The Continuity and Context of Gerald Finzi's Extended Choral Works

Durham E-Theses Why do I go on doing these things?: The Continuity and Context of Gerald Finzi's Extended Choral Works WEEDON, ROBERT,ANDREW How to cite: WEEDON, ROBERT,ANDREW (2012) Why do I go on doing these things?: The Continuity and Context of Gerald Finzi's Extended Choral Works , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3567/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 R.A. Weedon ‘Why do I go on doing these things?’ The Continuity and Context of Gerald Finzi’s Extended Choral Works. Thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Music, Faculty of Arts, University of Durham, May 2012 ii Abstract iii Introduction 1 Chapter I – Context and biography 4 i. Literature Review ii. Biography iii. Historical context Chapter II – Early works 20 i. Evaluation of the influence of Farrar and Bairstow. ii. Requiem da Camera iii. Other early works and juvenilia Chapter III – Post-war works 50 i. The importance of Dies Natalis ii. Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice and For St Cecilia Chapter IV – Intimations of Immortality 82 i. Context, gestation and text ii. Structures and continuity iii. Influences Chapter V – Late works 114 i. Post-Intimations works ii. In Terra Pax Conclusion 137 Bibliography 141 Appendix - ‘Only a man harrowing clods’ (1923 version) 147 iii Abstract Gerald Finzi’s reputation as one of England’s most respected twentieth-century composers of choral music has continued to grow since his death in 1956. Due to the cost and logistics of performing large-scale works for chorus and orchestra, his settings of English literature for these forces are often obscured behind his output of songs and instrumental works, yet form a backbone to his oeuvre, culminating in Intimations of Immortality and In Terra Pax, the works which arguably offer the greatest summation of his compositional personality. This dissertation will argue that it is only through examination of his large-scale choral output that one can gain a sense of the composer’s development and contextual interests; through these works, Finzi displays some of his finest word setting for both solo and multiple voices, and demonstrates choral writing and orchestral ambition on a par with his contemporaries. It examines these trends through the context in which they were composed, beginning with his 1924 Requiem da Camera and ending with In Terra Pax of 1954, his last completed work, discussing his distinctive signature paradigms and structures, and showing how from inauspicious early works, Finzi developed a distinctive compositional idiom of his own; music which even after a few bars is unmistakably by the composer. It will also examine the era in which Finzi was writing these works, arguing that the composer was perhaps one of the final exponents of a largely nineteenth-century form, perhaps as a result of the influence of his composition teachers, his research into the works of the nineteenth century, particular Parry, and his friendship or knowledge of the work of his contemporaries Ralph Vaughan Williams, as well as earlier Baroque composers. For the sake of categorisation, this dissertation has limited ‘large scale choral works’ to his works of a length beyond that of an anthem and utilising chorus, orchestral or instrumental accompaniment and vocal soloists – works that roughly correspond to the scale of a cantata, oratorio or choral ode. However, to imagine that these works developed independently of the rest of Finzi’s output would be an oversight, and significant works from outside his choral works will be discussed. 1 ‘Why do I go on doing these things?’ The Continuity and Context of Gerald Finzi’s Extended Choral Works. Gerald Finzi’s reputation as one of England’s most respected twentieth-century composers of choral music has continued to grow over the years following his death in 1956. Often considered to be ‘The Poet’s Composer’, the compositional career of Gerald Raphael Finzi (1901-1956) is dotted with many ambitious choral works, almost all of them settings of English literature.1 These act as a backbone to his output, and demonstrate the composer’s interests and personality perhaps to a greater extent than his writing in other genres. During his lifetime, his choral works often found themselves in the shadow of his instrumental works and extensive contribution to the repertoire of English song. In Finzi’s introduction to his catalogue of works, Absalom’s Place, he quotes Thomas Hardy’s poem ‘Why do I go on doing these things’ from Human Shows as an open question as to the musician’s need to compose.2 This sentiment can certainly be applied to his contributions to the large-scale choral genre, which by this point in the history of British music was already a style in decline, and one which the composer knew would not be met with critical approval.3 The popularity of large choral festivals had declined following the two world wars, conflicts which also had an important effect on Finzi, both personally and professionally. Howard Ferguson asserted in a 1996 biographical introduction that ‘Most of Finzi’s immediate public successes were born at the Three Choirs’.4 Indeed, Finzi has often been categorised as simply a ‘Three Choirs composer’, a fair assessment given the number of premieres that took place at this annual event and his continued appreciation at the Festival, 1 Trevor Hold, Parry to Finzi: Twenty English Song Composers (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2002). 398. 2 Gerald Finzi, Absalom’s Place. Preface to Finzi’s catalogue of works, written July 1941. Reprinted in Stephen Banfield, Sensibility and English Song (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985). 277. 3 Gerald Finzi, Programme note to Intimations of Immortality, Gloucester Three Choirs Festival, 5 September 1950. Reprinted in Ralph Jordan (ed.) The Clock of the Years (Lichfield: Chosen Press, 2007). 107. 4 Howard Ferguson, ‘Gerald Finzi’ in Gerald Finzi: A Bio-bibiography. Ed. John C. Dressler (Greenwood Press, 1997). 14. 2 but a phrase that a contemporary, John Russell, writing about the composer in 1954 was quick to dismiss.5 Russell comments that: His style is so different from those of his much-noised contemporaries that he is regarded as a placid backwater off the main stream; as one who (it would seem) almost perversely writes music which is a joy to perform and a pleasure to listen to.6 This dissertation will argue that through examination of Finzi’s large-scale choral output one can gain a sense of the composer’s development and contextual interests in the relationship between poetry and music which bookends the beginning of his compositional maturity through to his final, most personal work; through his choral works, Finzi displays some of his finest word setting for both solo and multiple voices, and demonstrates choral writing and orchestral ambition on a par with his contemporaries. It will examine certain trends arising across Finzi’s large-scale choral works through analysis of his scores, in particular thematic interest and the context in which the works were composed, beginning with early works such as his 1924 Requiem da Camera, his first completed choral work of any great ambition, and ending with his ‘Christmas Scene’ In Terra Pax of 1954, one of his last completed works, and in many respects his most personal summation of his compositional personality. It will examine something of the era and context in which Finzi was writing these works, arguing that through his choice of the large-scale choral ode over forms such as the symphony, Finzi was perhaps one of the final exponents of a largely nineteenth-century trend of writing settings of secular texts for choral festivals, something which was already a diminishing form in the post-World War I era. It will also touch upon the influence of his composition teachers and late nineteenth century British composers, in particular Finzi’s oft-quoted similarity to Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, and via the nineteenth-century revival of the Baroque, the 5 John Russell, ‘Gerald Finzi: An English Composer’ in Tempo, No. 33 (Autumn, 1954), 15. Hereafter cited as Russell. 6 Ibid. 3 influence of J.S. Bach. However, this work will primarily not attempt to see him in light of his forebears and contemporaries, but examine something of the composer’s own distinct style, and argue that although increasing in ambition, it largely stayed within a conservative framework. In one of the few contemporary overviews of Finzi published during his lifetime, Russell wrote: There is no doubt that [his music] is in the tradition of Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Parry, and Holst, but of those only the last could have written a bar of Finzi... He is either relegated to the neighbouring coppice with Butterworth and Gurney or he is entombed in a western cathedral with Parry.7 An examination of his distinctive signature paradigms and structures will attempt to show how Finzi developed a distinctive compositional idiom of his own; music which even after a few bars is unmistakably by the composer.

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