Kirke Mechem

Composer

Kirke Mechem small image

haydn's return
fugue & variations on the “Farewell Symphony”

Commissioned by The Santa Rosa (CA) Symphony
Corrick Brown, Conductor

Duration: 12 minutes
Orch: 3222 4331 Timp 2 Perc Hp Str
Premiere: 1960
Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra,
Corrick Brown, Conductor
Publisher: Theodore Presser

audio

No available recording

Written to follow the last movement of the “Farewell Symphony.” In Haydn’s work the players leave one by one, the last measures being played by only two violins. In this “sequel,” they return. In fact, they play the tail end of the Haydn coda backwards until the viola comes back on stage with a fugue subject based on the principal tune of the coda.

press

“ . . . ingeniously brings the players back onto the stage and into the music until not only the original Haydn orchestra is employed, but eventually the entire modern symphony."

— Santa Rosa Press-Democrat