The Delius Society Journal

52 Pages·2007·5.49 MB·English

The Delius Society
Journal
October 1983, Number 80
The Delius Society
Full Membership £8.00 per year
Students £5.00
Subscription to Libraries (Journal only) £6.00 peryear
USA and Canada US $17.00 per year
President
Eric Fenby OBE, Hon DMus, Hon DLitt, Hon RAM
Vice Presidents
The Rt Hon Lord Boothby KBE LLD
Felix Aprahamian Hon RCO
Roland Gibson MSc, Ph D (Founder Member)
SirCharles Groves CBE
Stanford Robinson OBE, ARCM (Hon), Hon CSM
Meredith Davies MA, BMus, FRCM, Hon RAM
Norman Del MarCBE, Hon DMus
Vemon Handley MA, FRCM·, D Univ (Surrey)
Chairman
R BMeadows
5 Westbourne House, Mount Park Road, Harrow, Middlesex
Treasurer
Peter Lyons
160 Wishing Tree Road, St. Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex
Secretary
Miss Diane Eastwood
28 Emscote Street South, BellHall, Halifax, Yorkshire
Tel: [phone]
Membership Secretary
Miss Estelle Palmley
22 Kingsbury Road, Colindale, London NW9 ORR
Editor
Stephen Lloyd
41 Marlborough Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU3 lEF
Tel: Luton (0582) 20075
2
CONTENTS
Editorial . . . . . . .. . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Rumble ofaDistant Drum byStephen Lloyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5
Exploringand EvaluatingBantockby Lewis Foreman . . . . . .. . .. . . . .. 29
Bantock: the Family Remembers. . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . .. 35
Another Enigma? . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. 41
Margotla Rouge: World Premiere at St Louis. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 42
AYoungDelius Exponent. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. 46
Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. 46
Forthcoming Events. . . . . . . .. . . . .. . .. .. . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . .. 48
Acknowledgements
The cover illustration is an early sketch of Deliusby Edvard Munch reproduced
bykind permissionofthe Curator ofthe Munch Museum, Oslo.
The music examples from Omar Khayyam Part One (©1906) and the Helena
Variations (©1900) are reproduced with acknowledgement to Breitkopf and
Hartel and the Bantock Estate.
ISSN03060373
EDITORIAL
This special double issue of the Delius Society Journal is mostly devoted to
Granville Bantock, a figure much neglectedt oday and probably best known to
Delians as the conductor of the first performanceo f Bigg Fair. We are indeed
honoured that one of Bantock'ss onsi s a Societym ember,a nd by pure coincidence
while this issue was being prepared it was heard that the dormant Bantock
Society, founded in 1946 with Sibelius as President, is re+merging. Those
interesteda re invited to a meetingh eld at 2.3Op .m. on Saturday,1 5th October
at the National Sound fuchive,29 Exhibition Road, Iondon SW7w hen Michael
Pope will give an illustrated talk. Further details may be obtained from the
Secretary,R onald Bleach, at 54 Clarendon Road, Redland, Bristol 856 7ET.
Turning to our own Society,a tour AGMin Junet he retirementw asa nnounced
of both Gilbert Parfitt as vicechairman and Geoffrey Freestonea s auditor. To
them both we extend our warmest thanks for their many years of loyal and
invaluables ervice.A t the samet ime we welcomeD erek Cox as Gilbert's successor
in that office.
Nineteen eighty-four is already promising to be an exciting year, beginning
with a performanceo f the Requiem conducted by Dr Fenby (seeF orthcoming
Events) and ending with A Masso f Life conducted by Sir John Pritchard.W ith
news of the BBC broadcastingl rmelin and Folkeraadet (play and incidental
music), with Opera North's new production of A Village Romeo and Juliet
conducted by Norman del Mar, and hopefully with the first British staged
production of Margot la Rouge, there is clearly much to look forward to. So
that as full as possible a calendar of events may be prepared,m embers are
invited to send in any news they have of local and provincial performances
of Delius.
Andrew Boyle, who was involved in NorwegianT V's filming of Pao Vidderne
(see Forthcoming Events), is currently working on a film biography of Delius,
also for Norwegian TV. Those members awaiting the publication of two
important additions to the Delian book-shelf ireed wait little longer. Lionel
Carley'sD elius: a life in letters is now expectedi n November,w hile John Boulton
Smith's book on Delius and Munch, after sufferinga serieso f delaysa t the
printers, should be deliveredb y the publisherb y the time this Journal goes
to press.
