CHADWICK, George W. 1854-1931

Judith Lyric Drama for Soli, Chorus and Orchestra Text by William Chauncy Langdon. [Piano-vocal score]

New York: G. Schirmer [PN 15555], [1901].

Octavo. Flexible full dark red cloth boards with gilt titling to upper and label to spine. [i] (title), [i] (copyright), [I] (characters), [II] (blank), III-XIII (text), [i] (index), 176 pp.

With performance markings throughout in pencil and blue crayon.

Boards slightly worn and rubbed; upper joint split.

First Edition.

Chadwick, an American composer, teacher, conductor, pianist and organist, "was a leading figure of the Second School of New England composers. Highly regarded in his lifetime as a composer, he was also largely responsible for the effective reorganization of the New England Conservatory and was one of the most influential teachers in American music."

"For some years Chadwick was the director and conductor of the Springfield Festival (1890–99) and the Worcester Festival (1897–1901). As well as championing such composers as Berlioz, Glazunov and Saint-Saëns, these festivals led to his own cantata Phoenix expirans, a colourful setting of Scott’s Lochinvar for baritone and orchestra (for Springfield) and his largest score, the lyric drama Judith, based on his own scenario adapted from the Apocrypha (for Worcester). The dramatic action and some of the orchestral sonorities are clearly inspired by Samson et Dalila (which Chadwick had conducted a year before beginning his own score), though the influence of Mendelssohn’s choral writing is also evident. The central scene of seduction and murder is one of the most expertly constructed and tautly lyrical passages in American dramatic music, though the work has never been staged." Steven Ledbetter and Victor Fell Yellin in Grove Music Online.

Item #27338

Price: $75.00  other currencies