Re: [ARSCLIST] RCA symphonic work competition - 1929

[Alec McLane <amclane@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There were actually only 4 composers because Robert Russell Bennett 
was awarded 2/5 of the prize. Here's from the liner notes to a Naxos 
recording of Bennett's _Abraham Lincoln_ (quoted at 
http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.559004&catNum=559004&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English):

__________________________
In Paris and Berlin in 1927-28, on a Guggenheim Scholarship, he 
noticed an RCA Victor competition with a prize of 25,000 dollars for 
an outstanding orchestral composition, with a small prize for a 
lighter piece of music. He submitted the two works on this disc - the 
patriotic Abraham Lincoln and the abstract orchestral painting of 
Sights and Sounds. Both pieces were scored for an enormous band of 
musicians and are of large proportions.

RCA Victor's jury consisted of Leopold Stokowski, Serge Koussevitzky, 
Frederick Stock, Rudolph Ganz and Olga Samaroff. They decided no work 
was better than any other to win outright and awarded five prizes to 
Aaron Copland's Dance Symphony, Louis Gruenberg's Symphony, Ernst 
Bloch's Helvetia and two 5,000 dollar awards to Bennett's pieces.

Despite their huge orchestral forces, Bennett's prizewinners were 
then published. Abraham Lincoln was first performed by Stokowski and 
the Philadelphia Orchestra in October 1931, with a second performance 
given a fortnight later at the dedication of the Juilliard School's 
new auditorium. For this, Bennett wrote his own programme notes, 
drawn from below.
___________________________

Alec

At 11:19 AM 4/17/2006, Paul Charosh wrote:
> In 1929, RCA Victor offered a prize of $25,000 for a new symphonic  work.
> The
> prize was divided among five composers.  Copland was  one; he received $5,000
> for his submission.
>
> How to find out  who were the other four recipients?  Also, who at RCA/Victor
> was in  charge of the competition?  Can one find out who were the judges?
> Can
> one find out who submitted works?
>
> Paul Charosh

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alec McLane
Scores & Recordings/
 World Music Archives       Phone: (860) 685-3899
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Wesleyan University          mailto:amclane@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Middletown, CT  06459       http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/srhome/srdir.htm