As previously reported, our late member Robert Aickman generouslyl eft
the Delius Society 9100 in his will. After consideringv ariousp ossibilitiesth e
Committeer esolvedth at the legacys houldb e devotedt o financingp hotographic
blocksi n the Journal.A cknowledgemenwt ill be madee acht ime.
Two footnotest o the last issue:t o the brief listingo n page3 of Boult's Delius
repertoire should be added SeaD ift, and we understandt hat the American
recordingo f Appalachia mentionedo n page2 3 wlll not now take place.H owever,
those present at our Annual Dinner and privilegedt o hear Dr Fenby's new
recordingo f The Songo f the High HiUs (not to be releasedu ntil next year) will
know that we cana nticipatea n outstandingp erformanceo n record.
4
Bantock playing chess
THE RIJMBTE OF A DISTANT DRUM
[Rubaiyato f OmarK hayyam:Q uatrain) Otr]
GRANVILLE BANTOCK 1868.1946
by StephenL loyd
llloesloso.
homoting British music
On leaving the Royal Academy of Music in 1892, Bantock's careerh ad an
inauspiciousb eginning.H e was already receivinga number of promisingp er-
formanceso f his works, including both concert and stagep resentationso f his
romantic opera Caedmm( Wagner-fireda fter an earlier visit to Bayreuth with
fellow-studentH OrsmondA ndertonr and by contact with his ardentW agnerite
professorF rederickC order).B ut Bantock was now obligedt o take on a variety
of jobs and engagementhsa rdly suited to an aspiringc omposer.T hesei ncluded
correcting examination papers,s coringo ther people'sc ompositions,a nd con-
ducting a number of travellingo pera companiesw hosef are variedf rom burles-
quest o Stanford'sS homusO 'Brien which he introducedt o numeroust owns in
Englanda nd Ireland.I n 1894-5w ith GeorgeE dwardesG' aietyC ompanyh ew ent
round the world, his experiencebse ingr elatedi n the book Round the World
with'A GaietyG irl'.In 1893h e had evenf ound thetime andc apitaltolaunch
a short-lived yet pioneeringp eriodical The New Quorterly Musical Review that
ceaseda fter three years.B ut more notable than any of thesew ere two events
which occurredi n 1896 and 1897: his meetingw ith HelenaF ranceskav onSch-
weitzer (whom he married in March 1898), and his appointmenta s Musical
Directoro f the New BrightonT ower, facingL iverpoola crossth e Mersey.
Bantock'sp rincipalb rief as conductoro f the 33-piecem ilitary band at these
pleasureg ardensw ith imitation Eiffel Tower soon to be completedw as to pro-
vide dance music, but his formal concertss oon begant o be more substantial
and within a yer the band was augmentedt o symphony orchestras tatus,
numbering6 3 playersb y the 1899s easonI.t wash eret hat a six-year-oldE ugene
Goossenas ttendedh is first concert2, andh eret oo that a youngT homasB eecham
'the
was to be introducedt o music of all thosem en who were then looked
upon as the leaderso f the Englishm usicalr enaissance'3T.h e programmesv ery
quickly reflected Bantock'sl ove of Wagnera nd Tchaikovsky,w ith whole con-
certsd evotedt o their music.
6
But greater pioneering ground was broken by his championing of British
music. Back in December 1896 he had conducted at Queen’sHall anall-British
programme of now virtually forgotten RAM composers (Wallace, Hinton,
Hawley, Steggall and Allon, besides his own music), in May 1897 he gave a
British composers' chamber concert in the Steinway Hall, and in February of
1900 and 1901 by invitation he conducted British programmes at Antwerp
(Holbrooke, Mackenzie, Cowen, Elgar, Wallace, Corder and his own works
amongst others). At New Brighton he gave whole concerts of the music of
Mackenzie and Sullivan in 1897, and of Edward German in 1898. And now
in 1899 he embarked on the enterprising scheme ofinviting British composers
to conduct programmes of their music: Cowen (May 28), Stanford (June 25),
Parry (July 9), Elgar (July16), Corder (July 23), Wallace (July 30), German
(August 20), and Mackenzie (September 3),an almost unrivalled feast ofBritish
music to which may be added concerts of Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Wagner and
Rubinstein (The Ocean symphony, a favourite of his, making its second New
Brighton appearance), and one Berlioz programme conducted by Edouard
Colonne. 'But why has he altogether omitted his own name from the list of
British composers represented at this Festival?' asked The MusicalTimes. 'Such
modesty is almost uncanny.' But that was GB (how appropriate the initials!)
who virtually excluded his own compositions from New Brighton concerts
duringhis tenure ofoffice.
