University of Cincinnati

Home , Arthur Bliss, Ernest Farrar, Gerald Finzi, Michael Tippett, Robin Milford, Stephen Varcoe

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Date:______

I, ______, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in:

It is entitled:

This work and its defense approved by:

Chair: ______

Of Text and Tune:

The Relationship between Words and Music in the Choral Music of Gerald Finzi

A Doctoral Document submitted to the

Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Musical Arts

Division of Ensembles and Conducting

College-Conservatory of Music

University of Cincinnati, Ohio

Graeme Langager

Fayetteville, AR

07 August 2006

B.M. Capilano College (North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1994

M.M. California State University, Long Beach, 1997

Committee Chair: Dr. Stephen Coker

ABSTRACT

The life and music of English composer, Gerald Finzi (1901-56) has received relatively

little critical study; that which has been done, however, especially regarding the choral and

vocal music, often focuses on Finzi’s gift for setting words to music. On account of this

unique gift, Finzi has been referred to as the English Hugo Wolf. This document focuses on

his special ability to interrelate the words and music, and on the set of key factors that helped

him develop this talent. A brief biographical study will reveal three major influences on

Finzi’s life and music: an association with the finest English composers of the late nineteenth

and early twentieth century; a fondness for all things English, including Great Britain’s musical

heritage, its manner, its unique geography, and its great authors and poets; and a worldview

affected by tragic events and losses in his life. Selected anthems will be considered in order to

examine generalities of Finzi’s compositional traits. Finally, a detailed analysis of his Opus

39, In Terra Pax – Christmas Scene , will be presented. This work for chorus and orchestra was his last choral/orchestral composition and, by some accounts, represents the best of his entire oeuvre. The study, therefore, considers the work as being characteristic of the best of his compositional techniques and discusses those techniques accordingly. This document concludes that Finzi is worthy of consideration among the elite of the English composers of the first half of the twentieth century based on the craft of his compositional technique.

The aim of this research document, therefore, is threefold: first, to review Finzi’s biography and the most significant influences on his life and compositional style; second, to analyze his compositional style—especially those aspects that pertain to his ability to relate text and musical elements; and finally, to present a conductor’s study of a representative work,

Opus 39, In Terra Pax .

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to extend my most sincere appreciation to all who have been supportive of my work on this document. I would especially like to express my gratitude to Dr. Stephen Coker for his mentorship, support, and input on this document and throughout my course of studies and career. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Earl Rivers and

Dr. Robert Zierolf, for their invaluable contributions to this document.

Finally, I wish to give my deepest thanks to my wife and family for their endless support, patience, and love.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………… iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………….……………………………… vi

TABLE OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………… ix

Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………. 1

II. GERALD FINZI – A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY……………………………………… 3

Early Years…………………………………………………………………… 3

Middle Years…………………………………………………………………. 6

Final Years……………………………………………………………………. 8

III. COMPOSITIONAL TRAITS………………………………………………………. 13

Finzi’s Oeuvre ………………………………………………………………… 15

Text Setting…………………………………………………………………… 16

Melisma……………………………………………………………... 18

Shifting Meters and Rhythmic Subdivision………………………… 18

Melody and Melodic Shape………………………………………… 20

Texture……………………………………………………………… 20

Harmonic and Melodic Imagery……………………………………………… 22

Key Structure…………………………………………………………………. 24

Summary……………………………………………………………………… 25 IV. IN TERRA PAX: CHRISTMAS SCENE FOR SOPRANO, BARITONE SOLI AND

CHORUS …………………………………………………………………………… 27

Compositional Techniques………………………………………..…………... 29

Form and Orchestration…………………………………………….. 30

Melisma, Text Repetition, Word Painting, and Use of Imagery……. 35

Melodic and Motivic Unity………………………………………… 42

Rhythm……………………………………………………………... 48

Harmony……………………………………………………………. 52

Summary……………………………………………………………………… 57

V. CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………………. 58

APPENDICIES……………………………………………………………………… 61

Appendix A: Noël: Christmas Eve, 1913, by Robert Bridges ………………… 61

Appendix B: Gospel According to St. Luke II: 8-14………………………… 63

Appendix C: Selected Finzi Timeline and Relevant Dates…………………... 64

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………… 65

TABLE OF FIGURES

Example Page

1. God Is Gone Up , mm. 11-14 …………………………………………………… 19

2. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , mm. 20-26 …….………………………………… 19

3. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , mm. 102-3, 107…………………………………. 21

4. God Is Gone Up, mm. 56-59... .. ………………………………………………… 21

5. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , mm. 1-2 …………………………………………. 23

6. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , m. 6, beats 3 and 4; and m. 6, complete.…...…….. 24

7. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , mm. 178-81 ……………………………………… 25

8. In Terra Pax , mm. 57-58 ……………………………………………………….. 35

9. In Terra Pax , mm. 116-20 ………………………………………………………. 36

10. In Terra Pax , mm. 140-42 ………………………………………………………. 37

11. In Terra Pax , mm. 241-48 ………………………………………………………. 38

12. In Terra Pax , mm. 166-67 ………………………………………………………. 39

13. In Terra Pax, mm. 122-34 ………………………………………………………. 40

14. In Terra Pax , mm. 53-54 ………………………………………………………… 41

15. In Terra Pax , m. 57 ……………………………………………………………… 41

16. In Terra Pax , m. 61-63 …………………………………………………………… 42

17. In Terra Pax , mm. 149-52 ……………………………………………………….. 42

18. In Terra Pax , mm. 148-49, 51-64, 74-76 ………………………………………… 43

19. In Terra Pax , First Four Melodic Motives ……………………………………….. 45

ix x

20. In Terra Pax , Comparison of Bell Motive and Baritone Motives ………………... 47

21. In Terra Pax , mm. 77-78, 93-97 ……………………………………………….… 49

22. In Terra Pax , mm. 74-76, 169, 228-31, and 232-34 ……………………………… 50

23. In Terra Pax , mm. 71-75 …………………………………………………………. 51

24. In Terra Pax , mm. 4-6, 21-24 …………………………………………………..... 53

25. In Terra Pax , mm. Dissonances 10-13, mm. 16-19 ………………………………. 54

26. In Terra Pax , mm. 16-21 ……………………………………………………….... 55

27. In Terra Pax , mm. 159-65 ……………………………………………………….. 55

28. In Terra Pax , mm. 7-15 ………………………………………………………….. 56

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Composer Herbert Howells once described Gerald Finzi as “one of the finest music brains in Europe.” 1 Although his output is small, each composition is carefully constructed; and

although his style is conservative in comparison to his contemporaries, every work is skillfully

crafted. His compositions, including orchestral works, songs, and choral pieces are all steeped in

the English Romanticism of the late nineteenth through early twentieth century. They are rich

with imagery and tend toward a melancholic style, and, while they portray a particularly

haunting worldview of the ephemeral nature of life, they are tempered by a characteristically

English restraint and pastoral sensibility. It is particularly within the vocal works that Finzi’s

significance as a composer is exhibited. His gift for choosing and setting texts is, by some

scholars’ accounts, matchless, and his brilliant sense of pacing heightens the dramatic element of

each composition.

Gerald Finzi’s music is frequently compared by musicologists to the music of Vaughan

Williams, Elgar, Howells, and Holst. The merits of his association with this distinguished list of

the preeminent English composers of the twentieth century might alone justify Finzi’s music as

worthy of study. However, a detailed analysis of his compositional style—specifically regarding

his sensitivity to text/music relationships—will further validate Finzi’s rank and pedigree.

1 John C. Dressler, Gerald Finzi – A Bio-bibliography (Westport, CT: Faber and Faber Limited, 1997), 14.

1 2

Examples taken from a variety of his choral compositions will be used to illustrate his compositional style, especially regarding text/music relationships.

Many consider Finzi’s best and most representative choral/orchestral work to be his final composition, In Terra Pax . It was premiered on BBC Radio on 27 February 1955 in its original orchestration; the premiere of its second orchestration occurred on 6 September 1956 at the

Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester with Finzi conducting, just a few weeks before he died.

Although Finzi was not a boastful person, he was proud of the work and believed it was worthy of special consideration; he even invited his close friend and mentor, Ralph Vaughan Williams, to hear it performed at the Three Choirs Festival. By examining this piece, and by considering

Finzi’s biography and the most significant influences in his life, it will be possible to assess

Finzi’s compositional skills and significance among the elite of the English Romantic school.

CHAPTER TWO

GERALD FINZI – A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Early Years

Gerald Raphael Finzi was born on 14 July 1901 in London, England to parents of mixed heritage. His father, John Abraham (Jack) Finzi, was a noted entomologist and reasonably successful shipbroker; he was Jewish of Italian and Portuguese ancestry. Gerald’s mother, Eliza

Emma (Lizzie) Finzi, née Leverson, was of German descent. Despite this rich and diverse heritage, Gerald abandoned all of it—Italian, Portuguese, German and Jewish—and set out to create his own identity singularly as an Englishman. His closest friend, composer Howard

Ferguson, hadn’t even known of Finzi’s Jewish heritage until after Gerald had passed away.

