GORDON JACOB (1895
– 1984)
By Dr Geoff Ogram
(Background:
The author ‘discovered’ Gordon Jacob’s
music in 1956 when, as an undergraduate
reading Metallurgy at Birmingham University,
he heard the first broadcast performance
of Jacob’s Trombone Concerto. This sparked
off an interest in Jacob’s music that
developed into a major pursuit. Contact
with the composer over the years developed
into a valued friendship. Currently
Dr Ogram is preparing a comprehensive
book on Jacob’s music.
For
further information there is an excellent
biography by Eric Wetherell,
entitled Gordon Jacob – a Centenary
Biography published by Thames
Publishing.)
Biographical
details
Gordon
Jacob at his desk (1978)
Gordon Jacob was born
in Upper Norwood, south London, on July
5th, 1895, the youngest child
of a large family, having three sisters
and six brothers. His full name was
Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob, the
third name confirming his status as
the seventh son. He tended in later
life to drop his middle two names! The
family was a very musical one; most
of them played an instrument and two
of them actually composed.
Gordon Jacob's musical
interests were encouraged by his elder
siblings and his mother. His father,
an official in the Indian Civil Service,
had died when Gordon was three. Later
in life, however, his decision to pursue
music as a career was "somewhat frowned
upon" as he disclosed in a radio
broadcast in the 1960s.
His early education
was at the nearby Dulwich College, a
public school with a memorable roll
of honour of ex-pupils who have distinguished
themselves in their subsequent careers.
Musically, he certainly made an impact,
because he was bitten early by the composing
bug and wrote what would appear to be
quite ambitious works, for orchestra
no less. Clearly, he felt that these
early compositions were significant
because he gave them opus numbers, although
he soon abandoned this practice. His
obvious talent was rewarded by a sympathetic
and respected music teacher, Herbert
Doulton, who organised performances
of some of these works in concerts performed
by the school orchestra, Gordon himself
conducting on occasions. This experience
doubtless played a significant part
in developing his very acute aural imagination
and feeling for instrumental sounds
and combinations that characterised
his later compositions. Gordon was in
fact grateful that his devotion to music
was accepted without challenge by the
school and "not considered effeminate,
even in those far-off days,"
as he once expressed it. His other main
interest, he admitted, was rugby football.
Jacob had to overcome
two disadvantages. He was born with
a cleft palate, which effectively ruled
out the playing of wind instruments
and caused speech difficulties. The
second problem arose from an accident
at the age of twelve, in which he severed
a tendon in his left hand. This never
healed properly and restricted his pianistic
abilities, though a few years later
he was still able to perform as soloist
in part of a Mozart piano concerto with
the school orchestra.
World
War One
Almost as soon as he
had left school, he volunteered for
army service in August 1914 together
with a favourite brother, Anstey. Two
years later Anstey was killed at the
Somme, a bitter blow that affected Gordon
for the rest of his life.
Jacob was taken prisoner
near Arras in 1917 and despatched to
various camps. He was able to keep up
his interest in music, notably at the
end of the war at Bad Colberg, where
he formed a "scratch little orchestra"
as he called it. This comprised four
string players and three wind players,
complemented by Jacob on piano. He wrote
both original music for the group and
made arrangements "to suit, or so
I hoped, its peculiar combination of
instruments," as he explained.
Student
Years
The war finally over,
Jacob spent a year in a school of journalism.
However, his love of music was still
a priority and he took a correspondence
course in harmony and counterpoint at
the same time as his journalistic studies.
When he discovered that he could obtain
a grant, he applied to the Royal College
of Music (RCM) and won a place to study
composition and "as an also-ran,
piano".
At the RCM he studied
composition with Stanford, Howells and
Vaughan Williams. Stanford was very
much a traditionalist and rather scathing
of ‘modernity’. Later, Jacob turned
to Vaughan Williams as a less dyed-in–the-wool
teacher but found him rather less help
than he had originally hoped. However,
he did gain a lot from studies with
Herbert Howells. He also studied piano
with George Thalben-Ball and conducting
with Adrian Boult. His fellow students
included Edmund Rubbra, E.J. Moeran,
Patrick Hadley, Constant Lambert and
Ivor Gurney amongst many others who
later distinguished themselves as performers,
composers or conductors.
During those student
days, various pieces of his were included
in RCM concerts and he was awarded the
Arthur Sullivan Prize for composition,
but his first major success was an arrangement
for orchestra of pieces originally written
for the virginals, which he was asked
to make as part of the celebrations
marking the death of Byrd three hundred
years earlier. This became known as
the William Byrd Suite.
Later, a second version for symphonic
wind band was made; in fact this has
become the better-known arrangement.
Teaching
From 1924 he began
his long teaching career at the RCM
in theory and composition, one that
continued until 1966. Many who passed
through his hands as students later
became famous as instrumentalists, conductors
or composers, names like (Sir) Malcolm
Arnold, Ruth Gipps, William Waterhouse,
Cyril Smith, (Sir) Alexander Gibson,
Eric Wetherell, Imogen Holst, Alan Ridout,
and Joseph Horovitz amongst many others.
All his students have been complimentary
about the way in which he helped them
to develop as individuals in their chosen
careers. Alongside Jacob's distinguished
contribution to English music through
this teaching and guidance was his need
to supplement his earnings in order
to allow him time for his "real work",
composing. This he did by examining
for the Associated Board. In earlier
days he even took up work as a music
copyist, converting manuscript scores
written by others into orchestral parts.
He learned what matters in the preparation
of clearly annotated parts that can
make life so much easier in rehearsal
and actual performance. As an aside,
his own manuscripts were always models
of clarity.
