A Garland of 20th Century Composers
This album was reviewed and featured on Classic FM radio.
“It is an unusual programme of songs and should prove most rewarding.”
The British Music Society
Helena
took 4 years to research and curate 16 songs that would evoke the spirit of
Christmas in a different way. Her studies were sponsored by The Vaughan
Williams Society, The Rawsthorne Trust and The Ivor Gurney Society, with
additional support from The Peter Warlock Society and Women In Music. With her
accompanist Graham Jackson, she has performed these songs to great acclaim at
many venues across the North West UK.
Although not overtly religious, each song is a unique
approach to the Christmas message. For example, in ‘The First Mercy’ you have
the story of the animals that witnessed the birth of Jesus, describing how they
experienced the event. ‘Carol of the Skiddaw Yowes’ draws a comparison between
the shepherds and the sheep of Cumbria to those of Bethlehem. ‘Twelfth Night’
evokes the ghostly image of a caravan crossing the English South Downs
mirroring the journey of the Three Kings to see the new born child.
Other songs recreate rustic and traditional scenes of
Christmas and ‘A Monkey’s Carol’ is set in a Dickensian street scene with an
organ grinder, whose poor little monkey is shivering in the cold so far away
from his sunny homeland.
“I wished to reflect the
inspiration that Christmas has brought to British poets and composers. This
dark time of year can be brightened with uplifting entertainment that avoids
the tinsel and commercial glitter and captures the true spirit of goodwill”.
Helena dedicated her recording of these songs to the fond memory of her amazing
mentor and voice teacher Jean Allister, and Jean’s husband Rene Atkinson, who
gave Helena so much support and inspiration throughout her music career. One of
Rene’s beautiful compositions is featured on the album.
Hear the whole recital on my YouTube Channel - please like and subscribe to support my archive
A Garland for Christmas
The Songs with Suggested Readings
Hiems Shakespeare
Now Thrice Welcome Christmas Anon
Snow Thomas
Betjeman
Journey of the Magi T.S. Eliot
The Sheepdog Fanshaw
Nativity Play Grenfell
From Cider with Rosie Lee
From A Child's Bible Steen
The Darkling Thrush Hardy
In the Bleak Midwinter Rosetti
Suggested Encore
Christmas Correspondence Norwich
12 Days of Christmas Trad. Arr Austin
About The Composers
a brief biography of the composers featured on the album
Madeleine
Dring (1923-1977)
At the age of ten, she won a junior violin scholarship to
the Royal College of Music. Here she also studied piano and singing and
developed a love of the theatre. She won a scholarship to continue her studies
at the Royal College of Music (RCM) as a senior, and took composition with
Herbert Howells.
The piano was her preferred instrument and she composed a
piano sonata and other shorter pieces. Her style was later influenced by her
exploration of dance music and jazz. In song writing, she loved setting the
words of Shakespeare and Herrick, but is most well known for her setting of
Five Betjeman poems. She wrote more than 50 songs but only three of her
Shakespeare songs were published before her untimely death in 1977.
Her songs have sympathetic vocal lines and subtle harmonies
in the piano part that are charming. She had a particular gift in her ability
to assimilate the qualities she admired in other composer and yet produce a
totally original style and compositions.
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 –
1924)
Born in Dublin, this
composer, teacher and conductor influenced English song composition for many
decades. He was a choral scholar at Queen’s College Cambridge and became
organist at Trinity College. He travelled widely in Europe, studying composition
and piano in Leipzig and Berlin. He was present at the opening of Bayreuth
Festival Theatre.
In 1883, at the opening of the
RCM, he was appointed Professor of composition and orchestral playing. He was
also a professor of music at Cambridge. He held both posts until his death.
From 1901 to 1910, he was the conductor of the Leeds Triennial Festival. He is
buried in Westminster Abbey next to Purcell.
In his song compositions, he
captures the mood of the poems perfectly. Stanford with Parry inaugurated a
Golden Era of British Song composition. His influence is felt even today, and
his songs are still enjoyed by 21st Century audiences.
Ernest John Moeran (1894 –
1950)
This English composer of
Anglo-Irish descent spent his childhood in the rural idyll of pre-war Norfolk.
He learnt the violin and went to the RCM in 1913. His studies were interrupted
by World War One and he joined up as a despatch rider. During the War he was
severely wounded in the head and declared unfit for further active service.
He returned to his studies after
the war, mainly with John Ireland until 1923. His First Rhapsody was performed
by the Hallé Orchestra under Harty in 1924. He was initially influenced by
Delius and Ireland and the folk song of East Anglia, but was later influenced
by Vaughan Williams, Holst, Bax and Warlock with whom he share a house from
1929.
In the 1930’s he began to explore
his Celtic roots and developed his symphonic style and lyricism. On the 1st
of December 1950, he was found dead in the River Kenmare in Ireland, following
a heart attack. He had been working on his 2nd symphony.
Michael Head (1900 –
1976)
This much loved English
Song composer, singer and pianist studied at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM)
from 1919 to 1925. He became a professor of piano at the RAM in 1927 and was
later made a fellow. His adjudicating and examining tours took him across the
world. He died on an examining tour in Cape Town, South Africa.
