FINZI a Young Man’S Exhortation Till Earth Outwears Oh Fair to See

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The English Song Series • 16 DDD Also available on Naxos 8.570414

Gerald FINZI A Young Man’s Exhortation Till Earth Outwears Oh Fair To See

John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Iain Burnside, Piano

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Gerald Finzi (1901-1956): A Young Man’s Exhortation, Op. 14 But, hush – Earth’s valleys sweet in leisure lie; Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a • Oh Fair to See, Op. 13b And I among them wandering up and down Will taste their berries, like the bird or fly, Gerald Finzi studied with Ernest Farrar, Edward Unusually for Finzi, A Young Man’s Exhortation And of their gleanings make both feast and crown. Bairstow and R.O. Morris. He came to attention with (1926-9) was conceived consciously as a song-cycle The Sun’s eye laughing looks. works like the orchestral miniature A Severn Rhapsody which is divided equally into two parts, each prefaced And Earth accuses none that goes among her stooks. (1923) and a song-cycle to poems by Thomas Hardy By with a quotation from Psalm 90. Part 1: ‘Mane floreat, Footpath and Stile (1921-2). Finzi’s reputation grew et transeat’ (In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth The text of both To Joy and Harvest by Edmund during the 1930s with performances of two groups of up) deals with youth and love, whilst Part II: ‘Vespere Blunden are reproduced by permission of PFD Hardy settings, A Young Man’s Exhortation (1926-9) decidat, induret, et arescat’ (In the evening it is cut http://www.pfd.co.uk on behalf of the Estate of and Earth and Air and Rain (1928-35), and was down, and withereth) looks back on life from the Mrs. Claire Blunden consolidated with the première in 1940 of his cantata perspective of old age. Frank Drew accompanied by Dies Natalis (1925-39). During World War II Finzi Augustus Lowe, gave the first public performance of ¢ Since we loved worked at the Ministry of War Transport and founded a the work on 5th December 1933. Words by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844-1930) fine, mainly amateur orchestra, the Newbury String Finzi must have identified closely with the Players. Two of his most popular works appeared sentiments of the title song, A Young Man’s Since we loved, - (the earth that shook during the war, the Five Bagatelles for clarinet (1920s, Exhortation, since Hardy wrote the poem in his mid- As we kissed, fresh beauty took) – 1941-3), and the Shakespeare settings, Let us garlands twenties when living in London and struggling to gain Love hath been as poets paint, bring (1928-42) (Naxos 8.557644). To the post war recognition as a poet, just as Finzi was trying to do as a Life as heaven is to a saint; years belong the festival anthem Lo, the Full, Final composer in the same city at a similar age. In the final Sacrifice (1946) (Naxos 8.555792), the ceremonial ode stanza the ‘passing preciousness of dreams’ draws from All my joys my hope excel, For St Cecilia (1947) (Naxos 8.557863) and a further Finzi a melodic phrase of tender wistfulness. Ditty is a All my work hath prosper’d well, Hardy song collection Before and After Summer (1932- contented love-song basking in secure diatonic All my songs have happy been, 49), the Clarinet Concerto (1948-9) (8.553566) and harmony which is disturbed just once by a discord at the O my love, my life, my queen. Intimations of Immortality for chorus and orchestra (late word ‘smart’ as an apt musical symbol to the thought, 1936-8, 1949-50). Although the final years of his life unbearable to the poet, that chance circumstances might were lived under the shadow of an incurable illness, he never have brought him and his true love together. completed the Christmas scene In Terra Pax (1951-4) Budmouth Dears, described by Finzi as a ‘storming and the Cello Concerto (1951-5) (Naxos 8.555766). march’, has a swaggering accompaniment that Song-writing is at the heart of Finzi’s output and he brilliantly enhances the portrayal of the handsome made a significant contribution to British twentieth- huzzars eyeing up the young beauties of the town. In century music in this genre, especially the settings of Her Temple the poet imagines creating a lasting Thomas Hardy, his favourite poet, whom he set more memorial to his love. Finzi’s response is a tightly than any other. His volume of Hardy’s Collected Poems organized song bound around three motifs within the was a treasured possession; as he wrote to a friend: ‘If I piano introduction. The Comet at Yell’ham was Encke’s had to be cut off from everything that would be the one Comet which Hardy saw in 1858. It inspired a poem book I should choose’. He felt an empathy with Hardy’s that contrasts the brevity of human life with the aeons of bleak fatalism, his sense of transience, and his anger at the universe’s existence. Finzi mirrors this by evoking the suffering that mankind afflicts on mankind. About the vast night sky in mysterious ethereal music high in Hardy he wrote tellingly: ‘I have always loved him so the piano register with no pulse and austere harmony. much and from earliest days responded, not so much to Briefly the music becomes earthbound as the poet an influence, as to a kinship with him.’ ponders on his own short life, before it rises again to the

