Love Verses from the “Song of Solomon” er by Percy A. Graing
by Robert J. Ward
Robert J. Ward is director of choral activities at The Ohio State University
Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882–1961) Louis Symphony Orchestra invited him to was the quintessential embodiment of the be its music director. artistic spirit and, in many ways, he lived Born in Australia, Percy Grainger pro- a charmed existence. He was a celebrated claimed himself a loyal Australian—but musician with a reputation for exotic he was actually a product of the world. mannerisms, curious personal habits, and Always ahead of his time, Grainger was seemingly far-fetched ideas about the a self-trained ethnomusicologist. He vis- future of music. He was also a musician ited nearly every corner of the planet and who, at his prime, earned as much as fi ve always strove to understand the soulfulness thousand dollars per week as a concert of a culture through its music. But, for him, pianist. He met every prominent musical knowing about the culture and its music fi gure of his time and his skills as a pianist was only a means to an end. What he truly won him the admiration of all of them. He wanted to glean was the spiritual message was a man who declined honorary doc- from a new style and type of music. toral degrees and who said no when the St.
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 2 9 Love Verses from the “Song of Solomon”
There has been a tremendous have appealed to his sense of humor amount written about Percy Grainger. and his natural predilections. For Love Much of it centers on his work as a pia- Verses, the composer selected verses nist, folk-song collector, or a wind-band 9–17 from the fi rst chapter and composer. In comparison, relatively little verses 1–7 from the second. A note scholarship has been devoted to his on the fi rst page of the printed score choral music, even though early in his indicates that he used the authorized life, Grainger considered himself to be English translation of the Vulgate. primarily a choral composer. His choral When considering Grainger’s oeuvre contains a wealth of styles, dif- choral music, it is important to re- fi culty levels, and novel combinations of member that Grainger wanted his performing forces. music performed; it was his desire His choral compositions divide to make quality music available to as into three categories: original works, many performers and circumstances folk-song settings, and transcriptions. as might be interested in playing it. This article is a discussion of one of his He writes: original works—Love Verses from the “Song of Solomon”—to highlight aspects My music is intended to of the composer’s history and his com- encourage music lovers of positional style. Although no article can all kinds to play together in do justice to Grainger as a composer, groups, large or small, and to performer, or music philosopher, this promote a more hospitable author hopes to inspire the reader to attitude towards inexperienced investigate and perform this largely un- music makers. It is intended tapped treasure of choral compositions. to play its part in weaning music students away from too Composed in 1901 (rescored in Grainger around 1922. 1931), Love Verses is the only original much useless, goalless, soulless, Reproduced by permission of the selfish, inartistic soloistic composition by Grainger on a sacred Estate of Percy Aldridge Grainger. text. The biblical Song of Solomon tells a technical study, intended to coax them into happier, richer well-known love story. The protagonists musical fields—for music are a woman and a man, and the poem Grainger may have been intrigued by the should be essentially an art of suggests movement from courtship to allegorical nature of the poetry. Replete with self-forgetful, soul-expanding fulfi llment. Far from being a religious man, innuendo and double entendre, the text may communistic cooperation in harmony and many-voicedness.1
To that end, he developed what he termed “elastic” or “fl exible” scoring. On the title page of Love Verses he writes, “for mezzo Our Campus is Diverse. soprano solo (tenor solo ad lib) and mixed chorus, or for 4 single voices (SATB) singing ,WVFDOOHG'HWURLW the parts for solo voices and the parts for chorus accompanied by a chamber orches- $PODFSU$IPSBMFt$IPSBM6OJPOt4ZNQIPOJD$IPSVT tra, the chamber orchestra consisting of 0QFSB8PSLTIPQt8PNFOT$IPSBMFt.FOT$IPSVT fl ute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet Choose from seven undergraduate Qualify during your audition for harmonium (singly or massed) or pipe- and six graduate degree programs talent-based scholarships valued up to $8,400 a year organ with strings (the string parts singly or Study privately with the Detroit massed), or by a pipe organ (or harmonium Civic Symphony and the Detroit Audition dates for 2012 Symphony Orchestra November 11, 2011 singly or massed) and piano duet (4 hands).” February 3, 2012 For Grainger, timbre was important but not Perform in the heart of Detroit’s March 2, 2012 * at the expense of tonal balance. If the piece Midtown Cultural Center, a vibrant * Deadline for talent-based area of concert halls, museums, scholarship consideration could sound with seven or seventy saxo- art galleries and festivals phones, then that scoring had validity, given music.wayne.edu a proper balance. He continues:
