CANADA
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Introduction
Canada provides
an example of a country attempting to create an autonomous
modern classical music of its own, that will reflect Canadian
experiences and concerns within a wider musical context, analogous
to the process that such countries as Czechoslovakia underwent
in the 19th century, Mexico in the 1920s, or Australia in
the 1960s and 1970s.
It is still a
relatively young culture, and its music was initially influenced
by European, particularly German, developments rather than
by the United States (itself under the same dominance). Although
the history of opera performance dates back to 1798, the groundwork
for indigenous composition was laid by Calixa Lavallée (1842-1891),
who wrote the Canadian national anthem, and Guillaume Couture
(1851-1915). But the father-figures of Canadian composition
were from the following generation, Healey Willan (1880-1968),
who emigrated from Britain to Canada, Sir Ernest Macmillan
(1893-1973), both of whom wrote under the influence of the
emerging English tradition, and both of whom were important
teachers, and Claude Champagne (1891-1965), who in contrast
followed the French tradition of Debussy and Ravel,
and was an important influence on the next generation of French-Canadian
composers; the light and frothy Danse Villageoise (1929)
for violin and piano (revised for string orchestra) is the
most often encountered of his works, but it is not especially
representative.
The following
generation of composers, who were often taught by Canadians
rather than exclusively studying abroad, in the main clustered
around two centres, Toronto and Montréal, reflecting two of
Canada's cultures, the English and the French-Canadian. The
variety of styles in this generation has been considerable.
Among the English-Canadians, John Weinzweig (born 1913) was
one of first in Canada to use atonal and 12-tone methods (1939),
notably in a series of Divertimentos, though from the
late 1960s he increasingly incorporated new contemporary ideas,
descriptive rather than generic titles, and theatrical elements,
as in Around the Stage in Twenty-Five Minutes during which
a Variety of Instruments are Struck (1970). He has become
important as a teacher, passing on his concepts of clarity
and economy to many of his younger contemporaries. Jean Coulthard
(born 1908) has retained neo-Romantic leanings, and her best-known
work, Prayer for Elizabeth (1952) for strings, shows
the influence of her teacher Vaughan Williams. The
large output of Barbara Pentland (born 1912) has preferred
traditional forms (the symphony, the string quartet) as a
framework for first 12-tone, and then serial and aleatory
techniques in an increasingly refined language. Violet Archer
(born 1913) has been equally prolific, influenced by the concept
of Gebrauchsmusik (music designed to be useful in social
applications, including music for amateurs, a term initiated
by Hindemith, with whom she studied), and she has included
serial techniques and, from the 1970s, electronics in her
palette. Harry Somers (born 1925), one of Weinzweig's
pupils, has drawn on eclectic sources, frequently mixing atonal
or 12-tone methods with tonal elements. Harry Freedman (born
in Poland, 1922) started under the influence of jazz, but
became attracted to 12-tone composition, until in the early
1950s he found the strict application inappropriate to his
concerns. He then turned to landscape painting for musical
inspiration, before returning to a freer usage of 12-tone
composition in 1964. He is also well-known as a composer for
film and television. John Beckwith (born 1927) has used eclectic,
sometimes extra-musical, sources of inspiration, and has been
interested in the dualities of the public and private and
the expression of Canadian life and society in music. His
output includes many collaborations with writers, notably
the poet James Reaney, and his formal designs have often favoured
collage structures, sometimes likened to quilting designs.
The pianist and composer Bruce Mather (born 1939) came under
the influence of Boulez, and the bulk of his output
is for small ensembles, including much vocal music, initially
based on English poetry (especially Robert Graves, in the
cantata in four distinct sections, The White Goddess,
1960-1961) and then on French poetry, notably (from 1967)
a series of Madrigals for one or two voices and instrumental
ensembles.
