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The Delius Society Journal PDF

52 Pages·2007·5.49 MB·English
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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: (0422) 50537 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

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Bantock, who had not been able to attend Cassirer's performance of Appalachia .. if tha wa'nt do summat to help syringe 'em? What's use
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