View source for Harmonium (Adams)

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'''''Harmonium''''' is a composition for chorus and orchestra by the American composer [[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]], written in 1980-1981 for the first season of Davies Symphony Hall in [[San Francisco, California]]. The work is based on poetry by [[John Donne]] and [[Emily Dickinson]] and is regarded as one of the key compositions of Adams' "[[Minimal music|minimalist]]" period.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Heisinger | first=Brent | title=American Minimalism in the 1980s | journal=American Music | volume=187 | pages=430–447 | year=1989 | doi=10.2307/3051914 | issue=4 | publisher=American Music, Vol. 7, No. 4 | jstor=3051914}}</ref>

The work was premiered by the [[San Francisco Symphony]] and San Francisco Symphony Chorus, with conductor [[Edo de Waart]], on 15 April 1981, and subsequently recorded it.<ref>{{cite news | author=John Rockwell | title=Expanding on Minimalist Music | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E7D91639F933A25751C0A963948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | date=10 February 1985 | accessdate=2008-02-20}}</ref> The UK premiere was on 13 October 1987 at Birmingham Town Hall, with the [[City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra]] (CBSO) conducted by [[Simon Rattle]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Clements | first=Andrew | title=Reports: Birmingham | journal=The Musical Times | volume=128 | issue=1738 | pages=706–709 |date=December 1987 | doi=10.2307/964828 | publisher=The Musical Times, Vol. 128, No. 1738 | jstor=964828}}</ref> Rattle and the CBSO gave the London premiere on 28 July 1990 at [[The Proms]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Rye | first=Matthew | title=Opera, Concert and Festival Reports: London, Proms 1 | journal=The Musical Times | volume=131 | issue=1773 | pages=606–620 |date=November 1990 | jstor=966196 | doi=10.2307/966196}}</ref>

== Music ==
{{Wikisource|Negative Love}}
{{Wikisource|Because I could not stop for Death —}}
{{Wikisource|Wild Nights — Wild Nights!}}

Each movement is a setting of an entire poem:
 {{Ordered list|type=upper-roman

| "Negative Love" (by [[John Donne]])

| "[[Because I could not stop for Death]]" (by [[Emily Dickinson]])
| "Wild Nights" (by Dickinson)
}}

"Because I could not stop for Death" ends with an orchestral interlude that segues into "Wild Nights" without a pause. A typical performance takes about 35 minutes.

Timothy Johnson has discussed various aspects of the harmonic language of ''Harmonium'' in detail.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Johnson | first=Timothy A. | title=Harmonic Vocabulary in the Music of John Adams: A Hierarchical Approach | journal=Journal of Music Theory | volume=37 | issue=1 | pages=117–156 | date=Spring 1993 | doi=10.2307/843946 | publisher=Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 37, No. 1 | jstor=843946}}</ref> K. Robert Schwarz has noted the influence of the musical techniques of [[Steve Reich]] on ''Harmonium'', and also has commented on the less schematic and more "intuitive" manner of Adams' composition in the work.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Schwarz | first=K. Robert | title=Process vs. Intuition in the Recent Works of Steve Reich and John Adams | journal=American Music | volume=8 | issue=3 | pages=245–273 | date=Autumn 1990 | doi=10.2307/3052096 | publisher=American Music, Vol. 8, No. 3 | jstor=3052096}}</ref>

"Negative Love" is featured in the film ''Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol'' (1990).<ref>{{Citation|title=Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990) - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103008/soundtrack|access-date=2021-04-05}}</ref>

==Instrumentation==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}
;Chorus
:[[soprano]], [[alto]], [[tenor]], [[bass (voice type)|bass]]; minimum of 90 performers

;[[Woodwind instrument|Woodwinds]]
:4 flutes (2nd, 3rd, and 4th doubling on piccolo)
:3 [[oboe]]s
:3 [[clarinet]]s in B{{music|flat}} (1st and 2nd doubling clarinet in A, 3rd doubling [[bass clarinet]])
:3 [[bassoon]]s (3rd doubling [[contrabassoon]])

;[[Brass instrument|Brass]]
:4 [[French horn|horn]]s in F
:4 [[trumpet]]s in C (1st doubling B{{music|flat}} and D trumpets; 2nd, 3rd, and 4th doubling B{{music|flat}} trumpet)
:3 [[trombone]]s
:[[tuba]]

{{col-3}}
;[[Timpani]] and [[Percussion instrument|Percussion]], 4 players
:2 [[marimba]]s
:[[metallophone]]
:[[xylophone]]
:[[tubular bells]]
:[[crotales]]
:[[glockenspiel]]
:suspended [[cymbal]]
:[[sizzle cymbal]]
:crash cymbals
:[[triangle (musical instrument)|triangle]]
:[[bass drum]]
:[[tom-tom]]s, medium and large
:[[anvil]]
:[[Almglocken|cowbell]]s
:[[tambourine]]
{{col-3}}
;[[Keyboard instrument|Keyboards]]

:[[piano]] (or [[synthesizer]])
:[[celesta]]

;[[String instrument|Strings]]
:[[harp]]
:[[violin]]s
:[[viola]]s
:[[cello]]s
:[[double bass]]es
{{col-end}}

==Recordings==
* ECM New Series 1277: San Francisco Symphony Chorus; [[San Francisco Symphony]]; [[Edo de Waart]], conductor
* Telarc CD-80365: [[Atlanta Symphony Chorus]]; [[Atlanta Symphony Orchestra]]; [[Robert Shaw (conductor)|Robert Shaw]], conductor
* Nonesuch 79549: San Francisco Symphony Chorus; [[San Francisco Symphony]]; John Adams, conductor

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* [[Michael Steinberg (music critic)|Steinberg, Michael]], ''Choral Masterworks'' (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). ISBN to come.

==External links==
* [http://www.earbox.com/harmonium/ John Adams homepage, entry on ''Harmonium'']
* [https://archive.org/details/MC_1981_10_30_c2 RadioM, Morning Concert, John Adams: ''Harmonium'' (October 30, 1981)]

{{John Adams (composer)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Compositions by John Adams (composer)]]
[[Category:Choral compositions]]
[[Category:1981 compositions]]