Swan Hennessy

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(Edward) Swan Hennessy (born November 24, 1866 in Rockford, Illinois , † October 26, 1929 in Paris ) was an Irish-American composer who spent most of his life in Paris.

Life

Hennessy was of Irish descent and grew up in Chicago around 1870 . His father, Michael David Hennessy (1837-1919) came from Cork , had emigrated to the USA via Canada around 1853, where he became president of the Chicago City Railways (streetcar) and from 1874 worked as a lawyer. His mother was Sarah J. Swan (around 1833-1880), daughter of Joseph Rockwell Swan, a judge on the Supreme Court and a founding member of the Republican Party . The statement in Baker's Dictionary that he studied "general subjects" at Oxford cannot be substantiated. He was probably a student at one of the private schools there for about a year before going to Stuttgart in 1879, where he studied at the music academy until 1886 . There he studied piano with Edmund Alwens and composition in an English-speaking class with Percy Goetschius, who was born in the USA .

After completing his studies, Hennessy went to England (1886-92), where he lived in London, married in Edinburgh in 1888, had two children and was divorced in 1893. This was followed by a ten-year phase in which he traveled from a home base in Italy to Europe (including France, Belgium, Switzerland and Ireland). Around 1903 he settled in Paris. In July 1909 he married Claire Przybyszewska (1883–1947), a Polish woman whom he had met in Brussels. Claire's mother was a cousin of the symbolist writer Stanisław Przybyszewski . The couple had a son, the future collector and historian Patrice Hennessy (1910–1973).

Although he had no family connections in Brittany, Hennessy was a member of the Association des compositeurs bretons from 1912 and continued to associate with its members after the First World War, including Paul Le Flem , Paul Ladmirault , Maurice Duhamel, Louis Aubert , Louis Vuillemin and Lucien Haudebert. In fact, Hennessy only became known to wider circles in France through membership of this group. After the world premiere of his 2nd String Quartet Op. 49 (1920) by Irish musicians in January 1922 in Paris, his music was also played in Ireland for a few years. The quartet is dedicated to the memory of the Irish revolutionary Terence MacSwiney .

Hennessy died in 1929 of an embolism as a result of routine surgery, and the composer Georges Migot gave the funeral oration. Hennessy and his family are buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris (Division 28, Section III).

music

Swan Hennessy's music before 1900 was strongly influenced by his conservative education and the preference of his Stuttgart teachers for the music of Robert Schumann . At the time of his move to Paris he was also an admirer of Max Reger . Although his later music shows the influence of several contemporary styles, he never completely renounced this profound influence of German Romanticism. Between 1907 and 1913, Hennessy wrote increasingly in the Impressionist style, mostly with numerous piano works and art songs in a descriptive and programmatic style, inspired by the sounds around him, including nature, traffic and industry. Similar to Erik Satie at the same time , his work from these years also contains humorous and satirical pieces. A contemporary critic wrote: "Il fut un humoriste d'une verve drue dont la drôlerie était faite à la fois d'observation et d'invention, de fantaisie et de psychologie" ("He was a humorist with great verve, whose humor derived from observation and invention, from fantasy and psychology ”). But despite numerous positive reviews in the French and German music press, he did not initially succeed in having his music performed in Paris.

This only changed with the beginning of his membership in the Association des compositeurs bretons from 1912 and the integration of elements from the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and Brittany into his compositions. Interrupted by the First World War (which he spent near Montreux in Switzerland), he developed his Celtic inclinations mainly in the 1920s. Many of Hennessy's pieces, whose titles end in terms such as “celtique”, “gaélique” or “irlandais”, are inspired by traditional folk melodies and rhythms, but he rarely cites existing folk songs. Instead, he uses typical melodic and rhythmic turns from folk music, which he composed himself. During the 1920s he wrote most of his chamber music, including several duo, trio and quartet pieces. This earned him the reputation of a “Celtic” composer, with the result that his very original (and completely different) piano music from the time before the war was forgotten. In a French obituary he was even called "le barde de l'Irlande" and is referred to as the savior of the "l'ancienne mélodie celtique".

