Hilary Tann, Composer
Jeannine: Please share a bit of your "story" with us.
Dr. Tann: My shortest bio reads something like this: Welsh-born composer, Hilary Tann, lives near the Adirondacks in Upstate New York where she is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music at Union College. Her music is influenced by her love of Wales, her strong identification with the natural world, and a deep interest in the traditional music of Japan. Her compositions are widely available on CD and published by Oxford University Press. Ensembles that have commissioned and performed her works include the European Women’s Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Women’s Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Thai Philharmonic and KBS Philharmonic in Seoul, Korea. Recent composer-residencies include the 2011 Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival and 2013 Hartford Women in Music Festival. Web site: hilarytann.com
J: You are very active in the International League of Women Composers. What is this organization and how is it promoting the compositional work of women?
Dr. Tann: Ah, I was active in the International League of Women Composers back in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m pleased to say that I was present when the ILWC and AMC (American Women Composers) and ICWM (International Congress on Women in Music) joined to become the IAWM (International Alliance for Women in Music).
In the words of the IAWM web site : “The International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) is a global network of women and men working to increase and enhance musical activities and opportunities and to promote all aspects of the music of women. The IAWM builds awareness of women’s contributions to musical life through publications, website, free listserv, international competitions for researchers and composers, conferences, and congresses, concerts, the entrepreneurial efforts of its members, and advocacy work. IAWM activities ensure that the progress women have made in every aspect of musical life will continue to flourish and multiply.” Website: IAWM.org.
J: You have composed for a variety of instrumental mediums from orchestral concerti to saxophone quartets, guitar solos to piano duets. However, it appears the organ is a relatively new instrument for you. The AGO Commission took you into the world of the organ for only the second time with the composition of Embertides.
Dr. Tann: Indeed, my catalog lists only these two solo organ pieces (Pinnae Ventorum, and, Embertides) but I have four others for organ and SATB choir. There are three psalm settings, each about 8 minutes long, and one (Psalm 136 Luminaria Magna) was commissioned by the Eastern NY Chapter of the AGO in 2003 which requested “an anthem of praise suitable for amateur church choir”. Incidentally, while studying for my B. Mus. degree at Cardiff University, I took organ lessons from Robert Joyce in Llandaff Cathedral, and now I am married to an organist – in fact, we have a small instrument for practice at home.
J: Please describe Embertides – the piece commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for their 2014 National Convention. Where was it played and how was it used? Concert or worship or both? Is there a recording of the performance?
Dr. Tann: From the program note: “Embertides consists of four separate movements that take their inspiration from the roughly equal divisions of the church year – Advent, Lent, Whitsun, Michaelmas. These divisions in turn pay homage to earlier, secular traditions – Winter (seeding), Spring (awakening), Summer (harvesting), Autumn (vintage). The cycle is unified by references to verses from the 11th century plainsong sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus; in addition, each prelude/postlude contains hints of hymns appropriate to each season. The work may be performed as a concert suite or individual movements may be used separately within church services.”
The first performance was at First Church of Boston in the context of a Unitarian Universalist service, as the
“Gathering Music”. The excellent Heinrich Christensen was the soloist and the piece was performed twice, June 25th and 26th. It was amusing to me (and instructive) that the UU minister refused to use the sacred seasonal titles for the movements (Advent, Lenten, Whit, and Michaelmas), preferring the less-interesting secular terms (Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn). The piece works as a concert suite of about 15 minutes (slow-fast-slow-fast); however, each movement is slightly under 4 minutes long and is designed to be used as a prelude or postlude in a service context.
I first came across the term, Embertides, as a child while playing hymns for grammar school services in Wales. The term intrigued me. Online, the fisheaters.com website has a wealth of material about Ember days, or Embertides: "Four times a year, the Church sets aside three days to focus on God through His marvelous creation. These quarterly periods take place around the beginnings of the four natural seasons that "... succeed one another with the happiest harmony," as St. John Chrysostom wrote... These four times are each kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday and are known as "Ember Days," or Quatuor Tempora, in Latin."
J: How is writing for the organ different than other instruments?
Dr. Tann: Aha! Well, the organ is the orchestra! The organ is incalculably many worlds! The organ is a lifetime of discovery!
J: What are the unique compositional challenges in composing for the organ?
