Schelling, Ernest

Ernest Henry Schelling – Suite Fantastique, Op. 7

(b. Belvidere / New Jersey, 26. July 1878 – d. Manhattan, 8. December 1939)

Preface
Schelling composed the Suite Fantastique in the years 1905/6, when he had just established himself as a major virtuoso pianist. He himself premiered the work with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam under the conductor Willem Mengelberg in 1907. On the 25th of January, 1908, he performed it with the Boston Symphony, and later that same year the work was published. Many subsequent performances took place with Schelling as soloist and also the pianist, Benno Moiseiwitsch.

Probably the reason Schelling chose to call his work, a suite rather than a concerto, is for its structure in four movements, rather than the normal three for a concerto. The whole composition is imbibed with folkloric flavours and in fact, Schelling wrote the following: „This was composed while I was studying in Europe and very homesick for America. It is for that reason that I included in the last movement, the Virginia Reel, “Dixie”, “Way down upon the Swanee River”, and “Yankee Doodle”. In that work I wanted to give forth the energy, vitality, and life of America.“

The first movement, Allegro marziale, uses much chromaticism and seems to hint at a Hungarian-like influence of the czardas in its opening rhythmic theme ostensibly using the F sharp natural minor key. The slower middle section commencing at rehearsal number 7 has characteristics of the lassu. The frequent tempo changes and the punctuation chords given by the large orchestra that includes two harps, English horn, contrabassoon, and tambourine, also hint at the possible Hungarian folk music origins.

In an ABA structure, the second movement, Molto vivace, is dance-like in the key of B major. Schelling’s direction of scherzando underlines the joyful spirit of this movement. Perhaps it was somewhat Slavic-inspired as its middle section, labelled, Trio, has the quintuple time signature of 5/4, grouped in a three-two fashion. …

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