Among the French-Canadians,
François Morel (born 1926) moved from a quasi-Impressionism
to serial technique, while Serge Garant (born 1929) was one
of the first to come under the influence of Boulez
and has become one of Canada's major conductors of new music,
and André Prévost (born 1934) has written large-scale avant-garde
works that concentrate on colour and sonority, and whose forms
have been predicated by the content and context of each piece.
Perhaps the finest of this generation of composers working
in a mainstream idiom is Jacques Hétu (born 1938), who has
synthesized 12-tone and modal elements into a largely lyrical
idiom, often for larger orchestral forces handled with considerable
powers of colour and effect. The large orchestral song-cycle
Les abîmes du rêve (The Abyss of Dream, 1981-1982)
is strongly recommended. Before his murder in Paris, Claude
Vivier (1948-1983) produced in his short life works of considerable
interest, first in an idiom recognizably influenced by Messiaen,
and, after the mid-1970s, by Eastern and gamelan musics, with
affinities to the American minimalists; Lonely Child
(1980) for soprano and small orchestra is recommended. The
most interesting of this group is Gilles Tremblay (born
1932), who has pursued a single-minded preoccupation with
space, duration and sonority.
The most recent
generation of composers is equally eclectic, and ranges from
Michael Longtin (born 1946), who started as an electronic
composer and whose experience in that field has spilled over
into his conventional scores, such as the distinct, differentiated
colours, percussion effects and dramatic incident of the fine
Pohjatuuli (1983) for instrumental ensemble, to Michael
Conway Baker (born 1941 in the U.S.A.), whose idiom is so
often so conservative that he can be mistaken for a composer
writing at the very beginning, not the end, of the 20th century.
Alexina Louie (born 1949) has attracted attention for an idiom
that combines modern effects with a touch of popular appeal.
In addition, a lively electro-acoustic composition community
has emerged, centred on the Canadian Electroacoustic Community
(CEC) in Montréal, and tracing their ancestry back to an early
pioneer of electronic music, Hugh Le Caine (1914-1977), who
helped establish the first genuine electronic-music studio
in North America, in Toronto in 1959. At present this electro-acoustic
interest is primarily centred on technology rather than content,
with cross-overs to popular musics; an interesting exception
who has produced some startling electronic works is Christian
Calon (born in Marseille in 1950).
Within this pattern
there have been attempts to forge music that would reflect
the individuality of the country. A few have reflected Canadian
history, notably Harry Somers's grand opera Louis
Riel, which dressed 19th-century epic opera in modern
garb. Many have been arrangements of folk-songs, particularly
Newfoundland folk-songs, but most of these have reflected
a British or Irish rather than an indigenous tradition. Others,
especially during the 1950s, attempted to evoke the Canadian
landscape. A few have attempted to draw on the heritage of
Canada's indigenous peoples, sometimes with text (Garant's
Anerca (1966) for soprano and chamber ensemble, to
cite but one example, uses Inuit [Eskimo] texts), sometimes
using melody and text, and some influenced by native Indian
rhythms. MacMillan's Three Indian Songs from the
West Coast remains one of the best examples, while the
Songs of the Central Eskimos (1971) and the Indian
Legends (1971), both for solo voice and piano are an interesting
response by Alexander Brott (born 1915), otherwise a conservative
composer whose output is a kind of Canadian equivalent to
that of Kabalevsky. Yet by and large these attempts
at the assimilation of a traditional heritage have not been
successful, and it must be said that, with the exception of
Murray Schafer (born 1933), Canada has, in comparison
with other Western countries, failed as yet to produce either
a modern idiom that has strong Canadian individuality (in
contrast to, for example, Australia) or composers with distinctive
and arresting musical personalities. The other notable exception
is Bengt Hambraeus, who has lived in Canada since 1972,
but so little known is this interesting composer in his adopted
country that he will be found under his native Sweden, where
he is regarded with respect and admiration.
