# American Composer Corner: George Whitefield Chadwick



## Mirror Image

GEORGE WHITEFIELD CHADWICK














As an instructor, and eventually director, at the New England Conservatory of Music, George Whitefield Chadwick played an important role in the development of a uniquely American musical style. He was also one of the most significant of the Boston, or New England, school of composers. His music, although conservative in approach, is brilliantly orchestrated and reflects a subtle charm and sense of humor.

Chadwick grew up in a musical home. Both his parents were amateur musicians, and Chadwick got his first musical instruction in piano and harmony from his brother. More formal studies continued at the New England Conservatory in 1872. However, he didn't have enough money to complete his degree, so he worked in his father's insurance business for about three years. At age 21 he decided to pursue a career as a music educator and composer; he taught at Olivet College in 1876 and 1877. Then in the fall of 1877, Chadwick traveled to Germany, entering the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied with Carl Reinecke. He also received some organ lessons from Josef Rheinberger in Munich. His graduation piece from the Leipzig Conservatory was the Rip Van Winkle Overture (1879), which was premiered at the Conservatory and later became his first composition performed in America.

Returning to the United States in 1880, Chadwick set up a private teaching studio in Boston. Two years later he took a post as instructor in harmony and composition at the New England Conservatory. He also became the organist at Boston's South Congregational Church, a post he held for 17 years. In his spare time he composed works like the Symphony No. 3 (1886), which won him a prize from the National Conservatory in New York.

In his years at the New England Conservatory, Chadwick instructed many of the most important of the next generation of American composers, such as Horatio Parker, William Grant Still, Henry Hadley, E. B. Hill, Daniel Gregory Mason, and Frederick Converse. After becoming Director of the Conservatory in 1897 -- a post he held for the rest of his life -- Chadwick instituted some noteworthy changes, reforming the curriculum and organizing an opera workshop and a student orchestra. He also wrote influential textbooks such as Harmony, A Course of Study (1897, rev. 1922).

Chadwick was much in demand as a conductor, appearing frequently with U.S. orchestras. He also directed music festivals in Springfield (1897-1901) and Worcester (1889-1899). Even with all this activity, he still managed to compose; among his most popular works are the four Symphonic Sketches (1895-1904) and the Tam O'Shanter Overture (1915). He eventually produced five operas, three symphonies, five string quartets, and a variety of other orchestral and chamber works. The conservatism of his music, however, led to its falling out of favor as the musical world changed dramatically in the early twentieth century. The Metropolitan Opera even refused to produce his tragic opera The Padrone (1912).

Chadwick was much honored during his lifetime. As early as 1897 he received an honorary degree from Yale University; eight years later he received another from Tufts College. In 1928, he was presented a gold medal by the Academy of Arts and Letters. And in 1930 a pair of music festivals (at the New England Conservatory and the Eastman School) marked the fiftieth anniversary of his return to the United States from his European studies. He died the following year.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

A fantastic American composer and an important one. Chadwick was apart of the New England group "The Boston Six" Chadwick composed some great melodic music.


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## LvB

Mirror Image said:


> A fantastic American composer and an important one. Chadwick was apart of the New England group "The Boston Six" Chadwick composed some great melodic music.


Which are your favorite pieces, and why?

To anyone interested in exploring Chadwick's music, I would especially recommend two free-form orchestral pieces, _Aphrodite_ and _Tam O'Shanter_. Chadwick's three symphonies (1882, 1886, 1894) are solidly crafted, with frequent flashes of harmonic and timbral imagination, but they are somewhat lackluster by comparison with his later orchestral works, in which he responded, within the bounds of his generally conservative aesthetic, to Wagner and the Impressionists (there are parts of _Tam O'Shanter_ which sound surprisingly like parts of Howard Shore's _Lord of the Rings_ score). The two I've mentioned strike me as the best; they are vividly programmatic without ever becoming so literal that the flow of the music suffers. Each is a bit episodic, though again not so much as to break their spell, and the episodes are varied enough to keep the listener thoroughly engaged. Best of all (as I've said in various other threads here, as I recall  ) is the coda from _Aphrodite_; this really stands comparison with most of its contemporaries.

It's interesting to compare Chadwick with Elgar, his close contemporary (Chadwick 1854-1931; Elgar 1857-1934); Chadwick came to maturity much sooner, and his best orchestral pieces hold up well alongside those of Elgar before the war (_Aphrodite_, imo, bears comparison with the Enigma Variations, however different the two pieces are; ditto _Tam_ and, say, the _Froissart_ Overture). But after WW1 Chadwick largely stopped composing, whereas Elgar had those couple of years which gave us the Piano Quintet, the Violoncello Concerto, and a few other pieces, pieces which are so superb that they raised his reputation deservedly much higher than would otherwise have been the case; without them, I suspect his reputation and Chadwick's might be much closer (well, except for the fact that English conductors actually champion English composers, especially the dead ones, whereas American conductors, by and large, don't give a hoot about American composers, dead or alive....  ).


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## Mirror Image

LvB said:


> Which are your favorite pieces, and why?


So far I've only heard "Symphonic Sketches" and I like it because it sounds good to me. Great motivic development, harmonies, etc. I'm not good at explaining why I like something. All I know is it sounds great to me.


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## Mirror Image

LvB said:


> I suspect Elgar's reputation and Chadwick's might be much closer (well, except for the fact that English conductors actually champion English composers, especially the dead ones, whereas American conductors, by and large, don't give a hoot about American composers, dead or alive....  ).


There aren't many conductors that actually give a crap about American composers anyway regardless of where they're from.

I've began exploring more American composers and have been quite happy with the results I've come up with. The search is still on...


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## ashertk

hi , 
all the above said factors are worth reading... i appritiate....


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## Rasa

Please define



> a uniquely American musical style


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## Romantic Geek

Rasa said:


> Please define


A unique American musical style - while most of the composers in the Boston Six (or as I like to call it, the Second New England School) were trained in Germany. Their music is quite Germanic in style...however, they all slightly differ than the music of Brahms (which most were in that school) or Liszt and Wagner (like MacDowell.)

Chadwick was one of the first important composers in America. John Knowles Paine was the first - but as you start getting towards the end of the Boston Six, with Amy Beach and MacDowell, you can certainly tell the unique flair that American classical art music had at the time. It's just like how Grieg didn't sound like anyone else.

Granted, this is not the "American style" that we're used to today with Copland, Gershwin, Harris, etc...but these people were extremely influential to lie down the foundation for these composers.


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