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) As I lay in the early sun ™ To Joy stellar heights. Shortening Days is equally evocative as ago. The Market-Girl (1927, revised 1940) was (Tempo commodo) Words by Edmund Charles Blunden (1896-1974) the dappled music of the opening matches Hardy’s intended for possible inclusion in A Young Man’s Words by Edward Shanks (1892-1953) childhood memories of autumn days. In the second Exhortation. It moves swiftly through a variety of Is not this enough for moan stanza Finzi perfectly marries the poet’s description of emotions to its joyful conclusion when love has As I lay in the early sun, To see this babe all motherless – the cider-maker’s arrival by a lumbering processional. triumphed. In I look into my Glass (1936), the poet Stretched in the grass, I thought upon A babe beloved – thrust out all alone At the heart of The Sigh is a question: did the poet’s laments that his heart has not shrunk as thin as his My true love, my dear love, Upon death’s wilderness? beloved harbour love for another man rather than ageing body. The syncopated throbbing of the opening Who has my heart forever Out tears fall, fall, fall – I would weep himself? Finzi, in the piano’s introduction, creates an piano introduction creates the mood of frustrated regret. Who is my happiness when we meet, My blood away to make her warm, equivalent musical image for the woman’s ‘sigh’, It never looks like summer here was composed on 23rd My sorrow when we sever. Who never went on earth one step, which, in varied form, sets the closing lines of each February 1956, Finzi having re-read the poem that She is all fire when I do burn, Nor heard the breath of the strom. stanza, as if analogous to the nagging question that morning decided to set it there and then. The music Gentle when I moody turn, How shall you go, my little child, haunts the man over the years. In Former Beauties the captures the laconic irony of the contrasting images of Brave when I am sad and heavy Alone on that most wintry wild. maidens of Budmouth Dears have become elderly past and present times. At a Lunar Eclipse (1929) was And all laughter when I am merry. ‘market dames’ whose memories of youth are influenced by Holst’s Egdon Heath and was initially And so I lay and dreamed and dreamed, £ Harvest poignantly recalled in a gently lilting dance. The final planned to be part of A Young Man’s Exhortation. The And so the day wheeled on, Words by Edmund Charles Blunden (1896-1974) two songs deal with death itself. Transformations refers evocation of the poet’s opening line is effortless as the While all the birds with thoughts like mine to Hardy’s philosophy that as the dead decay they music emerges in imitative entries from the penumbral Were singing to the sun. So there’s my year, the twelvemonth duly told become alive again in the plants that grow above their depths of the piano to become the crescent arch of the Since last I climbed this brow and gloated round graves. Finzi echoes this in a song of blossoming singer’s melody. It soars seemingly transcending time © Edward Shanks, reprinted by permission of Upon the lands heaped with their wheaten gold, energy within which he weaves a reference to Her and space in the matching of Hardy’s image. Mrs. Susan Bellord and Mrs. Sarah Astell And now again they spread with wealth imbrowned – Temple. In The Dance continued (‘Regret not me’), the Underlying the voice is the persistent tread of the And thriftless I meanwhile, dead man speaks from his grave. The music recalls his accompaniment that leads ineluctably to the ironic What honeycombs have I to take, what sheaves joyful recollections of a life fully lived, as well as vision of mankind at the climax of what is one of ¡ Only the wanderer to pile? resignation, but not regret, as youth gives way to age. Finzi’s finest songs. The set concludes with a gem, Life from Song by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) Finzi composed slowly so that songs that formed laughs onwards written on 18th March 1955, at the Only the wanderer I see some shrivelled fruits upon my tree, his sets (as he preferred to call them) were gathered same period when he was composing his Cello Knows England’s graces, And gladly would self-kindness feign them sweet; over many years, gradually being grouped into suitable Concerto. By this time Finzi knew that his days were Or can anew see clear The bloom smelled heavenly, can these combinations. Consequently at his death some two numbered by an incurable illness and the music is Familiar faces. stragglers be dozen songs had been finished which Howard suffused with a poignancy that seems only too well to The fruit of that bright birth and this wry wheat, Ferguson, together with Finzi’s widow, Joy, and eldest reflect his own situation. And who loves joy as he Can this be from those spires son Christopher, divided into four song sets of which The songs comprising Oh Fair to See, were also That dwells in shadows? Which I, or fancy, saw leap to the spring Till Earth Outwears brings together the remaining published posthumously, and brought together Finzi’s Do not forget me quite, sun’s fires? Hardy settings for high voice. Ferguson accompanied unpublished songs for high voice setting various poets. O Severn meadows. Wilfred Brown at the first performance on 21st They were first performed on 8th November 1965 by I peer, I count, but anxious is not rich, February 1958. David Johnston and Courtney Kenny. Of them, the first © 1966 by Boosey & Co. Ltd. My harvest is not come, the weeds run high; The first song, Let me enjoy the Earth, composed in five are early and the last two belong to the final year of Reproduced by permission of Boosey & Hawkes Even poison-berries, ramping from the ditch the early 1930s for baritone and later transposed, is Finzi’s life. I say ‘I’ll seek her side’ (1929) is a further Music Publishers Ltd. Have stormed the undefended ridges by; warm and relaxed in character. In years defaced (1936), Hardy setting which may have been intended for A What Michaelmass is mine! has a powerful emotional impact, created in part by the Young Man’s Exhortation. It opens dramatically and The fields I sought to serve, for sturdier tillage pine. ubiquitous use of the tiny motif setting the opening defiantly but ends as a lonely lament. Oh fair to see words. At its climax, to the words ‘Till earth outwears’, (1929) setting Christina Rossetti, has the lilt of a folk- the rapt melodic line seems suspended, like the moment song. Finzi wrote As I lay in the early sun, to words by of intense emotion felt by the lovers of the poem long Edward Shanks, when he was twenty; it shows little of 8.570414 14 3 8.570414 570414bk EU&US 17/4/07 2:57 pm Page 4

