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"Harmonium is a composition for chorus and orchestra that could be considered a choral symphony in all but name, by the American composer John Adams, written in 1980-1981 for the first season of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California. The work is based on poetry by John Donne and Emily Dickinson and is regarded as one of the key compositions of Adams' "minimalist" period. The work was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Chorus, with conductor Edo de Waart, on 15 April 1981, and subsequently recorded it. The UK premiere was on 13 October 1987 at Birmingham Town Hall, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) conducted by Simon Rattle. Rattle and the CBSO gave the London premiere on 28 July 1990 at The Proms. Music Each movement is a setting of an entire poem: "Because I could not stop for Death" ends with an orchestral interlude that segues into "Wild Nights" without a pause. A typical performance takes about 35 minutes. Timothy Johnson has discussed various aspects of the harmonic language of Harmonium in detail. K. Robert Schwarz has noted the influence of the musical techniques of Steve Reich on Harmonium, and also has commented on the less schematic and more "intuitive" manner of Adams' composition in the work. Harmonium and The Chairman Dances (another work by Adams) were featured in the Civilization IV soundtrack. Instrumentation ;Chorus :soprano, alto, tenor, bass; minimum of 90 performers ;Woodwinds :4 flutes (2nd, 3rd, and 4th doubling on piccolo) :3 oboes :3 clarinets in B (1st and 2nd doubling clarinet in A, 3rd doubling bass clarinet) :3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon) ;Brass :4 horns in F :4 trumpets in C (1st doubling B and D trumpets; 2nd, 3rd, and 4th doubling B trumpet) :3 trombones :tuba ;Percussion, 4 players :timpani :2 marimbas :metallophone :xylophone :tubular bells :crotales :glockenspiel :suspended cymbal :sizzle cymbal :crash cymbals :triangle :bass drum :tom-toms, medium and large :anvil :cowbells :tambourine ;Keyboards :piano (or synthesizer) :celesta ;Strings :harp :violins :violas :cellos :double basses |} Recordings * ECM New Series 1277: San Francisco Symphony Chorus; San Francisco Symphony; Edo de Waart, conductor * Telarc CD-80365: Atlanta Symphony Chorus; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Robert Shaw, conductor * Nonesuch 79549: San Francisco Symphony Chorus; San Francisco Symphony; John Adams, conductor References Bibliography * Steinberg, Michael, Choral Masterworks (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). ISBN to come. External links * John Adams homepage, entry on Harmonium * RadioM, Morning Concert, John Adams: Harmonium (October 30, 1981) Category:Compositions by John Adams (composer) Category:Choral compositions Category:1981 compositions "
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"350px The Frythe is a country house set in its own grounds in rural Hertfordshire, just south of the village of Welwyn, about 30 miles north of London. History Early history The Frythe was part of the property of Holywell Priory, Shoreditch, and in 1523 William Wilshere obtained a sixty- year lease of the Frythe from the priory. As a result of the dissolution of the monasteries, in 1539 the property was granted to Sir John Gostwick and Joan his wife. Within ten years, Wilshere had purchased The Frythe from Gostwick's heirs, and the property remained in the possession of the Wilshere family for several centuries. The present "Gothic revival" mansion was built in 1846 for William Wilshere (MP for Great Yarmouth from 1837 to 1846). The architects were Thomas Smith and Edward Blore. After William Wilshere's death in 1867 the house was enlarged by his brother Charles Willes Wilshere who inherited it. In 1908 on Charles Wilshere's death, it passed on to his three unmarried daughters until the last one died in 1934. The estate passed to a great-nephew, Captain Gerald Maunsell Gamul Farmer, of a landed gentry family of Nonsuch, Surrey, who adopted the surname of Wilshere,Burke's Landed Gentry 17th edition, ed. L. G. Pine, 1952, pp. 811, 2745 and ran the house as "The Frythe Residential and Private Hotel". SOE Station IX Weapon developed by Station IX 'The Frythe' was commandeered in August 1939 by the British Military Intelligence. During the Second World War it became a secret British Special Operations Executive factory known as Station IX making commando equipment. Secret research included military vehicles and equipment, explosives and technical sabotage, camouflage, biological and chemical warfare. In the grounds of The Frythe small cabins and barracks functioned as laboratories and workshops. Research facility The Frythe was for many years a commercial research facility, operated by ICI from 1946, by Unilever from 1963 and by Smith, Kline & French from 1977. Unilever From 1946 to 1963 the site was shared by ICI with Unilever. New buildings were built by Unilever in the 1960s, with a contract for £400,000 in 1964 to Taylor Woodrow. Research was conducted on edible oils, margarine, ice cream, and frozen foods in the 1960s. Techniques included molecular biophysics, X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), mass spectrometry, ESR spectroscopy (electron paramagnetic resonance), and infrared spectroscopy. GSK Cimetidine, discovered at The Frythe Smith, Kline & French discovered Tagamet (Cimetidine) at The Frythe in 1971, which treats peptic ulcers by Sir James Black FRS and C. Robin Ganellin FRS with research on H2 antagonist. Residential Accommodation The Frythe site was closed by GlaxoSmithKline and sold to a property development company on 19 December 2010. In 2017 the conversion of the property into flats was still underway. References * Category:Buildings and structures in Welwyn Hatfield (district) Category:Country houses in Hertfordshire Category:Edward Blore buildings Category:GlaxoSmithKline Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Hertfordshire Category:Houses completed in 1846 Category:Imperial Chemical Industries Category:Military history of Hertfordshire Category:Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom Category:Pharmaceutical research institutes Category:Research institutes in Hertfordshire Category:Special Operations Executive Category:Locations in the history of espionage Category:Unilever Category:World War II sites in England "