Finzi was the youngest of five children; he had three brothers and a sister. His wife Joy said that he had been “an unwanted addition to an upper-floor nursery and not welcomed by his sister and brothers.” 2 In 1908 Gerald’s father died of cancer of the roof of the mouth. The disease

was horribly disfiguring and compounded by a failed operation to remove his right eye and part

of his upper jaw; from the age of five until his father died (about two years), Gerald would have

known his father to have a distorted and discolored face. His mother was left to rear him and his

four siblings.

2 Stephen Banfield, Gerald Finzi – An English Composer (London: Faber and Faber, 1998), 10.

3 4

Tragic events continued to plague the family. Gerald’s three brothers predeceased him while he was still young; the first, Douglas, died of pneumonia contracted while at Bradford

College in 1912, the second, Felix, committed suicide in India in 1913, and the third, Edgar, died in action in 1918.

At the outbreak of the war in 1914, Mrs. Finzi moved the family to Harrogate in Northern

England. There, Finzi felt extremely isolated living with a sister whom he disliked and a mother whom he held in low regard and from whom he felt alienated. Yet this move proved fatefully positive; he began studying music seriously there. He worked first with Ernest Farrar from 1914 to 1916. An important figure in Finzi’s musical and personal growth, Farrar had studied with

Charles Villiers Stanford and was the first to introduce Gerald to the music of Vaughan

Williams. Gerald was instantly engaged, and through Vaughan Williams’ music an immediate link to some of the greatest of the English Romantics was irrevocably established. Farrar was young and had a vibrant romantic spirit. He enjoyed walking with his students across the

Yorkshire countryside, 3 a pastime that Finzi would retain throughout his life.

Farrar was a father figure to Finzi. When he died while serving in the military in 1918,

Gerald was devastated; he had already experienced the deaths of his father and three brothers.

Consequently, Finzi became more introverted and turned to literature and poetry to further

isolate and buffer himself from the cumulative pain of these losses. Even at this young age,

English literature and the tragedies he had faced as a child were shaping his worldview.

After Farrar had been called up for military duty, Finzi went with his mother to meet with

Stanford to discuss the possibilities of a career in music. Although it is unclear why, Finzi did

not impress Stanford and was sent away discouraged. Unsure of what to do next, the Finzi’s

3 Kathleen E. Robinson, “A Critical Study of Word/Music Correspondences in the Choral Works of Gerald Finzi” (Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1994), 16.

5 traveled to see Farrar, who recommended Gerald begin studies with Edward Bairstow, organist of York Minster.

Finzi studied with Bairstow from 1917 through 1922. He was much stricter than Farrar had been, and Finzi did not enjoy the fatherly relationship with Bairstow that he once shared with Farrar. Still, Finzi learned much. For example, Bairstow was enamored with the music of

Brahms and shared this admiration with Finzi. Bairstow’s opinions on the topic of text/music relationships, however, were perhaps the most significant influences on Finzi’s own philosophies on composition. Bairstow had co-authored a text relating singing and speech titled Singing

Learned from Speech. 4 Bairstow taught that the words were written before the music and therefore inspired it, that the music then “should not merely be put on to the words but pervade them.” 5 Bairstow was also single-minded in his philosophy that setting only one note per syllable was the ideal for English song. He believed that syllabic settings were the most communicative and lent the music a conversational manner.

In 1925, now a young man in his early twenties, Finzi returned to London on the advice

of Sir Adrian Boult to study with Reginald Owen Morris at the Royal Academy of Music. Morris

was a specialist in sixteenth-century counterpoint. Finzi became a student at the Academy and

later taught there as well. Formative studies with Farrar, Bairstow, and Morris were pivotal; all

three had studied under Charles Stanford, thus placing Finzi in direct lineage of the masters of

the English Romantic school. While in London he developed friendships and professional

relationships with a who’s who of English Romanticism including Arthur Bliss, Howard

4 Banfield, 10.

5 Curtis Scheib, Gerald Finzi’s Songs for Baritone on Texts by Thomas Hardy (D.M.A. diss., West Virginia University, 1999), 13.

Ferguson, Robin Milford, Edmund Rubbra, Gustav Holst, Edward Elgar, and Vaughan Williams, among many others. All of these musicians influenced Gerald to varying degrees. Holst assisted

Finzi with issues regarding orchestration, and Vaughan Williams was a particularly close, life- long mentor and friend. Ferguson was also a student at the Royal Academy and quickly became

Finzi’s closest friend; they got together often to attend concerts, discuss musical issues, play through compositions, offer musical feedback on each other’s work, or simply to enjoy each other’s company.

Middle Years

During his time in London Finzi often retreated to the English countryside and embarked on long walks for reflection and solitude, leaving for days at a time with little more than a walking stick, a toothbrush, a clean shirt, and some volumes of poetry. 6 On one such journey he

met Joyce (Joy) Black, who would become his wife. Those closest to Finzi describe this as being

one of the most important events in the composer’s life. Joy’s temperament complemented that

of her future husband’s exceptionally well, and she possessed a quality that counterbalanced both

his boyish exuberance and his much-too-adult sense of exigency. Her “liberating warmth and

practical efficiency eased his way.” 7 She was an artist studying sculpture and pottery at the

Central School of Art and Design in London as well as being an amateur violinist and pianist.

And, from a practical standpoint, she created a perfect home for Gerald to work in and allowed him the opportunity to focus primarily on artistic pursuits.

6 Howard Ferguson, “A Biographical Study of Gerald Finzi,” in Gerald Finzi – A Bio- Bibliography by John Dressler (Westport, CT: Faber and Faber Limited, 1997), 4.

7 Diana McVeagh, “Finzi, Gerald,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . 2 nd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 2001,) Vol. 8.

Despite his appreciation of artistic opportunities in London, his love of the countryside

never left him. In 1937 he and Joy moved out of London and settled in Beech Knoll, Aldebourne,

a small village in Wiltshire. This move was ideal. Finzi was free to engage in many of his great

loves including reading and studying poetry, composing, walking, and his rather unique hobby of

growing (and thus preserving) rare varietals of apples.

Shortly afterward moving to Beech Knoll, Finzi formed an instrumental ensemble called

the Newbury String Players. It was small orchestra comprising mainly amateur musicians. The

war had brought about a temporary end to normal concert giving, so the group was valuable in

filling this gap. He took the Newbury String Players to villages and churches throughout the

surrounding area, performing for many audiences who had never heard a live orchestra. The

Newbury String Players also gave Finzi an important creative outlet and an opportunity to

experiment with his own musical ideas.

Finzi read voraciously and collected volumes of poetry and prose. Through literature,

Finzi buffered himself from the pain and emotional isolation of his youth. He found in them

“companion minds in other times.” 8 By the end of his life Finzi’s personal library exceeded three thousand volumes, a far greater number than his collection of musical scores. He was an advocate especially of English poetry; he collected, promoted, read, and set to music poets including Thomas Hardy, Thomas Traherne, William Wordsworth, Robert Bridges, and Richard

Crashaw. Finzi’s love of literature pervaded his musical life as well. Joy said that his “love, knowledge, and response to English poetry was the ever instant spring to his song. . . . His motivation in reading poetry was never utilitarian, i.e. seeking to find suitable texts for musical setting, but rather, quite simply, because he loved it. In fact English poetry was his deepest and

8 Robinson, 34.

8 most abiding interest.” 9 Poets such as Wordsworth and Traherne resonated with Finzi because

they shared a sense of the wonderment of childhood and a feeling of regret over a child’s loss of

innocence. 10 Finzi also had an affinity for Bridges, who also collaborated with Parry and

Stanford.

As did literature, tragic events in Finzi’s life also shaped his worldview. The deaths of his father and brothers left Finzi alone with a sister and mother from whom he felt distant. Even

Finzi’s first teacher, perhaps his most significant male role model, was killed in 1918 near the end of the war. Finzi’s outlook on the world and his place within it was irreversibly affected by these events. The war was especially upsetting to Finzi; he was a pacifist and an agnostic, and although he did not claim his Jewish heritage, Hitler’s actions caused him tremendous grief.

Despite prevalent agony and isolation, Finzi delighted in unity and concord among people. One of his great joys was that people of diverse ideologies could set aside their differences when listening to or playing music, and experience a sense of communion. He said,

“I did rejoice to think that agnostics, Roman Catholics, Anglo-Christians, Jews . . . were all gathered together, seeing a beautiful sight, listening to decent music . . . with all their ridiculous differences dropped for at least an hour.” 11

Final Years

In 1951 Gerald was diagnosed with a form of Hodgkin’s Disease and was given at most

ten years to live. He and his wife chose to tell no one of his condition outside the immediate

9 Andrew Burn, “Quiet Composure,” Country Life (July 16, 1987): 118.

10 Robinson, 46.

11 Ibid., 49.

9 family, except for a few close friends. This guardedness was a way of buffering himself from the reaction he anticipated from friends and colleagues. That is, he felt an urgency to compose as much as possible during his remaining years, and he feared his friends would treat him differently and inhibit his productivity if they knew of his medical prognosis. This feeling of urgency plagued him during his illness as it had throughout his life. He simply did not feel he had enough time to say all the things he had to say musically or personally. The pervasive pressure of passing time is one of four central themes that had been ever-present in Finzi’s life and music, along with his sense of the futility of war, his agnosticism, and his awareness of the natural beauty of the world and its indifference to man. 12

In 1941 Finzi documented his exigency in a letter titled Absalom’s Place ; it was written

as his own Heiligenstadt Testament . He wrote, “Some curious force compels us to preserve and

project into the future the essence of our individuality, and, in doing so, to project something of

our age and civilization.” 13 Finzi was commenting on the urgency he felt to continue composing.