the mature composer having the charm of Edwardian on his dead child is intensely moving. Harvest, the most Loud children gambolled in the sun: Oh Fair to See Op. 13b drawing-room music and suggesting too the influence extended song of the set, is a fine example of Finzi’s The figure that had once sat there of his teacher Ernest Farrar. Only the wanderer (1925) varied, imaginative treatment of setting words. Finzi set Was missed by none. * ‘I say I’ll seek her side’ was Finzi’s sole setting of the composer and poet Ivor Robert Bridges in the Christmas scene In terra pax, Words by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) Gurney, who from the battlefields of France recalls his then again in Since we loved, his final song, composed a Life laughed and moved on unsubdued, beloved ‘Severn meadows’. At the beginning Finzi month before he died. In retrospect the song might be I saw that Old succumbed to Young: I say “I’ll seek her side appropriately quotes the opening phrases from his both his musical epitaph and a celebration of his ’Twas well. My too regretful mood Ere hindrance interposes;” orchestral Severn Rhapsody composed the previous marriage to the artist Joyce (Joy) Black. With Joy at his Died on my tongue. But eve in midnight closes year. To Joy (1931) and Harvest (1956) set Edmund side all his ‘joys’ had ‘excelled’; all his work had And here I still abide. Blunden with whom Finzi had collaborated on the ode indeed ‘prosper’d well’. For St Cecilia. Both were intended for a Blunden set of When darkness wears I see songs; in the first, Finzi’s response to the poet’s elegy Andrew Burn Her sad eyes in a vision: They ask, “What indecision John Mark Ainsley Detains you, Love, from me? - John Mark Ainsley is a highly versatile concert singer whose international engagements include appearances with the London Symphony under Sir Colin Davis, Rostropovich and Previn, the Concert D’Astrée under Haim, the “The creaking hinge is oiled, London Philharmonic under Norrington, Les Musiciens du Louvre under Minkowski, the Cleveland Orchestra under I have unbarred the backway, Welser-Möst, the Berlin Philharmonic under Haitink and Rattle, the Berlin Staatskapelle under Jordan, the New But you tread not the trackway York Philharmonic under Masur, the Boston Symphony under Ozawa, the San Francisco Symphony under Tate and And shall the thing be spoiled? Norrington, the Vienna Philharmonic under Norrington, Pinnock and Welser-Möst, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Marriner and Langrée, and both the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestre de “Far cockcrows echo shrill, Paris under Giulini. At the 2005 Saito Kinen Festival he appeared in Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder under Ozawa. His discography is extensive, including Handel’s Saul with Gardiner, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Davis, The shadows are abating, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with Haitink and Bach’s Mass in B minor and the Evangelist in the St Matthew Passion with And I am waiting, waiting; Ozawa, L’enfance du Christ, Alexander’s Feast, Acis and Galatea, the Berlioz Requiem and the title rôle in But O, you tarry still!” Monteverdi’s Orfeo. He has made a series of recital records of Schubert, Mozart, Purcell, Grainger, Warlock and Quilter, with a recording of Vaughan Williams’s On Wenlock Edge nominated for a Gramophone Award. Other ( Oh fair to see recordings include the Britten cycles Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, Les Illuminations and Nocturne, Charlie Words by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) in Brigadoon and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. On the operatic stage he has sung Don Ottavio at the Glyndebourne Festival under Sir Simon Rattle, and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival under Claudio Abbado. He has appeared with Oh, fair to see Opera Australia as Tito and Idomeneo, with the Netherlands Opera as the title rôle in Handel’s Samson, with the San Blossom-laden cherry tree, Francisco Opera as Don Ottavio and Jupiter in Semele and at the Munich Festival as Jonathan in Saul and as Orfeo, Arrayed in sunny white; for which he received the Munich Festival Prize. In 2002 he made his début at the Royal Opera House, Covent An April day’s delight, Garden, as Don Ottavio under Mackerras. At the 2003 Salzburg Festival he created the rôle of Der Daemon in the Oh, fair to see! world première of Hans Werner Henze’s L’Upupa, which he reprised at the Teatro Real, Madrid. He returned to Salzburg in 2006 where he sang Soliman in Zaide and Belfiore in La finta giardiniera. He sang The Madwoman in Oh, fair to see Britten’s Curlew River in Frankfurt and his first Pelléas for the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. Fruit-laden cherry tree, With balls of shining red Iain Burnside Decking a leafy head, Iain Burnside enjoys a unique reputation as pianist and broadcaster, forged through his commitment to the song Oh, fair to see! repertoire and his collaborations with leading international singers. Such artists have included Dame Margaret Price, Susan Chilcott, Galina Gorchakova, Adrianne Pieczonka, Amanda Roocroft, Yvonne Kenny and Susan Bickley; David Daniels, John Mark Ainsley, Mark Padmore and Bryn Terfel. He has also worked with some outstanding

