Symphonic poems on technique issues

[violinconcerto]

I recently bought a manuscript of a Sinfonietta, composed in 1925, that is in fact a tone poem about the city of Paris. The movements "imitate" somehow the sounds at different places in Paris, which includes the car traffic at the opera crossing and in the final movement the departure with a propeller-driven airplane. I am now wondering about the other tone poems of that time that deal with technical/machine issues. Of course I know "Pacific 231" by Arthur Honegger which dates from 1923. But are there others (surely there are)? And what were the first tone poems "imitating" not nature, but technique/machines?

[Biffo]

I am sure there must be plenty of Soviet music from that era that imitates machines or otherwise glorifies industry, just can't think of it at the moment.

[Draško]

https://www.youtube.com/v/rq1-_UPwYSM

Mosolov's Iron Foundry (Zavod) from 1926 is probably the best known piece, also Popov's Komsomol Suite. I think it's most often found in music of Soviet avant-garde from the 1920s and Italian Futurists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism_(music)

[violinconcerto]

Thanks for the thoughts.
I am also asking about other pieces with techical issues because I would like to rank my Sinfonietta into the history of such compositions. Therefore I would be interested in specific composers and compositions. So if you remember one of the "plenty of Soviet music" or Italian futurism I would be grateful if you let me know. Right now I know only Hongger's Pacific 231 from 1923, then comes "my" Sinfonietta (1925) and then Mosolov's Iron foundry in 1926.

[Biffo]

https://www.youtube.com/v/rq1-_UPwYSM

Mosolov's Iron Foundry (Zavod) from 1926 is probably the best known piece, also Popov's Komsomol Suite. I think it's most often found in music of Soviet avant-garde from the 1920s and Italian Futurists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism_(music)

That is the sort of thing I was thinking of but all that came to mind was the first movement of Prokofiev's 2nd Symphony and that isn't a tone poem or overtly programmatic (as far as I can remember).

[Brian]

Shostakovich has a ballet called The Bolt set inside a factory. Don't know it very well, but perhaps it contains something descriptive?

[amw]

If piano music counts, the "first" ones were probably in the 19th century—Alkan's Le chemin du fer, Rossini's Un petit train de plaisir, for examples

[Biffo]

Shostakovich has a ballet called The Bolt set inside a factory. Don't know it very well, but perhaps it contains something descriptive?

I have a Suite from The Bolt and the full ballet on DVD. The suite isn't helpful and I haven't watched the full ballet for a while and don't have time right now. This is from Wikipedia -

The waspish and delightfully colourful score bowls along like a children's cartoon-film, every number full of drama and parody and fine take-offs of serious and popular music of every kind. Among the highlights are the opening scene when the workers gather in the morning for their physical fitness class before hitting the conveyor belts, the appearance of pompous and opinionated officials and bureaucrats, a ridiculous church-going episode, and the exciting scene when the sabotage-conspiracy nearly succeeds and is only foiled at the last moment. There are also plenty of numbers which mimic the whirling and hammering sounds of modern factory machinery.[1]

— Gerard McBurney

[Brian]

If piano music counts, the "first" ones were probably in the 19th century—Alkan's Le chemin du fer, Rossini's Un petit train de plaisir, for examples

Oh, I forgot trains! Villa-Lobos has a very famous train.

Johann Strauss Jr. had a habit of naming polkas and waltzes after mechanical things for the novelty, but they don't at all sound like the subject matter: Telegrams, Electromagnetic Polka, Vergnügungszung*, Electrophorous Polka, Over the Telephone, etc.


*the Wikipedia page for this piece is vastly more entertaining than you would expect and covers other "light" "depictions" of trains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergn%C3%BCgungszug

[vandermolen]

Malcolm Arnold's 'A Grand Grand Overture' uses a vacuum cleaner, a rifle etc.

You might be interested in 'Parasol Peak' by Manu Delago, which I just posted in the listening thread. He includes mountaineering gear etc in his music.

[Draško]

Therefore I would be interested in specific composers and compositions.