He believed compositions were not only for the present age, but also for an age to come.

Following his diagnosis in 1951—and newly reminded that his time was fleeting—Finzi added an appendix to Absalom’s Place that describes the pressure he felt more insistently. In it

he lamented, “I feel I have hardly begun my work.” 14

Fully aware of the limitations and ramifications of his terminal illness, Finzi believed that

only a long life would have permitted him the opportunity to fulfill his artistic objectives. The

“Hardyesque irony of the slow developer’s shortage of time, by which he had always felt

12 Dressler, 14.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

10 pursued” 15 was increasingly at the forefront of his thoughts. Furthermore, because he composed

slowly, some compositions took decades to complete,16 and he recognized that this characteristic

would make it even more difficult to complete his goals.

Finzi was equally aware that his relatively conservative compositional style was not in

vogue and could very likely remain that way. He wrote, “It is likely that new fashions and the

pressing forward of new generations will soon obliterate my small contribution.” 17 Still, he believed that there was value and importance in projecting his art into the future:

I like to think that in each generation may be found a few responsive minds, and for them I should still like the work to be available. To shake hands with a good friend over the centuries is a pleasant thing, and the affection which an individual may retain after his departure is perhaps the only thing which guarantees an ultimate life to his work. 18

His choice to avoid popular musical modernisms alienated him from garnering the critical

acclaim enjoyed by contemporaries Britten and Walton. Somewhat prophetically, however, his

music is now enjoying a revival. Time often fades the qualifier of proximity to the cutting edge

of innovation when considering the inherent value of any composer’s music. Audiences and

performers no longer perceive his music exclusively in relationship to the modernisms of the

early twentieth century, and his work is increasingly being appreciated on its own merit.

In September 1956 Gerald and his wife took a well-documented trip with Ralph and

Ursula Vaughan Williams to Chosen Hill, where several years prior he had heard the peal of

15 Robinson, 423.

16 Jonathan Eric Crutchfield, “A Conductor’s Analysis of Gerald Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality, Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice, and Magnificat. ” (D.M.A. thesis, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1994.), 151.

17 Dressler, 14.

18 Ibid., 14-5.

11 church bells ring in the New Year. Those bells had been the source of musical inspiration for

Finzi’s In Terra Pax , and he had wanted to share their significance with Vaughan Williams. On that trip the foursome was invited to the home of the minister of the church where Gerald had been attending a party when he first heard those bells. The minister’s son was recovering from chicken pox. Finzi was exposed, and with a weakened immune system resulting from the

Hodgkin’s Disease, and having not had the disease as a child, he contracted it and suffered brain inflammation. Gerald Finzi died on 27 September 1956.

Despite the ever-present awareness of his imminent death and being beleaguered by a somewhat ominous and gloomy worldview, Finzi’s personality did not suffer. His son,

Christopher, remembers his father as, “a man of enormous nervous energy, highly sensitive and enthusiastically emphatic,” with an “insatiable curiosity.” 19 Ferguson remembers Gerald for his

“bubbling sense of fun, his humour and his electric nervous energy.” 20

Still, his pessimistic worldview was ubiquitous. Ferguson was acutely aware that

“beneath [Finzi’s] incisive, buoyant exterior lay a deep and fundamental pessimism” and a

“haunted sense that there would never be sufficient time for the completion of what he had it in

him to write.” Ferguson continued, “this thought ran constantly in his mind, like a ground-bass to

his whole existence. So much so that it seemed to colour everything he did and give a peculiar

intensity to everything he experienced.” 21

From this brief biographical survey one can observe the three aforementioned primary

influences on Finzi’s life. The first of these was the influence of the most prominent early

19 Christopher Finzi. Notes, Hymnus Paradisi: Dies Natalis . P. 11.

20 Howard Ferguson, “Gerald Finzi (1901–56),” Music and Letters 38 (1957):134–35.

21 Ibid.

12 twentieth-century English Romantic composers. The second was that his affinity for the English poets of present and past generations gave him a literary voice to match his musical sensibilities.

The mystics such as Traherne and Crashaw allowed him to relate to the spirituality and dramatic nature of faith while maintaining his agnosticism; authors such as Hardy spoke to his innate concern of the transience of life. Finally, the tragic events and losses in his life all affected and impacted his worldview irreversibly: the deaths of his brothers, his father, and his mentor; the estrangement from his mother and sister; and the horrific effects of the first and second World

Wars.

CHAPTER THREE

COMPOSITIONAL TRAITS

The same set of influences found to have been prominent in Finzi’s life also manifest themselves in his compositional style. First, his musical development was unquestionably influenced by the mentorship, tutelage, and friendship of the leaders of the English Romantic school. As previously noted, Finzi’s earliest musical influences include those who had studied with Stanford including Farrar, Bairstow, and Morris. Later the circle of influence would expand to include such prominent musicians as Vaughan Williams, Kenneth Leighton, Howells, Ivor

Gurney, Herbert Sumsion, Elgar, Holst, Britten, Bliss, and Ferguson among others. As an example of Finzi’s place among these composers, Vaughan Williams conducted the 1928 premiere of Finzi’s Violin Concerto at Queen’s Hall. Holst was in attendance at the premiere’s final rehearsal, and afterward he spent the rest of the evening and much of the night helping Finzi revise orchestral parts. Thirty years his senior, Vaughan Williams, in particular, remained a close friend and mentor throughout Finzi’s life. Gerald believed in many of the same issues as did

Vaughan Williams and took over his role as “dissenting lobbyist and spokesperson.” 22 They championed many of the same causes. Considering this shared worldview, and the mentoring relationship Vaughan Williams and Holst had, it is perhaps not coincidental that Finzi’s music also follows the lead of the older masters in its gentle modal shifting, heightened awareness of melody, and pastoral sensibilities.

22 Robinson, 326.

13 14

Second, Finzi’s love of literature manifested itself in his music. He made specific compositional choices to elevate the text. For example, rhythmic devices such as shifting meters accentuate the natural stresses and durations of the spoken word. A broader example of the influence of literature is his particular use of harmony and melody. Harmonic language and melodic line characterize the overarching spirit of the text, yet rarely results in overt pictorial musical depictions. It is this trait that is perhaps central to Finzi’s musical identity—harmonic and melodic language is subtle and pastoral, yet powerful and image-laden.

Diana McVeagh clearly recognizes the significance of these first two sets of influences.

Regarding both she wrote,

Methodically and harmonically Finzi owed something to Elgar and Vaughan Williams; in his spacious choral works his love and knowledge of Parry can be discerned, as well as an occasional flash of Walton. To none of these composers was he in debt for the finesse of his response to English language and imagery, or for his vision of a world unsullied by sophistication or nostalgia. 23

Finally, Finzi’s worldview—tainted especially by the significant losses suffered during his youth and by his pervasive sense of urgency and tragedy—is conveyed through text selection and setting. Although he was an agnostic, Finzi was drawn to the writing of sixteenth and seventeenth century English mystics whose poetry is decidedly spiritual in nature. Analyst

Kathleen Robinson suggests that Finzi related to the child-like sense of wonder and awe with which these poets viewed the world; she also suggests that he might have sought the stability represented by their beliefs as a way of lessening the transience he felt in his own life. 24 David

Urrows believes Finzi’s sacred works are especially compelling in that they have a “pan-

23 McVeagh, 595. 24 Ibid., 23.

15 denominational, even humanistic appeal,” 25 having been written from the perspective of an

agnostic.

Finzi was also attracted to nineteenth- and twentieth-century poets such as Hardy and

Wordsworth. Finzi found Hardy especially to be a kindred spirit whose artistic objectives in

literature were much like his own in music. Hardy’s poetry expresses the same ideological views

as those of Finzi on the fleeting nature of time, the agony over the futility of war, the

agnosticism, and the child-like awe for the earth’s natural beauty. 26

Finzi’s Oeuvre

Finzi’s output is decidedly weighted toward vocal music. His compositional oeuvre of fifty-two works includes seventeen for solo voice and eighteen for choir, so music with text comprises more than two-thirds of his total output. Finzi composed slowly and carefully. Even after the diagnosis of his terminal illness he was careful never to force the completion of a composition. He kept sketches of several compositions in his desk, only bringing one out to add to it if the moment and inspiration seemed ripe. Christopher Finzi reports that some of his father’s compositions took as long as fifteen or twenty years to complete. “He felt that if you had to work on a piece too hard—that it didn’t come easily—that it wasn’t ready.” 27 Finzi’s style remained virtually unchanged over the course of his life, and thus he could return to a composition periodically over the span of several years and have it remain consistent.

