William Henry Fry - "Niagara" Symphony
-William Henry Fry, born a Philadelphian in 1813... or 1815... well it seems no one really knows for sure. But, either is close enough for us. Though it might seem a foreign concept to us, being able to hear great music in the 19th century was completely dependent on an orchestra or opera company actually putting on the performance, geographically nearby, on an evening when you could go, assuming you could afford a ticket. No internet, YouTube, obviously. Philadelphia was great for Fry in this regard. In the 1830s, a French opera troupe toured to Philly and performed French opera sung in French, in addition to some other standards of the repertoire, like Rossini’s _La Gazza Ladra_. Multiple Italian opera companies came through with similar programming. These and many other experiences available to him in Philadelphia led to Fry not only taking composition lessons, but also having some early overtures and even operas performed.
- Professionally, however, Fry took up the family business of journalism. His father founded the Philadelphia _National Gazette_, and later working as a foreign correspondent for the _Public Ledger_ and _New York Tribune_, Fry was able to spend 3 years in Paris (6 years total in Europe). Well, being the industrious man that he was, he took advantage of that time, soaking in as much music and culture as he could.
- It also seems he soaked in a little arrogance as well! He constantly compared Paris to Philly and America generally. Particularly, in this quote… again this is a quote(!), Fry is very cutting: “Philadelphia is a Quaker abortion as regards plan; New York a Dutch monstrosity; Boston a Puritancial fright… When the groveling, penny-scraping, health destroying folly that blotted out the only dash of Beauty born of the narrow spirit which planned Philadelphia—the Centre Park—which changed that pretty little circle of verdure and trees into four square what-nots… which are a disgrace to Philadelphia and human nature, when that beggarly abortion which should be gibbeted as a criminal against good taste… shall be changed, a new birth shall be given to Democracy and the strength and splendor which royalty has conferred on Paris, social justice shall spread over our community. Perhaps if the Tuileries Gardens were in Philadelphia some money grub would vote for cutting it up to admit vehicles through, or worse even, for city lots.” As you can tell, the man had a lot to say…
- At any rate, Fry did return to the US and lived out his life as news editor, critic, and composer. He relentlessly criticized audiences for wanting European-centric only programming, while championing American music. He even found time to do a series of music history lectures.
- As for Fry’s compositions, many were lost upon his death. What remains is more than enough to fill out a musical sketch of the man at any rate.
- Notably, Fry wrote an opera titled _Leonora_, and upon it’s production in 1845 it became the first grand opera written by an American composer. He additionally wrote 2 other operas, _Aurelia the Vestal_ and _Notre-Dame of Paris_.
- An interesting quote by Fry on opera: “Rightly to hear and enjoy an old opera, we should place ourselves, so far as possible, in the circle of thought, artistic and general, of the period at which it was produced. With such mobility we may, to a degree, see with the eyes and hear with the ears of generations gone by.”
- This thinking actually endears me to this man, as my personal, preferred production of a Mozart opera includes wigs and corsets. It’s not for everyone, and the modern thinking is to “update” all visual elements. But the dated scenery and costumes helps me enter the moment and the time period and disassociate from the present.
- Fry wrote as many as 7 symphonies, or that’s what he calls them. They are really tone-poems, each one heavily programmatic, much shorter than expected, and usually not structured much like any symphony I know of. More on that later...
- The 2 most famous ones, _Niagara_, also written in 1854, which we will discuss shortly, and the Santa Claus: Christmas Symphony, of 1853. The Christmas Symphony is quite unique. Fry calls for a saxophone, which is possibly the first use of the instrument in an orchestral setting. Like, the saxophone had only been invented like 10 years earlier, and no one had yet thought about putting it in a symphony. The piece is full of instrumental solos, even one for double bass! Not at all as memorable as Mahler’s bass solo in the 3rd movement of his 1st symphony, but still unusual. The piece is very engaging, and dramatically ends with Adeste Fideles, or Oh Come All Ye Faithful as it is better known.
####Culture
- As I mentioned, Fry wrote Niagara for a “Grand Musical Congress” at New York’s Crystal Palace. Now, the Crystal Palace has an interesting, though short, history. It was erected in 1853, aaaaaand burned down in 1858, so not much could come of the 5 years it existed. Patterned after London’s own building of the same name, this one was also built with iron and glass, in the shape of a Greek cross with a 100 ft dome atop the center.
