's 'The Immortal Hour' Author(s): Robert Lorenz Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 62, No. 940 (Jun. 1, 1921), pp. 412-414 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/908821 Accessed: 22-12-2015 01:39 UTC

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This content downloaded from 138.38.44.95 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:39:59 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 412 THE MUSICAL TIMES-JUNE I 192I

Sundays, but with two provisos, namely, that the who give concerts, but claim that so far as we know L.C.C. should sanction them, and that any profits our committee is unique in possessing the equipment accruing should be handed over for a charitable for giving such concerts with no idea of profit or purpose. As we were only out to pay our way we personal gain. agreed. We were then informed that we would have to pay for the hire of the pianoforte in the hall-the pianoforte sacred to jazz-whether we used it or not RUTLAND BOUGHTON'S 'THE IMMORTAL However, after lengthy correspondence, the council waived this demand. Then we found that the local HOUR' cleaning staff not refused to work on unnaturally ROBERT LORENZ Sunday without extra pay, and even then Mr. BY Ashbrooke had to provide all the programme sellers, On June I8, 1821, Weber's ' Der Freischtitz' was booking-clerk, and the rest of the fersonnel of a performedfor the firsttime at Berlin and fell like a concert-hall. Would the authorities permit us to bomb-shell on a nation saturated with the imbecilities put up our bills on their notice board, place leaflets of current Italian . The moment was well on the counters of their offices,and would they be chosen: the ground was ready. OnAugust 14, 1876, responsible for the advance bookings? Yes, but (to the platformof Bayreuth station was baized to lighten put it mildly) little enthusiasm was displayed in any the footsteps of Kaisers, Kings, Tchaikovsky, and way-the minimum was done to help us. All looked Mr. Joseph Bennett, of the Daily Telegraph. The on with cold, and suspicious eyes, and the L.C.C. moment was well chosen: the ground was ready. hung up our arrangements while, presumably, On August 26, 1914, 'The Immortal Hour' was examining our dossiers at Scotland Yard. performed in the moth-eaten Assembly Rooms of a But we were determined to continue with our mediocre townlet, to the accompaniment of an the project, and realising the importance of starting well imperfect grand pianoforte. Needless to say, was not we decided to engage Mr. Mark Hambourg for moment was not well chosen: the ground our first concert, and for days beforehand huge ready, for on March 31 of the present year the representations of the great pianist's features ponti- same work was performed in the same townlet but fically presided over the pedestrians perambulating (increased in stature and football proficiency, not the pavements. As the hour approached the in understanding) to the accompaniment of a still advance bookings showed that no interest whatever more imperfectgrand pianoforte. was being taken. But this was nothing to go by, and Yet Rutland Boughton's 'Immortal Hour' is indeed on the night itself the audience was large and perhaps the most significant musico-dramatic work shriekinglyenthusiastic. But we charged very small produced anywhere since 'Parsifal,' and in England prices (Is., 2s., and 3s.), and the concert did not pay. for over two hundred years. The audience at the next concert was very much The purpose of the present article is not to smaller, but our overhead charges were not so high, provide a guide to the work nor to do more than as some of the artists generously gave their services touch the fringe of a masterpiece that sooner or later for the cause. Nevertheless, we lost money over will figureprominently in musical history; but to try the whole series. We have no cause for self- to communicate some, at least, of the writer's reproach from the technical point of view. Mr. enthusiasm for a score which has genius stamped on Ashbrooke's skill in using all advertising resources almost every page.* was as amazing as it was admirable. The hall was Rutland Boughton calls his work a -Drama: situated opposite an important station, on the main a complete misnomer to start with, for music-drama road, and the route of several omnibuses. Furthermore was a title coined by Wagner to distinguish his it was in a districtwithout any rival attraction. Yet the mighty synthetic brain-bursts from other peoples' public response was practically nil. Why then did , and conveys to most minds the picture of we fail? Not because we performed good music a huge stage, huge singers, a huge orchestra, and a instead of rubbish. There is plenty of good music huge conductor. Now from the beginning to the which is much more attractive even to the unsophisti- end of the 'Immortal Hour' there is much that is cated proletariat than bad music, as everybody strong, nothing that is huge; or rather, I should say, knows. No ; it was the lack of funds to carry on the that the few attempts at hugeness are the few enterprise and form the habit. The concerts would complete failures of the score. It is indeed not the have paid if we could have continued them, of that I least of Boughton's achievements (and a rare tribute am certain, but it was not for us private individuals to his commonsense) to have steered clear of to do so. At this point we decided the authorities, Wagnerian hugeness without at the same time should come in. They should make themselves becoming pettyand affected like Debussy in 'P6lleas responsible for a dozen concerts at least, so as to give and M61lisande.' I myselfhave crossed out the word matters a fair trial. We have circularised every music-drama in my score and written instead: 'A Borough, and put our machinery at their lovely noise of myriad leaves '-for that is the secret disposal. The next move must come from them. of this music, if indeed its secret can be wrung from It would be better for all concerned if the powers- it in mere words. It is green, it is lovely, and its that-be would cease wasting money on grandiose greenness and loveliness are the greenness and schemes for child education, and spend about a loveliness, not of a highly civilized intellectual cosmos hundredth part on educating and uplifting their but of the very fairest parts of this fair country. parents. One simplycannot conceive the workbeing performed The above article may perhaps give the impression in any country except England or one rich in Anglo- that our energies were confined to these concerts Saxon traditions. I suppose 'Bells of Youth' ring only. This is not so. We have been as far afield as * The has the scheme of the Carnegie and if reasonable chances occur of work been published under Hertford, making United Kingdom Trust by Messrs. Stainer & Bell, to whom I am both ends meet we shall continue our activities. indebted for permission to select a few musical examples. The vocal We are quite aware that we are not the only people score costs I5s.