I'm not sure if these fit your criteria of symphonic poems about machine age, but they are pretty important for music of that period.

https://www.youtube.com/v/MQqt-CKdlfw

Luigi Russolo - Risveglio di una Citta (1913)

https://www.youtube.com/v/yrfibt6Bkwc

George Antheil - Ballet Mécanique (1923–24)

[ritter]

There's also Prokofiev's ballet Le pas d'acier, the second tableau of which is set in a factory.

From Wikipedia: "The factory scene features machines and sprocketed wheels as the setting for a danced romance between a sailor and a young girl worker".

I haven't listened to it for a while, but I recall this as being a magnificent score....

Here's the factory scene:

https://youtu.be/QWdlkDj7elA

And then there's this tape piece by Pierre Boulez (withdrawn by the composer from his catalogue). It's the soundtrack to a short film ("essay")  titled Symphonie mécanique by Jean Mitry:

https://youtu.be/ltWMF-YA5Mc

[SymphonicAddict]

Gershwin added some taxi horns in his tone poem An American in Paris. It possibly counts as well.

[Ken B]

Foundry, by John Mackey. Quite frequently performed.

[North Star]

Rzewski's Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues for piano from 1979
https://www.youtube.com/v/FJbROXEiwjY

[Maestro267]

George Antheil's Ballet Mecanique, scored for several pianos, electric bells, propellers, a siren, 4 bass drums and a tam-tam.

[pjme]

"I recently bought a manuscript of a Sinfonietta, composed in 1925, that is in fact a tone poem about the city of Paris."

Hi, can you tell me the name of the composer? It looks like aninteresting discovery.
I am not thinking of Russian bruitism or music inspired by industry / industrial sounds.
Jacques Ibert, however, wrote in 1932 a symphonic suite called "Paris"  d'après "Donogoo" de Jules Romain .

The movements are:
Le Métro
Faubourgs
La Mosquée de Paris
Restaurant au Bois de Boulogne
Le Paquebot "Ile de France"
Parade Foraine

Source: Wikipedia :https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Ibert#Werken_voor_orkest

Another composer I was thinking of is Pierre Octave Ferroud and the symphonic poem "Foules" (1922-1924)
https://youtu.be/eBFwmtidYOg

Possibly Milhaud's songs "Machines agricoles" and "Catalogue de fleurs" , come to mind. the suite  "Protée" has also some wonderfully crazy driving rythms that are quite "roaring twenties".
Honegger: Skating rink, and (lost?) Roses de metal
Satie's Parade....

P.

[violinconcerto]

Thanks to all for their thoughts so far and I have the impression that - beside the mentioned piano impressions on trains by Alkan, etc - the orchestral toen poems on technique issues are clearly a thing of the 1920s. And therefore my work here fits perfectly into its time. I did not mention the composer name because I don't think anybody knows him, but it is no secret and I already list him on my website. "My work" is the Sinfonietta parisienne by composer Hanns Schimmerling (1900-1967). For those already interested in a biography and so on, here is the link to my website:

https://www.tobias-broeker.de/rare-manuscripts/s-z/schimmerling-hanns/

I am right now in the process of typesetting the score, so it will be available in the next weeks for those also interested in the score.

Thanks again for your thoughts and this post hopefully should not end the discussion!

Best,
Tobias

[pjme]

About "Foules"

There would certainly have been an insatiable curiosity for everything new – Ferroud was the founder of organizations promoting new music in Lyon and Paris – and this music is nothing if not 'on-the-ball'. Bartok is called to mind in the playful (and delightful) portrait sketches of Types, but then the dazzling turns of phrase will just as quickly take you through Ravel, Berg and many more (something of Prokofiev and the style mecanique in the lavishly scored Foules). Indeed, it almost seems as if it were Ferroud's intention to combine and favourably present as many as possible of the diverse elements of music in the air. And this sleight of hand (for example, it takes a little while to register that the charming first movement of the Serenade is atonal) brings its own rewards, as do the general humour, vitality and lucidity of the music.

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/ferroud-orchestral-works-0

[Daverz]

Balada's Steel Symphony is based on the sounds of Pittsburgh steel mills and harks back to the mechanistic works of the 20s by Mosolov and Antheil.

[asin] B0000030DP[/asin]

https://www.youtube.com/v/EQQQgRgGZkk

http://unsungsymphonies.blogspot.com/2011/06/ghost-in-machine-leonardo-baladas-steel.html