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celebrating three hundred years of music by women |
Mary Carlisle Howe (1882-1964)
Howe was an American composer and pianist. Aged 28 she commuted to Baltimore to study at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. She lived and worked in Washington D. C. and played an important part in the life of the city. In 1930 she raised the money to found the Washington-based National Symphony Orchestra; she was a principal force in getting it establised. She also founded the Chamber Music Society of Washington from 1928. And with Amy Beach she helped organise the Society of Women Composers in 1925. She made several visits to Europe, absorbing European ideas; and in 1933, she went to Paris, having four sessions, studying with the famous French teacher Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). Howe played chamber music at the Friday Morning Music Club in Washington and was even a frequent guest pianist at the White House under the Theodore Roosevelt and Taft administrations.She spent several summers at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire (1926-1957), where she composed many of her orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works. Her numerous compositions include over 20 large orchestral pieces, as well as a substantial body of chamber and piano music; they are among her Papers in the New York Public Library. Many of her works are orchestral tone poems, and her late Romantic musical language is richly expressive. She herself said that her "back foot is in the garden gate of the Romantics, but I feel no hesitation in thumbing the passing modern idiom for a hitch-hike to where I want to go." Click on these works for more details below:
Back to Contents Stars. 1927 Lento sonoro. D major. pic, fl, ob, cl, bn, 2hn, tpt, timp, cym, hp, stgs; 5 mins She sat on the porch of her Rhode Island house of an evening, and was inspired to write this atmospheric evocation of the heavens. Howe herself described it as "... a miniature tone-poem inspired by the gradually overwhelming effect of the dome of a starry night - its peace, beauty and space. The sonorous ensemble of strings opens the work with the suggestion of the spreading immensity of the starry vault. As the music progresses, one's imagination is carried into the contemplation of the awesome depths of space and the sense of mystery which man compares his insignificance with infinity." It has been widely performed in America, including by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. Published by Galaxy Music Corporation, New York, USA. Score on hire from Stainer & Bell,. The Ambache gave the UK premières of Stars, Sand, and Spring Pastoral in May 2004. Sand & Stars Galaxy Music Corporation Back to Contents Sand. 1927 Allegretto. C major. fl, ob, cl, bn, hn, perc, stgs; 3 mins Again inspired by her surroundings, Howe wrote of this music as an "imaginative piece on the substance itself - its consistency, grains, bulk, grittiness and its potential scattering quality." It has also been widely performed, often as a companion piece to Stars. Stokowski wrote of it to Howe "I enjoyed so much conducting your short but masterful work. I have had much pleasure in rehearsing it and it has developed in me a new conception of staccato. But of course this is only one of many interesting elements in the work." Published by Galaxy Music Corporation, New York, USA. Score on hire from Stainer & Bell, London Back to Contents Spring Pastoral. 1938 Andante velato. F major. fl, ob, bn, hn, tpt, timp, stgs, 5 mins Inspiration from nature, this is an arrangement of a setting of a poem by Elinor Wylie (1885-1928), originally for a chorus of three women's voices with piano. Describing the freshness of spring, it shows Howe's lyrical powers contained in a gossamer veil of sound. Score on hire from G. Schirmer Inc, USA Back to Contents Three Pieces After Emily Dickinson. 1941. String Quartet, 15 mins 1. The Summers of Hesperides: Andante con moto. D major. 2. Birds, by the Snow: Tranquillo. G flat major. 3. God for a Frontier: Allegretto. C - E flat. Each movement is coupled with the last line from one of Emily Dickinson's poems, (not settings of them). As Howe explained: "For some reason unknown to me, the last line in each poem called upon in my mind not a musical theme but the sort of music I wanted to write." It is a highly imaginative work. Back to Contents Suite for String Quartet & Piano. 1928. 19 mins 1. Romanza: Andante Tranquillo. D minor. 2. Scherzo: Allegretto scherzando. C minor-major. 3. Finale: Moderato. D major The Suite is a richly melodic piece, with freely developed original themes. The three vivid movements make a unified whole, while including well-judged contrasts. Back to Contents Wind Quintet. 1957. 20 mins 1. Lustig (Merrily): Comodo. 2. Trüb (Gloomy): Steadily. 3. Schwärmend (Rapturously): Tempo di valse comodo. 4. Mutig (Bravely). Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn. When the Vienna Symphony, a notoriously conservative band, played Howe's Stars, Sand and Rock, they were so taken with her work that the principal wind players requested a Wind Quintet from her. The music is expressive and wide ranging, and shows a fine ear for instrumental colours. The first movement plays wittily with rustic-sounding themes; the second makes eloquent use of the horn's melodic powers; the third is a faintly ironic Viennese waltz; and although the finale begins with a solemn chant, it develops with jazzy syncopations and Yankee-flavoured folk tunes. We gave the UK première in February 2003. The London Evening Standard described it as combining "a light, though undeniably refined, Romantic manner with a neo-classicism redolent of Hindemith and a gentle angularity that might have come from 1920s Stravinsky." Contact Ambache for parts. Back to Contents Violin Sonata. 1922. 18 mins 1. Allegro ma non troppo. D major 2. Lento recitative. E minor. 3. Allegro non troppo. D major. Violin & piano This is a richly written late romantic sonata, with broadly flowing themes. The slow movement is genuinely recitative-like, with a Scherzo embedded in the middle and end. The finale is characterised by exciting climaxes. Published by Peters Edition, No 6469. Back to Contents Ballade Fantasque. 1927. 9 mins Lento rubato - Allegro molto moderato comodo e rubato - Allegro robusto - Poco vivo - Lento cantabile, molto tranquillo. D major. Cello & piano. This is a beautiful cello Fantasy, building from gentle, exploratory beginnings to a grand, central climax, then dies back to recall the ruminative opening. Published by Hildegard.com. Writing Mary Howe papers New York public library. Dr David C F Wright 1988. Handbook of Women's Work in Music Routledge; Chapter 39, Jennifer Cable, pp 388-396. Mary Howe, Fine but Forgotten American Composer, Mary Dibbern, Notes on Toccatta Classics CD. Jottings, Howe, 1959. John Hopkins Library Peabody Institute, Howe listings. Scores Arts Songs by American Women Composers Three Songs; Keiser productions Ltd. Three Dances, 1915 Wise Music Classical; violin & piano. Rock E C Schirmer 1954; 15 mins. Baritone songs Galaxy music. Three Hokku Galaxy Music Corp. Several works Wise Music Classical. Recordings Music of Mary Howe CRI American Masters, NWCR785. Howe Orchestral Works Vienna Orchestra NWCRL124. Songs & Duets Toccata Classics , Courtney Maina, Christopher A Leach, Mary Dibbern. Between us, Music for two Navona, 6432; Duos for violin / cello / flute, and piano.
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