New England Triptych
July 3, 2018
On April 13, 1930, William Schuman, a business student at New York University’s School of Commerce, went to a Carnegie Hall concert of the New York Philharmonic with his sister, Audrey.
“I was astounded at seeing the sea of stringed instruments, and everybody bowing together. The visual thing alone was astonishing. But the sound! I was overwhelmed. I had never heard anything like it. The very next day, I decided to become a composer,” he later recounted.
He fulfilled his desires. He left behind six symphonies, numerous other works for orchestra and choral/vocal pieces, including Mail Order Madrigals (1972), based on texts from the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog.
He chose three melodies from the early American Composer William Billings and arranged them for orchestra. These three works, “Be Glad then America,” “When Jesus Wept,” and “Chester,” formed his New England Triptych. Shuman was Jewish and yet composed this explicitly Christian work, performed here by the United States Marine Band.
Schuman (1910-1992) was president of Julliard and appeared on the game show What’s My Line?