The possible reasons
for this lack of character reflect the still youthful nature
of the culture, the increasingly pervasive influence of American
commercial interests and values, a lack of appreciation of
the importance of the arts in education, and a general Canadian
trait that denigrates its own artists (and not just in the
field of music). In addition, the professional music-making
is still often parochial, with over-inflation of the quality
of indigenous orchestras and opera companies in the major
centres, and very little opportunity to broaden horizons and
critical acumen through visits by international orchestras
and instrumentalists. The major classical radio station, CBC
(Canadian Broadcasting Company) is dominated by a handful
of broadcasters subscribing to a similar parochial view. The
influence of indigenous musics, so potent in the development
of Australian compositional voices, has been limited by their
extreme differences from received Western traditions (especially
Inuit music), although their integration into more modern
idioms has potential that is just starting to be explored,
notably utilised in the opera Tornrak (1989) by Welsh-Canadian
composer John Metcalf (born 1949), that included Inuit throat-singing.
The official policy of multi-culturalism and the strong influence
of `political-correctness' - especially in the area of `appropriation
of voice' - has also hindered potential cross-fertilization.
These may be the
teething pains of a musical culture struggling to gain self-identity,
and the large number of composers working in Canada, as well
as the success already achieved in other artistic fields,
notably Canadian literature, may auger well for the future.
Meanwhile, a large number of recordings of Canadian music
have been produced, especially by the Canadian Broadcasting
Company and the Canadian Music Centre, but the failure to
distribute them with any success inside the country let alone
outside has been so comprehensive, that the difficulties of
hearing Canadian music outside Canada, as well as the reasons
outlined above, have limited the number of entries in this
Guide. In addition to those given main entries, visitors
to the country will not be disappointed by any of the composers
mentioned in the Introduction.
Canada has produced
some noteworthy performers in the 20th century, especially
the idiosyncratic pianist Glenn Gould (1932-1982), and the
singers Maureen Forrester (born 1930) and Jon Vickers (born
1926), as well as a champion of modern flute works, Robert
Aitken (born 1939), himself a composer. In addition, the Banff
Centre for the Fine Arts has emerged as a distinctive landmark
in Canadian culture, attracting some of the best composers
and young performers from all over the world as well as from
Canada, with a vigorous policy of developing new works; unfortunately,
by 1994, the short-sighted policies of the provincial Albertan
and Federal governments seemed likely to reduce the Centre
to a largely commercial enterprise run on the lines of big
business.
Canadian Music
Centre:
Chalmers House,
20 St. Joseph
Street,
Toronto,
Ontario M4Y 1J9
tel: 416 961-6601
fax: 416 961-7198
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HAMBRAEUS,
Bengt - see under Sweden
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MACMILLAN
SCHAFER
SOMERS
TREMBLAY
WILLAN
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MACMILLAN
(Sir) Ernest MacMillan
born 18th August
1893 at Mimico (Toronto)
died 6th May 1973
at Toronto
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Sir Ernest MacMillan's
activities as composer, teacher, educator and administrator
qualify him as the father-figure of modern Canadian music,
and he was one of the first Canadian composers of note to
be actually born in Canada. His compositional output was small,
and reflected his English training, essentially late-Romantic
with an English fluidity and sensibility of colour. However,
a number of his works utilize or arrange Canadian folk-songs,
especially after his meeting with the folk-musicologist Marius
Barbeau in 1927.
The best-known
of these works is the Two Sketches on Canadian Folksongs
(1927), written for string quartet but later orchestrated
for string orchestra. The first sketch is based on a song
of the legend of Christ disguising himself as a beggar, the
second on a folk-song popular in Quebec describing the Breton
port of Saint-Malo, from where many Canadian immigrants sailed.
