Hanson, Howard (EN)

Hanson Howard Harold, *28 October 1896 Wahoo (Nebraska), †26 February 1981 Rochester (New York), American composer, teacher and conductor of Swedish origin. He studied at Luther College in Wahoo, at the Institute of Musical Art in New York with P. Goetschius (composition), and with A. Oldberg at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he was an assistant in 1915–16. He taught theory and composition at the College of the Pacific in San José, California in 1916–19; he became dean of the Conservatory of Fine Arts there in 1919. After receiving the American Prix de Rome in 1921 for his piece California Forest Play of 1920, he spent three years in Rome, where he studied with, among others, O. Respighi. After returning to the United States, he was director of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester (1924–64), and then director of the Institute of American Music there. Under his leadership, the Eastman School developed into a prestigious institution where students could receive a comprehensive education while also focusing on professional studies. From 1924, he appeared frequently as a guest conductor with various symphony orchestras in both the United States and Europe. Hanson was the founder and long-time president of the National Music Council and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He was also active in other music and pedagogical organisations, including the National Association of Schools of Music, the Music Teachers National Association, and the Music Educators National Conference. Hanson received many awards, including the J. Pulitzer Prize for Symphony No. 4 in 1944, as well as 36 honorary degrees (from Northwestern University and University of Nebraska, among others).

In the history of American music, Hanson’s work popularising the work of American composers is of particular importance. For 40 years, he directed the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester (founded in 1921), making it the centre of American music. In 1925, as a conductor, he inaugurated a series of annual concerts by American composers there, thus providing the opportunity to commission and perform new works written by American composers. In 1930, he organised a festival of American music. He also promoted this music by conducting in various cities in the United States and Europe. In 1961–62, together with the school orchestra, he went on a long concert tour of North African and European countries (performing in Poland, among others). Hanson’s experiences in the performance field are associated with his book Music in Contemporary American Civilization (1951), in which the author emphasises the importance of music in a highly technological society.

Hanson’s oeuvre is dominated by symphonic program pieces (of the 7 symphonies, only Symphony No. 3 and No. 4 do not have programme titles), as well as pieces for choir and orchestra, in which the composer mainly used texts by American writers and poets (N. Hawthorne, W. Whitman). Hanson’s works are influenced by two musical traditions: Scandinavian and American; the musical language of his early works is compared by critics to the music of Sibelius, Nielsen, and MacDowell. Hanson often drew on Swedish folklore, the country of his ancestors, including in Symphony No. 1 “Nordic” (finale), in Symphony No. 3 dedicated to the 300^th anniversary of the settlement of the Swedes in America, in the piano Scandinavian Suite. In his work, Hanson remained faithful to neo-romantic musical ideals; he often exposed the lyrical and epic type of expression, emphasising it even in the titles (Symphony No. 2 “Romantic”, Symphonic Legend, Rhapsody, Elegy, Pastorale). He used means of major-minor tonality but expanded by introducing unresolved dissonances, polyphonies being a combination of major chords in the relation of tritone, second, etc. In instrumentation, he showed a predilection for dark sounds, and low registers (especially in slow parts). Interesting attempts to use chorale melodies (e.g. in Lux aeterna) are a manifestation of Hanson’s interest in religious themes, as evidenced by such works as Symphony No. 4 “The Requiem” (4 parts: Kyrie, Requiescat, Dies irae, Lux aeterna), Symphony No. 5 “Sacra”, psalms for choir. Hanson is considered a composer of the conservative, academic trend. Thanks to his conducting activities and the position he held in American musical life, his works – almost all of them published – were performed both in America and in Europe. Hanson educated many American composers (his students included J. Beeson, W. Bergsma, and P. Mennin). The result of his theoretical interests is the work Harmonic Materials of Modern Music Resources of the Tempered Scale (1960), in which he systematised the harmonic ideas of contemporary composers and, according to critics, inspired American music theorists, creators of the pitch-class set theory.

Literature: 

Editions: R.T. Watanabe, Music of Howard Hanson, Rochester 1966; R.T. Watanabe American Composers Concerts and Festivals of American Music. 1925–1971, Rochester (New York) 1972; Charles J. Moomaw A PL-1 program for the harmonic analysis of music by the theories of Paul Hindemith and Howard Hanson, doctoral thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1973; In memoriam Howard Hanson: The future of musical education in America, ed. D. J. Shelter, Rochester 1984; B. W. Johnson An analytical study of the band compositions of Howard Hanson, doctoral thesis, University of Houston, 1986; D. R. Williams, Conversations with Howard Hanson, Arkadelphia, AR 1988; W. M. Skoog The late choral music of Howard Hanson and Samuel Barber, doctoral thesis, University of Northern Colorado, 1992; J. E. Perone Howard Hanson: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport 1993; W. F. La Favor The piano music of Howard Hanson, doctoral thesis, Indiana University, 1997; M. V. Plain Howard Hanson: A comprehensive catalog of the manuscripts, Rochester 1997; A. S. Kalyn Constructing a nation’s music: Howard Hanson’s American Composers’ Concerts and Festivals of American Music, 1925–1971, doctoral thesis, University of Rochester, 2001; A. Cohen Howard Hanson in Theory and Practice, Westport–London 2004; W. Simmons Voices in the wilderness: Six American neo-romantic composers, Lanham 2004; V. A. Lenti Serving a great and noble art: Howard Hanson and the Eastman School of Music, Rochester 2009; N. E. Tawa The Great American Symphony: Music, the Depression, and War, Bloomington 2009.

Articles: E. Royce Howard Hanson, in: American composers on American music: A symposium, ed. H. Cowell, Redwood City 1933; 2^nd ed. 1962; B.C. Tuthill Hanson Howard, “The Musical Quarterly” XXII, 1936; M. Alter Hanson Howard, “Modern Music” XVIII, 1941; R.T. Watanabe Howard Hanson’s Manuscript Scores, “University of Rochester Library Bulletin” II, 1950; R.T. Watanabe Hanson Howard’s Autographs in the Sibley Music Library, “Notes” VII, 1949/50; G. Winham, Howard Hanson: Harmonic Materials of Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale, “Perspectives of new music” II, 1963; D. R. Williams Howard Hanson (1896–1981), “Perspectives of new music” I/II, 1981; R. Sutton Howard Hanson: Set Theory Pioneer, “Sonus” I, 1987; M. D. Robertson Music you might like: The symphonies of Howard Hanson, “Journal of the RVW Society” (25), 2002; R. Gauldin Practice and theory: Howard Hanson’s Sinfonia sacra (1954) and his Harmonic materials of modern music (1960), “Sonus” II, 2005; N. Slonimsky Howard Hanson: The ‘American Sibelius’, in: Writings on music. III: Music of the modern era, Abingdon 2005; F. Fennell Howard Hanson: Chorale and alleluia, in: A conductor’s interpretative analysis of masterworks for band, Galesville 2008; E. A. Ansari The American Exceptionalists: Howard Hanson and William Schuman, in: The Sound of a Superpower: Musical Americanism and the Cold War, Oxford 2018.