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But lonely shepherd souls % “It never looks like summer” younger singers, including Lisa Milne, Sally Matthews, Sarah Connolly, Christopher Maltman, William Dazeley, Who bask amid these knolls “It never looks like summer here Roderick Williams and Jonathan Lemalu. His broadcasting career covers both radio and television. Following on May catch a faery sound On Beeny by the sea.” from his highly popular BBC Radio 3’s Voices programme, he is now presenting a regular weekly programme called On sleepy noontides from the ground: But though she saw its look as drear, Iain Burnside. He continues to present BBC Radio 3’s Voices programme, and has been honoured with a Sony Radio “O not again Summer it seemed to me. Award. His innovative programming led to highly acclaimed recordings comprising songs by Schoenberg with Till Earth outwears Sarah Connolly and Roderick Williams, Debussy with Lisa Milne and Susan Bickley, and Copland with Susan Chilcott. His television involvement includes the Cardiff Singer of the World, Leeds International Piano Shall love like theirs It never looks like summer now Competition and BBC Young Musician of the Year. He has devised concert series for a number of organizations, Suffuse this glen!” Whatever weather’s there; among them Musique et Poésie in Brussels, the acclaimed Century Songs for the Bath Festival, the International But ah, it cannot anyhow, Song Recital Series at London’s South Bank Centre, and the Finzi Friends’ triennial festival of English Song in # The Market-Girl On Beeny or elsewhere! Ludlow. He has given master-classes at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Juilliard School in Nobody took any notice of her as she stood on the New York, and the Canadian Banff Centre. causey kerb, ^ At a Lunar Eclipse All eager to sell her honey and apples and bunches Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea, Gerald Finzi: A Young Man’s Exhortation op. 14 of garden herb; Now steals along upon the Moon’s meek shine And if she had offered to give her wares and herself In even monochrome and curving line Till Earth Outwears op. 19a • Oh Fair to See op. 13b with them too that day, Of imperturbable serenity. Gerald Finzi studierte bei Ernest Farrar, Edward Bairstow Den Mittelpunkt in Finzis Schaffen bilden die Lied- I doubt if a soul would have cared to take a bargain und Reginald Owen Morris. Aufmerksamkeit erregte er kompositionen, die einen bedeutenden Beitrag zur engli- so choice away. How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry zunächst mit Werken wie der Orchesterminiatur A Severn schen Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts auf diesem Gebiet dar- With the torn troubled form I know as thine, Rhapsody (1923) und dem Liederzyklus By Footpath and stellen – insbesondere durch die Vertonungen seines But chancing to trace her sunburnt grace that That profile, placid as a brow divine, Stile (1921/22) nach Gedichten von Thomas Hardy. Das Lieblingsdichters Thomas Hardy, den er häufiger als morning as I passed nigh, With continents of moil and misery? Ansehen des Komponisten wuchs in den dreißiger Jahren jeden anderen herangezogen hat. Sein persönliches I went and I said, “Poor maidy dear! – and will none durch die Aufführung zweier weiterer Lied-Kollektionen Exemplar von Hardys Gesammelten Gedichten war ihm of the people buy?” And can immense Mortality but throw nach Hardy: A Young Man’s Exhortation (1926-29) und ein kostbarer Besitz: „Wenn ich von allem abgeschnitten And so it began; and soon we knew what the end of So small a shade, and Heaven’s high human scheme Earth and Air and Rain (1928-32). Vollends befestigte wäre, dann wäre dies das einzige Buch, für das ich mich it all must be, Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies? sich sein Ruf 1940 mit der Uraufführung der Kantate Dies entscheiden würde,“ schrieb er einem Freund. Er fühlte And I found that though no others had bid, a prize Natalis (1925-39). Während des Zweiten Weltkrieges eine Seelenverwandtschaft mit Hardys frostigem Fatalis- had been won by me. Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show, arbeitete Finzi im Ministerium für Kriegstransport, und er mus, seinem Empfinden der Vergänglichkeit und mit der Nation at war with nation, brains that teem, gründete ein feines, vornehmlich aus Liebhabern beste- Wut über das Leid, mit der die Menschheit die Mensch- $ “I look into my Glass” Heroes, and women fairer than the skies? hendes Orchester, die Newbury String Players. Im Krieg heit peinigt. Finzis Worte: „Ich liebe ihn schon immer und I look into my glass, erschienen zwei seiner beliebtesten Werke: die in den fühlte weniger seinen Einfluss als vielmehr die Ähnlich- And view my wasting skin, & Life laughs onwards zwanziger Jahren begonnenen, 1941/43 abgeschlossenen keit mit ihm,“ sprechen eine deutliche Sprache. And say, “Would God it came to pass Rambling I looked for an old abode Fünf Bagatellen für Klarinette und die Shakespeare-Ver- Ungewöhnlich für Finzis Arbeitsweise ist, dass My heart had shrunk as thin!” Where, years back, one had lived I knew; tonungen Let us garlands bring(1938-40). Nach dem Krie- A Young Man’s Exhortation (1926-9) gleich von vornhe- Its site a dwelling duly showed, ge entstanden der Festhymnus Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice rein als Zyklus entworfen wurde. Dieser gliedert sich in For then, I, undistrest But it was new. (1946), die zeremoniöse Ode For St Cecilia (1947) sowie zwei Teile, denen der Komponist jeweils ein Zitat aus By hearts grown cold to me, eine weitere Sammlung mit Hardy-Liedern Before and Psalm 90 vorangestellt hat. Der erste Teil: Mane floreat, et Could lonely wait my endless rest I went where, not so long ago, After Summer (1932-49), das Klarinettenkonzert (1948-49) transeat („Am Morgen blüht und wächst es“) handelt von With equanimity. The sod had riven two breasts asunder; und die Intimations of Immortality für Chor und Orches- Jugend und Liebe, indessen der zweite aus dem Blickwin- But Time, to make me grieve, Daisies throve gaily there, as though ter (Ende 1936 bis 1938 sowie 1949/50). Finzis letzte Le- kel des Alters auf das Leben zurückschaut: Vespere deci- Part steals, lets part abide; No grave were under. bensjahre waren von einer unheilbaren Krankheit über- dat, induret, et arescat(„Am Abend vergeht es und welkt“). And shakes this fragile frame at eve schattet; dennoch vollendete er noch die Weihnachtssze- Frank Drew wurde bei der öffentlichen Premiere des Wer- With throbbings of noontide. I walked along a terrace where ne In Terra Pax(1951-54) und das Cellokonzert (1951-55). kes am 5. Dezember 1933 von Augustus Lowe begleitet.