10 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 2 My music tells its story mainly by his future compositions. Here, the orchestral providing a harmonic and rhythmic comple- means of intervals and the liveliness parts weave a contrapuntal web that is sat- ment to (without ever doubling) the voice of the part-writing, rather than isfying and complete unto itself while always parts. Grainger had a working knowledge of by means of tone-color, and is therefore well fi tted to be played by almost any small, large or medium- sized combination of instruments, provided a proper balance of tone is kept.2
One of his favorite instruments was the harmonium. In many choral pieces, there is some indication in the score that the harmo- nium would be a valuable resource—either as a teaching tool or as a performance instrument:
If I were forced to choose one instrument only for chamber music I would choose the harmonium (reed-organ) without hesitation; for it seems to me the most sensitively and intimately expressive of all instruments. It is unique as a refi ning musical infl uence, for it tempts the player to tonal subtleties of gradation as does no other instrument. Both in chamber music and in the orchestra it provides the ideal background to the individualistic voices of the woodwinds.3
On the title page of Love Verses, he gives detailed information about the harmonium’s use:
The harmonium part is intended for a harmonium with a strong 16 foot tone; it is written one octave higher than the predominant tone is intended to sound. If played on a pipe organ (or a harmonium lacking the 16 foot tone), the part should be played one-octave lower than it sounds. The sound-strength markings in the harmonium part are gauged for the weak tone-strength of a harmonium. This should be borne in mind when the part is played on a pipe organ.4
Elastic scoring notwithstanding, Grainger’s orchestration for Love Verses reveals an in- sight into what timbre would characterize all
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 2 11 Love Verses from the “Song of Solomon” almost all instruments, including Grainger frequently wrote the human voice, and his feeling about his thoughts regarding for line is everywhere apparent. the limitations of pitch and From the three simple opening rhythm of traditional Western of chords for harmonium and music. Love Verses is a fi ne ex- strings, to the sonorous paint- ample of his commitment to ing of the text, “Behold, thou making rhythmic and metric art fair, thy eyes are as those of notation match the natural doves, Our bed is fl ourishing” in fl ow of spoken words. In the measures 29– 34, to the duet for preface to the full score of tenor, clarinet, and fl ute in mea- Love Verses, he writes: sures 96– 99, Grainger creates a combination of color that would In 1899, I became have impressed Berlioz and satis- interested in the rhythms fi ed the artistic goals of the great of prose and speech. I got French Impressionists. my fellow composers to Love Verses also displays read prose and “poetical Grainger’s penchant for har- prose” aloud to me while monic adventure. Though many I noted down the rhythms would use the terms “unresolved in musical notation. Theses seventh chords” and “chords with investigations led to added tones,” Grainger would passages such as the have avoided such terminol- following from Love ogy. In his mind, seventh chords Verses.5 are independent entities unto themselves and need not bear In Figure 1, one can see the burden of resolution, and how Grainger attempted to “added tones” implies a basic give the melodic declamation chord structure with a unique the same rhythmic elasticity Grainger playing the harmonium Reproduced by permission of expressive quality by virtue of its as the recitation. Note that the Estate of Percy Aldridge Grainger. intervallic content. In examining Grainger makes a distinction the score of Love Verses, one fi nds between 2.5/4 and 5/8, 1.5/4 many V– I progressions where I is reinter- of many keys. The harmonic vocabulary is and 3/8. preted as V7/IV. In other words, Grainger rooted in tonal harmony but, like the man, Such irregular barring is now common- avoids cadences by adding a seventh to it stretches the bounds of tradition, and and place, but at the time this type of metric the chord of resolution. These progressions challenges both performer and listener to construction was radical and indeed un- allow the music to move easily in and out accept a new defi nition of normalcy. precedented. The constant changing of the
12 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 2 number of beats per bar combined with 58– 66, the singer(s) should be trained and to Grainger’s music, the publisher will do a asymmetrical meter was a Grainger ex- courageous. To that, add the choral soprano better job of creating a readable full score. ♭ perimentation that preceded by a full decade entrance (a high B marked mezzo piano) The compressed score that is currently Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps. and within the fi rst 16 measures you have available is diffi cult to read, so much so that Though Grainger, early in life, considered the makings of a piece that only the most so- it is impossible to know with certainty which himself primarily a choral composer and a phisticated of choirs can adequately perform. string player is playing which note. Grainger composer