Hadley Choral Music

Hadley wrote a wide variety of choral music - Cantatas, both sacred and secular, choruses in operas, musical theater, even film.

There are very few recordings available of his work, something that the Sesquicentennial hopes to address. While a great deal of his music is available in piano-conductor score - and should certainly be performed and recorded this way - he will be eventually deeply appreciated for his orchestrated choral settings. No less a composer that Richard Strauss praised Hadley's subtle and colorful orchestration as among the very best coming from America, and to hear his music performed in this way is revelatory. Unfortuately performance materials are not as available as they might be, and a major goal of the Sesquicentennial is to help alleviate this. His great oratorio, Resurgam, introduced at the Cincinnatti Music Festival, was performed internationally during his lifetime and it is hoped that a revival will be possible.

Researcher Eric Anderson, whose scholarly and sensitive modern recordings can be found on YouTube, has shared these suggestions:

Hadley choral works... Sadly, a number have still not been located. But let me give you a sort of breakdown of what's available.

Major works with orchestration available:

Mirtil in Arcadia, Op. 100. An evening's length work, with 5 or 6 soloists and a narrator. It tells a story from Greek mythology, though in a very charming manner.

Belshazzar. Length about 25 minutes. Also for full orchestra, chorus, and maybe 2 or 3 soloists. Based on the biblical story.

Full scores are available for these, and a start made on transcriptions of both, although each needs considerably more work. But for anything that anyone commits to, performance materials can be produced.

Hadley also wrote a fair number of works for chorus (often women's chorus) and chamber orchestra, often featuring one or two soloists. These would be easier to pull off for smaller groups:

Lelawala, The Story of Niagara, Op. 13.
Mixed chorus, soloists and orchestra. Scale of the orchestra not yet determined; the full score is in the library of the New England Conservatory in Boston. Note: creation of a performance version is underway and should be completed by Summer 2020.

The Princess of Ys, Op. 34
Women's chorus and soprano soloist. Orchestra 1121 4230 harp timp perc strings
Quite short. Probably 10-15 minutes.
The full score is available, and a transcription begun. This is sort of between the ambitious and not-so-ambitious scales. It has an oddly constructed orchestra, with chamber-sized woodwinds, but full brass.

The Nightingale and the Rose, Op. 54
Women's chorus and soprano soloist. Orchestra 1121 2000 harp timp strings
Probably 20 minutes long. Full score is in hand. It can also be possibly rented from Schirmer.

The Golden Prince, Op. 69.
Women's chorus, with soprano and baritone soloists. Orchestra: 2121 3000 harp timp strings.
Length approx. 25 mintues.
All the performance materials are available. A sort of ragged performance was done with my [Eric Anderson's] old summer orchestra. Based on Oscar Wilde's story "The Happy Prince". I think a fine performance would be a knockout...

Short works:

Agnus Dei.
Full chorus and soprano soloist. Full orchestra.
About 5 minutes. Full performance materials availalbe. Lovely work.

Dedication Ode (or Ode to Art)
Full chorus and orchestra.
Length ~ 5 or 6 minutes.
Full and vocal scores available. It was written for the dedication of an artistic institution in Boston. I can find the details. Text also by Henry Van Dyke, who was Hadley's neighbor.

Epochal Dawns (It has another title on the full score)
Full chorus and orchestra - length 5 or 6 minutes.
Full score, but it is reported ot be listed in a collection in England, and probably could be procured if someone were interested. It is a religious work.

About other works:

Sadly, we don't yet have the full scores for some of Hadley's principal choral works, including Resurgam and The New Earth, both of which were popular and important compositions. We have only half of his terrific "Music: An Ode"--one of two bound volumes of the full score. His earlier, also important, work on music: "In Music's Praise", I have an incomplete set of orchestral parts, but no full score. A score might be reconstructed.

The help of all librarians, scholars, researchers is requested to help with the above.

For help obtaining scores listed above please contact HenryHadley150@gmail.com.