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Finzi muss sich sehr mit dem emotionalen Gehalt des zeichnet Finzi das „Seufzen“ der Frau mit einem adäqua- 0 The Dance continued (Regret not me) Till Earth Outwears Titelliedes A Young Man’s Exhortation („Ermahnung ei- ten musikalischen Bild, das in variierter Form am Ende je- Regret not me; Words by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) nes jungen Mannes“) identifiziert haben. Hardy hatte das der Strophe wiederkehrt („aber sie seufzte“) – analog der Beneath the sunny tree Gedicht als Mittzwanziger geschrieben, während er in drängenden Frage, die den Mann über die Jahre hin nicht I lie uncaring, slumbering peacefully. ! Let me enjoy the Earth London um Anerkennung als Dichter rang, und Finzi war loslässt. In Former Beauties („Einstige Schönheiten“) etwa genauso alt, als er kompositorisch Fuß zu fassen ver- sind aus den Mädchen der Budmouth Dears die „Markt- Swift as the light Let me enjoy the earth no less suchte. In der letzten Strophe entlockt die „flüchtige Kost- frauen mittleren Alters“ geworden, deren Jugenderinne- I flew my faery flight; Because the all-enacting Might barkeit der Träume“ Gerald Finzi eine melodische Phra- rungen auf schmerzliche Weise in einem sanft wiegenden Ecstatically I moved, and feared no night. That fashioned forth its loveliness se von zärtlicher Sehnsucht. Ditty ist ein zufriedenes Lie- Tanz erklingen. Die beiden letzten Lieder handeln vom Had other aims than my delight. besliedchen, das sich in diatonischer Gewissheit sonnt. Tode selbst. Transformations spricht von Hardys Philo- I did not know Diese wird nur durch die Dissonanz bei dem Wort „smart“ sophie, wonach die, die verwest sind, in den Pflanzen wie- That heydays fade and go, About my path there flits a Fair, erschüttert: Der dem Dichter unerträgliche Gedanke, es der lebendig werden, die auf ihren Gräbern wachsen. Fin- But deemed that what was would be always so. Who throws me not a word or sign; hätte ein Zufall die Begegnung mit seiner Liebsten ver- zi reflektiert diesen Gedanken in einem Lied voll blühen- I’ll charm me with her ignoring air, hindern können, wird so auf treffende musikalische Wei- der Energie, in das er eine Anspielung auf Her Templeein- I skipped at morn And laud the lips not meant for mine. se symbolisiert. Budmouth Dears („Die Schönen von flicht. In The Dance continued („Bedaure nicht mich“) Between the yellowing corn, Budmouth“) hat Finzi als einen „stürmischen Marsch“ meldet sich der Tote aus seinem Grabe. Die Musik ruft die Thinking it good and glorious to be born. From manuscripts of moving song beschrieben. Die prahlerische Begleitung liefert das glän- heiteren Erinnerungen an ein Leben zurück, das in vollen Inspired by scenes and dreams unknown zende Portrait der hübschen Husaren, die die jungen Zügen genossen wurde, sie spricht aber auch ohne Bedau- I ran at eves I’ll pour out raptures that belong Schönheiten der Stadt in Augenschein nehmen. In Her ern von der Resignation, die das Alter mit sich bringt, Among the piled-up sheaves, To others, as they were my own. Temple („Ihr Tempel“) will der Dichter seiner Liebe ein wenn die Jugend vergeht. Dreaming, ‘I grieve not, therefore nothing grieves’ dauerhaftes Denkmal setzen. Finzi entspricht dieser Finzi komponierte langsam, so dass die Lieder, aus And some day hence, towards Paradise Absicht in einem dicht gefügten Lied, das sich um drei denen seine Sets (wie er gern sagte) bestanden, sich erst Now soon will come And all its blest – if such should be – Motive der Klaviereinleitung dreht. Bei The Comet at im Laufe vieler Jahre formten und nur allmählich die pas- The apple, pear, and plum, I will lift glad, afar-off eyes, Yell’ham handelte es sich um Enckes Komet, den Hardy sende Reihenfolge fanden. Infolgedessen hinterließ er bei And hinds will sing, and autumn insects hum. Though it contain no place for me. 1858 sehen konnte. Dieser Anblick inspirierte ein seinem Tod rund zwei Dutzend Lieder, die Howard Fer- Gedicht, das die Kürze des Menschenlebens den Äonen guson zusammen mit Finzis Witwe Joy und dem ältesten Again you will fare @ In years defaced gegenüberstellt, die das Universum existiert. Finzis Re- Sohn Christopher in vier Sets aufteilte. Dabei enthält die To cider-makings rare, In years defaced and lost, flexion besteht darin, dass er den unermesslichen nächt- Sammlung Till Earth Outwears alle übrig gebliebenen And junketings; but I shall not be there. Two sat here, transport-tossed, lichen Himmel durch mysteriös-ätherische Klänge im Hardy-Vertonungen für hohe Stimme. Ferguson beglei- Lit by a living love hohen Klavierregister beschwört, ohne Puls und einfache tete Wilfred Brown am 21. Februar 1958 bei der Urauf- Yet gaily sing The wilted world knew nothing of: Harmonik. Für kurze Zeit wird die Musik gewissermaßen führung. Until the pewter ring Scared momently irdisch, wenn der Dichter über sein eigenes kurzes Leben Die Kollektion beginnt mit dem warmherzig-ent- Those songs we sang when we went gipsying. By gaingivings, nachdenkt; dann erhebt sie sich wieder zu den Sternen. spannten Let me enjoy the Earth („Lass mich die Erde Then hoping things Nicht minder evokativ sind die Shortening Days („Die genießen“), das in den frühen dreißiger Jahren entstand And lightly dance That could not be... kürzer werdenden Tage“): Die musikalischen Tupfen am und später transponiert wurde. Das 1936 entstandene In Some triple-timed romance Anfang passen zu den Herbsttagen der Kindheit, an die years defaced („Verunstaltet in Jahren“) erzeugt eine In coupled figures, and forget mischance; Of love and us no trace sich Hardy erinnert. In der zweiten Strophe vermählt Fin- mächtige emotionale Wirkung, die zum Teil auf die All- Abides upon the place; zi die poetische Beschreibung von der Ankunft des Apfel- gegenwart des winzigen Motivs zurückgeht, das bei den And mourn not me The sun and shadows wheel, wein-Erzeugers ganz perfekt mit einer schwerfälligen ersten Worten erklingt. Auf dem Höhepunkt „Till earth Beneath the yellowing tree; Season and season sereward steal: Prozession. Im Zentrum von The Sigh („Der Seufzer“) outwears“ („Bis die Erde vergeht“) scheint die begeister- For I shall mind not, slumbering peacefully. Foul days and fair steht die Frage, ob die Frau, die der Dichter liebt, für einen te Melodielinie stehen zu bleiben – wie in dem innigen Here, too, prevail, andern als ihn Gefühle hegt? In der Klaviereinleitung be- emotionalen Moment, den die Liebenden des Gedichts And gust and gale As everywhere. 8.570414 6 11 8.570414 570414bk EU&US 17/4/07 2:57 pm Page 10