Hennessy was very critical of the contemporary avant-garde, especially Arnold Schönberg , and wrote numerous sarcastic and pessimistic letters and commentaries in the music press. One solution to the development he perceived as a crisis was to turn to regional folk music traditions and incorporate them into art music.

Since moving to Paris, Hennessy's music has been published mainly by E. Demets and, from 1923, by Max Eschig. Other publishers were Schott (Mainz), Breitkopf & Härtel (Wiesbaden), Augener & Co. (London), and others. a.

Works (selection)

Chamber music

  • Songs to the moon . Romantic Pieces op.10, for piano trio (London: Augener & Co., 1888)
  • Sonate en style irlandais op.14 , for violin and piano (London: Schott & Co., 1904; as Sonate en Fa (style irlandais) : Mainz: B. Schott's Sons, 1905)
  • Prémier Quatuor (Suite) (1st string quartet) op.46 (Paris: E. Demets, 1913)
  • Deuxième Quatuor (2nd string quartet) op.49 (1920) (Paris: E. Demets, 1920)
  • Rapsodie celtique op.50, for violin and piano (Paris: E. Demets, 1915)
  • Petit trio celtique op.52, for string trio (Paris: E. Demets, 1921)
  • Trio op.54, for two clarinets and bassoon (Paris: E. Demets, 1921)
  • Variations sur un thème de six notes op.58, for flute, violin, viola, cello (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1924)
  • Quatre Pièces celtiques op.59 , for English horn, violin, viola, cello (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1925)
  • Troisième Quatuor à cordes (3rd string quartet) op.61 (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1926)
  • Sonatine celtique op.62 , for viola and piano (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1924)
  • Rapsodie gaélique op.63 , for cello and piano (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1925)
  • Deux Morceaux op.68 , for alto saxophone and piano (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1926)
  • Trio op.70, for flute, violin, bassoon (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1926)
  • Quatre Morceaux op.71, for alto saxophone or viola (Op.71bis) and piano (Paris: Éditions Max Eschig, 1929)
  • Quatrième Quatuor à cordes (4th string quartet) op.75 (Paris: Éditions Max Eschig, 1930)
  • Deuxième Sonatine op.80 , for violin and piano (Paris: Propriété de l'auteur, 1929)
  • Sonatina op.81, for cello and piano (Paris: Propriété de l'auteur, 1929)

Piano music

  • Variations sur un thème original dans le style irlandais op.12 (London: Augener & Co. 1902; revised edition as Variations on an Original Theme in the Irish Style , Augener & Co., 1903)
  • Au bord de la forêt op.21 (Paris: E. Demets, nd [1907])
  • Étude op.25 (Paris: E. Demets, 1907)
  • Nouvelles feuilles d'album op.27 (Paris: E. Demets, 1908)
  • Variations sur un air irlandais ancien op.28 (Mainz: B. Schott's Sons, 1908)
  • Croquis de femmes op.33 (Paris: F. Durdilly, Ch. Hayet, successeur, 1911)
  • Petite suite sur les notes Wed Thu Wed Fa Si Wed op.34 (Mainz: B. Schott's Sons, 1911)
  • Fêtes. Deux Morceaux descriptifs op.36 (Mainz: B. Schott's Sons, 1911)
  • En passant ... (Études d'aprés nature) , Op. 40 (Paris: E. Demets, 1912)
  • Valses caprices op. 41 (Paris: E. Demets, 1912)
  • Sonatina op.43 (Paris: E. Demets, 1912)
  • Sentes et chemins (Nouvelles études d'après nature) op.44 (Paris: E. Demets, 1912)
  • Pièces celtiques op.45 (Paris: E. Demets, 1912)
  • Croquis parisiens op.47 (Paris: E. Demets, 1913)
  • Impressions humoristiques op.48 (Paris: E. Demets, 1913)
  • Sonatine celtique op.53 (London: Evans & Co. 1924)
  • Épigrammes d'un solitaire op.55 (London: Evans & Co., 1924)
  • Trois Pièces exotiques op.57 (Paris: E. Demets, 1922)
  • Étude de concert op. 60 (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1924)
  • Rapsodie irlandaise op.67 (Paris: Éditions Max Eschig, 1929)
  • Banlieues ... Six Petites Pieces op. 69 (Paris: Max Eschig & Cie., 1929)
  • À la manière de ... , 5 issues (Paris: Éditions Max Eschig, 1927–8)

