BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S NOYE’S FLUDDE An Intergenerational Experience for Church Music Programs
Joshua Hawkins Nannestad
Joshua Hawkins Nannestad is a doctoral student of choral conducting at Boston University. He teaches music to students aged fi ve to eighty-fi ve in central Massachusetts.
circumstances of music, of its environment and conventions. I believe, you see, in occasional music. Almost every piece of music I have ever written has been composed with a certain oc- casion in mind, usually for defi nite performers, and certainly always human ones.1 The Britten centennial year provides a little- needed excuse to program beloved works by the English master. No doubt huge-scale produc- tions of War Requiem will be mounted, Jubilate Deo in C will resonate in church choir lofts, and Rejoice in the Lamb will continue to occupy conducting syllabi everywhere. One hopes that young singers will delight in Old Abram Brown at the same time that The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard inspires a new crop of young men in high school and college choirs. Each one of these works was an “occasional” piece, written for a specifi c event, ensemble, or venue
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 9 BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S NOYE’S FLUDDE
(and sometimes all three). When level with professional mentors. he accepted the Aspen Prize in Michael Kennedy gives an apt 1964 (Photo 1), Britten’s speech summation of this most unusual detailed his process: audience experience:
The work is a masterpiece by any When I am asked to compose standard… in Noye’s Fludde, which a work for an occasion, great or is easily his most lovable work, he small, I want to know in some makes an assault on the listener’s detail the conditions of the place emotions by inspired inventive where it will be performed, imagery of the simplest kind, by the size and acoustics, what the integration into the score instruments or singers will be of three of the fi nest and most available and suitable, the kind of evocative hymns of the Anglican people who will hear it, and what tradition, and by the disarmingly language they understand—and touching blend of the amateur even sometimes the age of the and the professional. Strong listeners and performers.2 men have been known to weep unashamedly at the sound of the A lesser-known but strikingly bugles [that] precede the animals’ original occasional work may march and at the appearance see a renaissance in the United of the rainbow, but let it not be States, thanks to last year’s thought that this is in any way a quirky fi lm Moonrise Kingdom. sentimental work. If our response Director Wes Anderson uses tends to be sentimental, that is not Britten’s fault… a work which may the opera Noye’s Fludde as both unhesitatingly be called sublime.6 soundtrack and setting in his fi lm, refl ecting a musical experience of Photo 1 - Benjamin Britten received the Robert O. Anderson Aspen Award in 1964. This author does not claim his youth. “My older brother and that Noye’s Fludde has lacked for I were actually in a production American performances. After of that when I was ten or eleven, English schoolchildren. It was premiered the American premiere was given at and that music was something I have at Orford Church as part of his beloved Union Theological Seminary, the opera always remembered, and it made a very Aldeburgh Festival in 1958. Although found an early champion in Jack Lang- strong impression on me. It is the color initial plans to record the opera for staff, founder of the Revels organization. 3 of the movie in a way.” television did not materialize, new pro- The Los Angeles Opera has given free At the Festival of Britain in 1951, the ductions became a common musical public performances, and children’s choir composer witnessed the revival of the experience of many English children. A or university-sponsored performances medieval Chester Mystery Plays, which 1963 article cited more than 100 per- can be found. The First Congregational 4 were biblical stories with decidedly formances per year. By 1981 another Church of Greenwich, Connecticut has a secular bits of comic relief and obvious critic declared, “It is a Britten work that splendid tradition of performing Noye’s anachronisms, acted out by individual has proved accessible to virtually any Fludde quadrennially. However, it never trade guilds on carts that were pulled English community and as such has been became a piece of core repertoire around town. This fascinating community given over and over again, becoming an as in England. Moonrise Kingdom and ritual motivated Britten to adapt the institution like Messiah, and one that is the Britten centennial may encourage segment about Noah’s ark to create a arguably still more involving, and more more frequent American performances, 5 genre-blurring work—a one-act opera/ personal.” This vital educational func- particularly as leaders of church music pageant that is meant to be sung in a tion did not diminish its substantial artis- programs recognize the unique value of church, yet is not exactly church music— tic merit, or the impact of witnessing the Noye’s Fludde. as a musical experience for scores of energy of children operating at a high
10 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 An Intergenerational Experience for Church Music Programs