7 The Sigh 8 Former Beauties vor so langer Zeit erlebten. The Market-Girl (1927, revi- Kenny uraufgeführt. Die ersten fünf und die letzten zwei Little head against my shoulder, These market-dames, mid-aged, with lips thin-drawn, diert 1940) hätte eventuell in A Young Man’s Exhortati- Titel stammen aus den letzten Lebensjahren des Kompo- Shy at first, then somewhat bolder, And tissues sere, on einfließen sollen. Das Lied durcheilt eine Fülle von nisten. I say „I’ll seek her side“ („Ich sage, ich will an ihre And up-eyed; Are they the ones we loved in years agone, Emotionen, bis im fröhlichen Schluss die Liebe trium- Seite“, 1929) ist eine weitere Hardy-Vertonung, die Till she, with a timid quaver, And courted here? phiert. In I look into my Glass („Ich schaue in mein Glas“) womöglich für A Young Man’s Exhortation gedacht war. Yielded to the kiss I gave her; aus dem Jahre 1936 beklagt der Dichter, dass sein Herz Das Lied beginnt dramatisch und trotzig, endet aber als But, she sighed. Are these the muslined pink young things to whom nicht auch so zusammengeschrumpft ist wie sein altern- einsame Klage. Oh fair to see („Wie schön zu sehen“, We vowed and swore der Körper. Die pochenden Synkopen der Klaviereinlei- 1929) entstand auf einen Text von Christina Rossetti und That there mingled with her feeling In nooks on summer Sundays by the Froom, tung sprechen von Enttäuschung und Bedauern. It never wiegt sich wie ein Volkslied. Als Zwanzigjähriger schrieb Some sad thought she was concealing Or Budmouth shore? looks like summer here („Hier sieht es nie nach Sommer Finzi As I lay in the early sun („Wie ich in der Morgen- It implied. aus“) entstand am 23. Februar 1956: Am selben Morgen sonne liege“) zu Worten von Edward Shanks. Das Stück – Not that she had ceased to love me, Do they remember those gay tunes we trod hatte Finzi das Gedicht wieder einmal gelesen und verrät wenig von dem reifen Komponisten; vielmehr hört None on earth she set above me; Clasped on the green; beschlossen, es auf der Stelle zu vertonen. Die Musik man darin den Charme Edwardischer Salonmusik und den But she sighed. Aye; trod till moonlight set on the beaten sod fängt die lakonische Ironie ein, mit der hier Vergangen- Einfluss von Finzis Lehrer Ernest Farrar. Only the wan- A satin sheen? heit und Gegenwart einander gegenübergestellt sind. At a derer („Nur der Wanderer“, 1925) ist das einzige Stück, She could not disguise a passion, Lunar Eclipse („Bei einer Mondfinsternis“, 1929) ist von in dem Finzi Worte des Komponisten und Dichters Ivor Dread, or doubt, in weakest fasion They must forget, forget! They cannot know Gustav Holsts Egdon Heath beeinflusst und sollte Gurney vertonte, der sich auf den französischen Schlacht- If she tried: What once they were, ursprünglich in A Young Man’s Exhortation aufgenom- feldern seiner geliebten „Severn Meadows“ erinnert. Nothing seemed to hold us sundered, Or memory would transfigure them, and show men werden. Mühelos wird die erste Gedichtzeile Demgemäß zitiert Finzi anfangs die ersten Phrasen seiner Hearts were victors; so I wondered Them always fair. beschworen, während sich die Musik in imitativen Ein- Severn Rhapsody für Orchester, die im Vorjahr entstan- Why she sighed. sätzen aus dem Halbdunkel des tiefen Klavierregisters den war. To Joy (1931) und Harvest (1956) enthalten Tex- 9 Transformations erhebt, um zunehmend den Bogen der Gesangsmelodie te von Edmund Blunden, mit dem Finzi bei der Ode For Afterwards I knew her throughly, Portions of this yew zu formen. Diese scheint in Übereinstimmung mit Har- St Cecilia zusammengearbeitet hatte. Beide Stücke waren And she loved me staunchly, truly, Is a man my grandsire knew, dys Bilderwelt Zeit und Raum zu transzendieren. Unter für einen Set mit Liedern nach Blunden gedacht. Der ers- Till she died; Bosomed here at its foot: der vokalen Linie bewegt sich der kontinuierliche Schritt te Titel ist eine zutiefst bewegende Reaktion auf die Ele- But she never made confession This branch may be his wife, der Begleitung, der zwangsläufig zum Höhepunkt des gie, die der Dichter zum Tode seines Kindes geschrieben Why, at that first sweet concession, A ruddy human life Liedes und seiner ironischen Vision von der Menschheit hat. Harvest („Ernte“), das umfangreichste Lied der She had sighed. Now turned to a green shoot. führt. Nach diesem Lied, das zu Finzis besten Schöpfun- Sammlung Oh Fair to See, liefert ein schönes Beispiel für gen auf dem Gebiet gehört, endet der Set mit dem Juwel den großen Einfallsreichtum, mit dem Finzi Texte ver- It was in our May, remember; These grasses must be made Life laughs onwards („Das Leben lacht weiter“), das Fin- tonte. Worte von Robert Bridges benutzte Gerald Finzi in And though now I near November Of her who often prayed, zi am 18. März 1955 komponierte, während er an seinem der Weihnachtsszene In terra pax und dann wieder in sei- And abide Last century, for repose; Cellokonzert arbeitete. Damals wusste er bereits, dass seinem letzten Lied Since we loved („Da wir uns liebten“), Till my appointed change, unfretting, And the fair girl long ago ne Tage gezählt waren, und die Musik ist von einer Schär- das er einen Monat vor seinem Tode verfasste. Im Rück- Sometimes I sit half regretting Whom I often tried to know fe durchtränkt, die seine eigene Lage nur zu gut wider- blick scheint es ein musikalischer Epitaph und eine Wür- That she sighed. May be entering this rose. spiegeln will. digung seiner Ehe mit der Künstlerin Joyce (Joy) Black Auch die Lieder, aus denen Oh Fair to See besteht, zu sein. Mit Joy an seiner Seite hatte er „joys“ (Freuden) So, they are not underground, wurden posthum publiziert. Darin sind Finzis unveröf- im Übermaß, war all seine Arbeit tatsächlich „wohl gedie- But as nerves and veins abound fentlichte Lieder für hohe Stimme nach Texten verschie- hen.“ In the growths of upper air, dener Dichter zusammengefasst. Die Kollektion wurde Andrew Burn And they feel the sun and rain, am 8. November 1965 von David Johnston und Courtney Deutsche Fassung: Cris Posslac And the energy again That made them what they were!