25 David Francis Urrows “Gerald Finzi and His Sacred Choral Music.” American Organist 24 (July 1990): 82.

26 Dressler, 14.

27 Crutchfield, 151.

As a result of each composition having a lengthy gestation period, commission work was very difficult—most being time-sensitive—and he wrote few of them. Kathleen Robinson suggests that some of the commissions that he did complete must have been undertaken for financial reasons in order to cover the expenses of sending their children away to school. 28 Lo,

the Full, Final Sacrifice , Op. 26 was one of his commissioned works. It was written in 1946 for

Rev. Walter Hussey of St. Matthew’s in Phillipsville, Northhampton. This particular commission

is significant in that it places Finzi in a very special fraternity of composers. Rev. Hussey also

commissioned Michael Tippett’s Festival Fanfare , Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb , and works by Herbert Howells; later, when Rev. Hussey moved to Chichester Cathedral, he commissioned Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.

Text Setting

Text was always of primary importance to Finzi. In fact, it is this facet of his music that seems to draw the most critical commentary. Ian Partridge described Finzi’s compositions as

“the perfect marriage of words and music,” 29 and Clifford Benson wrote, “Finzi may justifiably be called the English Hugo Wolf. He never set words to music but always music to words.” 30

Scholars and critics have noted that Finzi chose texts that are uncommon and complex, texts that

were by many accounts inherently difficult to set to music. Yet Finzi wrote, “No words were too

fine or too familiar to be inherently unsettable by a composer who wished to identify himself

28 Robinson, 315.

29 Dressler, 17.

30 Ibid., 16.

17 with their substance.” 31 Regarding the texts he set, Finzi declaimed in his spirit of inevitability,

“I don’t think everyone realizes the difference between choosing a text and being chosen by

one.” 32

Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , Op. 26 and God Is Gone Up , from Op. 27 typify Finzi’s careful attention to text. A study of these representative choral works can provide a clearer understanding of the specific compositional techniques used to associate words and music. Both of these compositions are sacred settings for choir and organ. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice is a festival anthem, nearly twenty minutes in length, and God Is Gone Up is five minutes long and is a part of a set of three anthems. Both texts are by seventeenth-century metaphysical poets, neither of whom had their works published until the early twentieth century. Finzi had a tendency to identify with relatively unknown English authors. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice is a text by Richard Crashaw derived from two separate hymns by St. Thomas Aquinas, Adoro Te and Lauda Sion . God Is Gone Up is a meditation on Philippians 2:9 by Edward Taylor. Though sacred texts, it was the merit of the poetry that drew him to them. 33 Certainly, the craft of the

authors and the inherent drama of the text appealed to Finzi.

Finzi used several specific devices for marrying text and music. Among others, he used

employed syllabic text-setting almost exclusively, and he used shifting meters and varying

rhythmic subdivisions (alternating between duple and triple) in an effort to align the music with

the essence of the poetry.

31 McVeagh, 20.

32 Howard Ferguson and Michael Hurd, eds., Letters of Gerald Finzi and Howard Ferguson (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2001), 31.

33 Crutchfield, 156.

Melisma

In keeping with his conviction that all elements of the composition must be subservient to the text, Finzi set almost all text syllabically and used very little repetition. Of course he learned this from Bairstow at an early age, and nearly all of his compositions follow that credo; of his entire oeuvre , there are but a few occurrences where one syllable of text is given more than one note. For example, in Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice only the final “Amen” (mm. 174-81) is set melismatically, and there is no use of melisma at all in God Is Gone Up . By setting the words syllabically Finzi attempted to allow the poetry flow as it would in regular speech. He was also attempting to allow the words to be stated as simply as possible rather than prescribing connotations by the use of melisma or overt pictorial depictions.

Shifting Meters and Rhythmic Subdivision

The opening of God Is Gone Up shows shifting rhythmic subdivision to match natural speech patterns. The phrase “God is gone up with a triumphant shout” features a triplet subdivision that allows the text to flow exactly as if the passage were recited. The use of the triplet figure here has the double benefit of implying a fanfare that perfectly befits this proclamation text:

Example 1. God Is Gone Up , mm. 11-14.

Metrical shifts help the natural declamation of the text. Finzi used them especially well in

Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice in order to help the chorister achieve the natural stresses and accentuation of speech. Bar lines before “Sacrifice,” “which,” “fix’t,” “ransomed,” and “ram” help to clarify points of textual emphasis within the phrase.

Example 2. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , mm. 20-26.

Melody and Melodic Shape

The melodic shape ascribed to a phrase of text is an important element in Finzi’s ability to establish mood and to enhance the meaning of the text. Stephen Varcoe affirms that the text and the melody are inextricably linked, and that the melody seems “an entirely natural extension of the poet’s intentions.” He continues, “We are not forced into a melody where it does not seem appropriate.” 34 In Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice several phrases exemplify this relationship

between text and melody. To name a few, “O soft self wounding Pelican! Whose breast weeps

Balm for wounded man” (mm. 127-29) is an aching and weeping descent by the tenor soloist

over the span of a twelfth. “Come love! Come Lord! And that long day for which I languish”

(mm. 142-45) is represented by a twisting and unsettled melodic line, and “Rich, Royal food!

Bountiful Bread!” (mm. 76-77) is conveyed by voices soaring into their upper register as if the

melody itself represents an overflowing bounty.

While these examples of melodic text representation are to some extent metaphorical,

Finzi was occasionally more literal in his effort to portray a text melodically. For example, an

upward-rising organ pattern (m. 103) accompanies the text “Rise, Royal Sion!” Also, “Stretch all

thy powers” (mm. 106-8) is set to a distinctly stretching melody. See example 3.

Texture

Finzi also used texture to complement the meaning of a text. His choral works are filled

with alternations between homophony and polyphony; unison singing and lush choral harmonies;

solo and choral passages; men’s, women’s, and combined voices; and a cappella and

34 Dressler, 19.

21 accompanied singing. In God Is Gone Up the text “Methinks I see heaven’s sparkling courtiers fly” is set for women’s voices to represent a heavenly band of angels.

Example 3. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , mm. 102-3, 107.

mm. 102-3

m. 107

Example 4. God Is Gone Up , mm. 56-59.

mm. 56-59

Finzi used texture effectively in Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice as well. Treble voices, men’s voices, solo voices, homophony, and polyphony—all sources of achieving different textures—are employed at some point. For example, Finzi symbolized the truly reverent text

“Help Lord, my Faith” (mm. 90-93) by setting this individual and desperate plea in stark unison with a single sustained organ pitch. By way of contrast, the aforementioned final “Amen” is a lush and rewarding eight-part setting.

Harmonic and Melodic Imagery

While the preceding compositional devices directly correlate music and text, some other harmonic and melodic tendencies also distinguish Finzi’s sound and style. Prominent characteristics include large melodic leaps; pedal points; controlled and unresolved use of dissonance; and an emphasis on major and minor seconds, sevenths, and ninths. While they often do not literally depict specific words or phrases, they are all exhaustively used with sensitivity to the general meaning and mood of the text. Further, they serve to unify the composition, clearly identifying it as Finzi-esque. The aforementioned phrase “Stretch all thy powers” ( Lo, the Full,

Final Sacrifice , mm. 106-8) makes use of two such devices. In addition to featuring an angular, wide-leaping, stretching melodic shape, it emphasizes a minor second and spans a minor ninth.

(See example 3.)

The distinctive sound of the minor second and minor ninth in this passage extends beyond a single phrase. It is one of the characteristics that best unify this composition. Lo, the

Full, Final Sacrifice begins in E Phrygian. Flat second and sixth especially provide opportunity for using minor second intervals and give the work an unstable and numinous flavor. By beginning the composition in this mode, Finzi laid the foundation for compositional unity

23 through intervallic relationships; the prevalent use of the minor second particularly serves to create the subtly piquant, but essentially diatonic dissonances characteristic of his palette. The opening phrase of the composition emphasizes this interval and is subsequently used by both organ and voices as a recurring theme throughout the piece; it is found in its original format, or in a slightly modified one, in mm. 1, 3, 9, 17, 20, 26, 159, and 168. In the first statement of this motive, Finzi also uses the pedal tone, E, which serves as a foil to the dissonant intervals above it. In the example below the predominantly step-wise lines create vertical dissonances such as seconds and sevenths.

Example 5. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , mm. 1-2.

Em Dm (2-1) Em7 (3rd inv.) FM7 Am Em F (+4) F M7(add6) Em

Finzi did not use dissonances haphazardly; they are always prepared and carefully

controlled. Measure 6 features the highly dissonant simultaneous occurrence of C, D, D-sharp, E,

and F. When taken out of context, this is an extremely harsh chromatic tetrachord. However,

Finzi carefully prepared and resolved all of these dissonances by use of simple voice leading in a

way that seems justified, functional, and natural in that each line begins and ends consonantly.

