AMY BEACH and THE “GAELIC” SYMPHONY (Part 6 of 9)

Posted on October 4, 2019

Amy Beach, n.d., courtesy Special Collections, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham.

PYP performed Amy Beach‘s Gaelic Symphony on Saturday, November 9, 2019, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Click here to watch our performance.

The “Gaelic” Part 1

Beach wrote her only symphony, considered by many to be the first great American symphony, at a turning point in American art music development.  One traditional reading... Read More ›

AMY BEACH and THE “GAELIC” SYMPHONY (Part 7 of 9)

Posted on October 3, 2019

PYP performed Amy Beach‘s Gaelic Symphony on Saturday, November 9, 2019, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Click here to watch our performance.

The “Gaelic” Part 2

Given that Beach’s next major work did indeed deploy old Irish folk songs, it’s easy to see why critics have assumed the “Gaelic” was written entirely in response to this debate.  The several aspects of form that the “Gaelic” has in... Read More ›

AMY BEACH and THE “GAELIC” SYMPHONY (Part 8 of 9)

Posted on October 2, 2019

Amy Beach and friends, around 1912, in Europe. Special Collections, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham.

PYP performed Amy Beach‘s Gaelic Symphony on Saturday, November 9, 2019, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Click here to watch our performance.

Performance History of the “Gaelic”

The premiere performance – actually, even the *dress rehearsal* — of the “Gaelic” by the Boston Symphony, under Emil Paur, to whom Beach... Read More ›

AMY BEACH and THE “GAELIC” SYMPHONY (Part 9 of 9)

Posted on October 1, 2019

Amy Beach, probably around 1937-38,courtesy Special Collections, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham.

PYP performed Amy Beach‘s Gaelic Symphony on Saturday, November 9, 2019, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Click here to watch our performance.

Conclusion

That PYP’s performance of the “Gaelic” is a local premiere (as far as we can tell; if anyone knows of an orchestra in the Portland metropolitan region that has... Read More ›