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A Young Man’s Exhortation Upon that fabric fair 3 Budmouth Dears 4 Her Temple Words by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) “Here is she!” When we lay where Budmouth Beach is, Dear, think not that they will forget you: Seems written everywhere O, the girls were fresh as peaches, – If craftsmanly art should be mine 1 A Young Man’s Exhortation Unto me. With their tall and tossing figures and their eyes I will build up a temple, and set you Call off your eyes from care But to friends and nodding neighbours, of blue and brown! Therein as its shrine. By some determined deftness; put forth joys Fellow-wights in lot and labours, And our hearts would ache with longing Dear as excess without the core that cloys, Who descry the times as I, As we paced from our sing-songing, They may say: “Why a woman such honour?” And charm Life’s lourings fair. No such lucid legend tells With a smart Clink! Clink!up the Esplanade and down. – Be told, “O so sweet was her fame, Where she dwells. That a man heaped this splendour upon her; Exalt and crown the hour They distracted and delayed us None now knows his name.” That girdles us, and fill it with glee, Should I lapse to what I was By the pleasant pranks they played us, Blind glee, excelling aught could ever be, Ere we met; And what marvel, then, if troopers, even of 5 The Comet at Yell’ham Were heedfulness in power. (Such will not be, but because regiments of renown, It bends far over Yell’ham Plain, Some forget On whom flashed those eyes divine, O, And we, from Yell’ham Height, Send up such touching strains Let me feign it) – none would notice Should forget the countersign, O, Stand and regard its fiery train, That limitless recruits from Fancy’s pack That where she I know by rote is As we tore Clink! Clink! back to camp above the town. So soon to swim from sight. Shall rush upon your tongue, and tender back Spread a strange and withering change, All that your soul contains. Like a drying of the wells Do they miss us much, I wonder, It will return long years hence, when For what do we know best? Where she dwells. Now that war has swept us sunder, As now its strange swift shine That a fresh love-leaf crumpled soon will dry, And we roam from where the faces smile to Will fall on Yell’ham; but not then And that men moment after moment die, To feel I might have kissed – where the faces frown? On that sweet form of thine. Of all scope dispossest. Loved as true – And no more behold the features Otherwhere, nor Mine have missed Of the fair fantastic creatures, 6 Shortening Days If I have seen one thing My life through, And no more Clink! Clink! past the parlours The first fire since the summer is lit, and is smoking It is the passing preciousness of dreams; Had I never wandered near her, of the town? into the room: That aspects are within us; and who seems Is a smart severe – severer The sun-rays thread it through, like woof-lines in Most kingly is the King. In the thought that she is nought, Shall we once again there meet them? a loom. Even as I, beyond the dells Falter fond attempts to greet them? Sparrows spurt from the hedge, whom 2 Ditty Where she dwells. Will the gay sling-jacket glow again beside the misgivings appal muslin gown? That winter did not leave last year for ever, after all. Beneath a knap where flown And Devotion droops her glance Will they archly quiz and con us Like shock-headed urchins, spiny-haired, Nestlings play, To recall With a sideway glance upon us, Stand pollard willows, their twigs just bared. Within walls of weathered stone, What bond-servants of Chance While our spurs Clink! Clink! up the Esplanade Far away We are all. and down? Who is this coming with pondering pace, From the files of formal houses, I but found her in that, going Black and ruddy, with white embossed, By the bough the firstling browses, On my errant path unknowing, His eyes being black, and ruddy his face Lives a Sweet: no merchants meet, I did not out-skirt the spot And the marge of his hair like morning frost? No man barters, no man sells That no spot on earth excels – It’s the cider-maker, Where she dwells. Where she dwells! And appletree-shaker, And behind him on wheels, in readiness, His mill, and tubs, and vat, and press.