Example 6. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , m. 6, beats 3 and 4; and m. 6, complete.

m. 6, pitches sounding on beats 3 and 4

m. 6, complete

Key Structure

Key structure is another important unifying device. While numerous key centers can be identified in Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , most are brief. Finzi had no qualms about starting even short pieces in one key and ending them in another. This harmonic transience is especially fitting for such a mystical text as Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice. After beginning in E Phrygian, Finzi used several key centers before arriving at the recapitulation of an otherwise through-composed formal structure (m. 166). In perhaps his most powerful gesture of unity, Finzi reused Phrygian dissonances in the final cadence of the piece; although the “Amen” coda is in E major, Finzi used

F, D, and C, characteristic of the Phrygian mode in the final cadence.

Example 7. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice , mm. 178-81.

Summary

The most distinctive traits of Finzi’s compositional style all center on the relationship between the words and the music. While this seems a foregone conclusion in the analysis of any vocal composition by any composer, Finzi embraced this concept somewhat more fervently than

most and clung to it as an ideology. He held first the text, and second, the relationship between

music and text, in the highest regard.

Finzi maintained this singular focus throughout the entire compositional process. He

began with the initial step of selecting a text to concur with his worldview. These texts tend to be

melancholic or emphasize the drama of spectacular mysticism in an effort to assuage the

overwhelming tragic spirit that accompanied him all his days. After selecting a text Finzi aligned

the other elements of the compositional process—including melody, rhythm, harmonic imagery

and key structure, and texture—with the text.

This brief analysis of Finzi’s compositional tendencies has demonstrated his multi-

faceted method of realizing his musical ideologies. Finzi used devices such as syllabic text

26 setting and the use of shifting rhythms and subdivisions in an effort to assist the listener in hearing a phrase as a natural extension of speech. He used broader harmonic and melodic brush strokes in order to align the mood of the music with the meaning of the text. By using these compositional devices Finzi was able to achieve a multifaceted relationship between the music and the text and his compositions are layered with, and unified by, literal and figurative imagery.

CHAPTER FOUR

IN TERRA PAX: CHRISTMAS SCENE FOR SOPRANO, BARITONE SOLI, AND CHORUS

“If ever a musical work justified the celebration of the minor masterpiece from the limited pen, that work is the In Terra Pax, ” wrote Stephen Banfield; it is “perfect in its fusion of idea and shape.” 35 By some musicologists’ accounts it is Finzi’s finest composition. Robin

Milford believed it was an especially important composition as it filled the gap in Christmas music between the Christmas carols and the Christmas Oratorio. 36 In Terra Pax is a fifteen- minute-long work for chorus and orchestra and was his final choral/orchestral composition, and the second-to-last piece he wrote. The text is compiled from two sources: Noël: Christmas Eve,

1913 by Robert Bridges, and the account of the angels’ annunciation to the shepherds of the birth of Christ from the Gospel according to St. Luke.

Finzi loved Christmas. The entire season filled him with great joy and familial warmth.

Each year, for the benefit of his sons, he would go to his attic and shout down the chimney as if he were Father Christmas, after which his children would run outside and look up on the roof in a futile attempt to see the fictional character. 37 Christmas Eve was especially magical, and it is

not at all surprising that he was drawn to compose a Christmas work. Through this setting of the

Christmas story Finzi was able to pass along something of his admiration of the season to his

sons and to anyone in a future generation who would hear and perform In Terra Pax .

35 Banfield, 454.

36 Ibid., 455.

37 Ibid., 430.

27 28

Bridges’ Noël: Christmas Eve, 1913 is a narrative poem of a young man who—full of wanderlust—is traveling the English countryside. On his journey he witnesses Christmas Eve descend upon the small villages dotting the terrain. In celebration of the holiday the churches ring out a cacophonous peal of church bells that becomes the soundscape that inspires him to reflect on the “first Christmas of all.” Bridges captured the timeless mysticism of that moment exquisitely, and Finzi immediately and intimately related to the wonder that Bridges’ poem conveyed.

Finzi’s affinity for this text drew on one of his previous personal experiences. As a young man in his early twenties Finzi had had his own powerful Christmas Eve incident quite like the one Bridges described in his poem. As noted earlier in this document, Finzi had been visiting

Chosen Hill in Gloucester—in accordance with his habit of touring the English countryside— during the Christmas season. While attending a party at the home of the sexton the guests all went out into the frosty air at midnight and heard the church bells ringing across Gloucestershire from beside the Severn River to the hill villages of the Cotswolds. Some thirty years later Finzi drew upon memories of this event while writing In Terra Pax .

Finzi began working on In Terra Pax in 1951 just before he was diagnosed with his

terminal illness; it was finished, in its original orchestration, in 1954. Finzi’s health was

deteriorating quickly by this time. He was scoring the composition in the hospital as he prepared

for a splenectomy, facing mortality for the first time. The premiere of the work was given on 27

February 1955. It was later rescored for full orchestra in 1956 and performed in its new version

at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester with Finzi conducting. For the premiere Gerald and

Joy took Ralph and Ursula Vaughan Williams to the very place he had first heard the peal of

Christmas bells ringing out through the countryside and shared with them the story of the piece’s

29 conception. Finzi contracted chicken pox on this trip, and three weeks later he died. The piece that had its genesis in his youth became one of his final significant artistic triumphs.

Given that In Terra Pax is considered by many to be Finzi’s best choral/orchestral composition, and given that his compositional style changed little over the course of his life, an analysis of this work can reveal both representative and exceptional elements of his style. The remainder of this chapter will focus on analysis and discussion of the compositional details of In

Terra Pax from a conductor’s perspective, including aspects of composition such as form, rhythm, melody, motivic unity, and orchestration.

Compositional Techniques

I have described how Finzi made compositional decisions that would relate text and music. Text was of the utmost importance to Finzi; it was his first thought when composing vocal music. All decisions were held to the standard that they serve solely to promote the text and never to undermine it. He believed that it was not his place to make a text better than it already was; rather, he simply attempted to provide music that matched it. To this end compositional decisions such as melody, form, harmony, rhythm, meter, motivic unity, and orchestration all originated from, and were guided by, the text.

As previously noted, Finzi’s drew from two text sources for the libretto of In Terra Pax :

Bridges’ poem and Luke’s gospel text. Bridges—a pacifist like Finzi—wrote his poem in 1913 just before the outbreak of the First World War, and Luke’s gospel dates from the first century

A.D. This combination of ancient and contemporary texts infuses the piece with a sense of timelessness. Further, the narrative component of Bridges’ poem, along with the drama of the

30 annunciation text, combine perfectly to create a new text that is both ageless and inherently mystical.

In order to create one seamless text from the two original sources, Finzi inserted Luke 2:

8-14 in place of the third stanza of Bridges’ poem. The omission of one of the stanzas of

Bridge’s poem was done with deliberation—he originally thought to keep the poetry intact and insert the scripture after the third stanza. After reflection and consultation with Howard

Fergusson (who vehemently favored excluding the third stanza), Finzi decided to omit it.

Perhaps one reason for his decision is that this stanza of Bridges’ poem is quite different from the first, second, and fourth—the tone briefly changes, resulting in a pause in the forward momentum of the narrative. The annunciation text of Luke is much more animated. This result of combining texts is the creation of a single text characterized by a high degree of drama and forward motion and, as a result, better suited for musical composition. Furthermore, by integrating these contemporary and ancient texts Finzi created a timeless and magical new narrative. He subsequently entitled it In Terra Pax—A Christmas Scene . Complete versions of both texts may be found in the appendices at the end of this document.

Form and Orchestration

In Terra Pax is scored for baritone and soprano soloists, chorus, and orchestra. There are two orchestrations: one for full orchestra (with optional trumpets and trombones); and the other for an orchestra of strings, harp, and cymbals (with a note that a pianoforte may be used as an alternative when the harp is not available).

The form of In Terra Pax is a brilliantly simple, essentially through-composed, setting derived—not surprisingly—from the structure of the text. It also features an oratorio-like

31 assignment of vocal forces that reinforces the text’s underlying drama through characterizations of the text. For example, the baritone soloist sings the words from Bridges’ poem; the soprano soloist represents the angel Gabriel; and the chorus serves as both the narrator of the scripture and the “multitude of the heavenly host.” This simple gesture of personification gives the piece a palpable vitality. The text distribution is as follows:

Baritone solo A frosty Christmas Eve when the stars were shining Fared I forth alone where westward falls the hill, And from many a village in the water’d valley Distant music reach’d me peals of bells aringing: The constellated sounds ran sprinkling on earth’s floor As the dark vault above with stars was spangled o’er.

Then sped my thoughts to keep that first Christmas of all When the shepherds watching by their folds ere the dawn Heard music in the fields and marveling could not tell Whether it were angels or the bright stars singing.