It was in 1924 that
he first married. His wife Sydney (née
Gray) was herself very musical and she
became a tower of strength to Gordon
as he was starting to make his mark,
as indeed she was throughout their life
together. He valued her judgment and
opinions highly and they had a happy
marriage that lasted for thirty-four
years until her death in 1958.
Jacob was able to write
music virtually at any time, at the
drop of a hat so to speak. An early
work, which made a strong impression
at the time, was his (first) Viola
Concerto of 1926, which he conducted
at a Promenade concert. The soloist
was a former fellow student Bernard
Shore, who was a lifelong friend and
admirer of his music. This work marked
the start of many important contributions
that he made to the viola repertoire
as well as being the first of the many
concertos he wrote, one for virtually
every orchestral instrument and beyond.
Books
Jacob’s facility in
producing good orchestral sound, as
demonstrated in the William Byrd
Suite soon gave him a reputation
in this field. It was no surprise, perhaps,
that he decided to share his knowledge
with others by writing his book in 1931,
entitled Orchestral Technique.
Though slender in size, it was
packed to the brim with expert advice
on scoring and written with great economy
and clarity, traits that can be applied
equally well to his own music. The book
was extremely successful for over fifty
years; it was revised and reprinted
in a new edition in the 1980s.
Jacob wrote other books
too: How to Read a Score (a
basic booklet aimed at the listener),
The Elements of Orchestration (containing
much practical advice on scoring with
limited resources), and The
Composer and His Art. In
the 1950s, Jacob also edited the Penguin
Scores, a collection of classic
symphonies, overtures etc, in which
he contributed a succinct analysis of
the relevant work. Always practical,
he was responsible for having
the parts for the transposing instruments
(eg clarinets, trumpets and horns) printed
at the actual pitch to make score reading
easier for the listener.
His reputation in instrumentation
led to many composers seeking his
advice on scoring, which he gladly gave.
He always tried to understand what a
composer was trying to express musically,
and to help him or her in a technical
way. He never worked on the basis that
there was always a 'right' answer or
to impose his own ideas as a fait
accompli. In the early days he assisted
Vaughan Williams, who seemed somewhat
unsure of his abilities in orchestration,
but after a time Jacob felt rather unnecessarily
used and opted out.
On one occasion when
Gustav Holst (who in Jacob's own words
was "a marvellous orchestrator")
stepped down from the podium after conducting
one of his own works, he said to Gordon,
"well, what was wrong with that,
then?" Gordon admitted to saying
nothing!
Ballet
Music
In the 1930s, as a
result of the influence of Constant
Lambert, a fellow student of Jacob at
the RCM a decade before, Jacob became
an important contributor to the development
and success of the Sadlers Wells Ballet
Company, formed in 1931, with Lambert
as Musical Director. Jacob was one of
several younger composers who created
original scores or new compilations
and arrangements for this vibrant company.
Jacob composed one original ballet (Uncle
Remus) during that period, but
his major contribution was in his orchestral
arrangements for new ballets based upon
the works of such diverse composers
as Liszt, Adam, Couperin, Lecocq and
others, as well as new orchestrations
for established works, like Les
Sylphides. The latter more or
less became the standard version for
subsequent performances, but a later
orchestration by Roy Douglas (who, coincidentally,
but later than Jacob, had also helped
Vaughan Williams with his scoring) has
also become deservedly popular.
Wartime
In the early 1940s,
his skills in orchestration reached
an even wider public, through his witty
arrangements for the comedy radio programme
ITMA (It's That Man Again) starring
Tommy Handley. This weekly programme
was a great morale-booster during the
war years. Each edition featured a musical
interlude contributed by one of several,
mainly "light music", composers. Jacob's
offerings rather outshone the efforts
of the other composers and arrangers,
but some of the more pompous members
of the musical establishment looked
upon Jacob's ITMA activities with suspicion
and disapproval, as if he were besmirching
the name of "serious" music. This was
hurtful to him. Nowadays, nobody would
bat an eyelid.
Throughout this period,
however, Jacob continued to write his
more "serious" music. In 1943, he was
awarded the John Collard Fellowship
of The Worshipful Company of Musicians,
which carried with it an income of £300
per annum for three years, a significant
amount at that time. In response, Jacob
dedicated his Second Symphony
of 1944 to the Company. He continued
to write pieces especially for, and
usually dedicated to past students or
colleagues at the RCM who were top class
performers, and he also benefited from
many commissions.
Film
Music
At about this time
he was first asked to write music for
a number of films. A few of the early
ones were short semi-documentary propaganda
films made during the Second World War.
Half a dozen or so full-length feature
films also benefited from Gordon Jacob's
music even though none of them appears
to have become a cinema classic. However,
one cannot blame that on the music!
All this took place at a time when the
art of writing film music had not yet
been fully developed or exploited; today
it has become very sophisticated and
almost a specialist subject.
Hampshire
and the End of an Era
The Festival of Britain
in 1951 was planned as a booster for
the nation in the industrial and artistic
fields, to provide something of a celebration
for the general public during the rather
lean post-war years of rationing and
financial strictures. It mirrored in
a way the Great Exhibition exactly one
hundred years earlier. The Royal Festival
Hall was built and many composers had
works commissioned from them by the
Arts Council and other bodies for performance
at this new hall in London, or at many
established venues around the country,
and Gordon was amongst those involved.
One such commission was what has become
one of his most popular works, the Music
for a Festival for symphonic
wind band and brass ensemble.
In that year Jacob
and his wife moved from their Surrey
home to live in Brockenhurst, in the
New Forest, overlooking one of the open
grazing areas known as "lawns". The
seven years he spent there, until his
wife died in 1958, were both happy and
inspirational ones, for he produced
some notable works during that period,
including A New Forest Suite,
a work that portrayed various aspects
of the Forest's scenery and life.
