Mennin's Use of the Orchestra in Symphony No. 3

I would like to spend just a moment discussing some of the ways Peter Mennin used orchestral color in this opening movement. The orchestra used in this piece takes a step back from the large orchestras of the turn of the century and is more like the orchestra found during the early romantic period. Pairs of winds (with addition of a piccolo), four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, and tuba makes up the wind section. The string section is standard use, though it frequently splits in to multiple parts. The percussion section is a slightly expanded from the timpani to include a snare, cymbal, and bass drum. This possibly takes influence from the music of his teachers and mirrors the use of percussion in the wind ensemble music of this time (more on extra-musical influence later).

Though the orchestra is conservative, considering Wagner, Mahler and others who came before him, Peter Mennin’s use of these instruments is very interesting and colorful. As previously discussed, Mennin sets up the piece with a motto theme in the trumpets and trombones. This theme comes back frequently throughout the work, but its return in the trumpets always heralds a significant structural event.


Example 1 - Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 1-3.

As stated before, Mennin frequently splits the strings into more than their five standard voices. The example below shows such a section. Mennin frequently uses strings only when working out larger sections of counterpoint.


Example 2 - Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 33-38.

Mennin is quite skillful at matching like timbres to get a certain effect. At the development section, Mennin combines the violins in a low octave with the horns and clarinets in the lower half of their range. These three voices are focused warm sounds that blend well in terms of register and tone color, yet each one contributes something unique to the sound for a very creative blend. There are fewer frequencies in the overtone series present in these instruments than perhaps in a flute or oboe timbre. This attention to instrumental blends is a characteristic of Mennin’s orchestration style.


Example 3 - Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 69-74.

Also shown in this example, Mennin frequently pairs a smooth melodic line with an equivalent line of shorter note values. In this example, horn 1, clarinets, and violins have the sustained melodic line while the viola and horn 3 play the same melody with shorter note values. This makes the first part of the note begin accented with a softer sustained sound when half the voices drop out.
Mennin uses the orchestral voices in different ways. In the next example, we see how he uses the instrumental choirs separately, giving the woodwinds different material from the strings.


Example 4 - Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 99-104.

In this next example from the recapitulation, Mennin shows his skill at mixing articulations and instrumental effects to vary repeated thematic material. It is used in this example not only to provide timbre variety, but also to help transition the thematic material from a melodic sustained horn sound to the more articulated timpani sound. The use of stopped horn notes has a very pointed articulation, just like sound created when a stick hits a drum.


Example 5 - Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 130-132, horn and timpani.

In this final example, Mennin keeps the trumpet voice separate from the rest of the instruments, referencing the motto theme at the beginning of the piece. He pairs the rest of the voices in terms of range.


Example 6 - Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 3, m. 164-169.

Other than these few examples, a good portion of this writing is more chamber like, blending individual wind instruments over a foundation of string timbre as seen in Example 3.

------------------------
Works Referenced

• Mennin, Peter. Symphony No. 3. New York: Hargail Music Press, 1948.