Symphony No.11 (« Seven Rituals of Music » )

Henry Cowell: Symphony No.11 « Seven Rituals of Music » (1954)

Henry Cowell (1897-1965): Sinfonia n.11 « Seven Rituals of Music » (1954). Opera commissionata da The Louisville Orchestra, eseguita per la prima volta con Robert Whitney sul podio il 29.5.1954 e registrata il 20.6.1954.

1. Andantino
2. Allegro
3. Lento
4. Presto
5. Adagio
6. Vivace
7. Andante

The Louisville Orchestra diretta da Robert Whitney.

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Symphony No. 11, “Seven Rituals of Music”

The following notes by Henry Cowell are reprinted from the original First Edition Records LP release.

These are Seven Rituals of Music in the life of man from birth to death.

The Symphony opens gently (andantino), with music for a child asleep; before the movement ends there is a moment’s premonition of grief in the music that will later close the Symphony with a lament.

The second is a busy movement (allegro) with percussion; this is music for the ritual of work, and there is a prophetic hint of war.

The third movement (lento) is a song for the ritual of love, with the premonition of magic.

The fourth movement (presto) is music for the ritual of dance and play, with some reminiscence of the music for work.

The fifth (adagio) is for the ritual of magic and the mystical imagination, with some remembrance of the music for the magic of love.

The sixth (vivace) is for the ritual dance that prepares for war and includes man’s work.

The introduction to the last movement (andante) is a fugal exposition of the themes of the preceding six movements; it leads into the music of the ritual of death, which begins as a lament and grows in intensity until the Symphony comes to an end.

Thesis (Symphony No. 15)

The following notes by Henry Cowell are reprinted from the original First Edition Records LP release.

There is no extra-musical program. The form is unusual: five tiny movements; a choral-like introduction, an impassioned melody, a scherzo, a longer quiet melody, an irregular-rhythm dance which leads into a recapitulation of these elements in one movement, and at the end a sonata-form movement based on an extension of the primary motiv (a descending whole followed by a half step), which is the mainstay of all movements. As the last movement is in sonata form, I decided to call it my 15th Symphony.
Hery Cowell