John Alden Carpenter: Selected Works

"Hymn of Faith" for orchestra, chorus and narrator.

 John Alden Carpenter

Carpenter's "Hymn of Faith" (1931) (aka "Song of Faith") is a metaphoric history of America beginning with the source of Washington's faith, moving to the Revolutionary War, settling the frontier, the American Dream, a Washington remembrance, and finally a lullaby.
It is arranged in seven sections (loosely titled):
1.Come Now, Hear Our Song
2.Yankee Doodle Dandy
3. Cried of the Red Men
4. Old Song My Mother New
5. The Yankee Band
6. Washington recitation
7. May the Hand of God be Our Stay

Notes were taken from: Pollack, Howard. John Alden Carpenter: A Chicago Composer. University of Illinois Press, Chicago (2001)




Seven Ages (1945) orchestral suite

 Artur Rodzinski

John Alden Carpenter composed his final completely original work in 1945 (later works were recycled from earlier works), and it was premiered by Artur Rodzinski and the NBC Symphony Orchestra in December of that same year. The suite consists of seven uninterrupted movements and is inspired by the famous lines, "All the world's a stage..." from Shakespeare's 'As You Like It.' Each movement depicts one of the ages of man. This is the premiere performance.





John Alden Carpenter: Adventures in a Perambulator, for orchestra (1915)
Condctor: Howard Hanson

1- En voiture! (2.58)
2- The Policeman (3.37)
3- The hurdy-gurdy (3.44)




Birthday of the Infanta Suite
Taken from Oscar Wilde's story of the same title, "Birthday of the Infanta" was a ballet created by John Alden Carpenter in 1919. He later assembled this suite from the revised version of 1932. The work received rave reviews in its day, critics comparing it with what many consider Carpenter's masterpiece "Skyscrapers." It springs from Carpenter's love of all things to do with children as did Carpenter's "Adventures in a Perambulator" and "Krazy Kat."
Sections: Introduction; Entrance of the Infanta; Children's Dance; Arrival of the Guests; The Gypsy Dance.
Performance is by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Fabien Sevitzky conducting.

Leopold Stokowski

Carmel Concerto (1948)
Carpenter composed this Carmel Concerto, his final orchestral work, in 1948. Much of the Carmel Concerto is a reworking of earlier materials including his earlier Violin Concerto and several other short pieces. He composed it during his stay in Carmel, California, as a response to the beauty of the surrounding environment. Leopold Stokowski and the New York Philharmonic premiered this work in 1949. The concert was recorded for nationwide broadcast later that year. It met with mixed reviews, but it very much reflects the compositional style of his later period.