Chorus And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,

Soprano solo “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

Chorus And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Baritone solo But to me heard afar it was starry music Angels’ song, comforting as the comfort of Christ When he spake tenderly to his sorrowful flock: The old words came to me by the riches of time Mellow’d and transfigured as I stood on the hill Heark’ning in the aspect of th’ eternal silence

Chorus “and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Finzi—having had his own “frosty Christmas Eve” experience—clearly relates to the narrator in Bridges’ poem. This made it easy to for him to score the text for specific voices. He chose a baritone for the Bridges/Finzi character—representing his own wanderlust and Chosen

Hill experience—and a soprano for the angel Gabriel in Luke’s Gospel. The chorus is used as the narrator and to represent angels in the scripture. Without question Finzi was writing from his own personal experience and intended for his art to imitate his life. The relationships between the text/character assignments and the sectional structure of the piece are shown as follows:

A the Bridges/Finzi character Baritone

B the narrator character Chorus

C the angel character Soprano

D the narrator/heavenly host characters Chorus

E the Bridges/Finzi character Baritone

(F-coda) the heavenly host character Chorus

The orchestra further delineates the form. The work begins with an orchestral introduction that introduces four primary themes. After this, each new sentence of text is separated from the previous sentence by a brief orchestral interlude. For example, the first and second stanzas of Bridges’ poem—each one sentence in length—are separated by a short orchestral interlude. The second stanza of the poem and the subsequent choral declamation are separated by another orchestral interlude, and so on. These brief orchestral statements distinguish segments of text, mark new sections of the form, and provide continuity through motivic unity.

Finzi was not a gifted orchestrator compared with some other composers, but he was well aware of this weakness and did not hesitate to seek the help of friends and colleagues in working through difficult passages. He sought advice from Ferguson, Holst, and Vaughan Williams at various times in his life. Ferguson helped Finzi especially at the beginning of his career and remembers his meetings with Gerald:

He was beset by uncertainty concerning dynamics, marks of articulation, and even slightly differing versions of a phrase. He tended to omit dynamics altogether, until it was pointed out to him that this did not make the life of the performer any easier. He would then agree, rather reluctantly, to a piano here and a forte there, adding under his breath that the performer, if he were any sort of a musician, would instinctively do it like that anyway. 38

38 Dressler, 4.

He also found his work with the Newbury String Players to be valuable in improving his orchestration. Finzi was able to test out his ideas and compositions, and he also had the opportunity to study other composers’ techniques in great detail as he rehearsed and prepared to conduct the group.

Finzi’s general method for composing was to write the melody first with a reduction of accompanying harmonies; orchestration came in the latter stages. The orchestral choices in In

Terra Pax are not particularly innovative. They are wise and effective, however. For example, use of harp and celesta at the opening of the composition instantly creates a wintry atmosphere; the combination of these two instruments implies twinkling stars shining over the frosty countryside.

The following examples also represent Finzi’s thoughtful approach to orchestration. First, in measures 57-58 the harp is used to represent church bells and helps to bring the text “Peals of bells a-ringing” to life. In measure 57 Finzi used rhythmic anticipation to accomplish this task; one half-beat before the baritone sings the phrase, the harp plays octave D’s in such an isolated way as to sound distinctly bell-like. Also, in measure 58, as the baritone sings the word

“ringing,” the harp accompanies him in a way that reinforces the literal meaning of the word; the harps sounds like a bell that is ringing. Finzi’s use of the harp in these measures demonstrates his characteristically effective orchestration. These events are notated in the following example.

Example 8. In Terra Pax , mm. 57-58.

Another example of effective orchestration technique is the use of staccato woodwinds

(mm. 78-81) to create the impression of twinkling stars for the text “Bright stars singing.”

Finally, the text “And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them” (m. 109) is fittingly presented with crashing cymbals and a brass fanfare in the version for full orchestration.

Melisma, Text Repetition, Word Painting, and Use of Imagery

Bairstow taught Finzi to avoid melisma and text repetition entirely, if possible. Finzi agreed that it was generally truer to the text for each word to be set once and for each syllable to be set to one note. Therefore, he generally used melisma and text repetition sparingly. And although he avoided excessive use of overt word painting, he did use imagery as a device that characterized the text through subtler means.

In the case of In Terra Pax , text repetition and melisma are very rarely used; of the entire

fifteen-minute-long work only four words are set melismatically: “singing,” “shone,” “praising,”

and “saying.” The choices to use melisma in these few instances are easily understood in context.

For example, the word “singing” (mm. 78-81) is set melismatically to represent angelic singing.

The melody here is lyrical and enhances the effect. Second, the word “shone” (mm. 117-19) with

its dramatic, high-register crescendi and decresendi is a musical gesture representative of the

36 glowing, brilliant glory of God shining all around the shepherds. See example 9. The words

“praising” (m. 170) and “saying” (mm. 172-73) are set melismatically to represent the fanfare- like introductions of the heavenly host singing “Glory to God in the highest.”

Example 9. In Terra Pax , mm. 116-20.

Text repetition is used only twice in In Terra Pax , for the phrases “Fear not” and “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Finzi’s decisions to reiterate these particular text fragments—like his decisions regarding melisma—are understood in context of the narrative. “Fear not,” (mm. 141-42) is declaimed three times by the Angel Gabriel.

Programmatically, it is easy to imagine that this is a thrice assurance to a very distraught group of shepherds.

Example 10. In Terra Pax , mm. 140-42.

The phrase “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (mm. 174-

201) is treated canonically. The repetition of voices and orchestra here closely resembles the peal of the Chosen Hill bells that inspired the work. As well, this phrase of text is the dramatic pinnacle of this passage from Luke and thus justifies the emphasis that repetition implies.

The final choral phrase of the work, “And on earth peace, good will toward men,” (mm.

244-48) is a re-iterance of the text discussed above. It is only stated once at that point, however, and does not repeat locally. This recurrence functions as a coda, helping to establish large-scale unity, and it immediately precedes an orchestral codetta that distinctly references echoes of church bells dissipating across the floor of the valleys of the English countryside.

Example 11. In Terra Pax , mm. 241-48.

In general, Finzi believed that word painting lacked the degree of subtlety he preferred and seldom used it. Still, there are several examples of direct musical representation of texts or images. The fanfare-like passages listed earlier are clear examples of word painting, as is the pleasing cacophony of voices and instruments that obviously represent the peal of church bells

(mm. 174-201). Another example of word painting is the phrase “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God” (m. 166-71). The chaos of the moment is represented by the triplet figures in the orchestra.

Example 12. In Terra Pax , mm. 166-67.

Also, in the phrase “And they were sore afraid” (mm. 122-34) the fear of the shepherds could be viewed as being represented by the orchestra’s “trembling” low strings and “stammering” upper strings, woodwinds, and brass. Both instrument groups eventually evolve into “fearful” tremolos.

Strings only are used to create this effect in the reduced orchestration.

Example 13. In Terra Pax , mm. 122-34.

The most obvious literal representation of the text is the ringing of church bells. Finzi introduced them in the opening moments of the piece (mm. 1-2) and referenced them throughout the entire work including moments at the work’s climax and closing (mm.174-201 and mm. 252-53 respectively.)

Finzi’s greater skill lay perhaps in his use of musical imagery. This is a subtler, more thoughtful connection between text and music, and is perhaps what set a Finzian melody apart from those by other composers. Consider the following examples of Finzi’s use of imagery.

First, the text “Fared I forth alone where west-ward falls the hill” (m. 53-4) is characterized by its disjunct melodic shape—a zigzag suggestive of a “questing” young wanderer.

Example 14. In Terra Pax , m. 53-4.

Second, for the text “Distant music reach’d me” (m. 57) Finzi represents the “distant music” with a “distant” upper tonic, while “home”—where the music “reached” the narrator—is represented by the lower tonic.

Example 15. In Terra Pax , m. 57.

Also, in measure 62 the height of the “the dark vault above” is depicted by the dominant, D, in

the upper register of the baritone soloist’s range.

Example 16. In Terra Pax , m. 61-63.

Similarly, the assuring proclamation of “Fear not” by the Angel Gabriel is represented by the stability of a repeated dominant-tonic melodic fragment (see example 9). And finally, Finzi distinguishes the “Saviour” and “Lord” (m. 149-52) by featuring the soprano soloist in her triumphant upper register. The dominant-tonic melodic structure here is also a stabilizing gesture, and the key change adds significance to the text “Christ the Lord.”

Example 17. In Terra Pax , mm. 149-52.

Melody and Motivic Unity

Melody was Finzi’s primary musical thought when he began any musical composition.

Howard Ferguson said, “[His] original ideas with vocal music always started with a melodic line

43 following the words. He worked so much from a melodic standpoint that he never realized the harmonic implications,” 39 implying that chromaticisms in the melody often dictated the nature of the harmony. Finzi’s son Christopher witnessed the same procedural hierarchy in his father’s approach to melody. Finzi’s melodies—and the motivic fragments contained within them— served to elevate the text as well as to unify his large-scale works. He never made casual decisions regarding melody; rather, he crafted them carefully so that they would be expressive and fitting within a sound compositional framework.

Some specific melodic gestures characterize Finzi’s style. Conductor David Willcocks suggests that Finzi’s melodies are influenced by Elgar’s trademark leaps of a seventh, 40 although

this interval is not common in In Terra Pax . Certainly, however, large melodic leaps in general

are a trademark of his and are common throughout this piece. Measures 51-64 and 74-76

characterize this trait especially well. Although much of the melody is comprised of step-wise

motion and leaps of a third, intervals spanning between a fourth and an octave are present in all

of the following phrases.