Scoring and Casting The astounding creativity of Ben- jamin Britten is evident from the very fi rst page, not the start of the score, but rather the description of perform- ing forces. The orchestra contains a core of professional instrumentalists: piano four hands, organ, string quintet, timpani, bugle, and recorder. Except for the keyboardists, each instrumentalist also leads a section of children. These instruments, along with the handbell choir that appears in the closing mo- ments, were present in typical English school life in 1958. The entire opera is scored in this master/apprentice model so that the professionals form a type of concertino group with a young ripieno section alongside them. Britten cleverly scores for their technical limitations. The ripieno violins, for example, are divided into three parts: the fi rsts do not go above third position, the seconds mostly remain in fi rst position, and the thirds play largely on the open strings. Thus, Britten created an opportunity for even the youngest violinists who can success- fully count measures, follow the leader, and sit still for the requisite time, to play in the ensemble of this opera. This master/apprentice or teacher/ student model carries through in the vocal casting, as well. Three professional adult roles (baritone, alto, and speaking) are complemented by scores of children as the animal pairs process in to “Kyrie Eleison” and out to “Alleluia.” The self- imposed technical limitations exist for the young vocalists, too. The "Kyrie" con- tains only two pitches (Figure 1), and the antiphonal "Alleluia" has a narrow range (Figure 2). Both tunes are repeated exactly and extensively. The orchestra provides increasingly crafty harmonic and rhythmic variation. In between the professionals and the youngest children is a comic ensemble of older teen girls
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 11 BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S NOYE’S FLUDDE
(Mrs. Noye’s gossips) and six roles for Hymns as Therefore his choices of hymn tunes what Britten once termed “professional Structural Elements and texts also refl ect the Victorian era, children”8 (Noye’s children). Noye’s the Tudor era, and English translation of three sons and their respective wives That concluding canon is one of classical texts. Fortuitously, these hymns all sing treble, with an accommodation three hymns that the congregation and are still relatively well known, and the made for one tenor son, if necessary. cast sing together. The blurring of sacred tunes or texts appear in many current They operate as soloists within a small and secular extends to the spectators, American hymnals: Southwell (“Lord ensemble framework, appearing one by who act as both opera audience and Jesus, Think on Me”), Melita (“Eternal one to add their tools to the construc- church congregation. In Noye’s Fludde, Father, Strong to Save”), and Tallis Canon tion and convincing the reticent Mrs. Britten created an experience that was (“The Spacious Firmament on High”). Noye to board the ark. Each leads a English to the core, taking its inspira- The hymns are architectonic pillars of portion of the company when the opera tion from medieval Chester, the central the work, sung at the beginning, the end- ends with the glorious unspooling of an role of the sea, and the scoring for the ing, and the central moment of highest eight-part canon. instruments from English student life. drama. Each hymn tune holds signifi cant
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12 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 An Intergenerational Experience for Church Music Programs
infl uence over its third of the opera. Southwell’s fi rst phrase—an ascending minor third, returning via step—be- comes a leitmotif signifying the impend- ing doom of the fl ood, and it permeates the construction of the ark, the comic hesitation of Noye’s wife, and the family’s fearful prayers as the ark fi nally takes to the water (Figure 3). Both Americans and Britons rec- ognize Melita as the Navy Hymn, and Britten extrapolates its mild Victorian chromaticism within the key of C ma- jor to the entire storm sequence. His masterful storm passacaglia features a four-measure ground bass (low strings, piano, organ) that moves through all twelve tones of the scale but remains audibly in C (Figure 4). The ground swells persistently and proceeds methodically over thirteen statements without alteration. Over the churning waters of the ground bass, Britten writes programmatic phrases for upper strings, piano, percussion,
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 13 BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S NOYE’S FLUDDE
and recorders that evoke raindrops, ment of the opera signals the survival ily weighted with assembling elements, waves of increasing intensity, wind, light- of the storm. The ground bass returns the fear and dread creating the illusory ning, thunder, and fl apping rigging. The and the elements of the storm reappear advance of rank after rank of a perfectly fourteenth variation fi nally inverts the in reverse order, revealing a palindromic ordered storm. When God “bids the ground bass, shifting the repeated note construction. As the storm recedes, angry tumult cease,” the retreating from G to C in a passage labeled “the however, the elements are weaker and storm becomes fragmentary, disorderly, panic of the animals.” At the apex of the less organized. Where they previously and far less worrisome. The menagerie storm, the cast breaks out into “Eternal began and ended in time with the bass is still afl oat, though. First the raven and Father, Strong to Save.” The ground repetitions, they now peter out early as then the dove are sent to fi nd dry land, bass continues to swell until the third the upper strings play snatches of Melita and the petitions of Melita appear once stanza of the hymn, when the orchestra and steal the ground bass line to play more, hidden in the asymmetrical fl ying suddenly falls silent. The congregation in inversion and augmentation. Britten tune of the raven (Figure 5). is accompanied by organ alone, with created a dramatic, yet familiar storm The young Benjamin Britten delight- treble descant. The “churchiest” mo- experience. The beginning is more heav- ed in canons, and the mature composer
