The John Williams Web Pages
		Compositions: Concert Hall
		A Hymn to New England
Compositions: Concert Hall Concertos Fanfares Symphonic works Vocal works Miscellanea		A Hymn to New England was written as the accompaniment to New England Time Capsule, an Omnimax travelogue of New England shown in the Mugar Omni Theater at Boston's Museum of Science. The first public performance was given on May 5, 1987 by John Williams and the Boston Pops. The Hymn is dedicated "with gratitude to David Mugar."  Boston Pops percussionist and arranger Pat Hollenbeck orchestrated the score and arranged it to fit the IMAX film.  "John had other commitments," Hollenbeck told the Boston Globe in 1989, "so he wrote the themes and I basically put it together." The three-minute concert work opens with a rising two-bar theme based on open fourths and fifths, stated by unison trumpets; bravura quintuplet figurations follow. These elements build into a full orchestral fanfare, subsiding as we hear the opening theme in low strings and then oboe. Strings state the principal theme in G major, a hymn-like tune based on the same fourths and fifths as the opening trumpet theme. Quintuplet figures from the fanfare are heard in the woodwinds at the end of the phrases and the oboe joins in the tune as the theme is repeated. A second subject — the chorus to the refrain of the first hymn theme — follows. A solo trumpet intoning the fanfare theme leads to a brief recollection of the opening segment. The first hymn theme, now in C major, is repeated by horns, accompanied by scurrying quintuplet runs in the violins. The second subject is then restated by full orchestra with glockenspiel and harp providing added color. An ensuing coda is based on the opening fanfare and the work concludes with a final C major chord from organ and orchestra.
RCA/BMG 09026-68786-2 Sony Classical SK 89364		Recordings Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops made the first commercial recording of the work in November of 1996 and it appears on their 1997 album American Visions (RCA/BMG 09026-68786-2) as well as the compilation album Encore! (RCA/BMG 09026-63662-2).  Williams recorded the piece himself with the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles in June of 2000 for the album American Journey (Sony Classical SK 89364), which was released on January 15, 2002.  Sheet Music The orchestral score and parts to this work are not commercially available, although a band arrangement by Paul Lavender has been published by Hal Leonard. A piano arrangement was published in both the John Williams Anthology and Fanfares and Themes. References "102d Pops season underway," Ernie Santosuosso Boston Globe, May 6 1987, 69 "Orchestrating Indiana Jones," Fernando Gonzalez Boston Globe, June 18 1989 Links The Boston Museum of Science
Page last modified June 05, 2006		home | news | compositions | recordings | reference The John Williams Web Pages www.johnwilliams.org