- Henry Cowell
Symphony No. 15, Thesis (1960)
- Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
Programme Note
Composer note:
There is no extra-musical program. The form is unusual: five tiny movements; a choral-like introduction, an impassioned melody, a scherzo, a longer quiet melody, an irregular-rhythm dance which leads into a recapitulation of these elements in one movement, and at the end a sonata-form movement based on an extension of the primary motiv (a descending whole followed by a half step), which is the mainstay of all movements. As the last movement is in sonata form, I decided to call it my 15th Symphony.
— Henry Cowell
There is no extra-musical program. The form is unusual: five tiny movements; a choral-like introduction, an impassioned melody, a scherzo, a longer quiet melody, an irregular-rhythm dance which leads into a recapitulation of these elements in one movement, and at the end a sonata-form movement based on an extension of the primary motiv (a descending whole followed by a half step), which is the mainstay of all movements. As the last movement is in sonata form, I decided to call it my 15th Symphony.
— Henry Cowell
Media
Thesis (Symphony No. 15): I. Largo
Thesis (Symphony No. 15): II. Andante
Thesis (Symphony No. 15): III. Presto
Thesis (Symphony No. 15): IV. Allegretto
Thesis (Symphony No. 15): V. Allegro, Pt. 1
Thesis (Symphony No. 15): VI. Allegro, Pt. 2
Thesis (Symphony No. 15): VII. Moderato