Howard Hanson

Get a $5.00 Music Credit and download a free album for your iPod® or any MP3 player!

Music

List of compositions at Netherlands Radio Music Library.

Catalogue of works

Opera

Opus 31. "The Merry Mount", 3 acts (libretto by Richard L. Stokes, based on a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne) (1933)

Incidental music

16. California Forest Play of 1920 (1919)

Choral works

22. Symphonic poem "North and West" with obbligato chorus (1923)
25. "The Lament for Beowulf" for chorus & orchestra (1925)
28. "Heroic Elegy" for wordless chorus & orchestra (1927)
32. "Drum Taps" (Walt Whitman) for baritone, chorus & orchestra (1935)
Also some smaller works

Orchestral works

6. Symphonic Prelude (1916)
8. Symphonic Legend (1917)
14. Symphonic Rhapsody (1919)
17. Symphonic poem "Before the Dawn" (1920)
21. Symphony No. 1 ("Nordic"), E mi. (1922)
30. Symphony No. 2 ("Romantic") (1930)
33. Symphony No. 3 (1941)
34. Symphony No. 4 (1943) (won the Pulitzer Prize)
35. Serenade (1945)
? Symphony No. 5 ("Sinfonia Sacra") (1955)
? Symphony No. 6 (1967)
? Symphony No. 7 ("Sea Symphony") (Walt Whitman) (1977)
? Ballet "Nymphs and Satyr" (1979)

Solo instrument and orchestra

20. Symphonic poem "Exaltation" with piano obbligato (1920)
22. Concerto for organ strings & harp (1921)
24. Symphonic poem "Lux aeterna" with viola obbligato (1923)
25. Symphonic poem "Pan and the Priest" with piano obbligato (1926)
27. Organ Concerto (1926)
36. Piano Concerto (1948)

Voice and orchestra

3. 3 Songs from Walt Whitman (1915)
1. The Untold Want
2. Portals
3. Joy! Shipmate, Joy!

Chamber music

5. Quintet, F mi., for 2 violins, viola, cello & piano (1916)
7. "Concerto da camera" for 2 violins, viola, cello & piano (1917)
23. String Quartet (1923)

(Tommy Westbrook sent me the next list some time after the previous. JS)

Stage

California Forest Play of 1920, op.16, solo vv, chorus, dancers, orch, 1919
Merry Mount, op.31 (opera, R. L. Stokes, after Hawthorne), 1933, New York, Metropolitan

Choral

The Lament for Beowulf, op.25, chorus, orch, 1925
Songs from Drum Taps, op.32, Bar, chorus, orch, 1935
The Cherubic Hymn, op.37, chorus, orch, 1949
How Excellent Thy Name, op.41, female vv, pf, 1952
Song of Democracy, chorus, orch, 1957
Song of Human Rights, chorus, orch, 1963
Psalm CL, male vv, 1965
Psalm CXXI, Bar, chorus, orch, 1968
Streams in the Desert, chorus, orch, 1969
The Mystic Trumpeter, narrator, chorus, orch, 1970
New Land, New Covenant, oratorio, 1976

Orchestral

Exaltation, op.20, symphonic. poem, pf obbl., 1920
Sym. no.1 ‘Nordic’, e, op.21, 1922
Lux aeterna, op.24, sym. poem, va obb1., 1923
Pan and the Priest, op.26, sym. poem, pf obb1., 1926
Organ Concerto, op.27, 1926
Sym. no.2 ‘Romantic’, op.30, 1930
Sym. no.3, op.33, 1937 - 8; Merry Mount, suite, 1938
Sym. no.4 ‘The Requiem’, op.34, 1943
Serenade, op.35, fl, harp, str, 1945
Piano Concerto, op.36, 1948
Pastorale, op.38, ob, harp, str, 1949
Fantasy-Variations on a Theme of Youth, op.40, pf, orch, 1951
Sym. no.5 ‘Sinfonia sacra’, op.43, 1954
Elegy, op.44, 1956
Mosaics, 1958
Summer Seascape, 1958
Bold Island Suite, op.46, 1961
For the First Time, 1963
Summer Seascape II, 1966
Dies natalis I, 1967
Sym. no.6, 1968
Sym. no.7 ‘Sea’, with chorus, 1977

Other works

Wind ensemble: Centennial March, band, 1967
Dies natalis II, band, 1972
Young Person’s Guide to the Six-tone Scale, pf, wind, perc, 1972 Chamber Str Qt, op.23, 1923
Elegy, va, str qt, 1966 Songs, pf pieces, arrangements

Principal publisher: Fischer

Marie Ann Nicola <manclmta.ca> adds the following:

His opera "The Maypole of Merry Mount (1933) is a rare composition by Hanson since it deals almost entirely with American subjects.

The opera "Symphony #2: Romantic." Is entirely in the Romantic style.

The composition Symphony No 1:Nordic" reflect his admiration of Sibelius through this strongly influenced work.

Hanson was primarily responsible for raising the prestige of the Eastman School of Music as he was a director there.

<paulthepianoman (at) yahoo.com> writes: I know that he wrote a piece for wind ensemble called "Laude", which was a theme and variations piece.

<rvsbandwebtv.net> writes: You fail to mention one of Dr. Hanson’s finest and most popular works composed for the symphonic band. "Chorale and Alleluia" was completed in January, l954 and was his first work for symphonic band. It was commissioned by Edwin Franko Goldman for the American Bandmasters Association.

Life

Howard Hanson (1896-1981) was a distinguished American composer, conductor, educator and pre-eminent advocate of American music. Born in Wahoo, Nebraska to Swedish emigrants, he began music studies at an early age. His Scandinavian heritage played a life-long role in the inspiration of his works, which combine the ethos of Sibelius and Grieg with a distinctive American flavor. He was a leading practitioner of American Romanticism, dedicating his professional life to the encouragement, creation and preservation of beauty and emotional expressiveness in music. He cherished these ideals and his conviction that musicians and audiences alike could respond openly to each other with mutual respect. From 1924 to his retirement in 1964, Hanson served as Director of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where two generations of students of composition and performance were influenced by his vision.

Source: Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1954 Edition, Volume 4