He always had time
for amateurs and soon became integrated
into his new surroundings by supporting
his local music societies. On a professional
level, the nearby Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra under the baton of an Austrian
pre-war emigré, Rudolf Schwarz,
was a welcome bonus to his creativity.
Schwarz was an admirer of Jacob's music
and did much to promote it by including
established works in his concerts and
commissioning new ones. He continued
this liaison when he moved to the Midlands
to become principal conductor of the
CBSO in Birmingham in the mid 1950s.
In 1952, the death
of King George VI heralded the new Elizabethan
age, and Gordon Jacob found his talents
required yet again to provide arrangements
for the coronation of the new Queen.
For the second time Jacob would hear
the fruits of his labours in Westminster
Abbey at a coronation. One of his contributions
was an exciting new arrangement of the
National Anthem, which
incorporated fanfare trumpets, notably
in the opening Fanfare.
This version has become established
in the repertoire and is the one most
widely used for royal and other special
occasions.
Life is ever changing,
however, and Gordon Jacob's life changed
dramatically when his wife died in October
1958. Because she had been such a devoted
companion and invaluable musical consultant
for his creative work, he was utterly
devastated by her passing. He almost
lost the will to compose, but with the
help of family and friends began to
pick up the pieces and continue his
work.
By early 1959 he was
able to cope with a television team
filming for a BBC documentary programme
about his life and work that was later
screened in the highly acclaimed Monitor
series, devoted to the arts.
In the programme, Jacob
outlined his approach to music by saying,
"I write music first to please myself;
if it also pleases others, then that
is all to the good." He also stated
that he regarded melody as all-important
and expressed the view that music was
moving forward too quickly. This is
clearly a reference to some of the avant-garde
composers who were becoming very fashionable
in the eyes of the intellectual set.
Gordon, who was very open-minded about
serialism and other techniques, nevertheless
had strong reservations about some of
the trends, for he added in the
TV film that he was "repelled
by the intellectual snobbery of some
artists - not only in music but
in the other arts too."
Second
Life
It was not long before
Jacob found happiness again and started
what he called his "second life" when
he married his first wife's niece, Margaret,
later in 1959. Gordon had long valued
her friendship and had found her a sympathetic
listener during his months of grief.
There was a large age difference (he
was 63 and she was 21), and this led
to a certain amount of publicity, which
they both hated. Because the house in
Brockenhurst carried too many memories,
the couple settled into a new home in
Saffron Walden.
The marriage proved
to be very successful and was blessed
with two children, Ruth and David, born
in the early 1960s. Jacob, whose first
marriage had been childless, was delighted
with fatherhood and these new circumstances
and experiences restored his spirit
of creativity.
His contribution to
English musical life was finally recognised
officially in 1968 when he was awarded
the CBE.
Adaptability
In the mid twentieth
century, Gordon Jacob's music was played
frequently in broadcast concerts and
in the concert hall and many new works
were premiered in London and around
the country. In 1965, to mark his 70th
birthday, the BBC put on two or three
programmes of his music, and Jacob himself
conducted his Festival Overture
(written in 1963) at the Proms that
year. His music was regularly included
in the Promenade concerts, but that
overture was to prove the last of his
pieces to appear, apart from his masterly
orchestration of Elgar's first Organ
Sonata, which was played in
the 1995 series to mark the centenary
of those concerts, and, half-heartedly,
the centenary of Jacob's birth.
In the 1960s, then,
his music became less frequently heard
on radio as a result of new BBC policy
that was directed at encouraging the
younger composers, mostly of the avant-garde
or experimentalist persuasion. Whilst
this in itself was laudable, the policy
was pursued to the detriment of the
more traditionalist composers like Jacob,
Bax, Bliss, Rawsthorne and others, who
found their music becoming more and
more neglected. The malaise spread also
to the concert hall. The many who found
themselves in this situation have, nearly
forty years later, been referred to
as "the forgotten composers." Now, at
last, there are some signs of a revival
of interest in their work.
So Jacob, with a young
family, and having retired in 1966 from
teaching part-time at the RCM, was conscious
of the need to continue earning a living.
He adapted to the new circumstances.
His reputation had not, of course, diminished
amongst those who knew him, and commissions
continued to come in, but predominantly
from amateur groups. He also turned
more to writing for instrumental combinations
like wind bands, for example, rather
than the orchestra because there was
a better market for such pieces.
All was not doom and
gloom, however. Amongst a lot of what
we might call "practical music" that
he wrote during this period, short pieces
and minor works, occasionally he would
have something meatier to work on. One
such is the Concerto for Three
Hands written for the three-handed
team of Phyllis Sellick and Cyril Smith
(whose left hand had been paralysed
in a stroke); others include the Mini
Concerto for Clarinet written
for Thea King, and the Viola Concerto
No 2 composed as a test piece
for the first Lionel Tertis
Viola Competition held in the Isle of
Man in 1980. All three are examples
of attractive and important works written
in later life.
Jacob
as Arranger
Jacob’s skills as an
arranger are exemplified by his work
on the William Byrd Suite,
(arranged for orchestra and also concert
band), and the orchestral versions of
Vaughan Williams’ English Folk
Song Suite (originally written
for band) and Elgar’s Organ Sonata
No 1. He also arranged
some concert band suites by Holst for
orchestra. As always, he respected the
source of the particular work and the
finished piece was scored in an appropriate
manner. The Elgar Sonata cited above,
for example, sounds like Elgar
in its orchestral colours.