- This performance was in fact the 2nd opening of the Crystal Palace after the initial opening ceremony was apparently a dud, which included hours of musical performances and political speeches—including an appearance by President Franklin Pearce—in addition to the art and sculpture exhibition. In Fry’s review of the original he doesn’t hold back either: “The various speeches delivered on the occasion were attentively listened to by a select body of hearers, but the immense space of the Crystal Palace with its two floors and the multitudinous partial partitions, prevented the great mass present from hearing. The bad and vulgar American habit of talking and walking on such occasions, added also to the difficulty of catching what the speakers said... The effect produced upon the audience by the music foreshadows the success of keeping up that source of enjoyment for the Million as long as the Exhibition may be kept open.” In other words, Fry is saying why would they care how the music sounds as long as the politicians get to speak!
- So, this Grand Musical Congress for the 2nd opening was to be an overwhelming event. One review at the time described it as quote “unit\[ing] in one grand ensemble the elite of the instrumental celebrities of Europe and America, together with the great choral societies, solo singers, etc., of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, etc., etc.—to the number of some fifteen hundred performers”. And of course this kind of grandiose event could only come from the mind of one P.T. Barnum, the newly appointed President of the Crystal Palace.
- As a featured composer of this 2nd event and a music critic with the New York Tribune, Fry got completely on board. He even elevated the event and the building to the level of the Greek Gods(!), asserting that the Crystal Palace quote “may be considered the Olympian festival of the Nineteenth Century.” Well, that’s one way to promote the event anyway!
- Fry was to have 2 pieces performed on this concert: the Adagio from “The Breaking Heart” and our subject du jour, the Niagara Symphony, which does in fact bear the dedication “Composed for the Musical Congress at the Crystal Palace of New York.” However, since there is only one known review of the performance, and that review only mentions the Adagio, we are NOT even certain that the Niagara Symphony was performed at all! Well... I guess that’s technically true, but there is no other reason to doubt that it wasn’t performed either. And despite that, as we will see, the piece itself is thematically 100% in line with the event and all of its pomp and frills.
###Analysis of piece
####Overall scope
- The _Niagara_ Symphony is certainly large in effect, meaning to evoke the visual and aural scene of the Falls themselves. But, it is by no means one of Fry’s largest works, like his opera Leonora and the more well known _Santa Claus_ Symphony. What the piece does is showcase Fry’s penchant for experimentation and visually evocative writing. The first rarity is the orchestration, calling for 5 timpanists playing 11 drums! ... Then, just as oddly, he calls for 2 “bass brass instruments”, specifying “tubas, ophicleides, bombardones... using very high register.” I had to look up the bombardone... it’s essentially the bottom range trombone, with the same range of a tuba! I have no idea how feasible this was at the time, but certainly today we would just use 2 tubas, similar to replacing the 2 serpentines Berlioz’ calls for in his _Symphonie Fantastique_.
####Excerpts
- Now, lets hear excerpts of the piece itself.
- A dull murmur of timpani rolls begins the piece, and as if turning a small bend in the water to take full view of the falls, the music builds quickly to a grand climactic fanfare
- Then just as quickly, this climax erupts into confusion, running chromatic scales, even in the trumpets!, possibly representative of the rocky ride over the waves toward the falls 『play chromatics』
- After yet another climactic crash (of waves, maybe?), the sound finally calms, opening up to a surprisingly stately, contrasting theme. Though, the timpani rolls persist beneath throughout, foreshadowing what is to come
- In a moment of compositional brilliance, Fry creates a way of ending this stately theme and moving back to the drama of the falls, all while keeping the listener visually “in the boat” so to speak. Before fully ending the section, there are four rousing interjections, followed by stillness, only the ever rolling timpani heard. Only then, after rising tremello and brass chords does he finally arrive at a recap of the beginning fanfare
- Now we get another moment of real creativity and real brilliance Fry. After repeating much of the opening material again, at a moment of tight dissonance and tension, Fry creates a distant sounding echo of this moment, and quietly ends the piece in oblivion. In the score, Fry specifically says of the ending measures “Retard these eight bars very much at the second time of playing them to produce a continued monotony of effect.”
###Closing
- This is truly a unique piece, even now. Even if you’ve never been to Niagara Falls, Fry’s work is engaging and vivid.
- Like I said earlier, no matter what he calls it, this really isn’t a Symphony, or at least as designed by Haydn and perfected by Beethoven. And Fry spent enough time studying Art Music that he knew very well what a Symphony was. Maybe it was more of a marketing idea? Or possibly he had intended the pieces to be longer, originally?
- At any rate, the entire piece is worth enjoying, in totality, as it is, no matter the title.
Music:
Niagara Symphony
By: William Henry Fry
Performed by: Tony Rowe; Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.
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