committed to making quality mu- One of the challenges in Grainger choral researchers should direct their inquiries to sic available to amateur musicians, Love Verses scholarship and performance has been ac- the Percy Grainger Society, 6 Fairfax Cres- ironically would normally not be labeled cessibility of scores. Hal Leonard is now the cent, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, United accessible to amateur singers. The opening American distributor for Schott (Grainger’s Kingdom, or e-mail: info@percygrainger. solo line, sung by either a tenor soloist or the publisher) and can get scores from London. org.uk. tenor section from the chorus, is hauntingly Though not currently listed in Hal Leonard’s The ability to see possibilities where oth- beautiful and is certainly representative of catalog, G. Schirmer originally published ers cannot, or the willingness to embrace the sense of melody and phrase shape that Love Verses (catalog no. 7539). The orches- frustration as an opportunity for creative one associates with Grainger. Spanning an tral score and parts for Love Verses can be discovery, is one quality that allows someone octave and a half in the fi rst fi ve measures procured via rental through G. Schirmer. to move from good to great. Percy Grainger and sung to a pulse of quarter note equals One hopes that with increased attention spent his life thinking about the future of
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 2 13 Love Verses from the “Song of Solomon” music. What could and what would music Percy Grainger certainly fi ts these two defi - NOTES be in the twenty-fi rst century? For him the nitions. But fi t as he may, Grainger is bigger possibilities that might come of asking “Why than either. He was ahead of his time and, for 1 Percy Grainger, “Note to Conductors,” from Preface not?” were far more intriguing than the ex- his genius, he paid a high price. A voracious to Spoon River, American Folk-Music Setting planations offered by simply asking “Why?” reader, Grainger knew his Shakespeare. Per- No. 2. 2 Most writers use the word “genius” when haps we should turn to Shakespeare to fi nd Ibid. 3 discussing Percy Grainger. One common a frame for our Australian giant. In Merchant Ibid. 4 defi nition is “an exceptional intellect, espe- of Venice (act 5, scene 1), Portia proclaims: Percy Grainger, Love Verses from the “Song of cially as shown in creative and original work.” “How many things by season seasoned are, Solomon,” G. Schirmer, Inc., 1931. 5 Ibid. A second: “either of two mutually opposed to their right praise and true perfection.” 6 spirits, one good and the other evil, sup- Perhaps Mr. Grainger’s time has come. Random House Dictionary of the English Language. posed to attend a person throughout life.”6 (1983)s.v. “genius.”
Grainger Choral Bibliography
PRINT SOURCES
Balough, Teresa. A Complete Catalogue of the Works of Percy Grainger. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia, 1975.
_____, ed. A Musical Genius from Australia: Selected Writings by and about Percy Grainger. Perth: University of Western Australia, 1982.
Bird, John. Percy Grainger. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Callaway, Frank, ed. Percy Aldridge Grainger Symposium. Callaway International Resource Centre for Music Education, University of Western Australia, in association with Soundscapes, 1997.
Clunies, Ross Bruce, ed. Percy Grainger’s Library. Melbourne: University of Melbourne, 1990.
de Val, Dorothy. “‘Fresh and Sweet like Wildfl owers’: Lucy Broadwood, Percy Grainger, and the Collecting of Folksong.” Context 22 (Spring 2001): 131–41.
Dorum, Eileen. Percy Grainger: The Man behind the Music. Melbourne: IC & EE Dorum, 1986.
Dreyfus, Kay, ed. The Farthest North of Humanness: Letters of Percy Grainger, 1901–14. Melbourne: Macmillan, 1985.
Ermey, William Ray. “The Choral Music of Percy Grainger.” DMA diss., University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 1977.
Foreman, Lewis, ed. The Percy Grainger Companion. London: Thames Publishing, 1981.
Gillies, Malcolm and Bruce Clunies Ross, eds. Grainger on Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Gillies, Malcolm and David Pear, eds. The All-Round Man: Selected Letters of Percy Grainger, 1914–61. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.
_____. Portrait of Percy Grainger. Rochester, NY: Rochester University Press, 2002.
Gillies, Malcolm, David Pear and Mark Carroll, eds. Self-Portrait of Percy Grainger. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Goldman, Richard Franko. “Percy Grainger’s ‘Free Music.’” Juilliard Review 2 (Fall 1955): 37– 47.
14 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 2 Grainger, Percy Aldridge. ”Culturizing Possibilities of the Instrumentally Supplemented A Cappella Choir.” The Musical Quarterly 27 (1942): 160–173.
Lewis, Thomas P., ed. A Source Guide to the Music of Percy Grainger. White Plains, NY: Pro/Am Music Resources, 1991.
Mellers, Wilfrid. Percy Grainger. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
O’Brien, Jane. The Grainger English Folk Song Collection. Perth: University of Western Australia, 1985.
Parker, Jeffrey Lynn. “A Comparison of the Choral Folksong Settings of Percy Aldridge Grainger and Ralph Vaughan Williams.” DMA diss., University of South Carolina, 1997.
Scott, Cyril. “Percy Grainger: The Music and the Man.” Musical Quarterly 2 (1916): 425–433.