Gordon
Jacob in his Garden with Geoff Ogram
(1976)
The
last years
To Jacob, music was
his life. Never did he consider retiring
and so he worked on into his late eighties
producing a stream of works, many from
commissions. Some, in his own words,
were "unpretentious little pieces"
but he was ever able to come up with
a musical gem of true substance. Though
he enjoyed good health throughout his
life, he was troubled in later years
with failing eyesight, and his written
hand became shakier as he struggled
to set down his ideas, but he remained
cheerful and optimistic. In a letter
to me in the early 1980s, he wrote:
"I'm still note-spinning despite
advancing years, deafness and
blindness!" A few years earlier,
when I visited him, he showed me the
manuscript score, just completed, of
his Symphonic Study: The Line
of Life for wind band. He pointed
to a few notes on high leger lines and
explained that when he could not see
clearly enough to confirm the accuracy
of the notes on them he would write
"C"' or "E flat" (or whatever) against
them, in red pen!
Always willing to try
out something new, it is hardly surprising
that he chose to write, even at the
age of eighty-eight, a Concerto
for Timpani, with wind band
accompaniment, but he did not live to
hear it. His last work was a Mini
Concerto for Orchestra written
for a Youth Orchestra Festival, which
took place at the Royal Festival Hall
in July 1984. Gordon had hoped to attend
the concert but became ill in May, suffering
a severe stroke. He died on June 8th,
just a month short of his 89th
birthday. The Youth Music Festival made
a special dedication of the event to
his memory.
Gordon
Jacob – the man behind the music
Gordon was a charming
and friendly person, although at a first
meeting he might seem a little aloof.
There was, I think, a certain shyness
about him. The composer and former pupil,
Alan Ridout, put his finger on it when
he described his first meeting with
Gordon at the RCM: "When Gordon Jacob
appeared at the top of the stairs and
approached us down the corridor with
the light modesty of step of the sensitive,
I warmed to him instantly. I was unprepared
for his shyness and the far-away
look in his eyes."
He was always modest
about his own work and appreciative
of the talents of others. His students
all had great affection for him as a
person as well as a teacher. And as
a teacher he was a highly successful
one.
My own impression is
that once a person had gained his friendship,
there was a remarkable openness in the
ensuing relationship. I can speak with
experience. In my case I had started
as a complete stranger, not a pupil,
and it was I who initiated the contact
by writing to Gordon in 1958. Communication
from then on was casual and irregular,
but I suppose my persistence eventually
led to Gordon remembering my existence!
I was always conscious of intruding
where I might not be welcome. But as
we met more frequently and exchanged
correspondence, it was not long before
we were able to discuss things of a
more personal nature, with the ease
enjoyed by long-standing friends. In
one letter to me, Gordon chatted quite
happily about how much in royalties
the Performing Rights Society had forwarded
in the last year and how much the fees
for his son's education had gone up.
And he was sympathetic at a time when
I had some personal problems.
Throughout life he
possessed a great sense of wit and humour.
Much of his music can be described as
witty and a sense of fun is evident
in a few pieces written for special
occasions. I have in mind here his contribution
to the Royal College of Organists Centenary
Concert, the hilarious Humpty
Dumpty and his False Relations,
in which the old nursery tune
finds itself combined with many well-known
traditional airs and themes from great
works by composers as diverse as Dukas
and Beethoven. Even the title of the
piece is a gem. Gordon Jacob, though
never flippant, was blessed with a complete
lack of pomposity.
Gordon Jacob with
one of his collection of pigs (1978)
Musical
Works
Jacob was one of England’s
most prolific composers, with a list
of some 450 works ranging from large
scale compositions for orchestra to
short simple pieces aimed at the beginner.
They cover a wide range of forms and
instrumental combinations. Apart from
a youthful offering entitled "Red
Riding Hood", an operetta for children
performed in 1913, the opera format
did not generally appeal to him and
is the one musical genre not represented
in his catalogue of works.
His musical style is
firmly based upon the traditions of
his earlier years. Traditional musical
forms (suites, sonatas etc) suited his
purposes adequately. His harmonic style,
too, is broadly traditional but makes
use of harmonic devices that are of
the twentieth century. He was a strong
believer in melody and had a knack or
flair for writing memorable tunes. Much
of his music is very easy on the ear,
but some is distinctly "tougher"
and requires more effort in its interpretation.
Nowadays, his tunefulness might be regarded
as old-fashioned but the avant-garde
school seems to have had its day to
some extent and several contemporary
composers are adopting a more obviously
‘melodic’ approach to their work.
Overall, Jacob’s music
can best be described as neo-classical,
like many other composers of his generation,
who form a significant part of the English
musical renaissance that began with
Parry and Stanford. Some of Jacob’s
contemporaries later moved to a more
romantic inclination. Indeed one can
detect a whiff of romanticism in some
of Jacob’s earlier works (and even in
later compositions) but he stuck to
the neo-classicist path for the most
part.
His music can be best
characterised by such words and phrases
as conservative, direct, traditional,
tonal, diatonic (but taking into
account twentieth century harmonic trends),
melodious, terse, acerbic, witty,
neo-classical, piquancy, and
clarity of texture. Frank Howes,
in his book The English Musical
Renaissance (published by Secker
and Warburg, 1966) describes Jacob’s
music in the following way: "Ingenuity
rather than sentiment is the driving
force of his music – ingenuity of counterpoint,
ingenuity of invention, ingenuity of
scoring. This ingenuity is not to be
despised – it is an ingredient in wit
and the light touches with which his
works abound.
"His Englishness
is in line with Holst’s, derives from
him back to Purcell, and is manifest
in economy, clarity, and, if the oxymoron
be allowed, a reticent pungency.
