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Symphony No. 2 (Mysterious Mountain), op. 132
Alan Hovhaness

An American composer of Armenian and Scottish descent, Alan Hovhaness (née Alan Vaness Chakmakjian) was born in Somerville, MA on March 8, 1911 and died in Seattle, WA on June 21, 2000. He must be counted among the most prolific composers in recent history, producing over 70 symphonies (67 of which are numbered), and a catalog of an astonishing 434 opus numbers. His music, all deeply spiritual in nature, includes choral works, chamber music, and orchestral music. Some of it has been used in films. Hovanhess demonstrated interest in music and astronomy when he was very young, and showed signs of a deep spirituality and religiosity that remained with him throughout his life. His influences were a combination of elements, most notably his Armenian heritage and South Asian ragas. He studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music (1929-32) and travelled to Finland shortly thereafter to meet Jean Sibelius, whose music he deeply admired. Discouraged by negative comments by composer Roger Sessions, Hovhaness destroyed many of his early works. His music was also taken to task by Leonard Bernstein. His Symphony no. 2 (Mysterious Mountain), his most popular work, was given its premiere by the Houston Symphony under the baton of Leopold Stokowski in October 1955. It is scored for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 5 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, celesta, harp, and strings.


Hovhaness is a difficult composer to characterize, although his music is among the most easily accessible of 20th-century composers. His conservative bent made him a favorite of Howard Hanson, a composer of similar proclivities who invited Hovhaness to teach during the summer at the Eastman School of Music. Deliberately archaic in nature due to its shifting modality the music is reminiscent, at times, of the English master, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. This is especially true of his Symphony no. 2 (Mysterious Mountain) which has enjoyed considerable popularity since its 1955 premiere in Houston under Leopold Stokowski’s direction, and subsequent recording by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Hovhaness’ evocative use of arpeggios in the celesta, that bell-like keyboard instrument best known from Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” in The Nutcracker, may bring to mind Gustav Mahler of the final song of Das Lied von der Erde. Both works evoke a sense of timelessness.


As Hovhaness himself suggested, any search for the Mysterious Mountain, would be a foolish quest. The name, which he alleged to be representative of “the whole idea of mountains,” was added at the request of Stokowski. Even more interestingly, Stokowski was the one who insisted that Hovhaness give the work an opus number. That he chose Op. 132 may have been a glancing reference to Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor which bears the same opus number and which includes the deeply spiritual “Holy Hymn [Heiliger Dankgesang] in the Lydian Mode” as its slow movement. Interestingly, in later correspondence, the composer became rather annoyed at the work’s popularity because he did not consider it to be his best effort and had the effect of overshadowing his other music.


Hereafter follows the composer’s own program notes: 


Mountains are symbols, like pyramids, of man's attempt to know God. Mountains are symbolic meeting places between the mundane and spiritual world. To some, the Mysterious Mountain may be the phantom peak, unmeasured, thought to be higher than Everest, as seen from great distances by fliers in Tibet. To some, it may be the solitary mountain, the tower of strength over a countryside - Fujiyama, Ararat, Monadnock, Shasta, or Grand Teton. 


The first and last movements are hymn-like and lyrical, making use of irregular metrical forms. The first subject of the second movement, a double fugue, is developed in a slow vocal style. The rapid second subject is played by the strings, with its own counter subject and with strict four-voice canonic episodes and triple counterpoint episodes. 


In the last movement a chant in 7/4 time is played softly by muted horns and trombones. A giant wave in a 13-beat meter rises to a climax and recedes. . . a middle melody is sung by the oboes and clarinets in a quintuple beat. Muted violins return with the earlier chant, which is gradually given to the full orchestra.


Program Note by David B. Levy/Alan Hovhaness © 2012/2026

Symphony No. 2 (Mysterious Mountain), op. 132
Alan Hovhaness

An American composer of Armenian and Scottish descent, Alan Hovhaness (née Alan Vaness Chakmakjian) was born in Somerville, MA on March 8, 1911 and died in Seattle, WA on June 21, 2000. He must be counted among the most prolific composers in recent history, producing over 70 symphonies (67 of which are numbered), and a catalog of an astonishing 434 opus numbers. His music, all deeply spiritual in nature, includes choral works, chamber music, and orchestral music. Some of it has been used in films. Hovanhess demonstrated interest in music and astronomy when he was very young, and showed signs of a deep spirituality and religiosity that remained with him throughout his life. His influences were a combination of elements, most notably his Armenian heritage and South Asian ragas. He studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music (1929-32) and travelled to Finland shortly thereafter to meet Jean Sibelius, whose music he deeply admired. Discouraged by negative comments by composer Roger Sessions, Hovhaness destroyed many of his early works. His music was also taken to task by Leonard Bernstein. His Symphony no. 2 (Mysterious Mountain), his most popular work, was given its premiere by the Houston Symphony under the baton of Leopold Stokowski in October 1955. It is scored for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 5 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, celesta, harp, and strings.


Hovhaness is a difficult composer to characterize, although his music is among the most easily accessible of 20th-century composers. His conservative bent made him a favorite of Howard Hanson, a composer of similar proclivities who invited Hovhaness to teach during the summer at the Eastman School of Music. Deliberately archaic in nature due to its shifting modality the music is reminiscent, at times, of the English master, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. This is especially true of his Symphony no. 2 (Mysterious Mountain) which has enjoyed considerable popularity since its 1955 premiere in Houston under Leopold Stokowski’s direction, and subsequent recording by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Hovhaness’ evocative use of arpeggios in the celesta, that bell-like keyboard instrument best known from Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” in The Nutcracker, may bring to mind Gustav Mahler of the final song of Das Lied von der Erde. Both works evoke a sense of timelessness.


As Hovhaness himself suggested, any search for the Mysterious Mountain, would be a foolish quest. The name, which he alleged to be representative of “the whole idea of mountains,” was added at the request of Stokowski. Even more interestingly, Stokowski was the one who insisted that Hovhaness give the work an opus number. That he chose Op. 132 may have been a glancing reference to Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor which bears the same opus number and which includes the deeply spiritual “Holy Hymn [Heiliger Dankgesang] in the Lydian Mode” as its slow movement. Interestingly, in later correspondence, the composer became rather annoyed at the work’s popularity because he did not consider it to be his best effort and had the effect of overshadowing his other music.


Hereafter follows the composer’s own program notes: 


Mountains are symbols, like pyramids, of man's attempt to know God. Mountains are symbolic meeting places between the mundane and spiritual world. To some, the Mysterious Mountain may be the phantom peak, unmeasured, thought to be higher than Everest, as seen from great distances by fliers in Tibet. To some, it may be the solitary mountain, the tower of strength over a countryside - Fujiyama, Ararat, Monadnock, Shasta, or Grand Teton. 


The first and last movements are hymn-like and lyrical, making use of irregular metrical forms. The first subject of the second movement, a double fugue, is developed in a slow vocal style. The rapid second subject is played by the strings, with its own counter subject and with strict four-voice canonic episodes and triple counterpoint episodes. 


In the last movement a chant in 7/4 time is played softly by muted horns and trombones. A giant wave in a 13-beat meter rises to a climax and recedes. . . a middle melody is sung by the oboes and clarinets in a quintuple beat. Muted violins return with the earlier chant, which is gradually given to the full orchestra.


Program Note by David B. Levy/Alan Hovhaness © 2012/2026