But the pieces are essentially abstract: the string orchestra
version has something of the English pastoral, reminiscent
of the sonorities of Vaughan Williams, while
the effect of the string quartet version is more rugged and
more individual. They were followed by a sequel, with actual
word settings, the Six Bergerettes du Bas Canada (1928)
for three soloists and four instruments. Among other works
likely to be encountered is the String Quartet (1915-1919),
conventional in its construction (with sonata form outer movements,
and a ternary slow movement), broadly lyrical, light-textured
with moments that suggest MacMillan knew the Ravel
string quartet, and most attractive. It deserves to be better
known in Canada as one of the foundations of the Canadian
string quartet. Much of MacMillan's vocal and choral output
remains unheard, but among the most interesting of his works,
and one of the most successful of all Canadian song cycles,
is the short Three Indian Songs of the West Coast (1928)
for high voice and piano. The Native melodies and the words,
translated by Duncan Campbell Scott, were collected on a trip
with Marius Barbeau to British Columbia; the three powerful
texts are intimate but dramatic, and MacMillan's arrangements
succeed in retaining their vitality, their nobility, and in
the second song, their tenderness, while merging the rhythmic
energy with the form of the art-song, elevating both traditions.
This little cycle is so much more vital and moving than the
countless Canadian settings of Canadian folk-songs that originated
in Europe that it is surprising that it is not better known.
MacMillan's life
was extraordinarily energetic. He was captured at the outbreak
of World War One as he had been attending the Bayreuth Festival,
and managed as a prisoner to produce enough work to gain a
further degree from Oxford on his release in 1918. He was
principal of the Toronto Conservatory (1926-1942), dean of
the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto (1927-1952),
was conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1931-1956),
toured widely, edited the first book of essays on Canadian
music among his other writings, and worked in many musical
administrative fields. He was knighted in 1935.
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works include:
- Christmas
Carols, overture Cinderella, Fantasy on Scottish
Melodies and other works for orch.; Two Sketches for
Strings
- string quartet;
2 Fugues for string quartet; Two Sketches on Canadian
Folksongs for string quartet (also string orch.)
- Cortège académique
for piano
- Six Bergerettes
du bas Canada for three soloists and 4 instruments; Three
French Canadian Sea Songs for voice and string quartet;
songs cycles with piano Three Indian Songs of the West
Coast, and Three Songs for High Baritone; Ballads
of British Columbia, Northland Songs (2 vols.),
and other songs including many folk-song arrangements for
solo voice and for chorus
- opera Snow
White; ballad opera Prince Charming
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recommended works:
String Quartet
(1915-1919)
Three Indian
Songs of the West Coast (1928) for high voice and piano
Two Sketches
on Canadian Folksongs (1927) for string quartet
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SCHAFER
(Raymond) Murray
born 18th July
1918 at Sarnia (Ontario)
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Murray Schafer
is probably the best-known Canadian composer, respected for
his many writings and publications on Canadian and other music,
on the environment, and on music education, as well as for
his compositions. A number of his works have become, or have
been designed as, individual items in a huge ongoing cycle
of works, Patria, which represent the core of his aesthetics
and concerns.
His early works
were conventional - the powerful In Memoriam: Alberto Guerro
(1959) for strings, for example, is tonal, while concentrating
on varying sonority. They announced a distinctive musical
personality, albeit at the time influenced by Sibelius
and Mahler, the latter conspicuously and overtly
in the 12 Minnelieder (1956) for mezzo-soprano and
woodwind quintet, settings of medieval German love songs,
where the use of the woodwind quintet creates an individual
sense of timbre within the Mahlerian cast. During the 1960s,
Schafer started exploring the techniques and the sounds of
the contemporary avant-garde, and at the same time turned
to extra-musical subjects, often with political and social
content, and to the uses of verbal language. Protest and
Incarceration (1960) for mezzo-soprano and orchestra is
a setting of Rumanian poets; the sombre and pointillistic
Canzoni for Prisoners (1962) for orchestra, in five
linked sections, concerns prisoners of conscience. Communication
is the main theme of what started as the trilogy Patria,
eventually developed into an extended cycle. In Patria
I (`The Characteristics of Man', 1974) for mezzo-soprano,
mime, actors, chorus and chamber ensemble, an immigrant can
communicate with the audience, but not with the other characters;
in Requiems for the Party Girl (1966) for mezzo-soprano
and chamber ensemble (subsequently incorporated into Patria
II as Requiems for a Party Girl, 1972, with actors
and tape) the schizophrenic girl who is the central character
is unable to communicate with her medical helpers; she collapses
and commits suicide, representing the alienation of contemporary
society. The score, closely allying vocal line and instrumental
response, as if the vocal line is trapped in the instrumental
writing, graphically reflects her fears and neurosis.