TheTower Ballroom, NewBrighton, the sceneofBantock’senterprisingconcerts
ofBritishmusic.
7
EIgar… andknittedbedsocks
The most important of these composer-conducted concerts was Elgar’s. it
was the start of a life-long friendship and Elgar stayed with the Bantocks.
‘Elgar was somewhat delicate and many arrangements were necessary for his
comfort, including an apparatus for his nightly tea-making,’ Myrrha Bantock
related.4 Mrs Elgar came too, ‘withherarray ofrugs, shawlsandcushions, extra
body-belts and knitted bedsocks for Edward’s comfort. .. [and] no less than
seven hot water bottles being filled for his bed, on the occasion of Elgar com-
8
plaining of a slight chill!' The concerts was framed by the Impeial March and
the march from Caractacus,i ncluded two arias ftom Lwc Christi and King
Olaf, the Minuet, Three Characteristic Pieces, the Serenadef or Strings, and
the first half ended with the secondp erformanceo f the Variatlonsl esst han a
month after its premibre and using the original shorter ending about which,
'We
at Jaeger'sp rompting, Elgar was having doubts. had a glorioust ime. Ban-
'Nimrod'
tock rs a brick and really understandst hings,' Elgar wrote to four
days later, and Bantock included the Minuet and the Serenadea gaini n his
concertsla ter that year.
Elgar returned the compliment by conductinga work of Bantock's - The
Funeral from The Curse of Kehwna, a massives ymphony for soloistsa nd or-
chestrai n 24 projectedp arts that was finally left incomplete,a n illustration
Itke Chistus and Omnr Khayyam of Bantock's fondness for the large canvas.
'You
are a brick of most animate clay for playing Kehama I last Saturday,' he
thanked Elgar after his performance on May 5 1900 with the Worcestershire
Philharmonic Society. When in DA2 E[ar walked out on the Society after a
scenea t rehearsalB, antock took his place as conductor (until pressuresfr om
other commitments forced him to resigni n 1905), and that samey ear he suc-
ceededH enry Wood as conductor of the WolverhamptonC horal Societyw ith
whom on March 23 1903 he gave The Dream of Gerontius ('an unqualified
success'a ccording to the Midlends Evening News) and Tchaikovsky's Sixth
Symphonya s well for good measure(.W ith them too on March2 7 1905h e gave
Elgar's The Black Knight.) Elgar for his part returned to the Worcestershire
PhilharmonicS ociety on April 28 1903 to conduct a concertw hich included
the Polka and Valse from Bantock's Russian Scenes.M uch later at the 1913
lreds Festivalh e was to conduct Bantock'sD ante and Beatice. But perhaps
the highestt oken of their friendshipw as the dedicationt o GB in 1901 of the
marchP omp and CircumstanceN o.2.
The dedicateeo f the world-famousM arch No.I was the wealthy Liverpool
merchant Alfred Rodewaldw ho was a supportera nd backero f Bantock'sN ew
Brighton enterprisea nd also a friend and championo f Elgarw hom he probably
first met at the 1899 all-Elgar concert. On Bantock's departure from New
Brighton in 1900 Rodewald took over many of the concertst here just as,
ironically, at his death in November1 903 he was to be succeededb y Bantock
at the largely amateur Liverpool OrchestralS ociety of which Rodewaldh ad been
patron and conductor.T he following FebruaryB antock conductedt hem in an
exacting programme which included Ein Heldenleben and the two Pomp and
Circumstancem arches,a nd in October a chiefly Elgar programmei n which he
conducted the Froissarl overture (and Cesar Franck's symphony) while Elgar
conductedI n the South and the Vaiations, thus further strengtheningth eir
friendship.B efore long the two men could be regardeda s the leading{ igures
in British music. Indeed, in 1918 the critic Gerald Cumberlandc ould write:
At the presenmt omentt herea reo nly two namesth at areo f vitali mportancien British
creative music - Sir Edward Elgar and Granville Bantock. No two men could be in more
violent contrast: Elgar, conservative, soured with the aristocratic point of view, super-
refined, deeply religious; Bantock, democratic, Rabelaisian, free-thinking, gorgeously
human.6