Foote Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op. 63 (1908)

Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op. 63 (1908)

Arthur Foote (1853-1937)

[The "editorial" remarks in brackets below were written by LRT - gene]

A native of Salem, Massachusetts, Arthur Foote is remembered today as perhaps the last of the grand school of Bostonian composers who came to prominence during the “Gilded Age” ( the final quarter of the 19^th century), a distinguished group, including John Knowles Paine (the first American professor of music, appointed to the Harvard faculty in 1875), George Whitefield Chadwick, Horatio Parker, and America’s first important woman composer, Amy Beach. After studies as a teenager at the New England Conservatory, Foote received training under Paine at Harvard (even before his teacher received his formal position), and in 1875 received the first Masters Degree in music ever given in the USA. It is notable that Foote was the first important American composer whose training entirely took place in this country.

HERE BEGINS REVISED VERSION – DISCUSSING THE correct piece!

Foote‘s works include songs, piano pieces, chamber works and orchestral works, among them several works for string orchestra. His Serenade for Strings, Op. 63 was recorded by the Boston Symphony under Serge Koussevitsky, and became a favourite repertory piece. Equally fine, although less often performed, is the Suite for Strings, Op.songs and piano pieces.

THE FOLLOWING IS A FINE DISCUSSION OF THE wrong pieces!:

Foote’s works include songs, piano pieces, chamber works and orchestral works, among them several works for string orchestra. His Suite for Strings, Op. 63 (1908) was recorded by the Boston Symphony under Serge Koussevitsky, and became a favourite repertory piece. Another fine work for string ensemble, unjustly neglected, is the Serenade for Strings, Op. 25.. Dedicated to Henry L. Higginson, founder of the Boston Symphony, it received its premiere in March, 1893 in Breslau, Germany.

Comprising five movement, the work opens with a Praeludium notable for its warmth of sonority and suave lyricism, qualities which it shares with several other late 19^th century string serenades, those of Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Elgar. At the time Foote probably had not yet have heard the Elgar, but the likely influence of the Dvorak can be heard in the mood of the tender expressiveness of Foote’s music. As is the case with all the movements of this work, this opening movement is in an uncomplicated three-part structure, with a slight quickening of the tempo in the central episode.

The second movement bears the quite appropriate title, Air, for in its grave and restrained pathos there is an unmistakable influence of the celebrated “Air” from Bach’s Third Orchestral Suite. Especially affecting are the moments of dialogue between the violins and celli.

The Intermezzo turns away from the songful opening movements to provide contrast with its rhythmically pointed textures, with lively contrapuntal passages in the outer sections, and rustling triplet figures in muted upper strings as background to an arching solo cello melody.

The Romanze returns to the prevailing lyricism of the opening movements, again featuring melodic interplay between celli and violins. The music flows on into a central section of increasing agitation, then returns once again to the murmuring reflective mood of the opening.

The finale, which seems to hearken back to another contemporary string orchestra work, Grieg’s “Holberg Suite” of 1884, takes the form of an old Baroque dance form, the Gavotte, with its characteristic sprightly “three-four” pickup figure, crisp rhythms and clear-cut phrases. The central episode presents a sort of “musette” [Baroque bagpipe] drone over which divided violas unfold a flowing theme, which is soon taken over by divided violins. With a return to the elegant formalities of the first section, the movement comes to a courtly conclusion.

The Serenade for Strings was introduced by the Boston Symphony, and become a favourite repertory piece under Serge Koussevitsky, who made a celebrated recording of the work with that orchestra.

Comprising three movement, the Serenade exhibits a stylistic character rather reminiscent of another Serenade for Strings, .that of Sir Edward Elgar, with which it shares a nostalgic lyricism and suave late Romantic texture.

The opening Praeludium (Allegro Comodo) is a brief, songful movement in a basic thre-part structure, sweeping to a fullness of sonority before settling back to conclude quietly.

The second movement, “Pizzicato and Adagietto” (Capriccioso, Allegretto) opens with a lively section for plucked strings, perhaps suggestive of the Scherzo movement from Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony. An extended central episode, with the strings now playing with the bows, is tender, reflective, even regretful in tone. The Pizzicato opening returns to round out the movement.

The concluding Fugue (Allegro Giusto) is a nimble, rousing movement, with a forthright, clearly-defining fugal subject which is subjected to the entire range of traditional contrapuntal devices, at the end rising into the upper register of the strings, culminating in a triumphant final statement.

NCO Concert