CHASING A RESTLESS MUSE

ERIK CHISHOLM, SCOTTISH MODERNIST 1904 - 1965

“CHASING A RESTLESS MUSE” ERIK CHISHOLM, SCOTTISH MODERNIST (1904-1965) By John Purser

Commissioned by Birmingham Conservatoire (University of Central England) and the Erik Chisholm Trust

INTRODUCTION

Erik Chisholm wished that he had been born with less energy and more talent, but he was prodigious in both. He conducted the first performances in the British Isles of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Berlioz’s and Mozart’s , and performed a similar service for Gluck. He brought Bartók, Hindemith and Casella to Scotland; rescued Walton in a performance of Façade; and it was for him that Sorabji deigned to perform his Opus Clavicembalisticum. Above all, Chisholm was an outstanding , occupying a vital position in the modernist movement, both in Scotland and South Africa.

His output includes symphonic works, three concerti- Piobaireachd Concerto is available on CD- and twelve , of which three ran for several weeks in New York, one was televised by the BBC, and two were recently revived in . His complete piano works is currently being issued in a major CD series.

His music, rooted in a profound understanding of Hebridean traditions, but sometimes inspired by Hindustani rag, combines great beauty and technical mastery with a provocative modernist certainty. His use of traditional music in a classical context is seminal, and he was ever open to experiment in subject matter and idiom.

As performer, conductor, teacher and entrepreneur, Chisholm was a vital, even disturbing force. He caused ructions in Bombay, enlisted Earl Mountbatten in founding the Singapore Symphony Orchestra; and musically rejuvenated Cape Town. “Into this stagnant paradise Erik Chisholm erupted like a ball of fire” was how one colleague described his arrival. As a successor recorded - “This human dynamo was a great force for both consolidation and expansion.”

At a personal level, Chisholm saw himself as a Scot and an internationalist. He had strong left-wing leanings and a mind open to quality, irrespective of its origins - a matter of relevance in his later years as Professor of Music in Cape Town. He was reckless in his energies, ruthless in driving others towards achievements they scarcely thought possible. Chasing a restless muse across three continents, he paid the price with his early death,

Chisholm’s astonishing legacy as composer and entrepreneur has never been properly presented, never mind assessed. This, the first full study of the man and his music, explores a world of unexpected cultural riches. It brings new insight into the characters of some of the seminal figures of twentieth-century music, into the development of the modernist movement in Scotland and into the provision of music for the troops during WWII. It brings new understanding to Chisholm’s own works and it provides a vivid portrait of a life lived fully and provocatively.

STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK

Chisholm’s life and compositions are intimately intertwined and to date, little has been published about either of them. The book is structured chronologically, with musicological studies placed in between biographical chapters, which follow the story of his life. Music examples are confined to the studies and photographic material to the main narrative. Sources are listed in the Bibliography and Endnotes. The Appendices contain some of Chisholm’s more important writings, as well as a basic list of works, detailed catalogues being available on the Internet. There will be a Bibliography and Discography.

The book is about 120,000 words in length and fully annotated; 123 music examples, ready typeset on Sibelius, are projected. Illustrations are in black & white.

POTENTIAL READERSHIP

Chisholm was a vitally significant figure in Britain and South Africa, made a considerable impact in Singapore, and made important visits to North America and to countries behind the Iron Curtain. The biography will attract the attention of a general and specialist market internationally.

Areas of interest covered by this study include:

20th century music up to the 1960s, with special relevance to Bartók, Hindemith, Walton, Bax, Casella, Sorabji and others, whom he knew personally.

Scottish music of all kinds, Scottish literature and cultural history in the 20th century.

The Modernist Movement, specifically in Scotland but also in the UK and South Africa as well as worldwide. Chisholm made operas from works by Strindberg, Eliot, Brecht and Eugene O’Neill, and promoted the music of many leading figures.

Opera and ballet in the mid 20th century.

Specialist readers will include

Members of the British Music Association and

Saltire, Sorabji, Stevenson, Piobaireachd and other Societies.

Students of Far Eastern music

Chaucerian’s (Chisholm composed a triptych of operas based upon three of the Canterbury Tales, in the original Middle English, in collaboration with Neville Coghill.)