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The English Song Series • 16 DDD Also available on Naxos 8.570414

Gerald FINZI A Young Man’s Exhortation Till Earth Outwears Oh Fair To See

John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Iain Burnside, Piano

8.570414 16 570414 Inlay USA 16/4/07 10:50 pm Page 1 NAXOS Gerald Finzi made an unrivalled contribution to British twentieth-century song-writing, especially in his settings of Thomas Hardy, his favourite poet. This third and final volume of Finzi songs includes two Hardy settings, A Young Man’s Exhortation and Till Earth Outwears, which share the poet’s preoccupation with the ‘passing preciousness of dreams’, the transience of life

8.570414 and death itself. The posthumously published Oh Fair to see draws on various authors, from Christina Rossetti to Blunden and Bridges. Volumes 1 and 2 of the complete Finzi songs with DDD piano are available on Naxos 8.557644 and 8.557963. 8.570414 THE ENGLISH SONG SERIES • 16 Gerald Playing Time 64:03

FINZI 7

FINZI (1901-1956) 71 04147 47313 A Young Man’s # The Market-Girl 1:52 Exhortation, Op. 14 29:16 $ I look into my Glass 2:13 (Words by Thomas Hardy) Part I: % It never looks like summer 1:17 1 A Young Man’s Exhortation 3:08 ^ At a Lunar Eclipse 3:51 2 Ditty 3:28 & Life laughs onwards 2:09 3 Budmouth Dears 1:58 4 Her Temple 2:08 Oh Fair to See, Op. 13b

5 The Comet at Yell’ham 3:37 * I say ‘I’ll seek her side’ 3 Part II: (Words by Thomas Hardy) 2:46 6 Shortening Days 2:51 ( Oh fair to see (Christina Rossetti) 1:36 www.naxos.com Kommentar auf Deutsch • Made in Canada www.naxos.com/libretti/570414.htm Sung texts may be accessed at Booklet notes and sung texts in English h 7 The Sigh 3:41 ) As I lay in the early sun &

8 Former Beauties 3:06 (Words by Edward Shanks) 1:50 g

9 Transformations 1:42 ¡ Only the wanderer (Ivor Gurney) 1:54 2007 Naxos Rights International Ltd. 0 The Dance continued 3:38 ™ To Joy (Words by Edmund Blunden)3:27 £ Harvest Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a (Words by Edmund Blunden) 4:19 FINZI (Words by Thomas Hardy) ¢ Since we loved ! Let me enjoy the Earth 2:29 (Words by Robert Bridges) 1:26 @ In years defaced 3:38 THE ENGLISH SONG SERIES • 16 John Mark Ainsley, Tenor • Iain Burnside, Piano

Recorded at Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk, England, on 27th and 28th November, 2006 8.570414 Producer and Engineer: Michael Ponder • Booklet Notes: Andrew Burn Publishers: Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd. Cover Painting: Ducks by Lindsay MacArthur (fl.c.1890-1930) (Private Collection/Bridgeman Art Library) NAXOS