William Schuman(1910-92): a Catalogue of the Orchestral and Choral Music

[Dundonnell]

WILLIAM SCHUMAN: A CATALOGUE OF THE ORCHESTRAL AND CHORAL MUSIC

1932:      "Potpourri" for orchestra  (withdrawn)
1935:      Symphony No.1: 30 minutes  (withdrawn)   
1937:      Symphony No.2: 18 minutes  (withdrawn)     *
                Prelude and Fugue for orchestra (withdrawn)
1938-42:Piano Concerto: 21 minutes      + (VAI and Albany cds)
1939:      American Festival Overture: 9 minutes     +  (RCA and Albany cds)
                Prologue for chorus and orchestra: 7 minutes
1940:      Secular Cantata No.1 "This Is Our Time" for mixed chorus and orchestra: 30 minutes
1941:       Symphony No.3: 30 minutes      +  (Sony, DGG and Naxos cds)
                 Symphony No.4: 24 minutes     +  (Naxos and Albany cds)
                "Newsreel(In Fine Shots)" for orchestra: 8 minutes
                                 (also version for concert band)
1942:      Secular Cantata No.2 "A Free Song" for chorus and orchestra: 22 minutes      +  (Cedille and Albany cds)
1943:      William Billings Overture: 25 minutes  (withdrawn)
                "Prayer in Time of War" for orchestra: 15 minutes    +  (Naxos cd)
                Symphony For Strings(Symphony No.5): 17 minutes  *  +  (Sony, Naxos, Chandos and Audiomax cds)
1944:      Circus Overture: 7 minutes      +  (Naxos cd)
1945:      "Undertow-Choreographic Episodes": 25 minutes    + (Testament and EMI cds)
1947:      Ballet "Night Journey": 30 minutes       +  (Naxos cd)
1947/59:Violin Concerto: 30 minutes    + (DGG, EMI and Naxos cds)
1948:      Symphony No.6: 29 minutes     + (Albany, Koch and Naxos cds)
1949:      "Judith-Choreographic Poem": 24 minutes      +  (CRI and Naxos cds)
1950:     "George Washington Bridge" for concert band: 6 minutes
1953:      Ballet "Voyage for a Theater": 25 minutes
1955:      "Credendum-Article of Faith" for orchestra: 18 minutes   + (Albany cds)
1956:      New England Triptych (Three pieces for orchestra after William Billings): 15 minutes   + (several recordings)
                              (also "Chester"-Overture for Concert Band: 6 minutes and "When Jesus Wept"-Prelude for Band: 5 minutes)
1960:      Symphony No.7: 28 minutes   + (Vox, New World and Naxos cds)
1961:      Fantasy "A Song of Orpheus" for Cello and Orchestra: 21 minutes      +  (Naxos cd)
1962:      Symphony No. 8: 31 minutes     +  (Sony and Naxos cds)
1963:      Variations on "America" for orchestra: 8 minutes    +  (RCA and Naxos cds)
                "The Orchestra Song" for orchestra: 4 minutes     +  (Naxos cd)
1965:      Ballet "The Witch of Endor": 30 minutes
                Philharmonic Fanfare for orchestra  (withdrawn)
1968:      Symphony No. 9 "Le Fosse Ardeatine": 30 minutes    +  (Naxos cd)
                Evocation "To Thee, Old Cause" for Oboe, timpani, brass, piano and strings: 17 minutes       +  (Sony cd)
                Dedication Fanfare for concert band: 5 minutes
1969:      "In Praise of Shahn-Canticle for Orchestra: 18 minutes    +  (Sony and New World cds)
1972:      Voyage for Orchestra: 25 minutes          *
1973:      Concerto on Old English Rounds for Viola, women's chorus and orchestra: 40 minutes
1974:      Prelude for a Great Occasion for brass and percussion: 5 minutes
1975:      Symphony No.10 "American Muse": 33 minutes   + (RCA and Naxos cds)
                Lamentation "The Young Dead Soldiers" for soprano, French horn,  8 woodwinds and 9 strings: 15 minutes     + (CRI cd)
1976:      "Amaryllis-Variants on an old English round" for string orchestra: 8 minutes
               "Casey at the Bat" (a Baseball Cantata) for soloists, mixed chorus and orchestra: 40 minutes
1979:      Three Colloquies for French Horn and Orchestra: 24 minutes     + (New World cd)
1981:      "Night Journey-Choreographic Poem for fifteen instruments": 20 minutes       +  (CRI and Naxos cds)
                "American Hymn" (Orchestral Variations on an Original Melody for orchestra: 26 minutes     *
                                     (also version for concert band: 9 minutes     + (Albany cd) )
1985:      "On Freedom's Ground" (An American Cantata) for baritone, chorus and orchestra: 40 minutes   + (Albany cd)
1986:      "Showcase- a Short Display for Orchestra": 4 minutes
1988:      "Let's Hear it for Lenny"(Variations on 'New York, New York') for orchestra: 2 minutes