_____. “Percy Grainger: The Man and the Musician.” The Musical Times 48 (July 1957): 368–369.
Tall, David Orme. Percy Grainger: A Catalogue of the Music. London: Schott, 1982.
Ward, Robert J. “Percy Grainger as Choral Composer.” Choral Journal 39 (May 1999): 29–34.
Williams, Kenneth D. “An Examination and Conductor’s Analysis of Percy Grainger’s Jungle Book: A Doctoral Essay.” DMA diss., University of Miami, 1999.
WEB SITES The Percy Grainger Museum located in Melbourne, Grainger’s birthplace, is part of the University of Melbourne. http://www.grainger.unimelb.edu.au/
The Percy Grainger Society has a program of publication of monographs and recordings, as well as other activities. http://www.percygrainger.org.uk
In the Netherlands, Kees Kramer maintains a Web site at http://home.kpn.nl/percygrainger/
The International Percy Grainger Society is located in White Plains New York. http://www.percygrainger.org/. To arrange a visit, write to Stewart Manville, Curator and Archivist, at the Grainger House, 7 Cromwell Place, White Plains, NY 10601, or telephone (914) 582-1237 or (914) 948-7436.
Discography: Love Verses from the "Song of Solomon"
Works for Chorus and Orchestra, vol. 3. Colchester, Essex, England: Chandos, 1998, CHAN 9653 (compact disc). Susan Grit- ton, soprano; Pamela Helen Stephen, mezzo-soprano; Mark Tucker, tenor; Stephen Varcoe, baritone; Tim Hugh, violoncello; Joyful Company of Singers; City of London Sinfonia; Richard Hickox, conductor.
A Gift of Love. Chicago: WFC Live!, 1990, 1996, WFC 90246 (compact disc). William Ferris Chorale. William Ferris, director; John McCabe, Thomas Weisfl og, piano.
Danny Boy: Songs and Dancing Ballads. Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Philips, 1996, 446 657-2 (compact disc). Monteverdi Choir, Monteverdi Orchestra.
Love Verses from the "Song of Solomon." Canberra, ACT : ScreenSound Australia, 2000s, 1936 (compact disc). BBC concert broadcast with Leslie Woodgate conducting.
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 2 15 Love Verses from the “Song of Solomon” The Grainger Edition (19 compact discs). Colchester, Essex, England: Chandos, 1992, 2011, CHAN 10638(19). BBC Phil- harmonic Orchestra, Joyful Company of Singers, City of London Sinfonia, Radiokoret (Denmark), Danmarks radio, Symfoni- orkestret, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chorus, RNCM Wind Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble.
See also the discography in A Source Guide to the Music of Percy Grainger.
SELECTED RECORDINGS
Delius: Part songs, Grainger: Folksongs for Chorus, Songs from the "Jungle Book". Chorus of The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conifer Compact Disc CDCF 162.
Grainger, Percy. At Twilight. Polyphony. Stephen Layton. Hyperion Compact Disc CDA 66793.
_____. The Music of Percy Grainger. Monteverdi Choir, Monteverdi Orchestra. John Eliot Gardiner. Philips Compact Disc 475 213-2.
_____. Jungle Book. Polyphony, The Polyphony Orchestra. Stephen Layton. Hyperion Compact Disc CDA66863.
_____. The Grainger Edition, Vol. 3—Works for Chorus and Orchestra. Joyful Company of Singers, City of London Sinfonia. Richard Hickox. Chandos Compact Disc CHAN 9499.
_____. The Grainger Edition, Vol. 5—Works for Chorus and Orchestra 2. Joyful Company of Singers, City of London Sinfonia. Richard Hickox. Chandos Compact Disc CHAN 9554.
_____. The Grainger Edition, Vol. 7—Songs for Tenor. Martyn Hill. Chandos Compact Disc. CHAN 9610.
_____. The Grainger Edition, Vol. 9—Works for Chorus and Orchestra 3. Joyful Company of Singers, City of London Sinfonia. Richard Hickox. Chandos Compact Disc CHAN 9653.
_____. The Grainger Edition, Vol. 11—Works for Chorus and Orchestra 4. Danish National Choir, Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Richard Hickox. Chandos Compact Disc CHAN 9721.
_____. The Grainger Edition, Vol. 18—Works for Unaccompanied Chorus. Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chorus. Richard Hickox. Chandos Compact Disc CHAN 9987.
Repertoire & Standards National Chair Vacancy
The National College and University R&S Chair is being vacated.
If you are interested in applying for this position please send a resume and short Statement of Intent (your vision for the future of College and University R&S) to Amy Blosser, National R&S Chair [email protected]
Applicant submission deadline date is November 1, 2011.
Electronic submissions only
16 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 2