Students of bagpipe music at, for instance, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Piping Centre.

THE AUTHOR

Dr John Purser is a leading Scottish musicologist. He is the author of Is The Red Light On? - a history of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, commissioned by BBC Scotland. His book, Scotland’s Music won the prestigious McVitie Scottish Writer of the Year Award for 1992, and his eponymous radio series won a Sony Gold Medal. He is a contributor to the New Grove, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland and the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women and has provided chapters and articles on Scottish music for many other books and periodicals. He has lectured and broadcast worldwide on all aspects of Scottish music, and is himself known as a composer, poet and dramatist. He was commissioned to write this work by The Birmingham Conservatory (The University of Central England) and the Erik Chisholm Trust.

CONTENTS

Foreword by Sir

Acknowledgments

Introduction – Chasing A Restless Muse

Chapter 1 , Kailyard or Coal Yard? Study 1, Cameos, the Straloch Suite and the Double Trio

Chapter 2 The Active Society – Bringing the Heroes of Modernism to Glasgow Study 2, Airs, Petite Suite, Scottish Airs and The Scottish Airs for Children

Interlude, The Love of Sorabji

Chapter 3 Chisholm’s Scottish Inheritance Study 3, The Sonatine Écossaise and The Piobaireachd Concerto

Chapter 4 A Trojan Horse in Glasgow - Berlioz, Mozart and Gluck Study 4, Preludes from the True Edge of the Great World, Piobaireachd and An Rioban Dearg (Sonata in A, 1939)

Chapter 5 The Ballet and the Baton as Weapons of War Study 5, The First Symphony, The Forsaken Mermaid and Babar

Centrepiece, Rag Sohani and Night Song of the Bards – A Journey from West to East

Chapter 6 From Italy to India and Singapore Study 6, The Earth Shapers and Pictures from Dante

Chapter 7 Under Table Mountain - Chisholm Reviving Cape Town Study 7, The Hindustani Works

Chapter 8 On Tour in the USA and Europe Study 8, The Modernist Operas

Chapter 9 Soviet Ambassador – Chisholm Behind the Iron Curtain Study 9, The Chaucer Operas

Interlude, The Love of Janacek

Chapter 10 Chasing a Restless Muse – The Heart’s Betrayal Study 10, The Last Songs

Envoi, Eclectic Fruit

Endnotes, Bibliography, Discography, List of Compositions, Appendices, Index.

Foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras CH, AC, CBE

CONTENTSI am delighted to be able to write this introduction to a long-overdue biography of a

remarkable composer, performer and musical polymath. I met Erik Chisholm in Cape Foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras Town during a four-month stint there with the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra. We

got on very well, partly because of a common interest in Janacek at a time when there Acknowledgmentswere not so many experts on this composer as there are now. Ever since then I have

held Erik Chisholm in high esteem and am very happy that through this volume his Introduction – Chasing A Restless Muse creativity and individuality will become better known.

Chapter 1 Glasgow, Kailyard or Coal Yard? Erik Chisholm was a musician of rare capabilities. He was a pianist and organist, a Study 1, Cameos, the Straloch Suite and the Double Trio conductor, a composer, a lecturer on music, an entrepreneur and administrator and to

all these he brought a unique blend of originality, flair and energy. After an early start Chapter 2 The Active Society – Bringing the Heroes of Modernism to Glasgow as a performing pianist, Chisholm established himself in Glasgow as an important Study 2, Airs, Petite Suite, Scottish Airs and The Scottish Airs for Children influence on the progress of music in Scotland and Scottish music in general. He

founded the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music and through Interludethis and the, The Glasgow Love ofGrand Sorabji Society; he brought many first performances to

that city. Berlioz’ Les Troyens, for example, was first heard in the UK under his Chapter 3 Chisholm’s Scottish Inheritance baton, as was Beatrice and Benedict and Mozart’s Idomeneo. He formed many other Study 3, The Sonatine Écossaise and The Piobaireachd Concerto organisations including the Scottish Ballet Society and in the meantime composed

prolifically. Chisholm’s passion for traditional Scottish music should also be noted. Chapter 4 A Trojan Horse in Glasgow - Berlioz, Mozart and Gluck

Study 4, Preludes from the True Edge of the Great World, Piobaireachd and An Chisholm’s time in South Africa, notably as Principal of the South Africa College of Rioban Dearg (Sonata in A, 1939) Music and Professor of Music in Cape Town University, was equally productive.