Schafer's music
also revealed an interest in Eastern philosophy and influence
in this period, as in From the Tibetan Book of the Dead
(1968) for soprano, chorus, alto flute, clarinet and tape
(later included in altered form in Patria II). Music
for the Morning of the World (1969) for soprano and tape,
is the second of a trilogy inspired by the 13th-century Sufi
mystic Jalâl al-Dîn Rûmi, and the texts chosen relate the
inner self to the outer heavens, with an ecstatic, Oriental
decorative solo line against the wide sonorities and expressive
commentary of the electronic tape. The complete trilogy (part
one is titled Divan i Shams i Tabriz, 1969, revised
1970, for six soloists, orchestra and tape, and part three
Beyond the Great Gate of Light, 1972, for six soloists,
orchestra and tape) is entitled Lustro. Arcana
(1972) for soprano and instrumental ensemble or chamber orchestra
is a set of fourteen songs (from which the singer may chose)
using a secret ancient Egyptian text, where each phoneme of
the text has two associated notes, again structurally integrating
vocal and instrumental line, since when the singer sings one
note often the paired note is heard in the instrumentation.
East (1972) for chamber orchestra is a meditation
on texts from the Ishna-Upanishad, in which each letter is
given a specific pitch; a gong is sounded every ten seconds,
and the instrumentalists hum and sing the letters. It is a
powerful, sonorous score of shifting colours.
A growing interest
in the theatrical power of text, and in unconventional dramatic
treatment, emerged in his first stage work, the `audio-visual
poem' Loving (1963-1965) for actor, actress, singers
and chamber orchestra, with a bi-lingual text by the composer,
which might be described as post-serial. Its subject, the
stages of a relationship, is non-linear (there is no plot
as such) and is designed to reflect states and projections
of the psyche rather than actual characters, an early indication
of a preoccupation with the Jungian aspects of interaction
and myth. The musical means are mainly concerned with short
scraps of instrumental colour and texture to support the free-flowing
vocal lines. That the intrinsic interest of the work is not
realized is in part due to the text - Schafer is a fine composer
and writer, but not a good poet - but it pointed to his special
and original contribution: a series of works employing multi-media
and specifically removed from traditional venues.
The sense of space
that these works employ, and sometimes the inspiration of
the Canadian landscape and myth, give them a hue that makes
them unique to their country of origin, the genesis of a Canadian
music that unfortunately has been little encouraged in Canada
by repeat performances. The primary motivation is myth, the
primary structure ritual. The musical ethos, especially the
form, of these pieces is determined by the spatial context,
using a combination of influences from traditional ethnic
musics and avant-garde techniques.
