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Durham E-Theses A survey of new trends in English musical life 1910 - 1914 Hall, Richard Charles How to cite: Hall, Richard Charles (1981) A survey of new trends in English musical life 1910 - 1914, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7459/ 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 ABSTRACT The years I9IO to 191^ were not a period of turmoil which gradually degenerated into war, neither were they merely an extension of the Edwardian era of peace and stability. They were a time of upheaval, development and revitalisation, the changes precipitated by which have been largely overshadowed by the more radical disturbance of the Great War. The unsettled mood of these four years is reflected in contemporary social, political and artistic life, nowhere more clearly than in the realm of music. This was an enormously rich and prolific period in the history of English music; musical life was flourishing on a hitherto unprecedented scale, and there were more and better composers to be found in England than at any period since the seventeenth century. The enrich• ment of English music brought about by the late nineteenth century renaissance was revitalised by the appearance of the second generation of renaissance composers, and the machinery of musical life was stimulated into further activity. This thesis examines the nature of the innovations that characterised early Georgian artistic activity, outlines the early history of the English musical renaissance, makes a detailed examination of the music composed in England during the fourpre-War years and describes the flourishing musical life of London and the provinces at the time. From this factual evid• ence it emerges that there was much that was new about early Georgian English music and musical activity; the abundance itself was new, but there were also innovations and developments which look forward to post-War practice. In artistic and musical terms, the year I9IO marks as important a watershed as the year 191^. •A SURVEY OF NEW'TRENDS IN ENGLISH MUSICAL LIFE 19iq_r 191^' A thesis based on research undertaken in the Music Department of the University of Durham and submitted to the University of Durham for the qualification of Ph D by Richard Charles Hall In two volumes VOLUME ONE September I98I The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it shoi^^^^knowledged. This thesis is the result of work undertaken by the author alone. No part of it has been submitted to any university for any degree. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 1 Chapter 1 Politics, Society and the Arts in early Georgian England p 5 Chapter 2 The English Musical Renaissance p 50 Chapter 3 Music and Musicians in Edwardian England p 78 Volume 2 Chapter k Early Georgian Musical Life P 3 Chapter 5 English Composers and their Works 1910 - 191^ P 79 Chapter 6 Conclusion P 25^ Bibliography p 266 5 Chapter 1; Politigs, Society and the Arts in early Georgian England . The period of time which elapsed between the death of King Edward VII and the outbreak of the First World War has been curiously misrepresented by English historians. These four years, sandwiched as they are between two periods of markedly individual character, are rarely if ever considered at all independently; they are regarded either as the prelude to and breeding ground of the Great War, or else merely as a continuation of the Edwardian era. It is futile to attempt to isolate one period from what came before and what followed after, especially in the case of so short a span as this; but if one first scrutinises the years in question and then attempts to relate them to and compare them with preceding and succeeding periods,a much clearer, and in this case truer, picture emerges. Much of the confusion about the period immediately preceding the Great War is attributable to the hugely disruptive influence of the War itself. So radical and far-reaching were the changes which the War brought about that, in comparison, developments in the pre-War years, matters of the utmost importance at the time, appeared increasingly less significant as the War progressed. Furthermore,the misery and hardship of the war years clouded the minds of those who lived through them and cast a false, rosy glow over their memories of the pre-War period. The combination of these two factors did much to blur the distinction between the Edwardian era proper and the immediate pre-War years; looking back in 1919 across the chasm of the four-and-a-half years of hostilities, men saw a period of peace and stability, of ease and prosperity, stretching from the midsummer of 191^ right back into the nineteenth century. And so firmly did this view inbed itself in the national consciousness that it still obtains today. Until comparatively recently the Great War has been seen as the inevitable outcome of a period of national mismanagement and international misunderstanding, a time during which, in the words of David Lloyd George, "We all muddled into War"."*" This remark is usually taken as referring to the years immediately before the War, but,if it has any application,it is to a rather earlier period, a time when a combination of blinkered national government and clumsy international dealings amongst the European powers had engendered the possibility of a major war. This uneasy climate in Europe was at least as old as the new century, and any of the international crises that shook the continent form 1905 onwards (the two Moroccan crises, the Bosnian crisis of I908/09, the Italo-Turkish War of I91I and the two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913) could have erupted into a European war given the same amount of deliberately provocative manipulation as that which led to the outbreak of war in the summer of 191^. For as more facts emerge concerning the immediate causes of the outbrealj of the First World War, it becomes clearer that it was not so much a war of accident as a war of design, deliberately iiBbigated at what seemed a pro• pitious time. The events of iSuly 191^ might well have gone down in history as I'the Serbian crisis' had not Austria, at Germany's iniigation, chosen to adopt an intransigent attitude towards Serbia, thus wilfully precipitating a major European war. In the light of this new evidence,there is no case to be made for regard• ing the Great War as the inevitable outcome of the general trend of events over the preceding years'! No-one in England foresaw the War with any accuracy as to the time of its outbreak, its duration or its nature. Thus when examining the early Georgian .period, it is blurring the issue to present the War as a dark cloud clearly visible above, the horizon; one learns much more by blotting out the War altogether. quoted by A J P Taylor in "In defence of small nations", an article published in The Listener for ^th August 1977- If the Great War period was far from being the natural successor to the early Georgian years, in what relationship do the latter stand to their immediate precursor, the Edwardian decade? Is there indeed any need to separate the four pre-War years from the high Edwardian decade 1900 - I9IO? Many writers clearly feel that there is not. Percy Young, for instance, in his study of Edward Elgar states that "the Edwardian era, despite the succession of George V to the throne in I9IO, effectively ended in 191^ and the historian Donald Read in his survey of the period extends the Edwardian age even further: " ... when did the Edwardian era finally end? The answer is - within about a year of the outbreak of war ... a full five years after the death of Edward VII himself on 6th May I91O". ^ The early summer of 1915 did indeed mark something-; of a watershed in English history, a watershed defined by the first full appreciation of the destructive power of the War. But hardly less significant, although largely overshadowed by later turns of events, were the changes in outlook and attitude which marked the opening of Gea:ge V's reign; Virginia Woolf's dictum "in or about December I9IO human nature changed"^ is far less of an over-statement than it might at first sight appear to be. Striking changes and developments are discernible in political, social and artistic spheres,giving to the four pre-War years a flavour quite unlike that normally associated with Edwardianism, and suggesting that, but for the massive upheaval of the War.