Howard Hanson Serenade for Flute Harp
Howard Hanson Serenade Program Notes
Nebraska native Howard Hanson was a gifted composer, with three beautiful symphonies, an opera Merry Mount that received its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, and many other smaller pieces, such as this Serenade, for flute, harp and strings. He wrote it in his late forties, as a proposal to the future Mrs. Hanson, who he’d met at Chataqua in upstate New York. By this time he’d been Dean of the Eastman School of Music for over twenty years (having been appointed by George Eastman, of Kodak-Eastman). From his perch, he was able to conduct orchestras at the School, making recordings of some American works that are still the only ones available. He was involved with UNESCO, the UN’s international cultural organization, and built the Eastman school into one of the country’s’ strongest. Gentle, rising pentatonic scales give way to stronger emotions, with a progression of reflective moods. One highlight of the piece is the string pizzicato, with the harp creates a ginormous kind of guitar sound, the flute soloing over it. So effective is this material that Hanson returns to it before a luxuriant coda. Born: October 28, 1896, Wahoo, NE Died: February 26, 1981, Rochester, NY
The Serenade for Flute, Harp, and Strings is a delicate and intimate work by American composer Howard Hanson, written in his characteristically warm, neo-Romantic style. It is one of his most transparent and lyrical compositions.
Hanson composed the Serenade in 1945 as part of his extensive catalog of American orchestral and choral music. He was director of the Eastman School of Music for 40 years and a powerful champion of American composers.
A typical performance lasts approximately 7 to 9 minutes.
Listen for the exquisite interplay between the flute and harp, whose timbres blend with luminous beauty against the warm string backdrop. The music is unhurried and songful, with a gentle, nostalgic quality that is deeply characteristic of Hanson’s musical personality.
Hanson was one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century American music, not only as a composer but as a champion of other American composers through his recordings and programming at Eastman. His Symphony No. 2, the Romantic, remains one of the most beloved American symphonies of the twentieth century.