Orchestral
Most important amongst
his orchestral works are the two symphonies,
both of which have connections with
wartime. The Symphony No 1
of 1928 is in five movements and is
dedicated to the composer’s brother
Anstey, who fell at the Somme. Only
one of its five movements has been performed
in public (Jacob conducting the slow
movement at the Three Choirs Festival
in 1934, though Sir Henry Wood did conduct
a studio play-through in 1932 which
did not, however, lead to a Prom performance.
Symphony No 2,
written in 1943, is described by the
composer as "a meditation on war,
suffering and victory". This has
fared better than the first symphony
in terms of performances and has appeared
on CD. With its chilling opening long
held note followed by great flurries
of activity, the first movement seems
to express the unrest and confusion
of war, both at home and on the battlefield.
The slow movement is achingly poignant
and depicts the agonies and suffering
of conflict, though there is more than
a hint of camaraderie, fighting spirit
and optimism. The scherzo recognises
that a cheery attitude in hard times
can be beneficial but something ominous
is never far away. The final movement,
in the form of a ground bass, seems
to express the dedication and drive
needed for victory, which comes at last,
on a long-held note, as at the beginning
of the work, though now the bells ring
and the mood is no longer sinister but
triumphant.
A Little Symphony
was written in 1957 and also
appears on the same CD. This is for
chamber orchestra and is a delightful
Haydnesque work, in that it is the kind
of symphony that Papa Haydn might well
have composed had he been alive in the
twentieth century. In a sense it is
Jacob’s equivalent of Prokofiev’s Classical
Symphony, though more serious in tone
with its Grave opening movement.
But that lightness of touch, so characteristic
of Jacob, soon appears with the rhythmic
second movement (Scherzo)
and delicately precise final movement
marked Allegro molto, quasi presto,
which span a gentler and melodious
Adagio movement. The scoring
makes the most of the available forces
( strings, I flute, 2 each oboes, bassoons
and horns ) with some delightful tone
colours.
Certainly a major work
is his Variations on an Original
Theme, which dates from 1936.
It fully deserves its description by
Robin Hull as "one of the finest
sets (of variations) written by a British
composer since Elgar’s day." (British
Music of our Time – A Pelican Book,
published 1951 by Penguin Books.)
The two-part theme
is memorable in itself and it leads
to nine distinctly different variations.
From the confident first variation,
the sprightly second, the gracious third,
the poignant fifth and so on to the
final fugue, the listener is treated
to a feast of sounds and musical ingenuity.
His many Suites
are more than just light-hearted romps.
The Suite No 1 for small
orchestra (1941) is light, charming,
short and sweet, but his Suite
No 3 is more expansive
and displays more
ingenuity (that word again!) in its
five movements. One of his popular pieces
is the Passacaglia on a Well-known
Theme (Oranges and Lemons). This
is not as flippant as its title might
suggest, but a clever creation that
shows skilful working of musical ideas
on a simple theme.
More serious in tone
is the lovely Pro Corda Suite
for string quartet and string
orchestra, composed in 1977 for Pro
Corda, the National Association for
young chamber music players. This has
a wonderfully intense slow movement
(the third) as well as a delicate Allegretto
second movement. The outer movements
are both vigorous and exhilarating.
His New Forest
Suite completed at around the
time that his first wife died is one
of the rare works with a "non-musical"
title, and it depicts various aspects
of he area in which he lived at the
time. Some of the titles of the six
movements, Primeval Oaks, The
Queen’s Bower, Butts Lawn, Pannage
(the autumnal right to allow pigs
free access in the forest to forage
for acorns) give an idea of the work’s
structure. Colourfully orchestrated,
this suite provided a background for
the 1959 BBC ‘Monitor’ film about
the composer.
Strings alone feature
in two other major works, the Sinfonietta
No 2 (The Cearne) and the Symphony
for Strings. Both pieces show
Jacob’s mastery of string writing. The
Symphony in particular
has a distinct pastoral quality in its
slow movement in which a solo violin
is featured prominently.
Concertos
The concertos form
a significant and important part of
Jacob’s output. He wrote concertos for
virtually all of the common orchestral
instruments and a few others as well.
His first major work that got him public
recognition was his single movement
Viola Concerto (No 1)
of 1925. This has certain romantic leanings
and forms an interesting contrast with
his much later (1980) Viola Concerto
No 2, a slightly shorter four-movement
work with string accompaniment. This
was commissioned and used as a test
piece for the first International Viola
Competition in the Isle of Man in 1980,
the winner performing the work at a
public concert in London in 1981. This
is a beautifully honed
work, which allows the soloist to express
various moods from the thoughtful first
movement in 5/4 time, through the fast-moving
Scherzo and a meditative Intermezzo-like
third movement to the finale, which
is energetic and exhilarating.
Jacob also wrote a
Concert-Piece for Viola and Orchestra
in 1977 for the violist John
White. This is a set of variations played
as a continuous piece, in effect another
concerto, and it represents yet another
major work for the instrument from Jacob’s
pen.
The Violin Concerto
(1953) and Violoncello
Concerto (1955) are quite serious
in nature, especially the latter, which
is a tougher nut to crack than much
of Jacob’s music. As always, these need
great sensitivity of performance to
bring out the best. On occasions his
music receives a cursory treatment hat
does not do it justice. Slow movements
are often taken too quickly, and these
two works are good examples where such
advice is relevant. To round off the
string section, there is even a Little
Concerto for Double Bass!
There are two Flute
Concertos, dating from 1951
and 1981, both in four movements and
with string accompaniment. Number one
is the more substantial work
and has a certain Gallic air about some
of the movements. It is very lyrical
and meditative, in contrast to the second
concerto, which is lighter and chirpier,
apart from a short pensive third movement.
