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Lukas Foss

Lukas Foss' now well-known Three American Pieces for violin and piano, which include the Composer's Holiday, were actually called simply Three Pieces when Foss put them to paper in 1944 and 1945. Only many years later, when he was surveying the early part of his career, did he decide to append the description "American" to the title as a way of recognizing the Coplandesque-Americana aspect of his 1940s musical style. (The history of the title of the Three American Pieces is actually more complex still: in 1986, three years before making an adaptation of the Three Pieces for violin and orchestra and thus bringing them more to the front of the active repertory, he re-cataloged them as Three Early Pieces for flute and piano.) Composer's Holiday is the third of the Three Pieces (and the Three Early Pieces, and the Three American Pieces), and was composed in 1945.

Composer's Holiday follows, in performance, the wake-up call of "Early Song" (No. 1) and the earnest tunefulness and light, changing-meter dance of "Dedication" (No. 2). (Not to be a stickler for details, but it deserves to be mentioned that, early on in their lives, the order of Nos. 1 and 2 was reversed.) It is an Allegro-tempo romp, hotly syncopated in the "American" way. After a brief opening episode, during which the pianist plays quietly but the violinist plucks his/her strings with great vigor, a hoedown melody in C major (with that bright, Lydian raised-fourth F sharp!) pops up. The ever-present syncopations are transformed into a smooth central episode, marked dolce e leggiero, during which the violinist replicates the pianist's fine melody in luxurious double stops. A reprise of the hoedown tune is made, and the two players saw away towards the final bars with greater and greater zest.