Adagio for Strings
Douglas Townsend
About this work:
Commissioned Wesley Sontag and world premiered at Carnegie Recital Hall by the Sontag String Sinfonietta on March 31,1956. The reviewer wrote: "Mr. Townsend's brief but well-knit score preserved a mood of pensive melancholy. It was restrained harmonically and melodically, but none the less persuasive for that." (NYTimes 4/1/56) (See also NYTimes 3/25/56 and NYHeraldTribune 4/01/56) The same group performed Adagio again on January 27, 1957, at Town Hall "and again it earned merited applause for the composer." (NYTimes 1/28/57)
Year composed: 1955
Duration: 00:06:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:String Orchestra
Instrumentation: 1 Strings (General)