The two Oboe
Concertos are well worth exploring,
too. The first (1933), with string orchestra,
is very pastoral in nature and has recently
been recorded on CD by the young oboist
Ruth Bolister. It is a work which is
full of delightful invention and the
overall pastoral quality runs through
all of its three movements. The second
concerto (1956), with full orchestral
accompaniment, also has a pastoral feel
about it, mainly in the central slow
movement, but the outer movements seem
to show off the oboe’s more capricious
nature. Once again, there are many interesting
musical ideas for the listener to savour.
The Mini-concerto
for Clarinet and Strings of
1980 is another winner. It was written
for Thea King and represents all that
is best in the composer’s ability to
charm, to bring a lump to the throat
and to entertain with a high degree
of wit. Four short movements are packed
into 10½ minutes, with a jaunty opening
theme, a poignant slow movement, a wistful
third and a rousing finale.
The Bassoon Concerto
(1948) for soloist, strings
and optional percussion is another neo-classical
work, full of charm and invention and
a haunting slow movement for the bassoon
in its high register. Two jaunty movements
either side of this make up the rest
of the work in which the bassoon is
now playful, now serious, but never
portrayed as "the clown of the
orchestra" as it has been described,
unfairly.
Probably one of his
best-known and popular concertos, and
one of the few with full orchestra,
is that for Trombone.
At the time it was composed (1956) there
were few concertos for the instrument
and this work is almost certainly the
most performed of all that have been
written, before and since it appeared.
The nobility of the instrument is prominent
at the very start of the work with its
opening and closing Maestoso recitative-like
passages, between which a syncopated
Allegro molto forms the main
part of the first movement. In the second
movement the trombone sings its plaintive
song, at one point in a higher register
than an accompanying flute. The final
movement with its March theme
rounds off the work in rousing style.
The trombone in this work has to be
very flexible and agile as well as powerful
and regal.
The Horn Concerto
of 1951 was a favourite of its dedicatee,
Dennis Brain, who loved its "woodpecker-like"
repeated notes that appear in the first
and last movements, though in different
forms. But it is not all to do with
rapid passage work, for the horn also
has some beautifully mellifluous tunes
to play that melt the heart.
Another early work
is the Piano Concerto No 1 (1927),
with string orchestra, which is very
florid and has romantic overtones and
is well worth exploring. The later (1957)
Concerto No 2, is more
measured and has an unusual slow movement
in the form of a theme and variations
with some arresting moments. The finale
is bubbly and highly syncopated with
a notable sequence involving repeated
notes.
The pianist Cyril Smith
had a stroke in 1957 and lost the use
of his left arm. His four-handed partnership
with his wife Phyllis Sellick had to
be modified to a three-handed one. Jacob
not only rearranged music for them but
composed his Concerto for Three
Hands and Orchestra in 1969,
which is a most attractive work. Bold
and percussive in the first movement,
it gives way to a second movement Nocturne
with just strings and horn in the
accompaniment, very "Delian"
as the composer remarked to me at a
run-through concert prior to the work
being recorded for an LP by the soloists.
A gently running Minuet with
a contrasting Slavonic style Trio
section, followed by the last movement
in the form of a boisterous Tarantella,
brings the concerto to a spirited
finish.
A couple of years later,
the Rhapsody for Three hands and
Brass appeared. Essentially
another concerto for the same soloists,
the accompaniment was for brass band
and the piece was in one continuous
movement, though there are three clearly
defined sections
Another delightful
miniature is the Concertino for
Piano and Strings. This was
composed in 1954 and its three movements
are quite captivating in a clear neo-classical
style. In the first movement the piano
seems to wander from key to key, the
strings doing their best to steer it
back home. The slow movement has an
eerie opening sequence for the piano,
which plays an extended passage in simple
octaves. The mood eventually warms up,
however, and prepares the way for the
final movement, a witty Scherzo,
with a crisp, dry texture. A
recent CD has confirmed the worth of
this little piece.
One of Jacob’s last
works, and one he never heard, is the
1984 Concerto for Timpani and
Band. First performed in Germany
by the young soloist Klaus Huber, it
was brought to England later the same
year for a performance in Kent. Though
there is plenty of rhythmic work for
the soloist, Jacob has concentrated
on the melodic capabilities of the timpani,
by writing for four pedal tuned instruments.
The soloist is expected to display subtlety
as well as demonstrating prowess with
more complex rhythmic work.
Mention should also
be made of Jacob’s Concerto for
Accordion and strings, and his
Double Concerto for Clarinet,
Trumpet and Band, if only to
underline his versatility.
Brass Band and Concert
Band
The general term "concert
band" is used here to cover various
forms of symphonic wind band, such as
the military band, the American symphonic
band which differ slightly in the instrumental
line up.
Jacob produced what
has become one of the classics of the
band repertoire in his 1928
An Original Suite for Military
Band. He was always amused by
the title of the piece for it was the
publishers who insisted on inserting
the word "original"! It reflects
the age in which it was written, for
there was little for such bands to play
apart from arrangements of popular works.
In this piece Jacob helped to establish
the wind band as a vehicle for serious
music. Typical of his band music it
is painted in broad strokes as befits
outdoor music but still contains subtleties.
The energetic first movement gives way
to the slower second movement entitled
Intermezzo featuring a melody
for saxophone. Finally a kind of frenzied
country dance emerges as the third movement.
By far his longest
work for band is the Music for
a Festival written for the Festival
of Britain in 1951, commissioned for
he occasion. Originally intended to
be performed in barges on the river
Thames, it was actually performed in
the newly- built Festival Hall. Its
eleven movements alternate between a
fanfare brass group (4 trumpets and
3 trombones) and the symphonic band
itself. This had practical implications
in that each group could rest while
the other group played, so the whole
work would be more comfortable to play.