HEARTLAND MEN’S CHORUS SEEKS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
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14 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 An Intergenerational Experience for Church Music Programs
constructed so many memorable ones: as “slung mugs.” Creating the row of keeping the children’s interest without “This Little Babe” from A Ceremony of suspended mugs in the properly pitched causing them to struggle. Carols and “Old Abram Brown” from order harnesses the creativity of young These minor, affecting touches are Friday Afternoons. The famous tune Tal- percussionists. Striking the mugs in uni- built on large-scale compositional deci- lis Canon is the third hymn of Noye’s son with the piano provides a raindrop sions that take the same educational Fludde. Four stanzas are presented in effect. The animals are instructed to motivation. The scoring of the violins, unison or two-voice canons, and the fi fth sing their “Kyries” in the character voice detailed earlier, has long-term implica- invites the participation of the congrega- of their animals, with mice and birds tions for key centers (e.g., when the tion in standard four-part harmonization. squeaking in the higher octave. Through- third violins play on open strings for The sixth and fi nal stanza fi nally utilizes out, the young singers’ vocal lines are more than eighty measures during the tune’s potential, and the eight-part engagingly syncopated yet repetitive, the building of the ark) (Figure 7). His canon is accompanied by a magical texture: a gamelan-like stratifi cation10 with one colorful and polytonal measure repeated nineteen times. Instrumental lines ♭ of G Mixolydian and B pentatonic gracefully and mysteriously coun- ter the G-major canon. Thus, Brit- ten achieves the diffi cult task of giving this unique work a fi ttingly singular ending (Figure 6).
Creativity for Children
For it is futile to offer children music by which they are bored, or that makes them feel inadequate or frustrated, which may set them against music forever; and it is insulting to address anyone in a language that they do not understand.11
As should be evident by now, Britten was not writing down to his young performers, but em- bracing the challenge of writing music that was artistically satisfy- ing to the listener and exciting to the young performers while not exceeding their technical limitations. Evidence of this crafts- manship is scattered throughout Noye’s Fludde, with a subtlety that is further testimony to his skill. The percussion section includes an invented instrument known
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 15 BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S NOYE’S FLUDDE An Intergenerational Experience for Church Music Programs BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S NOYE’S FLUDDE
favoring of repetitive forms (passacaglia, reserving the diffi cult raised fourths for came from a number of schools around canon, theme and variations) could be the professionals and more advanced the region, and Britten visited some to making an allowance for the young in- child soloists. assist in their preparation. Britten and strumentalists trying to learn a great deal friends (partner Peter Pears, musical of music. The fl utter-tongued recorder assistant Imogen Holst, and the stage di- passage that depicts the departure of Other rector Colin Graham) gathered around the dove—all 34 measures of it—is Performance Models the piano in his drawing room to make played backward for the dove’s return, Britten created this sparkling work a demo record of the handwritten providing a memorable illustration of for a huge ensemble consisting of four- score for distribution to the classrooms, retrograde. Finally, and sneakily, the teen adult professionals and dozens or providing a charming forerunner of a sublime “Alleluia” section fl irts with the hundreds of children. At the premiere in now-standard practice. Lydian mode. However, the antiphonal Orford Church, the animal chorus alone Some contemporary organizations melody uses only a few scale degrees, numbered thirty-fi ve pairs! Participants certainly do produce this opera to
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18 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 An Intergenerational Experience for Church Music Programs
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 19 BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S NOYE’S FLUDDE