[Dundonnell]

As far as I can determine, the Schuman orchestral and choral works which have never made it to cd are-

Secular Cantata No.1 "This Is Our Time" (1940)
Ballet "The Witch of Endor" (1965)
"Voyage for Orchestra" (1972)        available for download from this site
Concerto on Old English Rounds(1973)
Baseball Cantata "Casey at the Bat"(1976)
American Hymn for orchestra(1981)

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I was initially puzzled by the claim that 'Casey at the Bat' hadn't made it on to CD. Checking my own collection I find that it is the opera 'The Mighty Casey' that has been recorded. It is found on a very full 2 CD set (Delos DE 1030), along with Schuman's later 1 act opera of 1989 'A Question of Taste'. Both operas were recorded in Schuman's presence as part of his 80th birthday celebrations at the Juilliard Opera Centre in December 1990.

Some clarification regarding the opera and cantata. The opera, 'The Mighty Casey', based on Ernest Lawrence Thayer's 'Casey at the Bat' and with a libretto by Jeremy Gury, was first written in 1953. Many years later Leonard Bernstein no less suggested to Schuman that the work should have a wider audience. Thus Schuman reworked the opera as a cantata 'Casey at the Bat', which was performed in January 1976. Much of Gury's text is identical between opera and cantata, as are the constituent parts and scenes. The principal difference is that the music for the cantata is expanded for large symphony orchestra, whereas in the original opera it was written for a much smaller theatre 'pit band'. There are some new pieces added for solo voices, an expanded role for the chorus, and several very minor characters in the opera disappear in the cantata or are subsumed within the chorus.

However the opera and cantata aren't entirely distinct works and there's a striking continuity between them. Thus, and with no desire to quibble, it isn't entirely true that Casey has never received a recording. The 1953 opera has this rather superb Delos recording, conducted by Gerard Schwarz. But then, strictly speaking, it is true that the 1976 cantata itself hasn't had a commercial recording.

Many of the original Schwarz recordings of Schuman for Delos have now appeared on Naxos, and perhaps one day Naxos will provide a 2 CD set of these two 1 act operas?

[suffolkcoastal]

Shouldn't works for wind band also be added to the catalogue?  Works such as Chester, George Washington Bridge, American Hymn, Prelude for a Great Occasion (the latter was used in the 1st movement of the 10th symphony), all of which are available on CD.

As mentioned earlier I have the American Hymn for Orchestra, I also have the Concerto on Old English Rounds (how this highly inventive work hasn't made it on to CD is totally beyond me) and the Secular Cantata No 1 'This is our time'.