His public reputation was based
on his compositions and performance of solo recitals of his own work. He toured
widely, and made many broadcasts and recordings. He is known mainly for his vocal
music and was first published in 1917. He had up to 85 songs in print. “The
Little Road to Bethlehem” and “Star Candles”, were favourites of the contralto
Kathleen Ferrier.
His songs have immediate appeal
and are often performed at music festivals. Yet they are also rewarding for
professional singers. His expert craftsmanship and commitment to the words
create wonderful atmospheres and moods.
René
Atkinson (1920 - 2012)
Born in Newcastle, he
graduated from Durham University. His accompanying career began by playing at
short notice for the famous singer Owen Brannigan. From this recital there
developed a duet partnership, which lasted for many years. During this time he
accompanied many famous artists, both vocal and instrumental and in 1986 he
began a series of highly successful recital tours with his wife contralto, Jean
Allister.
He was a choirmaster and organist
for many years and has published arrangements and vocal, instrumental and
choral compositions. Some of his work has been recorded and this album is dedicated to him with deepest admiration and thanks.
Ian
Alfred Copley (1926 – 1988)
Born in Dartford in
Kent, he attended Dartford grammar school and went to the RCM. He studied piano
and accompanying with Harry Stubbs, and composition and theory. He was Music Master at various grammar
schools and a lecturer at Brighton College. He began his music education as a
choirboy aged 8 and continued singing and conducting in schools.
He ardently believed in the
necessity of academic discipline. In 1944-5 he served in the Royal Signals.
After the war, he became a composer and musicologist. He married Brenda Kirby
to whom “Twelfth Night” is dedicated.
He was a lecturer and then Head
of Music at Brighton College of Music. His compositions include a suite, many
solo songs, songs for schools and arrangements. He also wrote a book on fellow
British composer Peter Warlock and was a long-standing member of the Peter
Warlock Society.
Ivor Gurney (1890 –
1937)
At the RCM he studied
composition with Stanford, but in 1915 he served in France, where he was
wounded, gassed and shell-shocked in 1917. Following his discharge, he spent
some time in a mental hospital and then returned to RCM to study with Vaughan
Williams. His first published songs, in 1920 were “Five Elizabethan Songs”. His
life was plagued by depression and mental illness, some caused by his
experience in the war, although there is evidence suggesting other causes.
He wrote many fabulous
songs, 82 of which were published. His friends preserved his manuscripts and
helped him get his works published. In total he composed 200 songs and wrote a
few instrumental pieces including a sonata for violin and piano.
The “Carol of
the Skiddaw Yowes” was composed at Christmas 1919. It belongs to a 3-year
period between his release from the Army and his confinement in the asylum.
During this time he composed frantically telling his friends to give him
“Words! I must have words!”
His deep love of English
literature and poetry is evident in his sensitive setting of words. The Ivor
Gurney Society is co-operating with Thames Publishing to bring many of his
neglected songs back into print. This year they installed a stained-glass
window in Gurney’s memory at St Mary de Lode Church in Gloucester and
commissioned a new memorial stone for his grave at Twigworth, in his beloved
Gloucestershire.
Eric Thiman (1900 –
1975)
Born at Ashford in Kent,
this prolific composer and organist took childhood lessons for piano, organ and
violin at Trinity College of Music, and was then largely self-taught. He was
awarded an FRCO diploma in 1921 and a DMus in 1927.
From 1931, he was Professor of
harmony and composition at the RAM and from 1956 examiner to the Faculty of
Music at London University. He was later made Dean of the Faculty. He was also
Organist and Director of Music at City Temple, London from 1957.
He adjudicated at many
festivals and was an examiner for the Royal College of Organists, the Royal
Military School of Music and the Royal Schools of Music. He made many recital
tours in the UK and throughout the Commonwealth. His works include sacred and
secular songs and organ and piano music. There is a beautiful simplicity in his
music.
Roger Quilter (1877 –
1953)
Educated at Eton, he
then studied at Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, with Grainger, Scott, Balfour,
Gardiner and O’Neill, forming the “Frankfurt Group”. He made his reputation as
a song composer in London, following the 1900 performance of his “Song of the
Sea” at Crystal Palace.
He occasionally accompanied his
songs in public and on recording. “An Old Carol” was composed in 1924. He also
wrote orchestral pieces, which were performed at the Proms concerts. The
simplicity of his songs disguises his extreme sensitivity.
Composing was not easy for him
and he suffered with ill health and depression in the 1930’s. He was generous
to his colleagues and friends and was a founder member of the Musicians
Benevolent Fund.
Thomas Dunhill (1877 –
1946)
Dunhill studied piano at
the RCM and composition with Stanford from 1893. From 1899 to 1908 he was
assistant music master at Eton College and taught counterpoint and harmony at
the RCM. In 1907, he was the founder of a series of London concerts to revive
chamber pieces by young British composers. He is mainly known for his chamber
music and song compositions.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958)
This
great English composer, teacher, writer and conductor was a key figure in the
20th century revival of British music. He was born at Down Ampney in
Gloucester on the 12th of October 1872 and grew up at his mother’s
family home, at Leith Hill in Surrey, where he would spend most of his life.
