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

49agogic stresses to achieve a fitting text accentuation is strikingly apparent than in his setting ofthe lines of Crashaw’s, “Lo, the Bread of Life” stanza. Such statements as “This day’sTriumphant Text,” and “To the great twelve distributed,” highlight Finzi’s ability to find theaural and notational gesture most fitting the spirit and rhythm of a text, while (contrary to itsawkward appearance in the score) maintaining a most effective and natural musicality.As Section D draws to a close, its own dynamic arch rapidly descending at measure 123,the music takes an unanticipated turn. Here Finzi sets one last gasp, a short and final rise on“When Life, himself, at point to,” reaching a musical peak at Crashaw’s poetically moving “dieof love.” The soprano D♯ against the organ pedal E, heightened by emotive downward andupward leaps of resolution, 59 paint a bittersweet glow around the image of the Last Supper.Theme j having transitioned through the common tone relationships of G major, E major, and G♯minor (in a dominant capacity), comes finally to harmonic rest in C♯ major on the word“Legacy” (measure 125). Plagally-prepared and mode-shifted on the last note of the section, thiscadential formula, together with final organ intimations of “this sovereign subject,” follows thefavored Finzian figure (see Figures 22 and 32).A reduction of theme j indicates a subtle upward shift in the background line from G toG♯, balancing in small degree the earlier descent of themes h and i (see Figures 31 and 33). Tosummarize the thematic structure of Section D, following the psalm tone introduction, the twonew celebratory march themes delineate the anthem midpoint, providing both its climax and thebeginning of its long recapitulation (see Table 4).59 Double appoggiatura with octave transfer.