This content downloaded from 138.38.44.95 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:39:59 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES-JUNE 1 1921 413 in France and Germany, but they certainlydon't ring which is to the clear, limpid air of an English spring like this: day what Wagner's: Ex. i.

f The bells of youth are ring - ing in the Ex.7. dolce. I --,I_ = "I - - _ .

was to the heavy, elder-!aden fragrance of that midsummer's eve in Old Ntirnberg. of the South. gate-ways . But setting aside for a moment these paeans of disjointed praise, let us tryto arrive cooly at the true musical significance of the work; let us try to .: . . . analyse briefly the good and the bad in it. Its I suppose those countries too had 'old, old, far-off supreme technical achievement is the belated days,' but they were certainly quite differentfrom restoration of a genuine vocal line and the these : attainment in the best parts of the music of an Ex. 2. almost perfect balance between the vocal and . :40, orchestral portions. Except where the composer has resorted to frank, straightforwardtunes-set pieces f But this was in the old, old, far - off days, certainly, but tunes that are pure songs and part- songs instead of stagey and choruses--there . are only a few pages where it can be said that the pedestal is either on the stage or in the orchestra. with this 'T'here is, of course, a certain amount of running Ex. 3. orchestral commentary, but it is usually of a very discreet order, and though there are some orchestral themes that must, I suppose, be dubbed 'motives,' f C. a these are as a rule of a vocal rather than a purely fcor. orchestral nature. Here is one of them,which occurs frequentlyand which gives perhaps a better idea of Boughton's creative individuality than any other: Ex. 8. - - just to show how really good they were. Nor can I conceive for a moment that the lordly ones who dwell in the hollow hills of the Rhine are like this : .-- imp Ex. 4. --

If this theme appears to any listener to owe its How - ti- ful the - ones beau they are, . lord ly origin to any musical 'school' past or present I shall be glad to hear of it. It seems the very soul of the work, though I suppose that distinction really who dwell in the hills,.. in the hol - low hills. belongs to the lovely clarinet phrase with which In short, the music I have quoted above and the the score opens, and which must surely strike a music of nine-tenths of the work is English to the sensitive listener by the freshness and originality of core, and could have been writtenonly by one whose its conception : Slow. mind was most subtly attuned to the very essence of E PClar, - what is typical in the meadows, glades, and hedge- ? rows of this cnuntry. By way of contrast, look at this phrase, one of the blots on the score, depicting the fairy-god, Midir : Here.---- is an example of a beautiful vocal phrase which shows an economy of orchestral resource that refuses to overburden the voice, and yet is not in any sense a merely formal accompaniment : Ex. 5. P SSlow. -- - - =-A4 Why did I .. leave it, the Ex. -0- ._. which sounds as if it had come straight out of'the lumber-room of the Berlin Opera House, and then compare it with this, another phrase connected with Midir: Ex. 6. - beauti-fulcoun try :P--_ _ _ _ which seems as if it had been squeezed from the ------4---30-wo -F very sweetest apples of a West Country orchard, and

This content downloaded from 138.38.44.95 on Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:39:59 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 414 THE MUSICAL TIMES-JUNE I 1921

