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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice was at some point completed in time for Ferguson to receivea printed score and respond on September 12, “So glad to get a copy of ‘The Sacrifice’, forwhich very many thanks indeed. It looks good in print, and I like your Amen!” Ferguson thenapologized for a few misprints, “So sorry for these, my sins of omissions (or are theycommission?),” and offered his best wishes for the next-day’s performance of yet anothersignificant Finzi work:I’ll be holding thumbs for ‘Dies’ tomorrow, and am delighted that old trout [SirIvor Atkins, organist and conductor at Worcester] gave you 20 minutes for it inthe Cathedral. 19The “Dies” of which Ferguson referred was Finzi’s cantata, Dies Natalis, for soprano andstrings. Originally to be premiered at the Three Choirs Festival of 1939 in Gloucester, theoutbreak of war cancelled his first major performance which would likely have brought him topublic prominence sooner. 20Finzi conducted Dies Natalis at Hereford on September 13, the first Three Choirs Festivalin six years, and received a positive review:Distinctive too were Samuel Barber's conducting of his Adagio for strings, andGerald Finzi's conducting of his ‘Dies Natalis' for solo soprano and strings, towords by Thomas Traherne. Time and again history has recorded cases ofcomposers unable to obtain satisfactory interpretations of their own compositions.But that was decidedly not the case at this year's Three Choirs Festival; here thecompletely satisfying moments came when composers were in charge of their519 Ferguson to Finzi, 12 September 1946, in Ferguson, 244.20 “There had been a six-month gap in Joy’s Journal. Then came September 1 [1939] Declaration of war. In fact,that was the day Germany invaded Poland. The Finzis were at the Royal College of Music in London, for the finalThree Choirs rehearsals. As Dies Natalis was being sung, it was announced that the festival was cancelled: Geraldnoted it on his programme of the abandoned festival. It was to have been his first performance at a major occasion.There is no mention of this setback in the Journal, but Gerald wrote to Toty de Navarro: ‘A more unfortunate day forpublication than Sept 1 st cd not have been chosen & I must resign myself to the work being a complete flop for thetime being. However it’s there for the future, whatever that may be, & I was lucky enough to get as far as the 2 ndrehearsal (when it sounded quite all right).’ His loss seemed to him ‘a very small thing in a very big upheaval’,”McVeagh, 106.
6own works . . . . Beautiful too was Finzi's setting of the meditative philosophy ofTraherne, and again the craftsmanship was impeccable. 21Finzi, obviously pleased with the performance wrote a few days later in a relieved and happymood to Tony Scott, thanking him for the use of his suit:I can’t pretend that the whole Three Choirs Festival was dependent on yourmorning suit, but I certainly was! It was a perfect fit & what with Tom Scott’s[their doctor’s] shirt & collar, & John’s [Sumsion’s] tie—together with John andfour assistants to help me put the things on in the right order—I got through it allright. 22With that much-needed public success achieved, he and Joy traveled the following weekto Northampton for the September 21 premier of Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice, Alec Wyntonconducting. No reviews of this first performance have been found, 23 however the anthem waswell enough received to be performed again at St. Matthew’s that November for the unveiling ofGraham Sutherland’s painting, Crucifixion. Hussey also invited Finzi to compose anunaccompanied mass for the coming year, but the composer declined. Already in the midst ofanother rushed project to underscore a radio play of Love’s Labour’s Lost (three weeks), perhapshe felt he had had enough of commissions for the time being. 24An orchestrated version of Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice was performed (together with DiesNatalis) at the Three Choirs Festival in 1947, and again in 1948. The 1947 performance, withFinzi in his first professional directing attempt, did not go well, although his reputation as acomposer was strengthened:Finally, Finzi’s cantata, ‘Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice,’ originally composed for St.Matthew’s, Northampton, was introduced to a wider audience under thecomposer’s own direction. It was not very well sung, as the choir had difficultieswith pitch and intonation, but it showed that the composer, whose mastery as a21 Nettel, “The Three Choirs Festival, Hereford.”22 Finzi to Scott, 16 September 1946, in McVeagh, 147.23 Crutchfield, “A Conductor’s Analysis,” 85.24 Banfield, 331.
Page 1 and 2: HISTORY, ANALYSIS AND PERFORMANCECO
Page 3 and 4: . . . as surely as birds must sing,
Page 5: LIST OF FIGURESFigurePage1. Constru
Page 8 and 9: LIST OF TABLESTablePage1. Section A
Page 10 and 11: HISTORICAL OVERVIEWIt was the summe
Page 12 and 13: 3Hussey suggested a Eucharist theme
Page 16 and 17: 7miniaturist is now generally recog
Page 18 and 19: 9Hardy (agnostic fatalist), Wordswo
Page 20 and 21: 11According to Christopher, his fat
Page 23: 14Examination of FormSection AThe a
Page 26 and 27: 17However the arrival of A major at
Page 28 and 29: 19Figure 7. Reduction of measures 1
Page 30 and 31: 21Stanford, being of his generation
Page 32 and 33: 23unique contour of these lines, a
Page 34 and 35: 25Figure 12. Rising major third key
Page 36 and 37: 27with the downward leap of a minor
Page 38 and 39: 29Figure 15. “O Let that love”
Page 40 and 41: Figure 16. “Jesu Master” organ
Page 42 and 43: 33Crashaw’s images of “Food”
Page 44 and 45: 35Harmony then, falls among every o
Page 46 and 47: 37Section CAn immediate resetting o
Page 48 and 49: Figure 21. “Weeping” organ gest
Page 50 and 51: 41another shortened verse and fitti
Page 52 and 53: 43unison/octaves. The preceding org
Page 54 and 55: 45Figure 28. “Stretch all thy pow
Page 56 and 57: 47Arriving at the word “love” a
Page 58 and 59: 49agogic stresses to achieve a fitt
Page 60 and 61: 51Table 4Section D - Thematic Struc
Page 62 and 63: 53famine, feeding its young with it
Page 64 and 65:
55global humanity en masse, but mor
Page 66 and 67:
57Figure 37. “And that long day
Page 68 and 69:
59Figure 39. Reduction of Section B
Page 70 and 71:
61sublime heavenly and musical asce
Page 73 and 74:
PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONSPrinciple
Page 75 and 76:
66and 16 to clarify structural punc
Page 77 and 78:
68To add further contrast with the
Page 79 and 80:
70breath in the vocal part to compl
Page 81 and 82:
72pairings. A lift at the end of th
Page 83 and 84:
74for the tenor soloist be placed a
Page 85 and 86:
76the word “chase” followed by
Page 87 and 88:
78Finzi always had a sense that he
Page 89 and 90:
808 Lo the Bread of Life, this day
Page 91 and 92:
82_____ . The Composer’s Use of W
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?