History

Piston's Second Symphony was commissioned by the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, and was premiered in Washington, D.C, on March 5, 1944, by the National Symphony Orchestra

National Symphony Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra , founded in 1931, is an American symphony orchestra that performs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.-History:...

, conducted by Hans Kindler

Hans Kindler

Johannes Hendrikus Philip "Hans" Kindler was an American cellist and conductor.Kindler was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands where he attended the Rotterdams Conservatorium....

. On the day after the premiere, Kindler sent Piston a note declaring that the symphony "is without even the shadow of a doubt one of the half dozen great works written during the last ten years. It sings forever in my heart and in my consciousness, and it does not want to leave me" Subsequent performances quickly followed, first by the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...

, then in New York on May 12, 1945 by the NBC Symphony Orchestra

NBC Symphony Orchestra

The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...

 at Columbia University's First Annual Festival of American Music, and again in New York by the New York Philharmonic Symphony

New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...

, conducted by Artur Rodziński

Artur Rodzinski

Artur Rodziński was a Polish conductor of opera and symphonic music. He is especially noted for his tenures as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:...

. On the basis of these New York performances Piston won the Music Critics' Circle Award for the 1944–45 season. It was this work that established Piston's reputation as an important American composer.

Analysis

The work is in three movements

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

:

• Moderato
• Adagio
• Allegro

A typical performance will last around 25 minutes.

Although as with all of his symphonies Piston does not specify a key, the outer movements are in A minor. The first movement is in sonata-allegro form

Sonata form

Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...

, and begins with a rhythmically flexible, unpredictable 6/4 melody in the violas and cellos. The second subject is dancelike, featuring the percussion, and the exposition concludes with a brief fugato. The first subject is darkened at the beginning of the development, which gradually expands to large phrases in the full orchestra. In the recapitulation, the contrasts between the two main subjects is increased, and the coda brings the first theme back in pianissimo. The Adagio features a long-breathed Italianate melody introduced in the clarinet that is spun out in a seemingly improvisatory way, but in fact cost Piston a great deal of effort.Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...

 chose this Adagio to perform with the New York Philharmonic

New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...

 as a memorial tribute when Piston died. This openly romantic movement possesses the characteristic grace of Piston's second creative period, and spins out its theme in a manner reminiscent of a large, figured chorale prelude

Chorale prelude

In music, a chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 examples of the form in his Orgelbüchlein.-Function:The liturgical...

. The finale is energetic and assertive, alternating three contrasting themes. The first is fanfare-like in the brass, the second dance-like, and the third a lyrical, expressive melody introduced by the English horn and clarinet together.

Further reading

• Lindenfeld, Harris Nelson. 1975. "Three Symphonies of Walter Piston: An Analysis". DMA thesis, Part 2. Ithaca: Cornell University.
• Taylor, Clifford. 1964. "Walter Piston: For His Seventieth Birthday". Perspectives of New Music 3, no. 1 (Autumn-Winter): 102–14.