August 2020 Vol.22, No. 2 the Elgar Society Journal 37 Mapledene, Kemnal Road, Chislehurst, Kent, BR7 6LX Email: [email protected]
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Journal August 2020 Vol.22, No. 2 The Elgar Society Journal 37 Mapledene, Kemnal Road, Chislehurst, Kent, BR7 6LX Email: [email protected] August 2020 Vol. 22, No. 2 Editorial 3 Sir Adrian Boult CH. 5 President Andrew Neill Sir Mark Elder CH CBE Sir John Barbirolli, CH: An Elgarian Perspective 16 David L. Jones Vice-Presidents Diana McVeagh Elgar - Views From and For the Continent 27 Dame Janet Baker, CH, DBE Christopher Redwood Leonard Slatkin Sir Andrew Davis, CBE Elgar and Dan 30 Christopher Robinson, CVO, CBE Arthur Reynolds Andrew Neill Martyn Brabbins ‘“Gerontius” with M.S. notes by Elgar’: R. J. Buckley’s Vocal Score of 36 Tasmin Little, OBE The Dream of Gerontius in the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the Julian Lloyd Webber University of York Professor Jonathan Wainwright Music Review 58 Chairman Neil Mantle MBE Book Review 61 Vice-Chairman CD Reviews 64 Stuart Freed Recent CD Releases 74 Treasurer Peter Smith 100 Years Ago... 76 Secretary George Smart The Editors do not necessarily agree with the views expressed by contributors, nor does the Elgar Society accept responsibility for such views. Front Cover: Adrian Boult by Jonathan Trowell (loaned by the Bowerman Charitable Trust). Notes for Contributors. Please adhere to these as far as possible if you deliver writing (as is much preferred) in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format. Copyright: it is the contributor’s responsibility to be reasonably sure that copyright permissions, if Editorial required, are obtained. Illustrations (pictures, short music examples) are welcome, but please ensure they are pertinent, cued into the text, and have captions. The Editors have had a policy of not publishing possible solutions to the 'hidden theme' in the The influenza pandemic, colloquially known as ‘Spanish flu’ lasted from spring 1918 to the summer Variations on an Original Theme ('Enigma') or the ‘Dorabella cypher’. of 1919 with a minor recurrence in the spring of 1920. Millions died throughout the world; the exact number is unknown. In Britain the death-toll was about 250,000. The Prime Minister, David Presentation of written text: Lloyd George, caught influenza but recovered. The Elgars were fortunate to escape the scourge, but perhaps this was because they spent a considerable amount of time in these years at Brinkwells, Subheadings: longer articles benefit from judicious use of these. their isolated rural Sussex cottage near Fittleworth which Arnold Bax recalled as: ‘Perched high 1 Dates: use the form 2 June 1857. Decades: 1930s, no apostrophe. and vaguely on a hill, it was approached only by a very rough and sticky cart-track’. Yet Sussex was not immune to the pandemic for, by January 1919, 600 lives had been lost in the county and Plurals: no apostrophe (CDs not CD’s). between January and March a further 157 casualties were recorded in East Sussex alone. The Foreign words: if well established in English (sic, crescendo) in Roman, otherwise italics. Elgars however, were more fortunate in their rural existence than the novelist D.H. Lawrence, who caught influenza in February 1919, while living in a cottage in the small upland village of Numbers: spell out up to and including twenty, then 21 (etc.) in figures. Middelton-by-Wirksworth, Derbyshire and almost died. Quotations: in ‘single quotes’ as standard. Double quotes for quotes within quotes. The current pandemic of Covid-19 has at the time of writing caused over 40,000 deaths in the UK and over 400,000 worldwide. We will all have been affected by the ‘lockdown’ measures Longer quotations in a separate paragraph, not in italic, not in quotes; please leave a blank introduced by the Government and many of us will have lost loved-ones to this dreadful virus. line before and after. Modern technology has perhaps eased the sense of isolation for many, but the long-term implications for our economy and our culture may well be profound. Most executant musicians are currently Emphasis: ensure emphasis is attributed as ‘[original emphasis]’ or ‘[my emphasis]’. unemployed and there is real concern that some of our internationally-respected orchestras and Emphasized text italic. other institutions may not survive. We must all hope that an effective vaccine and/or antiviral References: Please position footnote markers after punctuation – wherever possible at the end of treatment will soon be found in order to bring this outbreak under control. a sentence. Although the consequences of this pandemic are unprecedented, the musical world and orchestras in particular are no strangers to financial disaster and have often had to battle for survival In footnotes, please adhere as far as possible to these forms (more fully expounded in the longer