Post by erik on Aug 26, 2023 19:21:15 GMT -5
Hymns of the early American composer William Billings were adapted by noted Broadway arranger Robert Russell Bennett into the work that is featured in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Robert Russell Bennett: THE FUN AND FAITH OF WILLIAM BILLINGS, AMERICAN
Born in 1746, some thirty years before there was ever an independent United States, William Billings gained a reputation as the first significant composer of American music, particularly of hymns and spirituals, thus laying a bit of the groundwork for what would come when the American Sound took its place in the 20th century. His hymns and spirituals, all works designed for solo choir, without orchestra, were among the first examples of their kind on American soil, including “Chester”, “Africa”, “Rose Of Sharon” and “Easter Anthem”. His death in the fall of 1800, just eleven days before he would have turned 54 years of age, however, caused him to be a forgotten figure until the middle part of the 20th century, when William Schuman incorporated three of Billings’ hymns, including “Chester”, into his 1956 orchestral work “New England Triptych”. Two decades later, Robert Russell Bennett, known for adapting the music of composers like Gershwin into a concert format, as well as conducting Richard Rodgers’ music for the 1952 TV documentary Victory At Sea, made his own adaptation of Billings’ hymns into a thirty minute-long cantata, “The Fun And Faith Of William Billings, American”. Bennett, utilizing many of Billings’ original vocal instructions in adapting the past composer’s hymns, had been commissioned to write the work for the American Bicentennial by the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C.; and the orchestra and the University of Maryland Chorus, all under the direction of Antal Dorati, made the work’s premiere recording in April 1975.
University of Maryland Chorus
National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C./ANTAL DORATI (London/Decca)
Included:
William Billings: THREE HYMNS
William Schuman: NEW ENGLAND TRIPTYCH
Robert Russell Bennett: THE FUN AND FAITH OF WILLIAM BILLINGS, AMERICAN
Born in 1746, some thirty years before there was ever an independent United States, William Billings gained a reputation as the first significant composer of American music, particularly of hymns and spirituals, thus laying a bit of the groundwork for what would come when the American Sound took its place in the 20th century. His hymns and spirituals, all works designed for solo choir, without orchestra, were among the first examples of their kind on American soil, including “Chester”, “Africa”, “Rose Of Sharon” and “Easter Anthem”. His death in the fall of 1800, just eleven days before he would have turned 54 years of age, however, caused him to be a forgotten figure until the middle part of the 20th century, when William Schuman incorporated three of Billings’ hymns, including “Chester”, into his 1956 orchestral work “New England Triptych”. Two decades later, Robert Russell Bennett, known for adapting the music of composers like Gershwin into a concert format, as well as conducting Richard Rodgers’ music for the 1952 TV documentary Victory At Sea, made his own adaptation of Billings’ hymns into a thirty minute-long cantata, “The Fun And Faith Of William Billings, American”. Bennett, utilizing many of Billings’ original vocal instructions in adapting the past composer’s hymns, had been commissioned to write the work for the American Bicentennial by the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C.; and the orchestra and the University of Maryland Chorus, all under the direction of Antal Dorati, made the work’s premiere recording in April 1975.
University of Maryland Chorus
National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C./ANTAL DORATI (London/Decca)
Included:
William Billings: THREE HYMNS
William Schuman: NEW ENGLAND TRIPTYCH