with sustained sounds pro? duced by harmonicas, tuned water glass, bowed vibraphone, sung pitches, and tim? pani glissandos. The aggressive sounds of the third piece are obtained by sharp at? tacks, harp glissandos (including pedal glis? sandos), and prominent metallic sonorities that climax in blasts from a police whistle.

The Three Pieces are modest in scope and skillfully crafted. They should provide re- warding experiences for professional per? cussionists and harpists.

Richard Swift

University of California

vocal and choral music

Arthur Farwell. Thirty-Four Songs on Poems of Emily Dickinson; for voice and piano. Introductory note by Paul Sperry. [s.l.]: Boosey 8c Hawkes, 1983. [Vol. 1: 42 p.; vol. 2: 44 p.; each vol., $9.75]

The music of Arthur Farwell (1872-1952) has received increasing attention in recent years. In 1972 his children issued A Guide to the Music of Arthur Farwell and to the Mi? crofilm Collection of his Work. This volume, which contained a list of works, represen- tative prose writings, and selected scores and excerpts from major works, attracted con? siderable attention among specialists in American music. In time, performers be? gan to present the music to the public, and the major piano works, late chamber mu? sic, and selected songs were heard, many of them for the first time. There was even a reading of his biggest orchestral piece, the

Rudolph Gott Symphony, and a concert per? formance, with piano, of his satirical opera Cartoon, or, Once Upon a Time Recently, an Operatic Fantasy of Music in America.

Paul Sperry's edition of the late Emily Dickinson settings is the first modern edi? tion of any of the composer's late pieces. These songs, written between 1936 and 1949, are Farwell's most mature vocal mu? sic and are certainly among the finest American art songs. Farwell began to com? pose in his early twenties, having first pre? pared himself for a career in the then new field of electrical engineering. After re- ceiving his bachelors degree from the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology he abandoned science for music, going to Eu? rope where he studied with Humperdinck and Guilmant. In 1901 he founded the Wa- Wan Press, a pioneer effort in the publi? cation of new American music; it is for this venture that he has become best known.

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Music Reviews 409

Later in his long and active life he was Di? rector of Public Concerts for the cities of New York and Pasadena, chief critic for Musical America, and professor of music at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Farwell's first song, written in 1895, was a setting of Heine's "Du bist wie eine Blume" in English translation. A number of songs in more or less an elevated parlor music style followed, all of them published by Oliver Ditson. In the Wa-Wan Press, Farwell be? gan to issue a different kind of song, with a more original harmonic style influenced by the new French music he heard in Eu? rope. His harmonic experiments contin? ued, and by the time of his first Emily Dickinson setting, "The Sea of Sunset" (1917), his style had become highly chro? matic, with a good dose of whole-tone har- monies and other impressionistic touches. This song and four other Dickinson set? tings were published by G. Schirmer in 1926 and 1928; they are long out of print.

Farwell had written a total of sixty-seven solo songs, plus collections of harmoniza- tions of American-Indian melodies, folk? songs, and Spanish songs collected in Cal? ifornia by 1936 when he began his major series of Dickinson settings. In addition, he had written extensively for chorus and a series of pageants and other pseudo-op- eratic stage works for community use. Most of this music had been performed; he had had considerable experience as a composer for the voice and had been able to hear the results of his work. He was well prepared to write a mature collection of songs of the highest quality he could produce.

At the same time, Farwell also composed a series of Polytonal Studies for the piano which systematically investigated the ef? fects of juxtaposing triads in different keys. He projected a series of forty-six pieces, but only lived to complete twenty-three of them. The harmonic language which he devel? oped in these studies is not quite like any- thing else in the history of music. WThile it is sometimes didactic, at its best it is strik- ingly original. This extended polytonality is the basis for his last and finest instru? mental works, particularly the Piano So? nata, and is the language which is fre? quently the basis of the late Dickinson songs.

Good examples of Farwell's late har? monic style are the songs "Presentiment" in volume 1 and "On this wondrous sea," "The sea said 'Come' to the brook," "Papa above!,"

and "An awful tempest mashed the air." Sometimes he produces a good harmonic effect by what can be called non-simulta- neous polytonality, that is, jumping back and forth between two regions. "Unto me," in volume 1, uses this device to characterize the two speakers, Jesus and the poet.

These songs, aside from their harmonic originality, show a mastery of many differ? ent ways of setting a text. Some of them are epigrammatic ("Aristocracy" and "Pre- sentiment"), drawn with very few strokes of the brush; the setting of "I'm nobody! Who are you," one of the poet's most fa? mous works, is particularly deft. At the other extreme are large-scale songs with virtuoso piano parts: "The little tippler," "Sum- mer's armies," and "An awful tempest mashed the air," surely one ofthe remark? able songs of the twentieth century.

