World Premieres

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Sheet Music for the Triumphal March on the Occasion of the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893

During the 1892-1893 Columbian Exposition, several orchestral works had their world premiere and performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Glazunov’s Triumphal March are underpinned by Glazunov’s use of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” throughout. Still, much of the music has a strangely pastoral, even English quality–Glazunov’s nod, perhaps, to the European origins of many American citizens. Glazunov employs a wordless chorus as part of the performing forces in order to celebrate, as he noted, the “dawn of liberty.” In all, the Triumphal March is a fascinating character sketch with multi-nationalistic overtones.

Margaret Ruthven Lang – The first public performance of her work came early in her career when in 1887 four of her songs were programmed at a local recital. Her debut was followed by further critical success and she soon reached an important milestone, especially for a woman – recognition as an orchestral composer. In 1893, the Boston Symphony Orchestra programmed Lang’s Dramatic Overture and it became the first orchestral work written by a woman performed by an American orchestra. In the summer of the same year, another overture, Witichis, was heard at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The opening of the Woman’s Building at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition on 1 May 1893 was celebrated with speeches by women and performances of three large orchestral works written by women composers. The Chicago Tribune described the striking setting in the main hall:

A Long room, whose arches and columns were decorated delicately in white and gold, whose walls were hung with the praiseworthy products of nineteenth century woman artists – this is what met the vision of those who enetered for the first time!

The World’s Fair Chorus participated in a concert in the Hall of Honor that was devoted entirely to music by women composers. The ceremonies began with a Grand March composed by Ingeborg von Bronsart of Weimar, Germany. Also included was the Dramatic Overture, a work written in 1886 by Frances Ellicott, daughter of the Bishop of Gloucester, England, for that city’s Three Choirs Festival. The featured work was Festival Jubilate by Boston composer Amy Marcy Beach (Mrs. H. H. A. Beach), that had been commissioned for the Exposition’s October 1892 dedication ceremonies but subsequently rejected from that program. The works were performed by Theodore Thomas conducting the Exposition Orchestra, a group composed primarily of members of the Chicago Orchestra, predecessor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Being Heard: Women Composers and Patrons at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition– Ann E. Feldman

Alexander Glazunov’s Triumphal March on the Occasion of the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Opus 40
Kenneth Schermerhorn, Hong Kong Philharmonic