Here he focussed on the promotion of opera (including some of his own fascinating Chapter 5 The Ballet and the Baton as Weapons of War works) and introduced much new music to South Africa. Study 5, The First Symphony, The Forsaken Mermaid and Babar

John Purser’s biography is written with great affection for Chisholm the man and Centrepiecemusician. He, Ragtakes Sohani us through and an Night exciting Song journey of the from Bards his – early A Journey Scottish from and PibrochWest to Eastinfluenced works to his Hindustani influences, his interests in Russian music and his

vital essays in modernism. John Purser’s title refers to a restless nature and this, Chapter 6 From Italy to India and Singapore together with Chisholm’s extraordinary passion and originality, is truly captured in a Study 6, The Earth Shapers and Pictures from Dante biography of great quality.

I recommend this work wholeheartedly. Chapter 7 Under Table Mountain - Chisholm Reviving Cape Town

Study 7, The Hindustani Works

Chapter 8 On Tour in the USA and Europe Study 8, The Modernist Operas

Chapter 9 Soviet Ambassador – Chisholm Behind the Iron Curtain Study 9, The Chaucer Operas

Interlude, The Love of Janacek

Chapter 10 Chasing a Restless Muse – The Heart’s Betrayal Study 10, The Last Songs

Envoi, Eclectic Fruit

Endnotes, Bibliography, Discography, List of Compositions, Appendices, Index.

OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS AND STUDIES

Chapter 1 Glasgow, Kailyard or Coal Yard?

The social and musical background into which Chisholm was born. Childhood memories: Chisholm’s early musical education and first attempts at composition. Music making in Glasgow.

Study 1 Cameo, the Straloch Suite and the Double Trio Sources of the tunes used in the Straloch Suite are identified and the significance of the choices, and Chisholm’s stylistic handling discussed. Brief consideration is given to the Cameos, along with their eclectic sources of musical and literary inspiration. The academic impetus behind the Double Trio is criticised.

Chapter 2 The Active Society – Bringing the Heroes of Modernism to Glasgow

Chisholm’s central role in bringing Bartók, Hindemith, Casella, Sorabji, Walton, Bax, etc to Glasgow is illustrated by his own account and by writings of his wife, Diana Brodie. At the same time, his development as a composer, and his academic achievements under the wing of Tovey, shed light on his own major contributions to modernism; a contribution which he shared with Bartók, whose own fascination with piobaireachd, the classical music of the Highland bagpipes, is documented.

Study 2 Airs, Petite Suite, Scottish Airs and The Scottish Airs for Children The seminal influence of Gaelic melody, notably from the Patrick MacDonald Collection, can be heard in Chisholm’s remarkable settings. The sources are identified and Gaelic titles are explained. In particular, the Scottish Airs for Children offers a study in the development of elementary pianism of a quality and beauty deserving to stand alongside Bartók’s Mikrokosmos.

Interlude The Love of Sorabji

Sorabji’s intimate letters to Chisholm reveal a passionate but probably largely one- sided relationship, although Chisholm undoubtedly held Sorabji in deep admiration. Diana Brodie’s superb account of Sorabji’s performance of the Opus Clavicembalisticum is reproduced, as are Chisholm’s own reactions to Sorabji’s music.

Chapter 3 Chisholm’s Scottish Inheritance

Chisholm’s views on the use of Scottish idiom are discussed in the context of knowledge and practice at the time, and his own sources of information are outlined, including his awareness of his own clan’s musical traditions. The term “piobaireachd” is explained, and Chisholm’s innovative approach to piobaireachd is introduced and compared with examples by Bantock and F.G.Scott. The chapter describes the resuscitation of the Dunedin Association.