Britten’s specifi cations: the students and is continually referring back to the The further one departs from these teachers of a middle school, afterschool conditions of performance…such circumstances, the less true and arts organization, or a summer camp questions occupy one’s attention more diluted is the experience likely to be.14 can make effective use of the teacher/ continuously, and certainly affect the stuff of the music, and in my student model. Opera companies and experience are not only a restriction, Challenging examples, indeed, as such community orchestras accomplish this but [also] a challenge, an inspiration. performances are probably a distinct work by bringing in a children’s choir. Music does not exist in a vacuum, it minority for each of the works he cited! However, most churches that could does not exist until it is performed, Each new production of Noye’s Fludde produce a company of sixty children are and performance imposes conditions. is an alteration of Britten’s original condi- likely to have an even larger number of It is the easiest thing in the world tions. In the proper setting, can we not adults in the music ministry (greater than to write a piece virtually or totally impossible to perform—but oddly make extraordinary efforts to revive this the three singers and eleven instrumen- enough that is not what I prefer to work rather than settling for a children’s talists specifi ed in the score, certainly). An do; I prefer to study the conditions musical of questionable value and limited average church that wished to undertake of performance and shape my music mentoring opportunity? an intergenerational production would to them.12 What of Britten’s orchestral parts for likely have too many adults and too few children? Imagine adult amateurs dusting children. But we shouldn’t worry too much off their seldom-used instruments and The next section of this discussion is about the so-called ‘permanent’ joining children in the ripieno sections. uncomfortable territory for some, and value of our occasional music. A lot of it cannot make much sense Does this circumstance raise more hack- likely to uncover some philosophical after its fi rst performance, and it is les than adding adults to the children’s differences. Could contemporary pro- quite a good thing to please people, singing roles? When the purist in each ductions adapt Britten’s scoring for their even if only for today. That is what of us objects, what is the root of the own purposes today? This seems like we should aim at—pleasing people objection? Is it a slavish devotion to the the same old question musicians often today as seriously as we can, and 13 printed score, a philosophical discomfort face: Can we sing Handel with a modern letting the future look after itself. with allowing music for children to be piano? How about this Bach cantata in stolen by adults, or merely a matter of English? However, a singular work such as These passages not only refl ect his vocal tone? Noye’s Fludde has a few extra “wrinkles” accepting of the challenge of technical Looking at two other Britten works that may sway some purists. We return limitations, but also a surprising “live in may be an instructive digression. Saint to Britten’s Aspen speech: the moment” philosophy. Of course, this modern composer cared about Nicolas is a cantata written a decade be- During the act of composition, one his specifi c choices forever preserved fore Noye’s Fludde, and the two works in the score, but he also cared deeply share the unusual traits of congregation- that music lived in performance with an al hymns and scoring for young players, appropriate audience. although the cantata’s instrumentation is not as extensive or as stratifi ed as the The experience will be that much opera’s. Britten wrote all of the parts more intense and rewarding if the with some technical limitations in mind, circumstances correspond to what and while there is a professional core the composer intended. If the Saint of strings and percussionist suggested, Matthew Passion is performed there is no concertino/ripieno structure.15 on Good Friday, in a church, to a congregation of Christians; if the The choral parts, too, were written for Winterreise is performed in a room, a large SATB choir of adolescent boys. or in a small hall with truly intimate An antiphonal SA ensemble, called the character to a circle of friends; if Don “gallery choir,” was intended by Britten Giovanni is played to an audience to be sung by girls. [that] understands the texts and American performances of Saint appreciates the musical allusions. Nicolas by all or mostly adult perform-
20 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 ers are common today. The gallery choir is sometimes sung by a children’s choir, but not always. Laying aside the nagging worry that music written for English teenagers in the 1950s is now a worthy challenge for American adult choral soci- eties. Few, if any, controversies are stirred by the lack of young players or singers. The cantata is a lesser-known Brit- ten work, so let us examine one of his most popular, A Ceremony of Carols.16 This delightful composition for treble voices and harp has justly become a repertoire staple, even for medium-size church choirs. Britten had been working toward a harp concerto when, cross- ing the Atlantic in 1942, he wrote the Ceremony with adult women’s voices in mind. It was premiered by women in 1942, but given again by a boys’ choir in 1943. Britten expressed preference for the version with young singers, but it has become standard repertoire for both types of ensemble. This type of uncertainty would happen again with the solo alto part of his canticle Abraham and Isaac.17 So, one must decide, can a women’s choir appropriately perform Ceremony of Carols? Should a mixed choir sing the SATB version that was created without Britten’s apparent blessing?18 For that matter, if harp is unavailable, is piano an acceptable substitute? Most conductors will have found their defi ning line in the previous ques- tions, motivated by individual blends of philosophy and pragmatism. Britten’s Aspen speech leads one to believe that, were he to weigh in on this subject, he would fi rst suggest the commission of a new work from a living composer. Failing that, however, his work with adaptations suits a specifi c need in this author’s church: an intergenerational work that involves the entire musical community in an artful and satisfying musical experience.