The two groups combined in the final
movement, a grand Fugue. The
earlier movements include an Overture,
Air, March, Scherzo, and Minuet
and Trio for Band, with Intrada,
Round of Seven parts, Interlude, Saraband
and Madrigal for the Brass group.
These latter Interludes for brass are
often performed as a separate work in
concerts. This is a most attractive
work with some delightful tunes. The
Interludes hark back to Tudor times
in mood and remind one of the Italian
masters such as Gabrieli.
A Symphony AD
78 was written for the Arthur
Doyle (hence AD!) Concert Band in 1978
and performed in Birmingham in December
of that year. A powerful work, it lay
dormant until resurrected by the conductor
Geoffrey Brand who has recorded the
work, available on CD. An opening fanfare
–like Maestoso leads directly
to an Allegro risoluto, which
exudes determination and forthrightness.
The second movement follows without
a break and is a continuous plaint in
which the melody seems for ever to seeking
for resolution like a troubled soul
searching for respite. Only in the closing
bars does peace seem to take over. The
final movement, marked Allegro non
troppo starts with a cheering fanfare
that leads to a bright and breezy romp,
with a rustic feel about it. When the
fanfare reappears we are suddenly immersed
in exaltations of joy that really give
a feeling of optimism as we proceed
to the end of the piece via a short
Coda.
For brass band Jacob
has written a number of works, including
two Suites, the first
of which was commissioned as a test
piece for the Brass Band Championship
in 195 and is the better known piece.
The first movement, March, is
followed by the slow movement marked
Solemn Music, probably linked
in the composer’s mind to Remembrance
Day and the fallen of two wars. The
final movement is typically Jacob in
festive mood, jaunty and occasionally
turbulent, with a triumphal ending.
His York Symphony
was part of the 900th
Anniversary celebrations of that city,
commissioned for the occasion and performed
in York Minster. A four movement work,
it was in the composer’s mind to be
a tribute to the county and its people.
It ends with a March for the Men
of York. The slow movement depicts
the beauty of the landscape, though
there is no attempt to portray specific
features or locations. Jacob’s music
is basically abstract but such "pure"
music is perfectly capable of arousing
emotions and moods.
There are many shorter
pieces for brass and wind bands too
numerous to list here.
Chamber Music
Only a small selection
can be discussed as there is such a
lot of good music in this category.
One has to start with the Clarinet
Quintet which dates from 1940.
Written for Frederick Thurston it is
a beautifully wrought work in four movements.
A mellifluous and flowing first movement
allows the clarinet to be lyrical. In
the rhythmic second movement, very contrapuntal
in nature, the clarinet can show its
agility. The third movement is more
expansive and meditative, entitled Rhapsody,
paves the way for the final movement,
Introduction, theme and variations,
a form in which Jacob excels, providing
the listener with a variety of effects
and moods.
On the website http://www.musicweb.co.uk.net/classrev/2002/apr02/jacob-clarinet.htm,
Rob Barnett, reviewing a CD of this
work, made the following comment:
"This admirable
work has more than its share of moments
when the composer stills the heartbeat
and holds the passage of time in the
cup of his hands."
That gem of a sentence
perfectly expresses what occurs not
only in the Clarinet Quintet, but in
most of Jacob’s music.
An earlier Quartet
for Oboe and Strings is a most
attractive work, light-hearted, and
an ideal introduction to his music.
Full of catchy tunes, it bubbles away
merrily without too many demands on
the listener.
His two String
Quartets have not been much
to the fore and deserve further investigation.
His Six Shakespearian Sketches
for string trio are little masterpieces.
Based upon short quotations from the
bard, including a stage direction, they
are as varied as one could imagine –
beautifully finished cameos. How
sweet the moonlight sleeps on yonder
bank is dreamy and evocative of
the night. Foot it featly is
expressed as a kind of rustic dance.
In Sad Cypress lives up to the
tempo marking of Molto adagio ed
elegiaco. A graceful minuet expresses
Grace in all Simplicity. The
poignancy of And A’ Babbled of Green
Fields is appropriate for the reporting
of Falstaff’s death and the highly rhythmical
and syncopated final offering represents
here a Dance of Clowns.
Much later in life
Jacob wrote a superb Suite for
Eight Violas, an inspired piece.
Its first movement is dedicated to the
former viola virtuoso, Lionel Tertis,
whose name is coded into twelve notes
that form the theme. The other movements
are Scherzo and Drone, a haunting
Chorale, parts of which remind
one of Copland, and a final Tarantella
which gets the feet tapping.
In a similar vein is
his Cello Octet which
is an arrangement of his Trombone
Octet with an additional movement.
Wind ensembles represent
a significant part of his chamber music.
The 1956 Sextet for
Wind and Piano was written for
the Dennis Brain Wind Ensemble to celebrate
their tenth anniversary. Jacob inscribed
the work "In memoriam Aubrey Brain",
Aubrey being Dennis’s late father and
a noted horn player. Four of the five
movements were based upon the musical
letters of his name, ABEBA. Shortly
after the work’s first (broadcast) performance,
Dennis was killed in a car crash. Jacob
rededicated the work to father and son.
The five movements, Elegiac Prelude,
Scherzo, Cortege, Minuet and Trio, and
Rondo with Epilogue suggest a mixture
of sadness and laughter but the work
overall is perhaps more melancholic
than some of these titles might suggest.
Jacob scores wonderfully well for wind
instruments; he produces such variety
in tone colour that the sound never
cloys. This is an impressive work.
