MAA 2:2a Overture in G Major (c. 1796) by Rayner Taylor (1747-1825): Score
Version for String Orchestra (2 vlns, vla, basso): 1) Allegro Spirito, 2) Rondo: “St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning”
Version for String Orchestra (2 vlns, vla, basso): 1) Allegro Spirito, 2) Rondo: “St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning”
Version for String Orchestra (2 vlns, vla, basso): 1) Allegro Spirito, 2) Rondo: “St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning”
The “Overture in G Major” by Rayner Taylor (1747-1825) is the earliest surviving symphony in its original orchestral form from British North America. It is cast in two movements, the first in sonata form and the second a rondo on a popular dance tune. This form of symphony was popular among British theater composers such as William Shield (1748-1829) and Samuel Arnold (1740-1802), as well as French composers of symphonies concertantes such as Jean-Baptiste Davaux (1742-1822) and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799). It is part of a small collection of orchestral works from Philadelphia and New York composed between 1787 and 1805 held by the Rare Book Division of the University of Pennsylvania. Other American composers represented in this collection include Alexander Reinagle (1756-1809), a former pupil of Taylor active in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and James Hewitt (1770-1827) of New York City and later Boston. Together, these works, as original pieces written for American professional orchestras, offer the fullest picture of the state of orchestras and orchestral composition in the urban centers of the Early Nationalist United States. Further, this work is the only symphony among a set of medley overtures. It remains the only surviving example of a composition by Rayner Taylor with a partial set of orchestral parts. Further, its date of composition bridges the two main periods of his professional career in which he was active as a composer of orchestral music.