Arthur Nevin
Arthur Finley Nevin(April 27, 1871 – July 10, 1943) was an American composer, conductor, teacher and musicologist. Along withCharles Wakefield Cadman,Blair Fairchild,Charles Sanford Skilton,andArthur Farwell,among others, he was one of the leadingIndianistcomposers of the early twentieth century.[1]
Biography
[edit]Born inEdgeworth, Pennsylvania,Nevin was the younger brother of composerEthelbert Nevin,and a cousin ofGeorge Balch Nevinand his son,Gordon,both of whom were also composers.[1]He received his first musical instruction from his father before enrolling in theNew England Conservatoryin 1889, studying piano with Otto Bendix andmusic theorywithPercy Goetschius.[2]Completing his work there, in 1893 he traveled to Europe, there receiving instruction in piano fromKarl KlindworthandErnst Jedliczka,and studying composition with Otis Boise andEngelbert Humperdinck.[2]In 1897 Nevin returned to the United States, and spent time teaching and conducting as well as writing music; some of his early pieces were published under thepseudonym"Arthur Dale".[3]In 1903 and 1904, he spent the summers living with theBlackfeettribe inMontana,using the opportunity to study theirmusicandfolklore.[4]He soon became recognized as an expert on Indian culture, and his interest in the Blackfeet led to the composition of an opera,Poia,on the subject of their Scarface legend.[1]
Between 1911 and 1914, Nevin worked inVirginia,also spending time inNew Hampshireconducting at theMacDowell Colony.[2]At the start ofWorld War I,he took a teaching post at theUniversity of Kansas,but gave it up when the United States entered the war in order to direct the army band and choirs atCamp GrantinIllinois.Post-war, he moved toNew Yorkafter spending time inTennessee;he suffered from poor health in the last two decades of his life. During this time he also traveled toParis.He was elected an honorary member of the Alpha chapter ofPhi Mu Alpha Sinfoniafraternity, the national fraternity for men in music, at the New England Conservatory c. 1916-1917. Nevin died inSewickley, Pennsylvania,in 1943.[2][3]He was married to the novelistReita Lambertand had two children, Arthur Jr. and Martha Jane.[5]
His great-grandchildren areFrancesand Mark Quinlan of the bandHop Along.[6]
Music
[edit]Nevin is best known for his three-act operaPoia,based on the Blackfeet legend describing the origin of the Sun Dance.[7]The opera was commissioned in 1903 byWalter McClintock.In June of that year, Nevin and McClintock traveled to theBlackfeet Indian Reservationwhere Nevin listened to "hundreds of songs, dirges, and ceremonial hymns" and transcribed the musical notes of the ones that most interested him.[4]He was most inspired by the song sung by the people as they raised the center pole of the Blackfeet Medicine Lodge. On his last day on the reservation, Nevin heard the story of Scarface, a poor man with a disfiguring scar across his cheek. According to the legend, Scarface goes in search of the Sun after being rejected by the woman he loves. He eventually makes it to the lodge of the Sun, who is impressed by his bravery and heals his scar.[4]After returning home to Pittsburgh, Nevin used the Scarface legend as inspiration to composePoiaon alibrettoprovided byRandolph Hartley.Poiawas first heard in concert inPittsburghin 1907, and received good reviews.[7]That same year,Theodore Rooseveltinvited Nevin to theWhite Houseto give an illustrated talk on his work, but further interest from the American musical establishment was not forthcoming. Instead,Poiawas given its highly controversial stage premiere on April 23, 1910, at the Royal Opera House inBerlin,in aGermantranslation crafted in part by the composer's former teacher, Humperdinck.[1]From there it fell into obscurity; it was only given again in the United States by theGreat FallsSymphony Orchestra in 2005.[7]
Nevin composed numerous other works besidesPoia.A one-act opera, initially titledTwilight,was said to have been accepted for performance at theMetropolitan Opera,but never saw the stage there. It was given asA Daughter of the Forestin Chicago in 1918.[8]Nevin's other output includes a number of other dramatic works, some pieces forchorus,and somechamber music,as well as four works fororchestra.[1][2]
Recordings
[edit]Little of Nevin's music has been committed to disc.Donna Amatorecorded his Toccatella and piano suiteFrom Edgeworth Hills(1903) forAltarus Records.[2]
Notes and references
[edit]- ^abcdeHoward, John Tasker (1939).Our American Music: Three Hundred Years of It.New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.
- ^abcdef"Arthur Nevin".AllMusicGuide. 2008-08-03.
- ^ab"Arthur Nevin".Answers.com. 2008-08-03.
- ^abcGrafe, Steven L. (Spring 2010)."Following the Old North Trail to Berlin: Walter McClintock and the Grand Opera Poia".Montana The Magazine of Western History.60(1): 49.JSTOR25701717.Retrieved27 February2021.
- ^"The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search".Retrieved5 August2016.
- ^"QA with Frances Quinlan of Hop-along".Archived fromthe originalon 2015-11-26.Retrieved2015-11-25.
- ^abc"Indian opera deserves authenticity".Arizona Daily Star.2008-08-04.
- ^"American Music | Supplemental Media Resources | An Overview of Arthur Nevin's A Daughter of the Forest".www.press.uillinois.edu.
External links
[edit]
- 1871 births
- 1943 deaths
- American male classical composers
- American musicologists
- New England Conservatory alumni
- People from Edgeworth, Pennsylvania
- Pupils of Percy Goetschius
- University of Kansas faculty
- American classical composers
- 19th-century American composers
- 19th-century classical composers
- 20th-century classical composers
- 20th-century American composers
- Classical musicians from Pennsylvania
- 20th-century American male musicians
- 19th-century American male musicians