Four Centuries of Great Music January 18, 2026 Composers of the Boston 6

Four Centuries of Great Music January 18, 2026 Composers of the Boston 6 Complete

Last week on Four Centuries of Great Music I had three American composers with birthdays in January which included John Knowles Paine who was the founder of the group of composers known as the Boston 6.  These composers include John Knowles Paine, George Chadwick, Arthur Foote , Edward MacDowell, Horatio Parker and Amy Beach.   Today we will be exploring the music of some of these composers.

We open with the music of George Chadwick. George Chadwick was born on November 13, 1854 in a rural part of Lowell MA.  Studied organ with his brother before beginning studies at the New England Conservatory in 1872 where he studied organ, piano, and music theory.  On finishing his studies in 1876, he accepted a faculty position in the music program at Olivet College.  The first evidence of his interest in composing appeared during this time, from a performance of his Canon in E-flat dated November 6, 1876.  Like many other composers of his generation, he headed to Europe to study composition. He studied in Leipzig at the Royal Conservatory of Music with Carl Reinecke and also in France where he was influenced by the French impressionist  composers.

Chadwick returned to Boston in March 1880 and soon began establishing a compositional career in the U.S.  In addition to his compositional activities, Chadwick was a performing organist and avid conductor.  In 1897, Chadwick was appointed director of New England Conservatory. Known in the Boston arts circle as talented, personable, and energetic, he was crucial in transforming NEC into a respected school of music. Chadwick implemented features that resembled those of the German conservatories of his experience. He established a variety of performing ensembles, and students were required to take more music theory and history classes.

Chadwick composed in almost every genre, including opera, chamber music, choral works, and songs, though he had a particular affinity for orchestral music. His music can be categorized into four style periods:

The Formative Period, 1879–1894 he was composing in the European styles he learned while studying in Europe.

The Americanism/Modernism Period, 1895–1909 where he was developing his own unique style- his Symphonic Sketches were composed during this period

The Dramatic Period, 1910–1918 where he Chadwick shifted from overtures and symphonies to a more dramatic and programmatic style music.

The Reflective Years, 1919-1931 where he spent more tie as an administrator and his composing declined in volume and originality.

Today I will play his Symphonic Sketches.  It is in 4 movements:
George Chadwick:  Symphonic Sketches -  I. Jubilee
8:36
George Chadwick:  Symphonic Sketches - II. Noël
8:49
George Chadwick:  Symphonic Sketches - III. Hobgoblin
5:54
George Chadwick:  Symphonic Sketches - IV. A Vagrom Ballad

Eastman-Rochester Orchestra conducted by Howard Hanson
Chadwick: Symphonic Sketches - MacDowell: Suite for Large Orchestra; Sinfonia in G
Mercury Records

Next we will listen to music by Edward MacDowell.  MacDowell was born on December 18, 1860 in New York City.  He studied piano and one of his teachers was internationally famous pianist and composer Teresa Carreño.  In 1877 he was admitted to the Paris Conservatory after receiving a competitive scholarship for international students to study piano and composition.  He continued his studies in Germany and stayed there composing from 1884-1888   In 1888 he returned to the United States and settled in Boston.  In 1896, MacDowell was appointed professor of music at Columbia University, as the first music professor in the university's history to found the Music Department.

In 1896, his wife Marian MacDowell purchased Hillcrest Farm, to serve as their summer residence in Peterborough, New Hampshire. MacDowell’s creativity flourished in the beautiful rural setting.  In 1907, the composer and his wife founded an artists' residency and workshop formerly known as The MacDowell Colony at the Hillcrest Farm. MacDowell died in 1908 in New York City and was buried at his beloved Hillcrest Farm.

Today I will play his Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 42 which is in 5 movements:

Edward MacDowell:  Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 42_ I. in a Haunted Forest
3:58
Edward MacDowell:  Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 42_ II. Summer Idyll
2:10
Edward MacDowell:  Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 42_ III. in October
5:18
Edward MacDowell:  Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 42_ IV. The Shepherdess' Song
3:32
Edward MacDowell:  Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 42_ V. Forest Spirits

Eastman-Rochester Orchestra conducted  by Howard Hanson
Chadwick: Symphonic Sketches - MacDowell: Suite for Large Orchestra; Sinfonia in G
Mercury Records

Lets open this second hour of today’s episode of Four Centuries of Great Music dedicated to the group of composers known as the Boston 6 with music by Arthur Foote.  