Study 3 Sonatine Écossaise and Piobaireachd Concerto With the Sonatine Écossaise and the Piobaireachd Concerto, Chisholm was truly breaking new ground; his approach to Scottish traditional material was more deeply thought than that of his predecessors. His sources are identified and explained, including a full account of the meaning and structure of “Maol Donn” upon which the first movement of the Concerto is based.

Chapter 4 A Trojan Horse in Glasgow? – Berlioz, Mozart and Gluck

The first productions in the British Isles of Les Troyens (complete with ballets and off-stage brass bands) and of Mozart’s Idomeneo and Titus, alongside productions of Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris, and Armida give evidence of Chisholm’s energies and skills as promoter and conductor, and his readiness to tackle unfamiliar repertoire. They also shed light on the artistic potential of Glasgow in the 30s, notwithstanding very real poverty in the Depression years, and on the city’s ability to attract audiences from all over the United Kingdom for performances of music both past, present and pointing to the future.

Study 4 Preludes from the True Edge of the Great World, Piobaireachd and An Rioban Dearg The study deals with Chisholm’s intimate understanding of the classical music of the Highland bagpipes and discusses in detail his major piano sonata, An Rioban Dearg, only recently revived. The piobaireachd on which the opening movement is based, the thematic development of the slow movement and its source in the Thetis submarine tragedy of 1939 and the relationship of the Scherzo and Allegro Moderato to Scottish musical roots are all considered. The revolutionary character of the piano writing is set out.

Chapter 5 Ballet and Baton as Weapons of War – ENSA in the Far East

Chisholm’s role in the founding of the Celtic Ballet is outlined. His cooperation with as choreographer, and with leading artists such as Ferguson and Crosbie as set and costume designers, proclaim the connections between traditional Scottish music, dance and ballet. This remarkable cross-over between Modernism and the last of the Celtic Twilight school brought traditional stories and myths, along with pipers, dance techniques and musical styles, into a modernist context. Exigencies of war, including difficulties attached to Chisholm’s own support for Crosbie’s conscientious objection, led to real financial difficulty for the Chisholm family. Eventually Chisholm was released from road painting for employment by ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) as a lecturer and conductor, initially touring Britain with the Anglo-Polish Ballet Company.

Study 5 First Symphony, The Forsaken Mermaid and Babar The origins of the Symphony No.1 in the Cornish Sonata are described. Chisholm’s treatment of the ballet The Forsaken Mermaid, an orchestral work arranged for two pianos, contains much beautiful music; but the scenario, especially as expressed in the written synopsis, betrays a lack of maturity in the treatment of folkloric material, at odds with the relative maturity of the music. Babar was a BBC commission for children, which Chisholm carried off with panache and some witty orchestral effects, including an orchestral imitation of an air raid.

Centrepiece, Rag Sohani and Night Song of the Bards – A Journey from West to East

The musical and literary sources for these remarkable nocturnes are presented and the connecting of West and East in music and imagery is justified. The structure of Night Song of the Bards is discussed thematically and emotionally.

Chapter 6 From Italy to India and Singapore

ENSA brought the Anglo-Polish Ballet Company to Italy where Chisholm brought some succour to Casella and narrowly escaped being blown up by a land mine. Still with ENSA, he was moved to Bombay -where he generated much controversy- and then to Singapore where he achieved brilliant success in founding and conducting an international orchestra. Fascinating correspondence and articles document efforts to renew artistic life as the war came to an end and the move to Cape Town was proposed.

Study 6 Earth Shapers and Pictures from Dante The Earth Shapers was created out of the Second Symphony, and Pictures From Dante in part from the Piobaireachd ballet. These exchanges between concert and stage works reveal an underlying desire to keep in touch with life as lived, rather than with the purely abstract. The study explores the degree to which he sought inspiration from outside music. Chisholm’s uneasy relationship with his literary sources is considered here and in later chapters with respect to ballet and opera.

Chapter 7 Under Table Mountain – Chisholm Reviving Cape Town

The appointment of Chisholm as Dean and Professor of Music at the , as well as Principal of the South African College of Music led to the transformation of music-making in South Africa and gave Chisholm undreamt-of opportunities to develop his own works. His arrival occasioned controversy – something he rarely attempted to avoid – but the appointment enabled him to realise his own ambition to bring Eastern and Western styles together in a group of major works, premièred in Cape Town. He reorganised the university’s music department, re-introduced opera production, and brought in outstanding talents from abroad, some of who had been left high and dry by the war. His family came over to join him and some were soon involved directly in his activities.