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 21 BENJAMIN BRITTEN’S NOYE’S FLUDDE
Possible Adaptations wives are written as trebles, with one to the ensemble sound, and directors The simplest and least intrusive route tenor ossia. The roles are challenging but must make their own choices carefully. is to cast the animal chorus with both not insurmountable for young singers, Incidentally, the origin of Britten’s ossia adults and children. Thus, the members provided the institution has six capable part for a tenor Jaffett is a familiar situ- of the adult choir have a defi ned role treble soloists. Many recent productions ation tinged with celebrity. The young in this production. When, in addition, have substituted adults or changed voice singer chosen to play Jaffett began to the orchestra parts are opened up to teens in some or all of these roles. If experience a precipitous voice break, amateurs of all ages, the production is women sing all six roles, including the throwing his ability to play the role in truly intergenerational. sons, the soloists share the same vo- doubt. Britten quickly made the neces- Noye’s children are also roles that cal register throughout. If the sons are sary alterations, which remain in the may be adjusted. In fact, Britten had to portrayed by men, they must transpose score today, and Michael Crawford, later make a quick change at the premiere. their parts into the lower octave. This a Broadway star, retained his role in the Remember that the sons and their latter option is, of course, more intrusive premiere.19
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22 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 An Intergenerational Experience for Church Music Programs
The chorus of the gossips is specifi ed sional roles, but only three hymns and Boosey & Hawkes, 1958). in the front matter of the score as “older two choral sections for the volunteers of 8 Philip Reed, Mervyn Cooke, and Donald girls with strong voices, in their lower the animal chorus. Its fi fty-minute dura- Mitchell, ed., Letters from a Life: The register, and chosen for their dramatic tion allows the work to be presented Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, capabilities.”20 These are Mrs. Noye’s in the same time frame as worship. The Volume Four (Woodbridge, Suffolk: friends, with whom she would rather opera is sung in English with the strang- Boydell Press, 2008), 579– 581. drink and mock the others than board est medieval words mostly reserved 9 John Bridcut, Britten’s Children (London: the ark. This ensemble can be a blessing for the soloists. It is not restricted to a Faber and Faber, 2006), 22– 23. to cast. Most church music directors particular season. The narrative is familiar 10 Philip Ernst Rupprecht, “Tonal Stratifi cation have a few older adolescent singers enough to easily facilitate an ecumenical and Confl ict in the Music of Benjamin who, although musically advanced, may multi-church event. The church that can Britten” (PhD diss., Yale University, 1993). 11 hesitate to be involved in any program muster a performance of Noye’s Fludde Britten, Aspen Award, 12. 12 that seems to be “for kids” or “beneath Ibid., 13. holds a key to a truly intergenerational 13 them.” The gossips are separate from experience. Ibid., 16. 14 Ibid., 19. the large ensemble; they may rehearse 15 on their own, and they get to express NOTES Benjamin Britten, Saint Nicolas, Op. 42 scorn to the cast. Perfect! One intergen- (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1949). 16 Britten, A Ceremony of Carols, op. 28 erational adaption is, if there are older 1 Benjamin Britten, On Receiving the First As- (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1943). female singers with mobility problems, pen Award (London: Faber and Faber, 17 Bridcut, Britten’s Children, 211–213. they may join the girls as gossips and 1964), 10–11. 18 Dennis Shrock, Choral Repertoire (Oxford: 2 Ibid., 12. thus avoid the processional required of Oxford University Press, 2009), 698. 3 Britten-Pears Foundation, “Moonrise the animals. 19 Bridcut, Britten’s Children, 236. Kingdom,”
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 54 Number 3 23