Ralph began composing at only age
6 and studied the Violin from age 7. By
time he went to Prep School he could play violin, piano and organ. At
Charterhouse he sang in the chapel choir and played in the school orchestra,
switching from violin to viola. He enrolled at the Royal College of Music to
study organ and in 1892 at Trinity College Cambridge, where he gained his MusB
and a BA in history.
He was determined to find his
own path and struggled against the accepted English musical style of the
period. At the RCM he enrolled in Stanford’s composition class and he also
joined a group of student composers, known as the ‘Kensington Tea Shop Set’.
This included Gustav Holst, John Ireland, Thomas Dunhill and Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor. He formed a lifelong friendship with Holst.
In 1897 Ralph married
his childhood friend Adeline Fisher and they honeymooned in Berlin where
Ralph enrolled at the Hochschule für Musik to study with Max Bruck. On returning to London, Vaughan
Williams realised that he had to research England’s native traditions if he
were to consolidate a ‘National Voice’. To avoid the imitation of other countries’
styles, he searched for English sources and researched English folk song.
A commission from The Rev. Percy Dearmer was the
catalyst for one of his greatest compositions. Revising ‘Hymns Ancient and
Modern’, the authorised hymn book of
the Anglican Church, would take two years. With Holst he rediscovered a
treasure trove of church music from Elizabeth I to Purcell. Among them was a
psalm tune by the Elizabethan composer Thomas Tallis.
Vaughan Williams always believed
that music was for the people and was deeply sympathetic to the common
aspirations of ordinary people. He took part in a wide range of musical
activities, composing for all kinds of situations from simple occasional pieces
to visionary personal expressions. He collected over 800 folk songs and
variants, in 1910 began writing and editing for musical publications.
In 1919 he became a teacher of
composition at the RCM. His lectures in the USA promoted English music as a
national style and became the leader of an ‘English School’. On the 27th
of March 1925, a recital of his
songs was given by Steuart Wilson. The programme included his ‘Three Songs from
Shakespeare’. His inspiration for setting songs to Shakespeare came from
composing his opera ‘Sir John in Love’.
Ralph
Vaughan Williams died on the 26th of August 1958. In 1964, the RVW Society was formed to
promote interest in his life and works. His deeply evocative and sensual music
is redolent of the English countryside and his sumptuous harmonies and glorious
melodies will continue to inspire many future generations.
Peter Warlock (1894 –
1930)
Phillip Heseltine was
born in the Savoy Hotel, London. He had no formal music education but in 1910
his uncle introduced him to Delius. They had a life-long friendship and he
later published a book on Delius. He was also influenced by Quilter, Van Dieren
and Bartok. Educated at Eton, he later studied in Germany and spent a year at
Christ Church Oxford before the outbreak of World War One. He was a
conscientious objector but was also unfit for service on medical grounds.
He moved from London to Cornwall
to Ireland and then back to London in 1918. He returned from Ireland with a
huge amount of song compositions. They had immediate appeal and gained him
acclaim. His family home was in Wales and his strong Celtic affinity prompted
him to study Cornish, Welsh, Gaelic, Manx and Breton.
He was now using the name Peter
Warlock. He wrote more than 150 songs. On the 17th of December 1930,
he died of gas poisoning, which was possibly suicide. The Peter Warlock society
was founded in 1963. “The First Mercy” was written in 1927, when he was living
in Eynsford, in Kent. The poem is by his friend Bruce Blunt. He set a few of
his poems, which are considered to be among the best British music of the era.
Alan Rawsthorne (1905 –
1971)
This Lancashire composer
was born in Haslingden. He originally trained as a dentist before considering a
music career in his twenties. In 1925 he studied piano and cello at the Royal
Manchester College of Music. From 1932 he taught at Dartington Hall School and
composed for the School of Dance Mime.
He moved to London to
devote time to composition in 1938 and achieved wide recognition with “Theme
and Variations” for two violins at the ISCM Festival in London. He did his
military service in the 1940’s and after this composed prolifically.
“Carol” was composed in 1948. He
is well known for his film music including ‘Pandora and the Flying Dutchman’
and was made CBE in 1961. He also received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Liverpool,
Belfast and Essex. He was a meticulous craftsman and the elegance and finish of
his pieces reflect his concise and understated English lyricism. He was a
contemporary of fellow Lancastrian Sir William Walton.
The Rawsthorne Trust and
The Alan Rawsthorne Society promote interest in his life and works
Malcolm Davidson (1891 –
1947)
He was born in Harrow, and studied at the RCM. He became a
professor at the RCM and at Cambridge. His compositions include a suite for
violin and piano, chamber works, songs and part-songs. His setting of three
stanzas from John Masefield’s “Christmas Eve at Sea” reveals his refined
sensitivity to the words and the mood, and his excellent craftsmanship. This
neglected composer deserves a revival.
© Copyright 2022 Helena Kean
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