| Description: | Arthur Homer Bird (23 July 1856 – 22 December 1923) was an American composer, for many years resident in Germany. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he studied in Europe and spent a year at Weimar with Franz Liszt. He composed a symphony, 3 orchestral suites; some works for wind instruments alone; some music for the ballet, and chamber music. He also composed for the harmonium.
Bird died in Berlin in 1923.
This lovely piece is taken from the harmonium collection published by Breitkopf & Hartel in 1897. "Pastoral" is the 10th and last work in the group.
Being originally for harmonium, the player must decide "how to play" these pieces on the organ, meaning, which notes to play or to leave out, if you have to "adjust octaves," etc.
While I can't speak about the other pieces in the volume, these two pieces are superb, and are truly romantic in character.
"Improvisato" is a stormy and impassioned essay, despite it's brevity. The title is implied by the improvisatory nature of the piece. Here again, you will need to decide what to play and just how to play it.
The piece is dark and quite "angry," although it does end in the major. There is a more lyrical and expressive middle section.
If you do play the piece, which I hope you will, you will want to correct a note: page 19, 4th system, 1st measure, the first B-flat 8th note (right hand) should be B-natural, or at least this is how I hear it. :-)
The score is attached below, as well as two photos of Arthur Bird. |
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