"History, Analysis and Performance Considerations of Gerald Finzi's ...

HISTORICAL OVERVIEWIt was the summer of 1946 and the world was finally at peace. Life however wasanything but easy. One year had not yet elapsed since the close of the most globally lethalconflict in human history. Still another year would pass before the Marshall Plan wouldcommence in assisting with the rebuilding of Europe. Rationing in Britain would continue formore post-war years than during the actual war itself. 1For Gerald Finzi however, it meant amuch needed release from his full-time war duties at the Ministry of Transportation in London,with an eye fixed once again towards compositional activities which had been all but impossiblefor six years. 2While weekend visits were made during the war period, 3 Finzi’s full return to his belovedwife Joy, sons Nigel and Christopher (“Kiffer”), and the apple orchards at his serene countrysidehome in Ashmansworth was long anticipated. 4 While Finzi came face-to-face with the irritations1 Meat and bacon were the final items to become freely available on 3 July 1954. Manuscript paper and paper clips,let alone basic foodstuffs, were difficult to obtain. See Youngs, “My Wartime Menu;” and McVeagh, Gerald Finzi:His Life and Music, 143.2 “For the period 1939-1945 Finzi was employed in the Ministry of War Transport office and would have to againreturn to London. He was in charge of cargo shipping to South America. The British Imperial Calendar and CivilService Lists of both 1943 and 1945 show Finzi earning in excess of 600 pounds-sterling; the latter listing titlesFinzi an Administrative Officer. Although it was a job he detested, it was a very responsible one, and he performedhis duties well. The organist, Richard Lathom, was there too. Gilmore Jenkins, a good friend of Vaughan Williams,was the Head of that department. Finzi reportedly had little time to compose but was able to attend a few concertsand managed to write in the few moments available here and there,” Dressler, Gerald Finzi: A Bio-Bibliography, 13.3 To include directing of his amateur-based, Newbury String Players in local performances.4 Christopher would have been eleven, and Nigel nine. In addition to Joy and music, Finzi’s life-long loves includedthe country, literature, and all things English. To the end of his life he found great enjoyment in saving threatenedspecies of apple trees, of which he had 400 to 500 at Ashmansworth. See Dressler, 4, 5, 9, 12.