Arthur Foote was born in Salem MA on March 5, 1853.  Educated at Harvard University, he is known as the first American composer to receive all of his musical education in America.  He studied organ perforane as well as composition at Harvard.  Foote was appointed organist of the First Church (Unitarian) in Boston in 1878, remaining there 32 years.  He was one of the editors of Hymns of the Church Universal, a Unitarian hymnal published in 1890.  Although he composed in all genres, he is most known for his chamber music.

Today we will be listening to his String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 70 which is in 4 movements:

Arthur Foote:  String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 70 -  I. Allegro
7:24
Arthur Foote:  String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 70 -   II. Scherzo. Capriccioso
4:58
Arthur Foote:  String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 70 -  III. Andante espressivo
7:10
2-07 String Arthur Foote:  String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 70 -   IV. Andante espressivo - Allegro non troppo, marcato
Kohon String Quartet
The Early String Quartet in the U.S.A.
Naxos Records

The last of the group of composers known as the Boston 6 whose music that I will be sharing today is Amy Beach.  The music of Amy Beach has been often featured on this show.   Amy Beach was born in Henniker, New Hampshire, on September 5, 1867.  She was raised in a musical family where her mother was an accomplished pianist and singer.  

Amy showed every sign of being a child prodigy. She was able to sing forty songs accurately by age one, she was capable of improvising counter-melody by age two, and she taught herself to read at age three.   At four, she composed three waltzes for piano during one summer at her grandfather's farm in West Henniker, NH,  despite the absence of a piano; instead, she composed the pieces mentally and played them when she returned home. She could also play music by ear, including four-part hymns. These extraordinary musical talents at such a young age can be associated with certain innate conditions she possessed. Firstly, she is said to have possessed perfect pitch, which enabled her to play music entirely by ear. Additionally, she may have experienced synesthesia, where to her each key was associated with a particular color.

Amy Beach began formal piano lessons with her mother at age six, and soon gave public recitals of works by Handel, Beethoven, and Chopin, as well as her own pieces. One such recital was reviewed in arts journal The Folio, and multiple agents proposed concert tours for the young pianist, which her parents declined – a decision for which Beach was later grateful.  The family moved to Chelsea, a suburb just across the Mystic River from Boston. They were advised there to enroll Amy in a European conservatory, but opted instead for local training in piano, harmony and counterpoint.  She collected every book she could find on theory, composition, and orchestration and she taught herself these skills.

After her marriage in 1885 she limited  her piano performances and devoted her life to composition. A major compositional success came with her Mass in E-flat major, which was performed in 1892 by the Handel and Haydn Society orchestra, which since its foundation in 1815 had never performed a piece composed by a woman. This was followed by her Gaelic Symphony, the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. It premiered October 30, 1896, performed by the Boston Symphony "with exceptional success.”   Works such as these put her  path on a parallel course the other Boston  area  composers.   George Chadwick wrote to her after the premiere of the wrote to Beach that he and his colleague Horatio Parker had attended the Gaelic Symphony's premiere and much enjoyed it: "I always feel a thrill of pride myself whenever I hear a fine work by any of us, and as such you will have to be counted in, whether you like it or not – as one of the boys.”  She and the “boys” became known as the Boston 6 with her as the youngest of the group.  Her compositions were very successful - so much so that she was able to purchase her summer home in Centerville, MA on Cape Cod.

Today we will be listening to her SUITE FOR TWO PIANOS FOUNDED UPON OLD IRISH MELODIES, OP.104 written in 1924.  It is in 4 movements:


AMY BEACH:  SUITE FOR TWO PIANOS FOUNDED UPON OLD IRISH MELODIES, OP.104 - I. Prelude. Lento, quasi una fantasia 5’39
AMY BEACH:  SUITE FOR TWO PIANOS FOUNDED UPON OLD IRISH MELODIES, OP.104 - II. Old-time Peasant-Dance. Allegro con spirito 3’48

AMY BEACH:  SUITE FOR TWO PIANOS FOUNDED UPON OLD IRISH MELODIES, OP.104 - III. The Ancient Cabin. Lento come prima 6’30

AMY BEACH:  SUITE FOR TWO PIANOS FOUNDED UPON OLD IRISH MELODIES, OP.104 - IV. Finale. Molto vivace (con fuga) 3’52

LUDMILA BERLINSKAYA PIANO
ARTHUR ANCELLE PIANO
AMERICAN DREAM:  BEACH, SUESSE, BABIN
Alpha Records