Singing and piano

Discography

  • Quatre Pièces celtiques op. 59, in an arrangement for cor anglais and organ, with Manfred Hoth (cor anglais) and Ulrich Leykam (organ): K&M Records, CD [no year].
  • Trio op.54 for two clarinets and bassoon, with the Trio d'Ance di Bolzano: Rainbow RW 98107, CD (1999).
  • Quatre Pièces celtiques op. 59, arranged for English horn and string orchestra, with Rachel Tolmie (English horn), Bourbaki Ensemble: Wirripang Wirr 018, CD (2008).
  • Trio op.54 for two clarinets and bassoon, with the Trio Pleyel: bremenradiohall records brh cd 1305, CD and downloads (2013).
  • Complete String Quartets , with the RTÉ ConTempo Quartet: RTÉ lyric fm CD 159, CD (2019) ; contains: 1st string quartet ( suite ) op. 46; 2nd string quartet op. 49; 3rd string quartet op. 61; 4th string quartet op. 75; Sérénade op. 65; Petit trio celtique op.52 .

literature

  • Henri Collet: "La Musique chez soi - XCVII. Œuvres de Swan Hennessy", in: Comœdia , December 5, 1921, p. 4.
  • Lucien Chevaillier: "Un Entretien avec Swan Hennessy", in: Le Guide du concert , April 12, 1929, pages 791-793.
  • Guy Ferchault: "Hennessy, Swan", in: The music in past and present (MGG), first edition, ed. by Friedrich Blume, Volume 6 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1957), Columns 152–153.
  • Axel Klein : An Irish-American in Paris: Swan Hennessy (1866–1929) , in: Journal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland , vol. 13 (2017-18), pp. 47-78; online here (last visited on December 22, 2019).
  • Axel Klein: Bird of Time. The Music of Swan Hennessy (Mainz: Schott Music, 2019), ISBN 978-3-95983-593-0 (hardcover), ISBN 978-3-95983-594-7 (paperback).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guy Ferchault describes him as an Irish lawyer ( The music in history and present , first edition, Volume 6 (1957), Col. 152-153); according to Baker's Dictionary (2001) he was an "Irish-American settler"; see Axel Klein: Bird of Time. The Music of Swan Hennessy (Mainz: Schott Music, 2019), p. 21.
  2. ^ Nicolas Slonimsky, Laura Diane Kuhn (Eds.): Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians . 6th edition. Schirmer, New York 1978, p. 729 .
  3. ↑ Axel Klein: Bird of Time. The Music of Swan Hennessy . Schott Music, Mainz 2019, ISBN 978-3-95983-593-0 , p. 29-33 .
  4. ^ Klein, Bird of Time , p. 61.
  5. ^ Klein, Bird of Time , p. 195.
  6. ^ Klein, Bird of Time , pp. 261-9.
  7. ↑ Comoedia , October 28, 1929, p. 3.
  8. ↑ Journal des débats , November 3, 1929, p. 4; documented in Klein, Bird of Time , pp. 415–6.
  9. ^ L'Européen , February 12, 1930, p. 3.
  10. ↑ L'Européen , as above.
  11. ↑ See entry in the Bielefeld catalog: http://www.bielekat.info/index.php?action=showdetail&id=39451 .
personal data
SURNAME Hennessy, Swan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish-American composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Rockford, Illinois
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 1929
Place of death Paris