Ann Wyeth McCoy A Christmas Fantasy
Ann Wyeth McCoy A Christmas Fantasy Program Notes
A young Ann Wyeth composed A Christmas Fantasy and, aged 19, entered it in a competition for young composers held by the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was premiered the next December, conducted by music director Leopold Stokowski. Ann’s father N.C. Wyeth first came from Wilmington to Chadd’s Ford, to study with Howard Pyle, founder of what came to be called the “Brandywine School” style. The family had multiple connections to Wilmington’s DuPont company, but settled in Chadd’s Ford, and to this day they are active and influential in the creative life of Delaware and Chester Counties. N.C. Wyeth’s pupils included John McCoy, who Ann married the year after Christmas Fantasy’s premiere. Ann’s two daughters remain active painters – a recent exhibition was in July this year in Rockland County, Maine, where the family also has long-standing ties. Ann’s younger brother, Andrew, painted his most famous work, Christine’s World, in Maine, and it’s now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Ann Wyeth McCoy painted throughout her life, and studied music seriously while young: she studied piano with William Hatton Greene, director of his own piano school in downtown Philadelphia, and Harl McDonald (1899-1955), faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and composer of four symphonies. Christmas Fantasy’s most present feature is the trills and ornate writing over more slower moving, chorale-like material – the musical equivalent of tinsel, and reminiscent of Rimsky-Korsakovs “Christmas Eve” Overture. Near the ending, it has what could be a hint of “Good King Wenceslas,” then a direct but short quotation from Adestes Fideles (“O Come, All Ye Faithful.”) Like some other works by Wyeth held in the Fleisher Collection (including the Orchestral Suite for Children, and the tone poem “Maine Summer”), it’s gentle and pleasant, and a nice discovery for performers and listeners alike. Ann Wyeth McCoy A Christmas Fantasy was provided by the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Ann Wyeth McCoy was born on March 15, 1915, in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and passed away on November 10, 2005, at the age of 90A Christmas Fantasy is a festive orchestral work by American composer Ann Wyeth McCoy, daughter of painter N.C. Wyeth and sister of Andrew Wyeth. It is a warm and accessible holiday piece written in a tuneful, traditional style.
McCoy composed A Christmas Fantasy in the mid-twentieth century as part of her output of orchestral and choral works, many of which were inspired by her deep roots in American artistic and cultural life.
A typical performance lasts approximately 10 to 14 minutes.
Listen for the familiar holiday spirit woven throughout the orchestral fabric, with McCoy's craft evident in the way she balances festive energy with moments of quiet reflection. The work is ideal for the holiday concert season.
McCoy was a talented composer who worked in the shadow of her famous artistic family, yet carved out her own creative voice. She is a reminder that the Wyeth family's artistic gifts extended well beyond the canvas.