An early example
of this environmental concern was North/White (1973)
for harp, piano, snowmobile and strings, that introduced a
snowmobile to illustrate the destruction of the myth of the
Canadian north. Music for a Wilderness Lake (1979)
placed the members of a trombone ensemble around an Ontario
lake, making use of the large distances separating them, the
sonic effects of water and echo, and the interaction with
natural sounds, such as the bird-song. This was developed
in the most celebrated of these outdoor performances, The
Princess of the Stars (1981), which now also acts as the
prologue to the Patria cycle. Its basis is a
myth story of the Princess of the Stars who is taken into
the lake by a Three-Horned Enemy, leaving dew in her wake
in her struggles. A Wolf looks for her, and the rising sun
joins in the action; although invented by Schafer, this story
is inspired by native Indian myths. The action is set around
a large lake before dawn, and the performers are ranged around
the lake and in canoes on the lake, with masks and effigies
representing the main protagonists; a Presenter, or story-teller,
links the action for the audience placed on one shore. Again,
there is intentional interaction with the natural state and
sounds of the setting, the Princess' voice at the opening
coming from a great distance across the water, the rising
sun coinciding with its actual rising, the sounds of dawn
birds matching the enlistment of the Dawn Birds (represented
in canoes) by the Wolf. For obvious reasons, it is a work
that needs to be experienced rather than heard in recording,
but it would cause a sensation if anyone had the courage to
do it on, say, a lake in Britain's Lake District, or in the
Alps. Ra (1983) for singers, dancers, actors and instrumentalists,
is based on the Egyptian myth of the journey of the sun god
through the netherworld between dusk and dawn; here individual
sections do work successfully as recordings. The piece is
a ritual of that myth, starting at dusk and ending at dawn,
with an audience limited to 75 (corresponding to the 75 names
of the sun god) who are expected to take part in the ritual,
with the intention of giving them the experience of a rite-of-passage.
The inspiration for the 'Procession' section clearly comes
from Canadian native Indian music, and successfully transfers
to its present setting; elsewhere the musical sources are
eclectic, with spare textures emphasizing the ritual of the
vocal lines, the stress on sonorities.
At the same time
as exploring the concept of an indigenous myth (which Schafer
sees as exemplified by the figure of the Wolf) he has written
a number of works inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus, Ariadne,
and the Labyrinth, as the opposite end of the same mythical
continuum, Schafer's version of the complimentary opposites
of Apollo and Dionysus. These include La testa d'Ariane
(1980) for soprano, narrator and accordion, Theseus
(1988) for harp and string quartet, and the effective The
Crown of Ariadne (1979) for harp. In this the harpist
plays percussion instruments in addition to the harp, thus
reverting to two elemental and ancient musical elements. It
is divided into six short dance movements with descriptive
titles following Ariadne's story; the largely gentle suite
is often delicate, individual sounds and ideas separated to
give a sense of space, high percussion adding a ritualistic
feeling, with occasional touches of exotic colouring or modal
shades, and with the harp writing including modern effects.
Similar preoccupations
with ritual and the environment occur in Schafer's concert
music: Epitaph for Moonlight (1969) for chorus and
high tuned percussion, Schafer's exploration of the kind of
block chordal writing developed by Ligeti, is
an epitaph as (following the lunar landings) the moon is no
longer a distant untouched symbol. The beautiful Sun
(1982) for unaccompanied choir sets the names of the sun in
different languages, linguistically moving across the globe,
with high held textures against verbally-driven rhythmic figures.
Water has been a consistent environmental inspiration for
Schafer: the electronic Okeanos (1971) utilizes the
sounds of the sea and various sea poets; Miniwanka or the
Moments of Water (1971) for chorus is a successful emulation
of various states of water, from rain to ocean swells, using
the words for water of several North American Indian languages.
The gentle String Quartet No.2 (1976), with its wave
and trough-like motion, was in part inspired by Schafer's
`soundscape' studies, utilizing the timings that ocean waves
exhibit between trough and crest. The String Quartet No.3
(1981) contains elements of ritual in its arch-form, with
the drone-like opening played by the cello, joined by the
off-stage viola, and then by the two violins, all eventually
arriving onstage by the end of the first movement, while in
the turbulent and sometimes motoric central movement the players
add new layers and effects by constant vocalisations. Le
cri de Merlin (1987) for guitar uses a tape of birds songs
with the solo instrument.
If such concerns
have been central to Schafer's aesthetic, he has also written
works with a more conventional concert context. Son of
Heldenleben (1968) is an forceful transformation of elements
of Strauss's poem into a modern orchestral idiom, using a
series drawn from the main theme of the tone poem, in a tribute
to the German composer. The String Quartet No.4 (1988-1989)
for string quartet, violin (which may be pre-taped) and soprano,
dedicated to the memory of the poet b.p.Nicol, seems to be
a similar reworking of Bartók and especially
Shostakovich, (although the composer has not
publicly stated so), since there are recognizable transmutations
of the latter's second string quartet, seventh string quartet,
and the development of the Rossini rhythmic figure from the
fifteenth symphony. It also uses themes from the Patria
cycle, and ends with an offstage soprano and a third violin.
