In the years following the American Revolution, the young country sought to define its national identity. Many saw art as vehicle through which Americans could create their distinctiveness. For music, this meant composers working out of the European tradition needed to bring originality, yet stay honest to their tastes and traditions.
Surprisingly, a Bohemian born German became one of the clearest voices of this decidedly “American” art. Anthony Philip Heinrich (left) was born in 1781 and first came to the United States in 1805. He returned again in 1810, and seven years later he ventured to the “isolated wilds of Nature” in Kentucky. It was here that Heinrich decided to become a composer and musician.1 Referred as the “Beethoven of America” in an 1822 article by John Rowe Parker, Heinrich staged the second performance of a Beethoven symphony in America.2
Dating from around 1835 and reaching its final form in 1857, The Ornithological Combat of Kings or The Condor of the Andes and the Eagle of the Cordilleras is a largely neglected symphony and is still unpublished, though it is one of Heinrich’s less blatant attempts at nationalism.3 This half-hour long symphony is in the typical four movement form and scored for an exceptionally large orchestra
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of two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, basset horn, two bassoons and contrabassoon, three trombones, ophicleide, serpent (right), four horns, four trumpets, percussion (triangle, cymbals, snare drum, bass drum, timpani) and strings.4
While Heinrich was openly attempting to create a unique art of the Americas, he clearly falls in the vein of German Romanticism by drawing inspiration from the beauty of nature. This work’s nationalism, which is more of a pan-Americanism, come from his depiction of the land's natural wonders. Nature was great inspiration to Heinrich, and he continually emphasized his backwood Kentucky roots, although he never returned to the state in the last 38 years of his life after a 1823 move to Boston.5
Before I listened to The Ornithological Combat of Kings, I noticed that work is clearly programatic in describing a battle between a condor and an eagle. The first movement, “The Combat of the Condor in the Air” (Allegro ma moderato), has a dramatic opening in minor that grabbed my attention immediately. Occasionally there is quirkiness in the melody and rhythm that is refreshing to hear. Overall the movement appears well crafted, but structurally ambiguous as it seems through-composed. Perhaps this a programatic intention, but it leaves me lost. The movement ends peacefully. Somehow, though the lack of form, the work makes sense to me, and I enjoy it thus far.
The second movement, “The Repose of the Condor” (Andante sostenuto, quasi adagio), starts similarly to how the first movement ends, creating a smooth transition that possibly allows for programatic continuity and clearly shows Beethoven's influence on the composer. This movement has a dance like quality with dramatic contrasts. I am starting to wonder what exactly Heinrich is trying to depict.
“The Combat of the Condor on Land (Allegro)” is the third movement of the symphony. The music thus far has a similar character of aggressive, angry grandeur that wanders around through varying tempos and intensities. I feel that if I had a detailed description of the exact program that Heinrich is trying to convey (one that Heirich never provides), the music would be much easier to follow.
The fourth movement, “Victory of the Condor” (Finale: vivace brillante), is dance like, but more of the same character, yet it is less aggressive that the previous three movements. Besides similar characters and being in the same key, there lacks any element that links these movements.
I feel The Ornithological Combat of Kings should not be included in the canon of western music. Although it is well crafted, dramatic, and possibly effective in conveying a specific story, the lack of any apparent inner relationship limits the work’s ability to convey a message and provide a stimulating musical experience that entices me to return to this work. As effective as a programatic composition may be at describing a story, the quality of music is still an essential element in determining the work’s canonical eligibility, musical quality that The Ornithological Combat of Kings or The Condor of the Andes and the Eagle of the Cordilleras does not possess.
1 J. Bunker Clark, introduction to The Sylviad: or, Minstrelsy of Nature in the Wilds of North America, by Anthony Philip Heinrich (Greenleaf, WI: Conners Publications, 1996), vii-viii
2 William Gibbons, “The Musical Audubon: Ornithology and Nationalism in the Symphonies of Anthony Philip Heinrich,” Journal of the Society for American Music 3, no. 4 (2009): 467
3 Gibbon: 467-8
4 Gibbon: 478
5 Clark: viii
I think you may underestimate this work and, by extension, the rest of Heinrich's remarkable output. He was in very many ways years ahead of his time precisely in the way that he wrote so much programme music and that it was through-composed. In his own time he was often regarded as eccentric and after the Civil War, he was completely forgotten. However, he foreshadowed much that was to be written later, not least by Richard Strauss and Charles Ives. There are a few more examples of his extraordinary music on YouTube and I think these also show exactly similar compositional methods. Heinrich is a prime example of that archetypal immigrant in that he was more American than the Americans and took his cues firmly from the landscape and people. His descriptive powers are very impressive and his knowledge of the great American birds of prey were well drawn from the descriptions of his great Friend, Audubon, in whose vault he was ultimately buried.
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