Works for soloist and
keyboard include the very popular Suite
for Treble Recorder. This is
often played with the piano as accompaniment
but is better known in the version with
string orchestra. It was originally
conceived for string quartet. Its seven
movements include a Lament,
English Dance, and Burlesca alla
Rumba. The recorder is expected
to produce those delicious liquid tones
as well as demonstrate its agility in
rapid passage work. The Suite
is a most attractive set of contrasting
pieces that require a virtuoso performer
to bring it to life.
Jacob wrote several
other pieces for recorder including,
for the virtuoso Danish player Michala
Petri, a Duettino for
recorder and piano, in which the soloist
has to play the recorder and sing a
counter melody simultaneously!
A parallel work to
the Recorder Suite exists
in the form of the Suite of Five
pieces for Harmonica and Piano.
This, too, is better known in the version
with string orchestra. The perky Caprice,
the lilting Cradle Song,
the haunting Threnody and the
faster Country Dance together
with the exhilarating Russian Dance
make another entertaining concert
item. The Suite was written
for Tommy Reilly who performed it on
numerous occasions. It was the second
harmonica work by Jacob who in 1955
had written an eight movement Divertimento
for harmonica and string quartet.
More serious in nature
are the various sonatas. Notable are
the two Sonatas for Viola,
the second of which is particularly
effective and powerful in its impact.
The Sonata for Oboe is
another that should receive more attention.
Its close relative, the Sonatina
for Oboe and Piano was certainly
one of the composer’s own favourites,
and rightly so. Other sonatas exist
for tenor trombone, cello, harmonica,
violin, and treble recorder.
Quite a few of the
works involving keyboard accompaniments
specify harpsichord with piano as alternative
(or vice versa).The Trio for Flute,
Oboe and Harpsichord is a prime
example. Written for the Francis family
in 1958, this is a four-movement work
that exudes happiness and joie-de-vivre,
with a particularly tongue-in-cheek
final movement. The same group with
the addition of a harp (played by another
member of the family) had another work
dedicated to them. This was the Six
Miniatures for this unusual
combination, which has some interesting
ideas and sound combinations. Jacob
was always interested in "unusual"
instruments. In fact he wrote in the
late 1950s a Suite for the Virginal.
Amongst a number of
compositions for wind ensembles, the
Serenade for Woodwind
is worthy of special comment. This is
an eight-movement work for woodwind
(2 each of flutes, oboes, clarinets
and bassoons). Starting with a spirited
March, it continues with a melodious
little Arietta and a Gavotte.
Then the mood changes to an almost
sinister one with the eerie Interlude
(Incantation). The gloom soon vanishes
with the mercurial Toccatina. As
a contrast to the many faceted sounds
of the previous movements, the very
chordal Saraband with its rich
sound (using all instruments together
for much of the time) is very telling.
A spirited Scherzo, highly syncopated,
comes next and leads to a ruminative
final movement, an Epilogue which,
with its long sustained chords and gently
flowing main theme has a becalming effect
on the flute, which initially seems
anxious and rather wayward. The other
instruments persuade it to join in and
relax. In this work, Jacob yet again
demonstrates his ability to produce
a wide range of tone colours and both
contrapuntal and rhythmical interest.
This is a perfect example of the ingenuity
referred to by Frank Howes, and discussed
earlier.
Another unusual combination
of instruments appears in Jacob’s Diversions
for wind quintet and string
quintet. This work, in seven movements,
though similar in concept to the Serenade
discussed above, is rather more
wistful and contemplative in mood as
a whole, though it has a few sparkly
moments.
There are several works
for solo instruments, such as the Partita
for bassoon, Seven Bagatelles
for oboe, Five Pieces for
clarinet, and a Sonata for Piano.
Brass ensembles are
not neglected either, for there are
pieces for brass quartet, quintet, trombone
quartet, and trombone octet, to list
a few examples.
Finally, we come to
choral music. There are so many solo
songs and songs for choruses of various
forms that it would be pointless to
single out any of these for special
mention. Jacob also wrote some charming
collections of vocal music in the form
of cantatas, one of the best of which
is
A Goodly Heritage for
women’s chorus and strings and piano.
This consists of songs of the countryside
based upon poems old and new, and very
evocative of times past. It contains
some sensitive settings of familiar
words like Under the Greenwood Tree,
The Echoing Green and so on.
Jacob’s word painting is always of the
highest quality and no better than in
the starkly harmonised When Icicles
Hang by the Wall. With its staccato
fourths in the harmony (often in contrary
motion) there is even a visual analogy
of icicles on the printed pages of the
score, and the subtle underlining of
the words " the wind doth blow"
and "coughing" in
the accompaniment is perfectly accomplished.
The most important
choral work, and incidentally the largest
of his output, is his 1951 setting of
Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale
for chorus and orchestra. This
tells the story of a fine and noble
cockerel Chanticleer, his abduction
by a fox, and his eventual release.
The work is in the form of ten movements
and is one of Jacob’s most powerful
scores, with some fine tunes in his
familiar "friendly" style
but it is harmonically very aggressive,
with a much harsher use of dissonance
than we generally expect from him. The
ten movements break up the narrative
neatly into the various parts of the
story, from the initial pastoral setting
of the scene, through descriptions of
Chanticleer’s great qualities, his being
troubled by dreams of attack by a beast,
dismissed as fantasy by his paramour
(the hen known as Lady Pertelote) to
the actual abduction when Chanticleer’s
worst fears are realised. Jacob’s imaginative
treatment of the unfolding drama, his
creation of a sound world in which the
music so aptly reinforces the words,
and the great variety of orchestral
sound make this work an ideal tribute
to the composer’s genius.
Further information
is available on the official website
www.gordonjacob.org
which includes a complete list
of his works and a list of recordings
available on CD. The author of this
article, Dr Geoff Ogram, can be contacted
by e-mail on: geoff.ogram@talktalk.net
