Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) scored his biggest hit with “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.” The cantata became something of a cultural phenomenon between the wars. Sir Malcolm Sargent led performances of the piece annually, from 1928 to 1939, in a costumed, semi-ballet version, featuring close to a thousand performers. Unfortunately, the composer did not live to enjoy his success, nor did his heirs receive any royalties, as he had sold the music outright (for 15 guineas – about $2160 US).
We’ll get a taste of “Hiawatha” at 2:00 this afternoon on The Classical Network. “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast” is the first part of a larger oratorio, “The Song of Hiawatha.” A complete recording, released on the Argo label back in 1992, features a rising star by the name of Bryn Terfel – but it is Arthur Davies who sings the work’s hit tune, “Onaway! Awake, Beloved!”
Antonin Dvořák was also very much enamored with Longfellow’s most famous poem. It’s said that he jotted the theme for the slow movement to his Sonatina for Violin and Piano, Op. 100, onto his starched cuff during a visit to Minnehaha Falls. The melody became popularized as “Indian Lament.” Dvořák wrote the Sonatina with his children in mind. We’ll hear it performed by brother and sister Gil and Orli Shaham.
Then stay tuned at 3:00 for William Levi Dawson’s epic “Negro Folk Symphony.” The work was introduced by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934. Dawson revamped the piece in 1952, following a trip to West Africa. It was Stokowski who made the world premiere recording of the symphony, in its revised and expanded form. We’ll hear it played in a fine modern recording by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi.
If you happened to miss David Baker’s Cello Sonata this past Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” tune in today for his “Jazz Suite for Clarinet and Symphony Orchestra: Three Ethnic Dances.” Clarinetist Alan Balter will perform with the Akron Symphony Orchestra.
The afternoon will commence with today’s Noontime Concert, featuring members of the Dolce Suono Ensemble. The group’s flagship trio will present a mix of classics and commissions. The “classics” are by Mendelssohn and Martinu, and the “commissions” were fulfilled by Jeremy Gill and Zhou Tian. The broadcast will conclude with an arrangement of Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide Overture.” Flutist and founding artistic director Mimi Stillman will be joined by cellist Nathan Vickery and pianist Charles Abramovic. The concert took place on October 14 at Trinity Center for Urban Life, 22nd and Spruce Streets, in Philadelphia.
Dolce Suono’s next concert, “Rediscoveries,” will take place tomorrow night at 7:00, again at Trinity Center for Urban Life. That program will include works by three American masters who were revered at mid-century, but whose music in recent decades has fallen into comparative neglect – Irving Fine, William Schuman, and Norman Dello Joio. Also on the program will be works by Elliot Carter, Leonard Bernstein, Shulamit Ran, and the late Katherine Hoover. For more information, look online at dolcesuono.org.
If you’ve a tooth for “sweet sound” (or “dolce suono”), satisfy the craving from 12 to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PHOTO: Coleridge-Taylor and his family, wife Jessie and children Gwendolyn and Hiawatha (rear)
