A walk in the countryside, a river cruise, a train, a fast car, an old castle, a broken heart--a composer’s sources of inspiration are myriad. Gustav Mahler said that the second movement of his 7th Symphony, Song of the Night, referred to a Rembrandt painting, The Night Watch. But he struggled with completing the symphony, until inspiration struck again. He was rowing home across a lake after a vacation and as he told his wife, “At the first stroke of the oars, the theme (or rather the rhythm and character of the introduction to the first movement came into my head—and in four weeks, the first, third, and fifth movements were finished.”
William Grant Still (1895-1978) is often called “the dean of African-American composers.” His Symphony No. 2 “Song of a New Race” was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski in 1937.
Gianandrea Noseda conducts the National Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s 7th Symphony, “Song of the Night” and William Grant Still’s 2nd Symphony, “Song of a New Race” on NSO Showcase, Wednesday, May 7 at 9:00 p.m. on WETA Classical and streaming all month long at wetaclassical.org.
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