Dr. Tann: All of the above. From my experience with Embertides I would say that the main challenge is not knowing in advance the particular sound of the instrument one is writing for. While composing Embertides, I had a kind of “generic” organ sound in mind (my Finale notational program was not helpful in this respect). Then I went to see my friend, Al Fedak, and I asked him about my proposed registrations. He was most helpful and I was delighted with the result and placed his suggestions in the score. But, when I travelled to Boston to work with Heinrich Christensen on the premiere organ, the resultant sound world was much drier, much “cleaner”. I felt as though I’d been writing for the wooded countryside of Wales but I’d found myself in the starker landscape of Iceland.
J: Was there anything you were able to express in writing for the organ that might not have been possible with other instruments?
Dr. Tann: For me, the sound of the organ is almost always associated with our great wealth of hymns. I did not want to be denominationally-specific, but I hoped that the descending minor third in “Advent”, for example, would have a resonance of “Rejoice, rejoice” from Veni Emmanuel for at least some of the performers. And I also enjoyed “embedding” some pedal lines within the manual tessitura not only for the resultant sound, but also, perhaps, suggesting a “snow-covered” landscape.
J: What are your upcoming projects? Another organ composition, I hope.
Dr. Tann: Thank you for the organ composition wish – indeed, as I’ve implied above, this is a world one could enter and never leave, such are its dimensions. Most immediately, I have a transcription of an alto saxophone concerto for the National Youth Wind Ensemble of Wales, and a new piece for the National Youth Brass Band of Wales, a duo for soprano and baritone saxophones for the 2015 World Saxophone Congress in France, and a light revision of “Exultet Terra” for double choir and double reed quintet … all due next spring!
J: Where can one find your music?
Dr. Tann: My website (www.hilarytann.com) lists my compositions and gives sound extracts and score samples together with program notes and publisher information. Oxford University Press publishes most of the organ (+) music: ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/music/composers/tann. My website also has a discography.
J: Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Dr. Tann: Just one final note, if I may. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the organizing committee of the 2014 AGO National Convention for being so hospitable to new works for organ and to the composers of these works. I attended two days of the convention in Boston last month and I found an openness to new ideas and genuine interest and friendliness everywhere I went. It was a warm, informative, deeply musical occasion and I’m grateful to have been
Jeannine: Please share a bit of your "story" with us.
Dr. Tann: My shortest bio reads something like this: Welsh-born composer, Hilary Tann, lives near the Adirondacks in Upstate New York where she is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music at Union College. Her music is influenced by her love of Wales, her strong identification with the natural world, and a deep interest in the traditional music of Japan. Her compositions are widely available on CD and published by Oxford University Press. Ensembles that have commissioned and performed her works include the European Women’s Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Women’s Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Thai Philharmonic and KBS Philharmonic in Seoul, Korea. Recent composer-residencies include the 2011 Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival and 2013 Hartford Women in Music Festival. Web site: hilarytann.com
J: You are very active in the International League of Women Composers. What is this organization and how is it promoting the compositional work of women?
Dr. Tann: Ah, I was active in the International League of Women Composers back in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m pleased to say that I was present when the ILWC and AMC (American Women Composers) and ICWM (International Congress on Women in Music) joined to become the IAWM (International Alliance for Women in Music).
In the words of the IAWM web site : “The International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) is a global network of women and men working to increase and enhance musical activities and opportunities and to promote all aspects of the music of women. The IAWM builds awareness of women’s contributions to musical life through publications, website, free listserv, international competitions for researchers and composers, conferences, and congresses, concerts, the entrepreneurial efforts of its members, and advocacy work. IAWM activities ensure that the progress women have made in every aspect of musical life will continue to flourish and multiply.” Website: IAWM.org.
J: You have composed for a variety of instrumental mediums from orchestral concerti to saxophone quartets, guitar solos to piano duets. However, it appears the organ is a relatively new instrument for you. The AGO Commission took you into the world of the organ for only the second time with the composition of Embertides.
Dr. Tann: Indeed, my catalog lists only these two solo organ pieces (Pinnae Ventorum, and, Embertides) but I have four others for organ and SATB choir. There are three psalm settings, each about 8 minutes long, and one (Psalm 136 Luminaria Magna) was commissioned by the Eastern NY Chapter of the AGO in 2003 which requested “an anthem of praise suitable for amateur church choir”. Incidentally, while studying for my B. Mus. degree at Cardiff University, I took organ lessons from Robert Joyce in Llandaff Cathedral, and now I am married to an organist – in fact, we have a small instrument for practice at home.