The poems Farwell chose to set include many familiar ones, but he is particularly good at dealing with the metaphysical poems about death and eternity, abstract themes which correspond well with his rather ab? stract harmonic conceptions. A fine sense of drama is displayed in several of these, including "As if the sea" and "Dropped into the ether acre." Again, there are highly contrasting, lighter pieces, particularly the nature poems "And I'm a rose" and "The level bee."

Not all of these settings are up to the ex- alted level of the best ones, and performers and scholars will find their own favorites. But taken as a whole, one must agree with Paul Sperry, who says in his excellent and informative introduction "these are among the very finest American songs." Recitalists looking for new material will find much to choose from. The tessitura of most of the songs is medium and will be comfortable for high and low voices alike, although the more dramatic songs are all for high voice. None of these pieces is really conceived for low voice, but most of them are effective if transposed down.

It would be wonderful if the enthusiastic reception of these two volumes should re? sult in future publication of other Farwell works. Many of the earlier songs are of equal interest, and would also be welcome on recital programs. Until the time more of these works are in print, those who wish to see other pieces by this neglected Amer? ican master can consult the microfilm col? lection, or order individual items (and the

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410 MLA Notes, December 1985

Guide) from the composer's oldest son, Brice Farwell, 330 Heidi Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037.

Neely Bruce Ann Arbor

Song Anthology Two. Edited by Anne L. Leyerle and William D. Leyerle. Geneseo, NY: Leyerle Publications, 1984. [Score, 124 p.; notes, pp. 125- 55; $10.95]

A Selection of Italian Arias, 1600- 1800; vol. 1, high voice. Edited by An?

thony Lewis. [London]: Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (Presser), 1983. [Score, 71 p.; $9.00]

Song Anthology Two, an unusual collection of forty-six songs, represents an un- commonly broad range of languages, styles, and historical periods. Meant for high- school, college, or general voice students, it allows singers and voice teachers to select from a body of materials that extends far beyond what one usually finds in such an? thologies. The editors, Anne L. Leyerle (who teaches at York Central School in New York State) and William D. Leyerle (a pro? fessor at the State University in Geneseo), have produced a compilation which ex? tends in other ways as well. In addition to singable English translations, they provide word-for-word literal translations and In? ternational Phonetic Alphabet spellings of the texts in foreign languages, as well as detailed information about the composers and the larger works from which the songs are taken. Such aids will be very useful for students in choosing and preparing a song or in developing an entire recital.

The selections include an original com? position by William Leyerle, ten Basque songs, and English, French, German, Ital? ian, Russian, and Spanish compositions. I imagine that each singer or voice teacher has an ideal image of the balance of such a collection. For my taste, I found disturb- ingly little American music, either from the folk tradition or by contemporary compos? ers. Indeed, this book seems lacking in contemporary music altogether, and there is nothing that hints at the avant garde. Of course, these reservations represent my personal taste as compared with that of the editors; indeed, such limitations may re-

flect the editors' orientation to beginning singers.

The collection is clear and easy to read; it should prove a valuable addition to and contrast from the standard collections of songs for the studio.

A Selection of Italian Arias contains twenty- one vocal works; some are found in the most widely-used anthologies of Italian songs and arias, and others will probably be less fa? miliar. Since the historical period repre? sented here was one in which vocal music flourished, these pieces will give much sat- isfaction and present many interesting technical and musical challenges to the performer.

Editor Anthony Lewis is scrupulous in his scholarship in a number of ways. He is clear and detailed about the sources of the arias. He is explicit in presenting the orig? inal scoring of those accompaniments which are orchestral reductions and in in? dicating that realizations of the figured bass are editorial. (I would have preferred the figured bass scoring as well?or instead? but this is, perhaps, impractical.) The most important contribution to performance practice, however, is the editor's assump? tion that some ornamentation of the vocal line is not only desirable but obligatory, and in the specific suggestions which he offers in this area. Considering that many singers ranging from the beginning college voice student to the active professional are still ignorant about this practice, this is an in- valuable service.

The composers represented include Alessandro Scarlatti, Handel, Monteverdi, and Gluck, but the anthology will also in? troduce the singer to selections by lesser- known Baroque composers like Alessandro Melani and Giovanni Battisti. The scores are especially clear and readable, and the collection should encourage voice students to broaden their knowledge of Italian Ba? roque repertory.

Janet Sullivan Skidmore College

Johann Christoph Bach. Samtliche Motetten. Nach den Quellen hrsg. von Erhard Franke. Leipzig, New York: Peters, cl982. [Score, 129 p.; Nach? wort, Revisionsbericht, pp. 131-43; $12.50]

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