Study 7 Hindustani works The study analyses The Second Piano Concerto- known as the Hindustani; also the Violin Concerto with its remarkable structural innovations and the Van Riebeeck Concerto. Was Chisholm perhaps too keen to justify a boast he made in a Bombay evening newspaper, that Hindustani music need not be one line of sound and could develop harmonically and contrapuntally along their own individual musical concepts? How deep was his knowledge, and to what extent did he really succeed in blending East and West? Is such a thing possible, given the different nature of the pitch systems?

Chapter 8 On Tour in the USA and Europe

Despite generally favourable conditions under which Chisholm operated, he hankered after positions in the northern hemisphere. At the same time he made positive use of his trips abroad, studying teaching methods in North American institutions, bringing opera productions from Cape Town to Europe – including the first performances in Britain of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. The Hindustani Concerto and the Violin Concerto both had successful British premieres; his opera Dark Sonnet was televised in Britain and formed part of a production of his Murder in Three Keys operatic trilogy mounted in New York, and he made a strong impression with his innovative programming.

Study 8 Modernist Operas Chisholm’s involvement with modernism extended to his employment of scripts from some acclaimed modernist writers. Dark Sonnet is based on a play of Eugene O’Neill’s, and is analysed in relation to its sonnet structure and post Second Viennese School style. Black Roses was originally based upon T.S.Eliot’s Sweeney Agonistes but the author’s refusal of permission forced Chisholm to re-write the libretto. Simoon was based upon Strindberg, and is also considered in the light of the Hindustani influences on Chisholm’s style: and The Caucasian Chalk Circle was set with the permission of Brecht himself.

Chapter 9 Soviet Ambassador – Chisholm Behind the Iron Curtain

Chisholm may not have been a communist, but his leanings were certainly towards the left, and he was ready not only to go behind the Iron Curtain, when such a thing was considered hazardous, especially in South Africa, but also to proclaim loudly virtues of the system he encountered there. His own work was well received, despite a performance of the Hindustani Concerto, which occasioned his hurling the score at the pianist. He was promised publication of his settings of many Gaelic airs to words he gathered from a variety of sources, and the promise bore fruit in the form of the first volume of The Celtic Song Book.

Study 9 Chaucer Operas Only one of Chisholm’s trilogy of Chaucer operas, which were set in the original Middle English, has been performed. The Pardoner’s Tale has proved to be a great success, and the freedom and ease with which Chisholm adapts his style to mediaeval vocal lines is remarkable. Plot and music are beautifully integrated, and these three operas are considered as a whole, deserving of full- scale production.

Interlude The Love of Janacek

Chisholm was one of the first to appreciate the music of Janacek and was the first to make a thorough study in English of the Janacek operas. The book was published posthumously without opportunity for Chisholm to revise it and consequently subject to some errors, it offers a deep and sympathetic insight into Janacek’s sense of drama.

Chapter 10 Chasing a Restless Muse – The Heart’s Betrayal

Even a man born with more energy than he would have wished, must eventually succumb. In the last years of his life, he wrote a ballad-opera, based on the life of , an opera on The Importance of Being Earnest and the Janacek book. The break-up of Chisholm’s marriage, the excitement of a new relationship and second marriage, along with continual touring and the ever-darkening shadow of , added stresses to an already stressed life. After a short illness, Chisholm died of heart failure minutes away from the world’s leading cardiac hospital, leaving behind a musical wake whose waves are still breaking on our shores.

Study 10 Last songs. This study includes a brief overview of the last operas and The Celtic Songbook but it is Chisholm’s settings of his second wife’s poetry that are the main basis of the study, returning, as they do, to his native roots in their uncomplicated beauty and directness.

Envoi Eclectic Fruit

The envoi assesses Chisholm’s over-all achievement and his eclecticism is discussed and defended in the context of the Modernist movement.

Endnotes, Bibliography, Discography, List of Compositions, Appendices, Index.