Sinfonia III: Hymns and Dances

My father's death in December of 1970 caused me to produce three works in which I paid tribute to his sweet soul and loving kindness. Chicago Songs for piano and Benedictus for mezzo soprano, tuba and piano were both composed in 1971. Sinfonia III completes the tribute and, being more playful in nature, balance the seriousness of the previous two pieces.

An earlier subtitle for the work was Quodlibet à 25. A quodlibet is usually defined as a succession of several tunes, often humorous, selected at the whim of the composer; and this work, in the form of a quodlibet, contains both original materials (the opening chaconne, the Stravinsky-ish chorale, and the dance tunes, and the ragtime of the rondeau), and quotations (Dowland's If My Complaints Can Passions Move, and the 19th-century gospel hymn I Love to Tell the Story, words by Catherine Hankey, tune by William G. Fischer), which represent the kinds of music that appealed to my gather. For many years he served as superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday School in Belmar, New Jersey, and I Love to Tell the Story was one of his favorite hymns.

There are in Sinfonia III both light and shadow, both humor and seriousness, in an attempt to depict in sound, as much as I was able to do in the summer of 1972, something of the nature of this man who showered so much love upon his wife and four sons and enriched the lives of many people who knew him.

Sinfonia III was premiered at Madison, Wisconsin, in April of 1973. The work was composed during the summer of 1972 at Brielle, New Jersey. Thanks to the advocacy of such distinguished scholar as Bob Reynolds, Eugene Corporon, and Jack Delaney, Sinfonia III has received many performances during the years since its premiere and has indeed become, alongside Sinfonia V, one of my most popular wind ensemble pieces.

Program Note by composer