Example 18. In Terra Pax , mm. 50-65, 74-76.

39 Crutchfield, 165.

40 Ibid., 162.

mm. 50-65

mm. 74-76

Some of the signature melodic characteristics found in In Terra Pax include the prominent use of fourths and fifths, and phrase ranges that span an octave. The first four melodic motives presented by the orchestra in the introduction conclusively demonstrate these characteristics. The first motive represents church bells; it is distinguished by two prominent fourths. Following this the orchestra introduces the next motive; it sounds very much like the

Christmas carol “The First Noel” and spans a fourth. The third motive, “A frosty Christmas

Eve,” spans an octave and ends with a prominent fourth; and the fourth motive, which sounds like the carol “Joy to the World,” also spans an octave and ends with a prominent fourth.

Example 19. In Terra Pax , First Four Melodic Motives.

Motive 1: “The Bells” mm. 1-2

Motive 2: “The First Noel” mm. 4-6

Motive 3: “A Frosty Christmas Eve” mm. 16-19

Motive 4: “Joy to the World” mm. 25-28

Motivic unity is one of the strengths of this composition. The clearest example of this is the combining of the first, second, and fourth motives at the climax of the piece (m. 174). Here the simultaneous representation of the peal of church bells and celebration of the heavenly host of angels occurs as well as the confluence of the climaxes of both ancient and contemporary texts. The recapitulation at the dominant, A (m. 201), also features these motives.

The final two melodic statements of the entire work recall the very opening of the composition to form perfect bookends. The choral declamation, “And on earth peace,” is a restatement of the second orchestral motive, and the final notes that are sounded (mm. 252-53) echo the very first orchestral motive. Finzi’s use of motives in this way is a grand gesture of unity that also depicts his view of the narrative. The scene he is setting musically begins and ends in silence with softly ringing church bells heard echoing as if from a great distance.

Additional motivic unity can be seen throughout the work. For example, the music of the second stanza of Bridges’ poem also draws on melodic material from the first stanza so that it is identifiable as a second verse of text, but in no way makes the work seem strophic. Also, the baritone’s vocal motives “Fared I forth alone” and “peals of bells a-ringing” are directly related to one another. Later they develop into “To keep that first Christmas.” These motives can all be traced back to the original orchestral “bell” motive. The shapes of all three resemble an inverted version of the “bell” motive and mimic its characteristic fourths.

Example 20. Comparison of Bell Motive and Baritone Motives.

Bell Motive, mm. 1-2

Inversion of Bell Motive

Baritone Motive 1, m. 53

Baritone Motive 2, m. 58

Baritone Motive 3, mm. 69-71

Rhythm

Another of Finzi’s most distinguishing compositional traits is his particular use of rhythm. Not surprisingly, each of these rhythmic devices is linked to the text. Finzi employs shifting meters and subdivisions to match the natural speech patterns of the poetry; he uses rhythmic cells motivically, and syncopation, anticipation, recitative, and hemiola to give the music an otherworldly feeling.

Mixed meter and shifting subdivisions are the most immediately evident hallmarks of

Finzi’s music. Meters and subdivisions oscillate throughout Finzi’s entire body of work, always creating a text setting that is vibrant and supple. He used these devices primarily to accentuate natural speech patterns and to retain as much of the feeling of the original poetry as possible. In

In Terra Pax the phrases “Whether it were angels or the bright stars singing,” (mm. 77-78) “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,” (mm. 166-70) and “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night,” (mm. 93-97) demonstrate both mixed meter and shifting subdivision exceptionally well.

In all cases, the rhythm of the music precisely matches the rhythm of the spoken word.

Example 21. In Terra Pax , mm. 77-78 and 93-97.

mm. 77-78

mm. 94-97

Finzi uses rhythmic cells in the same way that many composers use melodic cells. In this composition and others, rhythmic cells function as motives and assist with compositional unity.

For example, the simple dotted-eighth, sixteenth, quarter-note rhythm is used throughout. Each of the following phrases features a descending melodic interval, creating an identical rhythmic motive. Finzi is again sensitive to the rhythmic accentuation of text, having the words

“marveling,” “multitude,” “angel’s song,” “comforting,” and “tenderly” sung just as they would be spoken.

Example 22. In Terra Pax , mm. 74-76, 169, 231, 232, and 234.

mm. 74-76

m. 169

m. 228-31

m. 232-34

Following the climax and recapitulation, the final stanza of Bridges’ poem is treated in a quasi-recitative style (mm. 228-34). Finzi used this effect to control the pace of the scene’s dénouement. As described earlier, the use of recitative here also relates this work to the narrative style of an oratorio.

Finally, Finzi’s most effective—yet ethereal—rhythmic trait is his use of anticipation, suspension, syncopation, and hemiola. All four rhythmic devices disrupt temporal stability in such a way as to create a floating, shifting, or otherwise dream-like effect, and the harmonic results of anticipation and syncopation further subvert worldly associations with the composition.

Example 23 typifies Finzi’s use of off-beat rhythms. The effect matches the text perfectly. In In

Terra Pax a timeless wanderer reflects on the “first Christmas of all”—a centuries-old miracle.

Similarly, the Angel Gabriel and the entire host of heaven appear to the shepherds as if in a dream. Finzi captured the wonderment of the two events by using anticipation, suspension, and syncopation to undermine the listener’s awareness of any regular beat pattern or reference to the steady passing of time. Thus he is able to figuratively represent the otherworldly underpinnings of the text. There are several examples of this throughout the work. One of the most effective occurs during the second stanza of Bridges’ poem (mm. 71-75) where he first correlates the modern and ancient scenes. Anticipation, syncopation, and suspension effectively capture the mysticism and distinct timelessness of the scene.

Example 23. In Terra Pax , mm. 71-75.

Hemiola is also used to destabilize static temporal regularity. At the climax of the piece

(m. 174) all of the voices and instruments portray the church’s bell towers ringing their own distinct rhythms. Finzi uses brackets here to identify the superimposed rhythmic groupings and perhaps to convey the reference to antiquity.

Harmony

The final trait that distinguishes Finzi’s music is his approach to harmony. He did not care for the cutting-edge style that was then in vogue and championed by contemporaries like

Britten and Walton. As a consequence, he received less recognition than his contemporaries, and he was even criticized by them for being harmonically conservative. With the passing of time, however, the importance of being au courant has dissipated, and Finzi’s music is being recognized for its own merit by the present generation of conductors, choristers, and audiences.

Harmonically, Finzi’s compositions are related to the English Romantics of the previous generation; the influence of Parry and Vaughan Williams is especially evident. His music is essentially diatonic and tonal. Dissonances, when used, are mild. Willcocks compared Finzi to his more harmonically adventurous contemporaries saying, “Walton broke new ground using harmonic progressions that were more daring. Any real discords in Finzi immediately resolve and they are all prepared for in the classical tradition.” 41

Finzi’s focus was not on harmonic innovation; his creative musical impetus was text and

melody. As previously noted, Howard Ferguson said that harmonic implications were absolutely

secondary to him. Finzi used traditional approaches to harmony and dissonance as a means of

creating tension and representing the text. Rather mild dissonances such as seconds, sevenths,

41 Ibid., 162.

53 and ninths are used; elevenths and thirteenths are used less frequently as dissonant non-chord tones; pedal points foster dissonances above harmonic stability; and non-tonal devices such as modality and mixed-mode serve to infuse an ancient, pastoral quality and make Finzi’s sound distinctly his own.

Finzi never strayed far from the English heritage he sought so vigorously to embrace. The characteristic “sweet” harmonies of thirds and sixths, used by English composers for hundreds of years, remain as an idiosyncrasy that Finzi never abandoned. The thirds and sixths that are found throughout In Terra Pax relate Finzi to Vaughan Williams, Parry, Stanford, and even pioneering

English composers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Note the following examples that demonstrate Finzi’s reliance on thirds and sixths.

Example 24. In Terra Pax , mm. 4-6 and 21-24.

mm. 4-6

mm. 21-24

Although he never shied away from dissonances, Finzi did not use them casually. He created dissonant minor seconds, minor and major sevenths, and minor ninths, most often by having consonant horizontal elements—melodic lines and chord progressions—create vertical dissonances. Techniques such as contrary or oblique motion are especially effective in creating the gentle tension and release that characterizes his style. The following examples demonstrate

Finzi’s use of these dissonances.

Example 25. In Terra Pax , Dissonances mm. 10-13, 16-19.

Triads moving independently of the bass line to create vertical dissonances, mm. 10-13

Oblique motion to create vertical dissonances, mm. 16-19

Pedal points also allow dissonances within the context of a solid harmonic foundation. By using pedal points Finzi allowed independent melodic lines to play against one another. The following passages demonstrate Finzi’s use of pedal points in In Terra Pax . Tension and release is created above the pedal tone in measures 16-21.

Example 26. In Terra Pax , mm. 16-20.