[Dundonnell]

....and strictly speaking is what I was doing with regard to 'Casey at the Bat'

With regard to the question of works for wind band, I am totally torn by my self-inflicted dilemma My aim was for a consistency of approach. As you probably know, I have compiled a total of 65 catalogues of the orchestral and choral music of British composers (Finzi and Arnold are yet to be posted). It was obvious that with a composer like Gordon Jacob who composed an enormous number of works for wind band or brass band to list all of these works (many of them very short in length) would expand the catalogues to quite inordinate length and add very considerable time to the whole exercise. Therefore I excluded most of these works.

I am now in a situation with a number of American composers that these people again wrote a huge amount of music for bands of various types and dimensions. I have laboured for three days on a Roy Harris catalogue I can tell you that it was the very opposite of straightforward

So, again, I am inclined to omit such works-at least for the time being (they can always be added later ).

I have also, however, been consistently inconsistent in including a few works for symphonic band which are either in my opinion of major importance or which were specifically drawn to my attention. In that spirit I am happy to add the four named Schuman works

[suffolkcoastal]

Dundonell

Would you like me to do the Roy Harris catalogue complete. Harris is the area of my expertise  and I have about 80 of his works in recorded format. It would probably only take me a few hours to put it together next week, as at one time I was in contact with his biographer and have had articles published on the composer. I can also highlight the commercially unrecorded works I have copies of.

On William Schuman, though the 2nd Symphony is unpublished I uncovered a printed score of the work in the Henry Watson Memorial Library in Manchester a few years ago. After contact from the Schuman family, the score is available to view for anyone interested in Schuman's music.

[JimL]

Perhaps it would be possible to collaborate on the catalogs.  Someone could use the PM function to send a compilation of band works (or unlisted orchestral works, etc.) to whoever is creating the catalog (you know who you are.  )  These could then be copied and pasted onto the catalog.

[TerraEpon]

I was just thinking about wind band with reguard to Hanson, interesting to see comments about it from others.

[Dundonnell]

Dundonell

Would you like me to do the Roy Harris catalogue complete. Harris is the area of my expertise  and I have about 80 of his works in recorded format. It would probably only take me a few hours to put it together next week, as at one time I was in contact with his biographer and have had articles published on the composer. I can also highlight the commercially unrecorded works I have copies of.

On William Schuman, though the 2nd Symphony is unpublished I uncovered a printed score of the work in the Henry Watson Memorial Library in Manchester a few years ago. After contact from the Schuman family, the score is available to view for anyone interested in Schuman's music.

With regard to Roy Harris I shall send you a pm

You will no doubt be aware of the recording of the Schuman 2nd Symphony in the Downloads section. This recording, provided by shamokin, was of the 1940 broadcast by the CBS Symphony Orchestra under Howard Barlow. I don't quite think that was the work's last performance. Barlow conducted the work with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in March 1940. The broadcast was, I think, before that

[Dundonnell]

Perhaps it would be possible to collaborate on the catalogs.  Someone could use the PM function to send a compilation of band works (or unlisted orchestral works, etc.) to whoever is creating the catalog (you know who you are.  )  These could then be copied and pasted onto the catalog.

I am-of course-perfectly happy to add compilations of the band works by any composers to the lists and would certainly welcome such assistance

[suffolkcoastal]

The performance that shamokin uploaded is the same as the one I had, which is I believe the 2nd performance, I think your right and there was one further performance. I was so shocked to find the printed score of an unpublished work in Manchester UK, I thought it was a catalogue error so asked to see the score and sure enough it was the 2nd symphony. It looks like it was copied by Schirmer's copiest of the period 1939-40 so Schuman probable changed his mind about publishing the work after initial copies of the score were made.

[alberto]

Maybe irrelevant, notice of some further recordings:
Song of Orpheus : Rose, Szell, Cleveland (Sony)
New England Tryptich, Kostelanetz, NYPO (Sony)
Variations on America : Ormandy, Phila (Sony)
Kunzel, Cincinnati (Telarc).
Indeed Schuman enjoyed the advocacy of great or popular or "great and popular" conductors.

[Dundonnell]

Has the Leonard Rose recording of the 'Song of Orpheus' ever made it to cd though