Delightful tunes such as these are scattered all And here a word in season to choral societies. over the work, often cropping up in the most unex- Concert versions of dramatic music are not very pected places. Some are choral, some for solo satisfying,but a society which decided to produce Voices; sometimes they are full-blooded diatonic the whole of this scene at a concert, from the stuff(look at 'Green fires of Joy'); sometimes they beginning of the Act to the entrance of Midir, would are wistfullyinconsequent, as in the well-knownFairy not regret its decision. Nor would its audience. Song ; sometimes a blend of both, as in Midir's song : To sum up: this work will not attract the camp- Ex. II. followers of 'stars' whose estimate of the worth of is based on the number of different __ an opera languages in which it is sung at any given perform- __= -o-= -- = =--_--w--- ance. Nor will it appeal to the out-and-out fanatic I am a bird, a . bird with white wings and a of ultra-modernspankliard dynamics. But thereare, I believe, still a few timid souls who have the temerity to admire the less forcible methods of a Mozart, and sake than for breast of flame, . . sing - ing, sing- ing, who still value music more for its own the success with which it has been made to suggest Often are the of sheer musical like they product joy, totally alien matter. It is to them above all that I the 'Bells of Youth,' than which nothing daintier or commend this score. more infectious has ever from a tripped composer's In conclusion, a hint to those who by reading pen. They have too a delightful leavening of the this article or otherwise have become desirous of which will be the firstmeans of commonplace carrying hearing the work. Translate your desire into action them straight to the heart of a healthy humanity. in touch with the this Are not all the world's most melodies by getting proper person-in joyful just Mr. Rutland Mount Avalon, with this of or case, Boughton, tinged charming quality vulgarity Glastonbury. Don't write him a string of fulsome crowd-feeling? inanities how would love to his The chief adverse criticismmust take the form of saying you hear music if and how will have a only you could, you rather sweeping assertion-due more to lack of children rechristenedEochaidh and Etain if he than to lack of means to it-that your space prove will be the Send him merely a short is not a dramatic but godfather.. Boughton essentially composer practical note : 'I want to hear "The Immortal Hour." pre-eminently a lyric one. The second scene of I live in You come and I'll Act in which and Etain meet for the [say] Biggleswade. I, Eochaidh come.' Then Mr. Boughton, who is nothing if not first and the scene which follows Midir's time, business-like, will slip your name and address in his entrance in Act 2, contain ample evidence of this. 'You come and I'll come' and so the foundation- If I have insisted more than else on the file, anything stone will be laid of a living art movement based on loveliness of the work I do not wish to imply that it the immutable law of and demand. As I lacks and in this there are no finer supply strength, respect write 'The Immortal Hour' is being performed at in the whole score than the scene of pages opening Bournemouth. wanted it there-and said Act where a and Somebody 2, long terrifying monologue so. What Bournemouth has to-day Biggleswade of Eochaidh occurs, based on the persistentrhythmic can have to-morrow if a sufficientnumber of undercurrentof this only strikingphase somebodies will want it-and say so.

OLD ITALIAN MUSIC AT THE BRITISH Ex. - fZ :-' f - MUSEUM 2 The main interestof the old books and manuscripts ------being shown at the British Museum in connection . with the Dante Centenary is, of course, literary. But two cases are reserved for old Italian music, Nothing too could be finerby way of contrast than the of the short answer from Etain which and these hardly got the recognition they deserve. beginning Of the music of Dante's time little is known. We immediately follows: have of the famous Casella, whose song, in Ex. nothing 13. Etain. Dante's words, 'used to still all my longings.' Two poems in the Vatican library bear the inscription, 'and Casella set them to music.' That is all. For I too.. have heard strange de li-cate the rest the musician must go to Boethius and St. and find the bare bones of the music of U _L Augustin, that epoch-no more. But there are in the exhibition ecclesiastical books which may well be connected with Dante. An Antiphonal of the Dominicans, probably the work of the early _ -_ _ - _ -_ - of the /Pmu - - SIC 14th century ; Hymnals Augustinian Convent of San Salvadore de Silva, near Siena ; a Gradual of the 14th century from Vallombrosa -these are exquisite examples of an art with which mu sic Dante was well acquainted. The fine illuminated illustrations are very characteristic of the time, and very beautiful. These rare miniatures,the foliated designs on burnished gold, may well have suggested ' one of the images described in the Divine Comedy.' -----j - But realising the scarcity of the material relating to Dante's time, the authorities of the Museum have

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