WINGATE: SYMPHONY NO. Ø
“One Hundred Sixty-Seven Concatenated Concert Études after Persichetti”

Movements:
I. Intervalic
II. Scalar
III. Ternary
IV. Quartal 
V. Added-Notedly
VI. Secundal
VII. Polychordal
VIII. Compoundly & Mirrorly
IX. Directional
X. Dynamical & Timely
XI. Embellishmental & Transformational
XII. Tonal & Atonal
XIII. Harmonic-Synthetic

Date:
1979-1983

Instrumentation:
2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 1 English Horn, 4 Clarinets in B-flat [1. doubles Clarinet in E-flat; 4. doubles  Bass Clarinet in B-flat], 4 Saxophones (1. Soprano & Alto, 2. Alto, 3. Tenor, 4. Tenor & Baritone) [or, 4 Clarinets doubling 4 Saxophones], 3 Bassoons, 4 Horns in F, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Snare Drum, Tenor Drum, Xylophone, Harp, Guitar, 2 Pianos, Harpsichord, Organ [3 Keyboardists total], Soprano Solo, Baritone Solo, Mixed Chorus, Strings

Duration:
55'

Notes:
Wingate composed his Symphony No. 0 between the ages of seven and eleven in a prolonged fit of childhood ambition. Using the exercises from the thirteen chapters of Vincent Persichetti’s 1961 textbook Twentieth Century Harmony, the composer musically glued together his autodidact homework into a thirteen-movement symphonic entity. But wishing to preserve the sacrosanct title of ‘Symphony No. 1’ for a future, fully-original work, the project was christened Symphony No. 0, after Bruckner’s famous symphony of that designation, though here for reasons of recognition to Persichetti rather than those of self-critical nullification. 
 
An intriguing work of juvenilia, the Symphony No. 0 contains kaleidoscopic instrumentation derived directly from Persichetti’s instructions in his exercises, and indeed, 36 of the 167 applications contain interesting didactic snippets for specific instruments composed by Persichetti to be completed by the student. Wingate often develops these throughout the piece, but the rest of the symphony’s material is original, including a ‘Persichetti chord’ based on the letters of his name (apparently already a Wingatean trick at this early date), as well as material created via youthful trial and error in response to the book’s exercises. The opening of the first movement, for example, fulfills the demands of the first exercise of the first chapter:

     “Write a phrase for two flutes that contains several dissonant perfect fourths.
      Follow this phrase with one that contains several consonant perfect fourths”  *
 
— and so on through all 167 études to the end of the book (and the end of the symphony). This early symphonism ended up serving as a crash course in large-scale pacing, complex orchestration (and the vagaries of instrumental ranges and transpositions), as well as the creative use of a diverse palette of compositional techniques. And many of the composer’s later proclivities are surprisingly already in evidence, including his excessive fondness for tubular bells, his preference for contrapuntal over the chordal, and his devotion to an elaborate or complex set of rules governing the composition process.
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* Persichetti, V. (1961). Twentieth Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice. New York:  W. W. Norton & Company.