MWC alumnus returns to conduct college orchestra in original piece about Shenandoah Valley
By ADELE UPHAUS
Date published: 3/12/2004
David Kidwell left Virginia in 1989, but never got it out of his head.
The landscape and culture of the Shenandoah Valley, where he and his family vacationed every summer, continued to fascinate him. Twelve years after leaving the state, he channeled his love for the Old Dominion into a symphony.
"I've always found the history of the area interesting," Kidwell said during a telephone interview from his home in western Massachusetts.
Shenandoah: A Symphonic Portrait, is a four-movement, 25-minute tribute to the Shenandoah Valley and the people who once lived there, he said. He will return to conduct the Mary Washington College orchestra in his original piece tonight.
He's conducted the orchestra at his alma mater once before, in 1994.
"It was another original piece I wrote in grad school," he said. "I hadn't done much conducting at that point and that experience kind of gave me the conducting bug. I'm looking forward to doing that again."
Kidwell, a native of Bowling Green, graduated from MWC in 1989 with a degree in piano and composition. He went to graduate school in Hartford, Conn., then moved in 1991 to Massachusetts, where he is a professional musician.
"I'm putting together several different jobs to make my living," he said.
He is a church organist and choir director, conducts the Holyoke Civic Symphony, and is a member of the faculty at Holyoke Community College.
While growing up, Kidwell and his family spent summers camping in the Shenandoah Valley.
Kidwell started to research the history of the area and the mountain people who lived there before Shenandoah National Park was created.
The area includes parts of western Virginia and the state of West Virginia. It incorporates a portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the Appalachian chain that stretches from Maine to Georgia, and the Shenandoah Valley.
According to the program notes for Kidwell's symphony, the area was populated by Americans Indians for thousands of years before they were driven out in the early 1700s by European settlers and the new diseases they brought.
Many of the Europeans who moved to the Shenandoah valley were Scotch-Irish who initially emigrated to America as indentured servants. They came south when their service was over because the hardscrabble land in the mountains was cheap.
The people of the mountain communities were isolated and independent. Cut off from most contact with the outside world, their entertainment consisted of stories and ballads which their ancestors had brought from Europe and which were passed down orally from generation to generation, largely retaining their pure, original form.
"I like the simplicity of their lifestyle and their independence," Kidwell said of the mountain people.
In 1926, the federal government decided to make the area into a national park. Landowners were required to sell their property, and those who refused to move were forced out.
"It was a difficult time," Kidwell said. "I've always been kind of touched by the way creating this beautiful area involved so much pain for so many people."
He completed Shenandoah: A Symphonic Portrait in the fall of 2001. It was commissioned by the community orchestra in Holyoke, Mass., and was first performed in 2002.
Kidwell describes it as "symphonic, but not really a traditional symphony." He wanted to evoke the feel of mountain folk music, so he makes use of some traditional Appalachian instruments, such as fiddle, guitar and dulcimer, and includes a hoedown and a campfire song.
The beloved folk song Oh Shenandoah — which is believed to have originated as a sea chantey, or a song with a repeated chorus to be sung accompanying ship-board work is quoted in its entirety in the fourth movement of Kidwell's piece.
The other melodies in the work are derived from Oh Shenandoah by various means.
"Everything is original except for Oh Shenandoah," Kidwell said. "But I tried to emulate traditional folk songs and melodies."
Kidwell kept in touch with James Baker, the orchestra conductor from his time at MWC, and sent him a score of Shenandoah: A Symphonic Portrait when it was complete. Baker retired that year, but passed the score on to his successor, Kevin Bartram, who invited Kidwell to come down and conduct it. Kidwell has rehearsed with the orchestra all week, to prepare for the concert at 7:30 tonight in Dodd Auditorium.
Kidwell said his family still returns to Shenandoah National Park each summer.
"It hasn't changed a whole lot," Kidwell said. "The visibility has decreased, there's more pollution and haze and the gypsy moths have taken away a lot of the trees, but it's still a lovely area."
