SELECTED CHORAL WORKS OF LEARMONT DRYSDALE, SCOTLAND'S FORGOTTEN COMPOSER by KENNY M. SHEPPARD, B.M., M.M.Ed. A DISSERTATION IN FINE ARTS Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Accepted December, 1987 fl U 3 Copyright 1987 Kenny M. Sheppard ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author of this document is very grateful to Dr. Lee Rigsby who, even after his retirement, continued to offer encouragement, scholarly advice and thorough proof reading. It was Dr. Rigsby who first introduced the author to the music of Learmont Drysdale. This dissertation could not have been prepared without the assistance of Ms. Sheila Craik, Music Librarian for the Library of Glasgow University, who made the Drysdale Collection available to the author. Appreciation is extended to Dr. Robert Horick who spent many hours teaching the author how to operate a word processor. Knowledge of this instrument was of considerable benefit. Dr. Donald Bailey succeeded Dr. Harold Luce as Chairman of the author's dissertation committee. Both of these gentlemen provided valuable advice during the writing of this document. Part of the financial resources for the author's research was provided by the Cullen Faculty Development Program through Southwestern University. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii LIST OF FIGURES iv CHAPTER I. MUSIC IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND 1 II. MUSIC IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY SCOTLAND 15 III. LEARMONT DRYSDALE 31 IV. STYLISTIC FEATURES AS REVEALED IN SELECTED VOCAL WORKS 94 LIST OF REFERENCES 14 6 APPENDICES A. LIST OF WORKS BY LEARMONT DRYSDALE 14 8 B. CONDUCTOR'S SCORE OF THE KELPIE, NOS. 2, 4, 7 AND 15, BY LEARMONT DRYSDALE, EDITED BY KENNY SHEPPARD 161 C. THE KELPIE, VOCAL SCORE. PUBLISHED BY PATERSON AND SONS, LONDON, 1891 249 D. HARK! 'TIS THE BREEZE OF TWILIGHT CALLING LEARMONT DRYSDALE 413 111 LIST OF FIGURES 1. Double tonic 9 6 2. Hark! ^Tis the Breeze (measures 1-10) 99 3. No. 1, measures 1-2 104 4. No. 1. Derivations of sea motive 104 5. No. 1, measure 11. Depth motive 105 6. No. 1. measures 1-5. Kelpie theme 108 7. No. 1, measures 40-42. Snake motive 109 8. No. 1, measures 54-58. Kelpie motive (K-2) . 109 9. No. 1, measures 76-78. Kelpie theme (K-3) . 110 10. Derivations of gallop motive 110 11. No. 2, measures 18-29. Kelpie theme (K-4) . Ill 12. No. 3, measures 24-25. Villager motive .... 114 13. No. 3, measures 49-51 (V-2) 115 14. No. 3, measures 68-69 (V-3) 115 15. No. 3, measures 80-84. Villager motive (V-4) . 116 16. No. 3, measures 104-109. Villager motive (V-5) 116 17. No. 4, measures 16-19. Jessie's theme .... 117 18. No. 5, measures 9-11. JS motive 118 19. No. 5, measure 24. Love motive 119 20. No. 5, measures 120-122 120 21. No. 7, measures 22-30 122 22. No. 7, measures 36-38. JS motive 123 IV 23. No. 8, measures 9-19. Love motive 124 24. No. 8, measures 37-39 124 25. No. 9, measures 2-3, (V-3) 126 26. No 9, measures 5-6, (K-4) 126 27. No 9, measure 33. Depth motive 127 28. No. 9, measures 38-39 127 29. No. 10, measures 34-36 and 40-41 129 30. No. 11, measures 25-27 131 31. No 12, measures 56-57. Gallop motive 133 32. No. 12, measure 88 134 33. No. 12, measure 112 134 34. (a) No. 9, measure 30, (b) No. 13, measures 17-18 136 35. Depth motive 137 36. No. 14, measures 20-21 138 37. No. 15, measures 38-42 140 38. No. 4, measures 84-85 141 39. No. 15, measure 106 141 CHAPTER I MUSIC IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND During the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century there were many talented and well- trained British composers whose names and music were well known but were later forgotten. Not the least of these was the Scottish composer, Learmont Drysdale (1866-1909), the subject of this document. In order that Drysdale's musical environment may be more fully understood, the first chapter of this paper is devoted to music in Victorian England, and the second chapter deals with music in nineteenth-century Scotland. Music by English composers had not seriously rivaled that of the continental nations since the death of Henry Purcell in 1695. W. H. Hadow went so far as to refer to the eighteenth century as "the dark age" of English music.^ England, especially London, continued to have a very active musical life as far as performances were concerned, but the first-rank composers represented on those concerts and many of the performers were from other countries. The most notable of the imported composers of ^Sir W. H. Hadow, English Music (London: Longmans, Green and Co. 1931), 105. the eighteenth century was, of course, George Frederick Handel, a long-time resident of England, whose oratorios and instrumental works dominated musical London, especially after the Italian opera fell out of favor. The foreign domination of musical England continued even after Handel's death in 1759. The Italian, Muzio Clementi, resided in England as did J. S. Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian. In 1785, King George III named Cherubini as "composer to the King."^ Haydn received a hearty welcome when Salomon brought him to London in the last decade of the century. By the end of the century concerts had really become public institutions in London and in the provinces. Opera, on the other hand, always confined to the capital, did badly even there, both materially and artistically.^ The first thirteen years of the nineteenth century produced Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Verdi and Wagner, and all of these composers were heard frequently in England. Unfortunately, no composer of the first-rank was born to England. It was during this time, however, that the groundwork for a revival of English music began to be laid. In 1813 the Philharmonic Society ^Eric Blom, Music in England (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1978), 123. ^Ibid., 126 was established in London for the purpose of performing great orchestral music. Clementi was appointed as the conductor. Although Beethoven's music had been known in England before, it was through this orchestra that his work became established throughout the country. One factor which had kept England from the forefront had been the lack of an adequate school of music. Serious composers had gone abroad, primarily to Germany, for their musical training. In 1822, the Royal Academy of Music was founded in London. Dr. William Crotch was the Principal. Among its earlier students was William Sterndale Bennett, later Sir William Sterndale Bennett, who was to exert an important influence over the standards of musical performance in England.^ "He was knighted in 1871, and died, the acknowledged head of English music, in 1875."^ As usual, however, foreign composers continued to dominate musical England: among them were Berlioz, Rossini, Spohr, Liszt, Weber, Wagner, and Mendelssohn, the most popular of the lot. Mendelssohn was instrumental in "^Sir William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875) , founded the Bach Society in 1849, later became the conductor of the Philharmonic Society, and subsequently principal of the Royal Academy of Music. ^Hadow, English Music, 134. raising the social standing of musicians in English society. It was largely due to his own social standing and to his ease of manner that it began to be possible for musicians to be asked to the homes of the great on terms of something like equality, though as late as the Victorian days it was no unheard-of thing for them to be admitted only at the servants' entrance and roped off from the guests. Mendelssohn showed that a gentleman has as much right to be a musician if he chooses, as anyone else....^ A most significant manifestation of this trend occurred when Queen Victoria, in 1842, for the first time, bestowed knighthood upon a musician.^ This first musical knight was Sir Henry Bishop (1786-1855). One of Mendelssohn's most lasting contributions to English musical life was his resurrection of the music of J. S. Bach. Mendelssohn's performance in 1829 in Berlin of the St. Matthew Passion is considered to have been a turning point in the revival of interest in the music of Bach. The first performance of this work in England was given by Sterndale Bennett in 1854, resulting in a Bach revival in England.® Bennett and his student, Charles ^Blom, Music in England, 142. ^Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901. ®Frank Howes, The English Musical Renaissance (New York: Stein and Day, 1966), 114-115. Steggal, subsequently founded the Bach society. Bennett also conducted the Bach Choir (1885-1902). It should be noted that Samuel Wesley had sparked some interest in Bach earlier in the century. The Bach revival, although not actually concerned with English music, was one of the movements among professional musicians which eventually led to the so- called English musical renaissance. Two other movements, the folk-song revival and the Tudor revival, were equally important. In 184 3 the Reverend John Broadwood (1798-18 64) produced a collection of sixteen songs as he had heard them sung at rural festivals in England. In 1893, Broadwood's niece, along with J. A. Fuller-Maitland, published English County Songs, a landmark in the folk­ song revival. Another pioneer was Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924), best known as author of "Now the Day is Over" and "Onward Christian Soldiers." In his collection of the folk songs of Devon and Cornwall, a distinctive Phrygian flavor was predominant.^ The modes most frequently found in English folk-song are the Ionian, the Aeolian, the Dorian, and the Mixolydian.-^^ ^Ibid., 78 ^°Blom, Music in England, 186-187 .