Daniel Gregory Mason 1873 - 1953

[giles.enders]

Daniel Gregory Mason  Born 20.11.1873 Brookline, Mass. - Died 4.12.1953 Greenwich, Conn.

Daniel was the son of a piano manufacturer. In 1895 he went to Harvard University where he studied music under John Knowles Paine. After graduating he continued his studies with Arthur Whiting, George Chadwick and Percy Groetschius.  He later went to Paris to study with Vincent d'Indy. Following his return to the US he pursued  a career as a composer and teacher. .With his compositions he sought to develop a 'National style' following the music of Anglo-Saxon New England and the old south. It was all in a late romantic style.

Orchestra

Symphony No.1 in C minor, Op. 11 1914
Symphony No 2 in A major, Op. 30 1929
Symphony No 3 in B flat major 'A Lincoln Symphony', Op. 35 1936
Prelude and Fugue, for piano and orchestra Op. 12, 1914
Chanticleer, festival overture 1926
Suite after English Folksongs, Op. 32 1934
Prelude and Fugue, In C minor, for strings Op. 37, 1939

Chamber 

Piano Quartet, Op. 7 pub. By Schirmer 1911
Sentimental Sketches, piano trio Op. 34
Violin Sonata, Op. 5  pub. By Schirmer  1908
Pastorale,  violin, clarinet/viola and piano  Op.8  pub. By A Z Mathot  1912
Three Pieces, for  flute, harp and string quartet  Op.13  1912
Sonata, for clarinet/violin and piano  Op.14 pub. By Rogers,Ditson1915
Intermezzo for string quartet  Op.17 1916
String Quartet on Negro Themes, Op. 19  1919
Variations on a Theme of John Powell, for string quartet 1925
Fanny Blair, folksong fantasy, for string quartet Op. 28,  1927
Serenade, for string quartet Op. 31,  1931
Variations on a Quiet Theme, for string quartet Op. 40,  1939
Divertimento, wind quintet  Op.26b 1926

Piano

Birthday Waltzes, Op. 1 1894
Variations on Yankee Doodle, Op. 6, 1911
other piano pieces, Opp. 2, 3, 9, 16, 21, 33

Organ

Passacaglia and Fugue, Op. 10, pub. By H W Gray 1912
Two Choral Preludes on Lowell Mason's Tunes, Op. 39 1941

Song

Four Songs  for voice and piano words by M. Lord, Op.4,  1906
Six Love Songs  for voice and piano words by M L Mason, Op.15, 1915, arr. S, orch 1935
Russians, song cycle for voice and piano  words by W Brynner Op. 18,  1915–17, arr. Bar, orch  1915–17
Songs of the Countryside  words by A E Housmann Op.23, chorus and orch 1923
Five Songs of Love and Life, for voice and piano Op.36, 1895–1922
Three Nautical Songs for voice and piano  words by W Irwin  Op.38, 1941
Two Songs for baritone and piano Op. 41, 1947
Soldiers, song cycle, for baritone and piano Op. 42, 1949
There are 50 songs without opus numbers.

Choral

Long, Long the Night for chorus words by Robert Burns  pub. by W H Gray  1918
Unaccompanied choral pieces, Opp. 25, 29

[Mark Thomas]

His paternal uncle was William Mason (1829-1908), who had been part of Liszt's circle in Weimar in the 1850s and composed mainly for the piano.

[eschiss1]

Symphony no.3 ("Lincoln", premiered November 17 1937, copy in the Fleisher collection, recorded by Barbirolli who conducted the 1937 premiere)- ... actually in B-sharp major? (The notes to the premiere performance don't clarify; they do say composed in the summers of 1935 and 1936, and dedicated to the memory of Ossip Gabrilowitsch.)

[eschiss1]

Update: UFL has a dissertation on Mason's symphonies which may clarify... its table of contents has B-flat major (chapter 6: symphony no.3 "Lincoln" in Bb major, Opus 35 (1935) starting at p.102). The principal theme of the first movement is quoted here. (The finale begins in B-flat minor and ends in G major, that said.)

[Gareth Vaughan]

actually in B-sharp major?

That would be pretty unusual!!

[eschiss1]

btw the first symphony was published, by Universal Edition in 1926. The 3rd was published for the now-Juilliard in 1944. The 2nd may still remain in ms...

[Alan Howe]

If friends can listen through the snap, crackle and pop, here's Barbirolli conducting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d-kNB0YjGg&t=46s

[CelesteCadenza]

The collections at archive.org have the third symphony as in B-flat and is home to two recordings:
Krueger/Detroit - 8 Feb 1948 https://archive.org/details/cd_american-composers_daniel-gregory-mason-robert-pollock-herman
Barbirolli/NY Phil - 19 Nov 1937 (allegedly corrected for pitch) https://archive.org/details/cd_music-of-daniel-gregory-mason_daniel-gregory-mason_0

Symphonies 1 and 2 are here: https://archive.org/details/cd_music-of-daniel-gregory-mason_daniel-gregory-mason

Perhaps needless to say, don't expect sonic spectaculars on any of those.

[Gareth Vaughan]

The Prelude & Fugue for piano & orchestra was recorded on Vox/Turnabout by Mary Louise Bohm and can be heard here

[eschiss1]

if the dissertation I linked to can be trusted, no.3 is definitely in B-flat major, even though it ultimately ends in G. It contains substantial detail on all 3 symphonies.

[Alan Howe]

I have corrected the entry in Giles' listing (above) now that evidence seems to be overwhelming that Symphony No.3 is in B flat.

[John Boyer]

And many of us know the Op. 19 Quartet from the Vox recording. 

[eschiss1]

Several of his works have indeed been recorded; I believe a vox-derived set I have contains the prelude and fugue for piano and orchestra, too

[semloh]

His Sentimental Sketches, Op.34 are played by the RawlinsPTrio on an Albany disc.