An Analytical and Educational Survey of Howard Hanson's Dies ...

14The melodic lines in the introduction and finale of Dies Natalis incorporate thisperfect fifth heptad to make a seven-tone scale that could be analyzed as a major scale onthe dominant, or as a scale in Lydian mode. Hanson's theory and construction of melodyand harmony provide a unique way of understanding preexisting harmonies and modes.This relationship to modes is appropriate to identify, since Hanson considered himself amodal composer, which stemmed from the influence of Palestrina and his stay in Romeon his composing (Williams 1988).Hanson was a prolific composer, teacher, and an excellent speaker that could"turn an audience to tears" about music or music education, and his compositionsreflected that (Hunsberger, personal communication, April 15, 2010). Cross and Ewen(1953) describe Hanson as "essentially a Romanticist concerned primarily with divulginghis emotional responses in music" (p. 349). He often used the theme and variations formand statement and answer in his writing. Slonimsky stated, "Hanson's individualityreveals itself in [...] a grandeur of symphonic design in the cyclic formation of thematicmaterials, and the vivacity of rhythmic patterns that naturally yield themselves to fugaldevelopments" (as cited in Chase, 1987, p. 563). Another general characteristic that ispresent in many of his works is the "heartbeat", a distinctive attribute present in DiesNatalis (Hunsberger, personal communication, April 15, 2010).