J: Please describe Embertides – the piece commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for their 2014 National Convention. Where was it played and how was it used? Concert or worship or both? Is there a recording of the performance?
Dr. Tann: From the program note: “Embertides consists of four separate movements that take their inspiration from the roughly equal divisions of the church year – Advent, Lent, Whitsun, Michaelmas. These divisions in turn pay homage to earlier, secular traditions – Winter (seeding), Spring (awakening), Summer (harvesting), Autumn (vintage). The cycle is unified by references to verses from the 11th century plainsong sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus; in addition, each prelude/postlude contains hints of hymns appropriate to each season. The work may be performed as a concert suite or individual movements may be used separately within church services.”
The first performance was at First Church of Boston in the context of a Unitarian Universalist service, as the
“Gathering Music”. The excellent Heinrich Christensen was the soloist and the piece was performed twice, June 25th and 26th. It was amusing to me (and instructive) that the UU minister refused to use the sacred seasonal titles for the movements (Advent, Lenten, Whit, and Michaelmas), preferring the less-interesting secular terms (Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn). The piece works as a concert suite of about 15 minutes (slow-fast-slow-fast); however, each movement is slightly under 4 minutes long and is designed to be used as a prelude or postlude in a service context.
I first came across the term, Embertides, as a child while playing hymns for grammar school services in Wales. The term intrigued me. Online, the fisheaters.com website has a wealth of material about Ember days, or Embertides: "Four times a year, the Church sets aside three days to focus on God through His marvelous creation. These quarterly periods take place around the beginnings of the four natural seasons that "... succeed one another with the happiest harmony," as St. John Chrysostom wrote... These four times are each kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday and are known as "Ember Days," or Quatuor Tempora, in Latin."
J: How is writing for the organ different than other instruments?
Dr. Tann: Aha! Well, the organ is the orchestra! The organ is incalculably many worlds! The organ is a lifetime of discovery!
J: What are the unique compositional challenges in composing for the organ?
Dr. Tann: All of the above. From my experience with Embertides I would say that the main challenge is not knowing in advance the particular sound of the instrument one is writing for. While composing Embertides, I had a kind of “generic” organ sound in mind (my Finale notational program was not helpful in this respect). Then I went to see my friend, Al Fedak, and I asked him about my proposed registrations. He was most helpful and I was delighted with the result and placed his suggestions in the score. But, when I travelled to Boston to work with Heinrich Christensen on the premiere organ, the resultant sound world was much drier, much “cleaner”. I felt as though I’d been writing for the wooded countryside of Wales but I’d found myself in the starker landscape of Iceland.
J: Was there anything you were able to express in writing for the organ that might not have been possible with other instruments?
Dr. Tann: For me, the sound of the organ is almost always associated with our great wealth of hymns. I did not want to be denominationally-specific, but I hoped that the descending minor third in “Advent”, for example, would have a resonance of “Rejoice, rejoice” from Veni Emmanuel for at least some of the performers. And I also enjoyed “embedding” some pedal lines within the manual tessitura not only for the resultant sound, but also, perhaps, suggesting a “snow-covered” landscape.
J: What are your upcoming projects? Another organ composition, I hope.
Dr. Tann: Thank you for the organ composition wish – indeed, as I’ve implied above, this is a world one could enter and never leave, such are its dimensions. Most immediately, I have a transcription of an alto saxophone concerto for the National Youth Wind Ensemble of Wales, and a new piece for the National Youth Brass Band of Wales, a duo for soprano and baritone saxophones for the 2015 World Saxophone Congress in France, and a light revision of “Exultet Terra” for double choir and double reed quintet … all due next spring!
J: Where can one find your music?
Dr. Tann: My website (www.hilarytann.com) lists my compositions and gives sound extracts and score samples together with program notes and publisher information. Oxford University Press publishes most of the organ (+) music: ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/music/composers/tann. My website also has a discography.
J: Thank you for sharing your story with us.
Dr. Tann: Just one final note, if I may. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the organizing committee of the 2014 AGO National Convention for being so hospitable to new works for organ and to the composers of these works. I attended two days of the convention in Boston last month and I found an openness to new ideas and genuine interest and friendliness everywhere I went. It was a warm, informative, deeply musical occasion and I’m grateful to have been