Byron Adams
Midsummer Music
for Orchestra (Score only - A3 format)
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Byron Adams
Midsummer Music
for Orchestra (Score only - A3 format)
- Instrumentation Orchestra
- Composer Byron Adams
-
Difficulty Level
- Edition Score Download
- Publisher Editions Bim
- Order no. BIM96116B-DL
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Description:
Byron Adams writes about his orchestral work *Midsummer Music*: *Midsummer Music* was inspired by a painting titled *Summer*, which the American Impressionist Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851–1938) completed in 1890. This painting, which is housed in the Yale University Art Gallery, depicts several elegant yet ethereal women in sheer robes dancing or floating—or perhaps both at once—to the music of a seated woman playing a golden harp. While walking through the forest of Fontainebleau in the summer of 1992, I was reminded of this painting: the landscape, dappled with sunlight, resembled the lush green background of Dewing’s painting. I began sketching *Midsummer Music* in the few spare moments I had alongside my teaching duties at the American Conservatory of Music in Fontainebleau. Midsummer Music is divided into three parts: The opening section is lyrical and atmospheric; the contrasting middle section, based on the French folk song Il était une bergère, is exuberant; and the closing section revisits the music of the first section, with the themes appearing in reverse order. Since I wanted this music to blend the beauties of art and nature, the work ends in a state of rapt contemplation that dissolves into silence. I am a conscientious and extremely meticulous composer: *Midsummer Music* took from 1992 to 1998 to reach its final form, having undergone several versions and instrumentations during that time. The score is dedicated to John Davis, a dear friend and distinguished art historian and curator. In May 2025, a recording of *Midsummer Music* was released on the Orchid Classics label, with Michael Poll conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.