George Whitefield Chadwick - 'Aphrodite'
- In this episode we will look at George Whitefield Chadwick, a member of the so called Boston 6, and dubbed by John Phillip Sousa as the “Pride of New England”. We will hear parts of his single movement work _Aphrodite_ , and find out how closely the music ties to the mythical figure herself. Also, we will explore Chadwick’s time as student, teacher, then president of the New England Conservatory of music.
###Composer
- George Whitefield Chadwick’s life spans an interesting series of world historical events and societal shifting inventions. I’m quoting from Bill Faucett’s biography on Chadwick, as he puts it very articulately:
“Born in 1854, just a few years before the first volley of the Civil War, he lived to see the devastation of the Great War and the turmoil wrought by the onset of the Great Depression.” “Chadwick also watched as technology improved—and sometimes invaded—his life via electricity, the phonograph and the gramophone, the telephone, and the motion picture. He traveled widely—first by horse cart and train, then by steamship and automobile, and eventually by air—in the United States and abroad. Chadwick’s travels enabled his presence at many of the age’s most consequential musical events…”
Can you even imagine? Living and being so highly productive before electricity, the car, and the telephone? I know there are many others that did this, but it is a heavy concept to take in.
- So Chadwick, born in Massachusetts, studied piano for a little bit at the New England Conservatory in Boston, then with an eye toward studying in Europe, as did most musicians at the time, he took a teaching position at the Michigan Conservatory of Olivet College to earn and save money. After 3 years, he went to Germany and studied piano and organ at the Munich Conservatory. After 2 years there, in 1879, seemingly ready to come back to the US anyway, Chadwick was invited to conduct his own _Rip Van Winkle_ Overture at Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society Triennial Festival. So, he packed up and came back to Boston for good. Then, over nearly a decade, Chadwick held various church organ positions, conducted orchestras, managed festivals, and composed more and larger pieces. In 1897, though reticent at first to accept the position, Chadwick became director of the New England Conservatory of Music. (as a side note, this is very similar to how William Schuman became director of Juilliard, after declining the position multiple times) Though the position took up much of his time, Chadwick continued to teach composition and compose a great deal himself. He was even commissioned to write for Connecticut’s Norfolk Music Festival, for which among other pieces he composed _Aphrodite_, the piece we will discuss shortly.
- Chadwick’s composition portfolio is large and eclectic. Piano and organ works, chamber music, orchestral, concerti, choral and stage pieces. He worked a great deal between that and his position at NEC. The ONLY thing that slowed him down was his health. First, it was Rheumatism, which made him lose some teeth and degraded his eyesight. That led to gout, which gave him a lot of chronic pain. But what did him in was a heart condition. Because he consistently wrote in his diary throughout his life, we have a clear though sobering account of the days leading up to his death. For example, on December 27, 1930 he writes “Paderewski dinner and concert,” “Had a heart attack and could not go.” Just like that! As if it was a minor inconvenience!
###Culture
- Our piece today is _Aphrodite_, written in 1911, Chadwick actually wrote this long, one movement work in a single month! The piece itself is quite hefty orchestrationally as well, notably calling for triple woodwinds, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, off-stage trumpets, both harp and celesta, and field drums.
- As I mentioned, Chadwick wrote this piece for the Norfolk Festival. To put the Norfolk Festival performance into perspective, June of 1912, this was only 6 weeks after the sinking of the Titanic! Even Chadwick remarked “\[it] has so overshadowed all other affairs that I could not get into any mood to write.”
###Back story and anecdote of piece
- Apparently, the impetus for this work was born from Chadwick’s fascination with the marble bust of Aphrodite herself at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. Though the work is entirely instrumental, Chadwick worked out a translation of ancient Greek poetry to accompany the score:
In a dim vision of the long ago
Wandering by a far-off Grecian shore
Where streaming moonlight shone on golden sands
And melting stars dissolved in silver seas,
I humbly knelt at Aphrodite’s shrine
Imploring her with many a fervid prayer
To tell the secret of her beauty’s power
And the depths of the ocean whence she sprang.
At last the wave-born goddess raised her hand
And smiling said: “O mortal youth, behold!”
Then all these mysteries passed before mine eyes.
- Intriguingly, while the vast majority of Chadwick’s work is Romantic, Germanic, structured in form, this piece is, obviously, highly programmatic. While it is one movement, he designates titled sections: Moonlight on the sea, Storm, Requiem, The Lovers, Children Playing, Approach of a Great Army and Hymn to Aphrodite, Moonlight scene partly repeated, and Finale. A thematic strain is persistent throughout, instead of a formal rotation.
###Analysis of piece
Now let’s hear the piece itself. This 2002 NAXOS recording is of the Nashville Symphony conducted by Kenneth Schermerhorn. On a side note, because of the pandemic, the Nashville Symphony was forced to cancel their entire 2020-2021 season. This is of course grave news for the organization, the musicians, and their audience. I truly hope that the situation turns around for the Nashville Symphony and they get back to making music as quickly as is possible for everyone’s safety.
- A very melancholy beginning, the solo viola plays a variation of the Aphrodite motive that will persist throughout the piece. Accompanied by clarinets, the short phrase ends on a deceptive and un-resolving chord, followed by an ominous statement by the timpani.
- After this repeats, building suspense, the texture settles in, an undulating figure in the strings, while the English horn plays the Aphrodite motive.
- Though this section expands and builds, it is never harsh, never erupts. Not only does the activity remain relatively calm, the melody itself is rarely presented with a bright instrument, like oboe or flute, and even when it is it’s combined with clarinet or English horn to mitigate the brighter timbre of the instrument. This is a keen insight of orchestration on the part of Chadwick
- Eventually this transitions to a raucous Storm section, heavy on the low brass and percussion.
- Having built up a substantial amount of tension, Chadwick opens up directly into the Requiem. Immediately, the simple theme is accompanied by quick running chromatic scales in the lower register, swelling over and over.
- Having released a great deal of the opening tension during the requiem, Chadwick enters “The Lovers” section. This opens with a violin and horn duet that develops an intimate melodic line, likely signifying the lovers themselves.
- After this opening, the lyrical line is developed to a fulfilling crest, and in Wagnerian style opens into a lightness and quicker tempo only to arrive at yet another, greater, fuller moment of bliss.
- Following a very light, waltz-like section meant to be the “Children Playing”, Chadwick then makes use of offstage drums and trumpets to introduce the extended march of an approaching “Great Army”. The march builds up and as the army arrives, a grand Maestoso gives way, presenting a “Hymn to Aphrodite”.
- When the drama finally plays out, Chadwick reprises the “Moonlight” theme from the opening, but this time with a bit more brightness. At last, he brilliantly allows the undulating accompaniment to organically expand, adding broader and larger swelling wind chords over the top, as if breathing in sweet relief to the end.
###Outro
- Chadwick was often accused, notably by his own colleague Horatio Parker, for being technical, craftsman like. Honestly, I don’t hear what they hear. I find my self more engaged in this music every time I hear it. On top of that, Chadwick partly has a lot to do with the fact that in my own conservatory training I was offered and even at times encouraged to enrich myself with traditions other than just that of Europe. Do not get me wrong, I can play Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, etc. ALL DAY LONG. Though, I am thankful to people like Chadwick who encouraged American teachers, performers, and composers to believe in their own set of traditions, skills, instincts. Now, we have a mix of everything. What could be better?
Music:
'Aphrodite'
By: George Whitefiled Chadwick
Performed by: Kenneth Schermerhorn, Nashville Symphony Orchestra
Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.
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