Impressions Of New England
(Suite in Three Movements)
Concert Band Series — 6 min. 59 seconds
Composed and Arranged by: Anthony Susi
At the turn of the 20th century, dozens of artists spent their summers at the home of Florence Griswold in Old Lyme, CT. There they found an old New England landscape that was intimate, rural, and peaceful at a time when America was becoming urban and industrial. This Lyme Art Colony formed a new school of painting that became the center of American Impressionistic Art. Inspired by the works of the French Impressionists (Monet and Renoir), the American Impressionists adapted their technique of high-key colors and broken brushstrokes – and applied it to paintings of New England’s serene meadows, marshes, ephemeral flower gardens, Colonial houses, churches, picturesque Lieutenant River, well-worn farmlands and dirt roads. The town’s legacy was significantly enhanced by the recognition that visiting artists such as Henry Ward Ranger, Childe Hassam, William Metcalf, Matilda Brown, William Chadwick, and others received with paintings of local subjects in national and international exhibitions. This impressive body of artwork contributes to a greater appreciation of the region’s distinct cultural history.
I choseThe Ledges (F. C. Hassam) because it depicts the vibrant fall foliage and white birch New England is famous for; Peonies (M. Brown) because the brilliant red flowers were on the grounds of the ‘Flo Gris’ estate (now a renowned American Impressionistic Art museum in Old Lyme) and Kalmia (W. Metcalf) because it is CT’s state flower and the Lieutenant River that winds through Old Lyme appears in the background. Just as these American Impressionists were inspired by the artworks of the French Impressionists, I turned to the musical works of the French Impressionist composers Debussy, Ravel and Satie for my inspiration. I incorporated their harmonic and rhythmic phrasing that I felt reflected the soothing visual images/moods of these pictures. I attempted to capture the harmonious colors by assigning hues to my “musical palette”, then focused on using specific instruments representing the predominant colors within each painting. This included combining primary colors with white or black for various shades of green, pink, orange and gray in my effort to “match” the canvas. From the opening, there is musical imagery with the sus. cym. autumn breeze causing the fall leaves to cascade down. The repeated triplet figures (mvt. 1) and 8th note accompaniment patterns (mvt. 3) represent the broken brushstroke technique. The simple rhythmic motion of mvt. 2 is symbolic of a leisurely stroll through the gardens and the static harmonic/rhythmic accompaniment within mvt. 3 embodies the motionless Lieutenant River with its mirrored reflection. I hope my musical setting will enhance the beauty of the images I selected.
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