and to ward off impending dissolution. The Times of 28 February 1925 stated: ‘We have seen version of these notes): the oldest of our concert-going institutions, the Royal Philharmonic Society, forced to restrict its Books: Author, Title (Place of publication: Publisher, year of publication), page[s]. Thus: Robert activities to a wretched minimum of half a dozen concerts … in the hope that by a rigid economy Anderson, Elgar (London: Dent, 1993), 199. of means it might be able to produce a respectable balance-sheet … No one knows precisely by Periodicals: Author, ‘Title of article’, Title of periodical, issue number and date sufficient to identify, what means the London Symphony Orchestra … has managed to keep its head above water, but it page[s]. Thus: Michael Allis, ‘Elgar, Lytton, and the Piano Quintet, Op. 84’, Music & Letters, 85 (May is an open secret that its crises have been warded off from time to time by the personal sacrifice of 2004), 198. its members’. Musicians survived the financial storms of the 1920s, and despite the intensity and End a footnote with a full stop, please, and never put a comma before a parenthesis. longevity of the present crisis, maybe there is still room for optimism? However in their joint letter to the Guardian on 10 June, Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Mark Titles that are ‘generic’ in Roman: e.g. Violin Concerto. Others in italics (e.g. Sea Pictures; the Elder stated: ‘We refuse to believe that music will die, but it will not survive merely on energy Musical Times). Units within a longer work in single quotes, e.g. ‘Sanctus fortis’ from The Dream and optimism. It will need support and understanding, particularly when it ventures out in public of Gerontius. once more. The first year of performing with fewer musicians to a much smaller public will be our At the end of the essay, add about a hundred words about the author, please. toughest time, and we will need a helping hand to make it through’. They considered that there was the ‘real possibility of a devastated landscape on the other Full version of the ‘Notes for Contributors’ please see: https://elgarsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Notes-for-Contributors_longer-version_ 1 Arnold Bax, ‘Edward Elgar’, introductory note in the programme for a performance of The Dream of February-2017.pdf Gerontius given on 15 June 1949, as part of the Elgar Festival, London. 2 The Elgar Society Journal Vol.22 No.2 — August 2020 3 side of this; orchestras may not survive.’ insisting that they must find a way to play together and that they ‘badly need clarity from government, a timeline, of when that might be and how it can be implemented’. A letter in The Times on 15 June, signed by Elder and the heads of a host of major orchestras Sir Adrian Boult CH. (1889 – 1983) and opera companies, makes similar points and states ‘We may be left with no more Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Elgar …’. A Times leader on the same day is highly supportive and concludes that ‘…emergency [government] aid in this case is not only justified but vital for the nation’s soul’. Can we have, in Elgar’s words ‘a massive hope in the future’? This year sees important anniversaries connected with two great second-generation Elgarian Andrew Neill conductors. 70 years ago, in April 1950, having lost his role within the BBC, Sir Adrian Boult took up the position of chief conductor with the LPO, and although that lasted only until 1956, his connection with the orchestra continued throughout the remainder of his conducting career. Next year, 2021, is the 70th anniversary of this Society’s formation. No doubt planning is in. Andrew Neill has written about Sir Adrian’s time with the LPO, which is marking this anniversary progress as to how best to celebrate this important event in our country’s musical history but, first, with the issue of five CDs highlighting Boult’s conductorship. He also stresses the significance and there is another anniversary to celebrate. In the autumn of 1950 Sir Adrian Boult advocated the importance of Sir Adrian to this Society. formation of this Society and, at his suggestion, a public meeting was held in the offices of the On 29 July 1970, Sir John Barbirolli died suddenly in London at the age of 70. Beloved Malvern Gazette on 5 December when a provisional committee was appointed: Mr John Tompkins conductor of the Hallé since 1943, his last day was spent rehearsing Britten and Beethoven with was invited to take the chair. The committee was charged to draft a constitution for submission, and the New Philharmonia orchestra, prior to their flying to Japan the following month. Surprisingly at what was minuted as a first annual general meeting on 29 January 1951 the motion ‘to bring the for such a devoted and passionate Elgarian, Sir John was never invited to become a Vice-President Society into existence’ was proposed and passed.