As well, the use of mixed mode, modality, and Vaughan Williamsesque pandiatonicism

help to paint a timeless scene. By using modal flourishes—much in the way Vaughan Williams

did—Finzi transports the listener to a pastoral and antiquated setting. Finzi used this subtle

device to reinforce the imagery of In Terra Pax . The phrase “Lying in a manger” (mm. 160-62) exemplifies the use of mixed mode and the Vaughan Williams style of pandiatonicism.

Example 27. In Terra Pax , mm. 159-65.

Finally, in the first measures of this work the initial harmonic progression reveals Finzi’s fresh harmonic approach amid an essentially traditional harmonic sequence. The first eight measures clearly establish the opening key of D major. The first chromaticisms of the piece are introduced in measure 9. Finzi prepared a modulation to the mediant key of F major but instead used this F major chord to begin a series of dominant (or dominant-substitute) fifths: F major is

V of B-flat, B-flat is flat II of A (and also flat VI of D minor), and A is V of D minor.

The independent bass line—above which triads work out the harmonic sequence—acts as a foil that produces a series of first- and third-inversion chords. These chords inherently produce the intervallic structures that often characterize Finzi’s sound—minor and major seconds, sevenths, and ninths. Measures 9-15 depict this procedure of triads above an independently moving bass line; this creates the following second-, seventh-, and ninth-rich chords. See example 28.

Example 28. In Terra Pax , mm. 7-16.

F(1st inv.) G (m7, 2-1 sus) F(M7Aug,) Bb (M7) A(m7)

A (m7) C (2nd inv.) G(m7) A (2nd inv.)

These techniques—including the use of thirds and sixths, the use of modality (i.e., D

Phrygian, example 26, measure 17), and subtle dissonances—are especially effective in that they confirm Finzi’s skill in harmonic composition. They also relate him to his heritage of the English

Romantic composers who greatly influenced his style. Finally, these harmonic usages are critically effective in establishing the appropriate mood and sonic imagery that is fitting for this text.

Summary

Having considered all of the devices used by Finzi in In Terra Pax , there remains a notable and intangible significance to the composition. These analyses reveal only a part of that which infuses meaning into In Terra Pax . Banfield states that the work is unusually direct and universal in its ability to communicate. He further states that,

The point of In Terra Pax is not how it unifies the thematic material but how it unites all its feelings and images and familiar events into one simple, shapely musical narrative that anyone can grasp . . . It partakes of some of the greatness of Bach and Handel in Christmas music . . . [and] it has an extraordinary quality of openness and empathy. 42

It was Finzi’s considerable ability to find musical vocabulary to match the text, to associate it with non-musical imagery, and to do so in a way that is appealing and compelling to audiences and performers that makes his music unique and powerful.

42 Banfield, 457.

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSIONS

Gerald Finzi can be considered to be one the notable English composers of the past century. His greatest skill that distinguishes him as a composer was his ability to find the musical vocabulary that matches the text.

But Finzi had two counts against him that has led his music to be lesser known than that by his contemporaries. First, he worked slowly and carefully, died young, and was far less prolific than contemporaries such as Vaughan Williams. Second, Finzi did not strive to be fashionable, and he shunned “modern” harmonic trends that might have garnered him greater recognition. However, a new generation of musicians and audiences are being increasingly exposed to Finzi’s music in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, and North America. These audiences are enjoying the compositions and judging them on their own merit, not against the benchmarks of quantity or trend.

Many who have come to appreciate Finzi’s music—whether in this generation or in generations past—find in it a unique voice. They have been struck by a certain numinous quality about the music and a special way in which the words come to life. Finzi seemed to acknowledge and revere an inherent intangibility about both music and words; he was of the opinion that it was extremely difficult—if not fully impossible—to convey a text’s complete meaning in a musical setting. Christopher Finzi said that his father “felt that the most important things you couldn’t write down, anyway. I think that sometimes he would over-mark things and that would make things exaggerated. I think it’s the same way with Elgar. In the end, there is usually too

58 59 much over-performing.” 43 For Finzi, both the music and the words seemed to transcend the very symbols that represented them.

Yet Finzi did believe in the intrinsic value and worth of both words and music, and he endeavored to elevate and honor both when he wrote choral and vocal music. He did not believe it was his position to make a text better simply by adding music to it. Rather, he believed that music could complement a text. The resultant connection between music and words in his choral and vocal music are what many regard as the best characteristic of Finzi’s compositions; they are known for the artistry of the craft of setting words to music.

By studying Finzi’s life, and the people and events that had an impact on it, some clear currents can be identified. First, Finzi’s affinity for “all things English” pervaded his personal and his private life. He renounced his Jewish-Italian heritage and relentlessly pursued a life as an

Anglophile. He also traveled throughout the English countryside and sought to study and promote the musical and literary works of lesser-known English artists. As well, he aligned himself with the most notable of English composers including Parry, Vaughan Williams, and

Holst. Second, Finzi read voraciously and had a deep love of literature. He gravitated to English authors, especially those who were lesser known or those who shared his worldview and his sense of mysticism. Third, the tragic losses in Finzi’s life—his father, his brothers, and his mentors and friends—haunted him and established a rather tragic view of life and his place within it.

By describing the specific compositional devices that Finzi used, one can see that the same key factors that influenced his life and personal development so greatly also spilled over to influence his musical decisions. English composers and English authors guided his style and

43 Crutchfield, 156.

60 musical choices either by lineage, inspiration, or direct input. All of Finzi’s earliest music teachers had been either taught or influenced by Parry and the other teachers of English

Romantic style at the Royal Academy of Music. As well, the musical vocabulary of contemporaries Vaughan Williams and Holst can frequently be found in Finzi’s construction of a melody or intervallic relationships, or in his use of modal harmonies. Further, his choices of texts for the compositions always align with his appreciation for the drama and fervor of mysticism and spirituality and his tragic worldview. Finally, the compositional techniques always serve to complement the texts.

In Terra Pax is representative of Finzi’s musical style. It is one of his finest compositions, and as such is worthy of critical study. In this document it has been described that

Finzi related Robert Bridges poem to both Luke’s account of the annunciation and his own experience in Chosen Hill. Also described was the specific compositional decisions that Finzi made in his effort to clearly declaim the text and capture the timeless allure of Christmas.

Outwardly simple choices such as shifting meters, subdivisions, or hemiola and anticipation allow the text to be declaimed effortlessly. In addition, the use of subtle harmonic dissonances, pandiatonicisms, and mixed mode infuse the composition with a pastoral and even transcendental quality befitting the text. In Terra Pax , and the rest of Finzi’s music, will continue to be performed and admired and recognized as being noteworthy. The artistry of his compositions and the seeming effortlessness with which he brings a text to life will continue to captivate performers and audiences for many generations to come.

APPENDIX A—Noël: Christmas Eve, 1913, by Robert Bridges

Noël: Christmas Eve, 1913

A frosty Christmas Eve when the stars were shining Fared I forth alone where westward falls the hill, And from many a village in the water’d valley Distant music reach’d me peals of bells aringing: The constellated sounds ran sprinkling on earth’s floor As the dark vault above with stars was spangled o’er.

Now blessed be the towers that crown England so fair That stand up strong in prayer unto God for our souls Blessed be their founders (said I) an’ our country folk Who are ringing for Christ in the belfries tonight With arms lifted to clutch the rattling ropes that race Into the dark above and the mad romping din.

But to me heard afar

61 62

it was starry music Angels’ song, comforting as the comfort of Christ When he spake tenderly to his sorrowful flock: The old words came to me by the riches of time Mellow’d and transfigured as I stood on the hill Heark’ning in the aspect of th’ eternal silence

APPENDIX B—THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE II: 8-14

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the

Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising

God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

APPENDIX C—SELECTED FINZI TIMELINE AND RELEVANT DATES

1901 Born in London, 14 July 1901

1915 During World War I the Finzi family settles in Harrogate; begins studies with Farrar

1917 1917-22 studies Bairstow

1923 Moves to Painswick in Gloucestershire

1925 Studies counterpoint with RO Morris Moves to London; begins friendships and acquaintances with Ferguson, Rubbra, Vaughan Williams, Holst, and Bliss

1930 Teaches at the Royal Academy of Music until 1933

1933 Marries the artist Joyce Black; Ralph and Adeline Vaughan Williams as witnesses Moves to Aldbourne in Wiltshire

1935 First works published by Boosey & Co and Hawkes & Son.

1939 Moves to Church Farm at Ashmansworth, near Newbury World War II begins; cancels of the premiere of Dies natalis at the Three Choirs Festival, a critical performance that could have established Finzi’s career as a composer

1940 Founds and conducts the Newbury String Players

1941 Works for Ministry of War Transport until 1945

1946 Composed Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice ; performed at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford

1951 Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease Composed God is Gone Up

1954 All-Finzi concert at the Festival Hall includes the first London performance of the Composed In Terra Pax , Op.39, for soloists, chorus, strings & percussion; re-scored in 1956

1955 Delivers the Crees lectures at the Royal College of Music on “The Composer’s Use of Words”

1956 Dies at Oxford, 27 September In Terra Pax (rescored version) performed at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester

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