Professor Edward Hart is also an alum of the College.by Becca Starkesz
By Becca Starkes
Edward Hart ‘88 has been composing music since he was a child.
“When I was a kid and taking piano lessons, I would often fake my lessons with my teacher by saying, ‘I’ve written this new composition for you,’” says Hart, now the chair of the Department of Music. “Because, of course, I hadn’t practiced.”
That early musical improv set Hart up for a lifelong journey in composition, having now written countless works over the course of his career. Hart says he began officially composing when he arrived at the College as an undergraduate student in the 80s, where he studied primarily under now-retired professor David Maves.
As a Charleston native passionate about Lowcountry art, music, and culture, Hart is often inspired by the region’s coastal landscape. But his most recent piece, commissioned by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, brings listeners across the pond to a different shoreline. Hart’s composition is based on Matthew Arnold’s famous poem, “Dover Beach,” which features beautiful imagery of the English coast. The first several lines of the poem demonstrate this:
“The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the Straits; — on the French coast, the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.”
“Dover Beach,” Hart’s composition of the same name as the poem, presented a challenge for the seasoned composer. There is sometimes a tendency for composers to write pieces for large orchestras or choirs in a “high-powered” way, Hart explains. With so many instruments and voices, “you can make a lot of noise,” he says.
RELATED: Read more about Edward Hart in the College of Charleston Magazine
Professor Hart has composed for all sorts of instruments, including the piano.
But “Dover Beach” isn’t about making noise. It’s more nuanced than that. When you read Matthew Arnold’s poem, the quiet hum of the ocean at night comes to life. Hart wanted his composition to reflect the imagery in the poem.
The performances by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on April 1 and 2 will be held in the newly rebuilt Gaillard Center. Hart believes the state-of-the-art acoustics in the concert hall will suit his composition perfectly.
Professor of music Robert Taylor — who is the director of the Charleston Symphony Chorus as well as the director of choral activities at the College — has prepared chorus. Additionally, the College’s concert choir will join the Charleston Symphony Chorus to perform the piece which will be conducted by the new Charleston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Ken Lam.
While he always enjoys creating orchestral works, Hart says he’s most excited when he gets to work on them with professors and students he knows.
“It’s always more fun to make music with your friends and colleagues,” says Hart.
For more details about the performance and ticket information, visit the concert’s web page.
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Watch the video below of Hart’s 2013 talk about his composition “Under the Indigo Sky,” inspired by South Carolina:
