The Americanism/Modernism period (1895–1909)
Here Chadwick is asserting his own musical style more than previously, as in the concert overture Adonais. It includes multiple sections, muted strings, and harps to generate an ethereal quality, unconventional rhythms, and occasional chromaticism. The critic William Foster Apthorp stated:
It is the most modern in spirit of anything I know from his pen... He has outgrown the classic idea... The very character of the thematic material in Adonais is modern, in sharp contrast to the classic reserve shown in the Melpomene overture; the expression is more outspoken, more purely emotional and dramatic.
Chadwick further delved into the symphonic genre with his Symphonic Sketches, Sinfonietta, and Suite Symphonique. All have the conventional four-movement pattern, but he created a gossamer atmosphere with humorous themes, programmaticism, modality (pentatonic melodies), and Impressionism. The orchestration contains unexpected elements such as bass clarinet cadenzas, saxophone solos, extended brass solos, and large percussion batteries.
His Fourth String Quartet, composed around the same time as Antonín Dvořák's String Quartet in F (op. 96, "American"), displays a more American folk style than his Fifth String Quartet, with catchy tunes and pentatonic third-movement fiddle melodies.
Chadwick composed more stage works, notably Judith, based on the tale from the Apocrypha. The piece is melodic and exotic, much like Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson et Delilah.
In his Ecce jam noctis for chorus and orchestra composed for Yale University's 1897 commencement ceremony, Chadwick weaved in rhythmic twists like triple-meter strings against the static and homophonical chorus. Lochinvar is another distinctive choral piece with a Celtic flavor, featuring a baritone voice with a violin solo just before the "Introduction of Strathspey" section.
In 1903, Chadwick composed his Theme, Variations, and Fugue for organ and orchestra. Some 20 years later, Chadwick's friend and former student, John Wallace Goodrich, arranged the work for organ solo. It was not until 2011, however, that a pair of letters was discovered in which Chadwick himself officially acknowledged Goodrich's handiwork in making and publishing the organ solo version. It remains the composer's best-known organ work.