The compelling String Quartet No.5 `Rosalind' (1989)
is stylistically similar, and, whether these similarities
are intended or uncanny coincidence, they are powerful and
expressive quartets in their own right which will be enjoyed
by anyone who appreciates the chamber music of those two earlier
composers. His more recent music also includes the attractive
Flute Concerto (1985) and a Harp Concerto (1988),
as well as a music theatre work in two parts, Apocalypsis,
the first part being John's vision (1981) for sound-poets,
singers, mime, dancers, multiple choruses, instruments and
pre-recorded tape, the second Credo (1986) for twelve
mixed choirs with optional tape, synthesizers and/or string
instruments.
Schafer has also
written a number of works for children or younger players,
such as The star princess & the waterlilies (1984)
for narrator, adult singer, children's chorus and percussion,
designed to introduce them to new sounds and to an element
of involvement in aleatory techniques and graphic as well
as traditional notation.
Murray Schafer
was artist-in-residence at Newfoundland's Memorial University
(1963-1965), and professor of Communication Studies at Simon
Frazer University (1966-1975), where he started the World
Soundscape Project to investigate the relationship between
humans and their sonic landscape.
Schafer should
not be confused with the French pioneer of musique-concrète,
Pierre Schaeffer (born 1910) or with the Polish
avant-garde composer Bogusłav Schäffer (born 1929), who
has also written extensively on modern music.
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works include:
- Canzoni for
Prisoners, Cortège, Dream rainbow dream thunder, East,
Ko wo kiku, No Longer than Ten Minutes, Statement
in Blue and Train for orch.; In Memoriam: Alberto
Guerra and Partita for String Orchestra for string
orch.
- flute concerto;
harp concerto; Concerto for Harpsichord and Eight Wind
Instruments; North/White for harp, piano, snowmobile
and strings
- Le cri de
Merlin for guitar and taped bird-song; The Crown of
Ariadne for harpsichord and percussion; Buskers
for flute, violin and viola; Sonatina for Flute and Harpsichord;
5 string quartets (No.5 Rosalind); Theseus for
harp and string quartet; Music for Brass Quintet; Minimusic
for any combination of instruments;
- song cycles
Acarna for voice and orch. or chamber orch., The
Enchantress for voice, exotic flute and 8 cellos, Five
Studies on Texts by Prudentius for soprano and 4 flutes,
The garden of the heart for voice and orch., Kinderlieder
for soprano and piano; letters from Mignon for mezzo-soprano
and orch., Minnelieder for mezzo-soprano and woodwind
quintet, Protest and Incarceration for mezzo-soprano
and orch., La Testa for voice and accordion and other
songs; Hymn to night for soprano and orch. or chamber
orch.; La testa d'Ariane for soprano, narrator and
accordion (also version for voice and accordion)
- Apocalypsis
for 12 choirs brass, percussion and home-made instruments,
and (Part II) 12 choirs and tape; cantata Brébeuf for
baritone and orch.; Four Songs on Texts of Tagore for
3 women soloists and women's choir; From the Tibetan Book
of the Dead for soprano, chorus, alto flute, clarinet
and tape; Gita for chorus, brass and tape; In Search
of Zoroaster for male voice, chorus, percussion and organ;
Lustro (Part 1 Divan i Shams i Tabriz for six
soloists, orchestra and tape; Part 2 Music for the Morning
of the World for soprano and tape; Part 3 Beyond the
Great Gate of Light for 6 soloists, orchestra and tape),
The star princess & the waterlilies for narrator,
adult singer, children's chorus and percussion and many other
vocal and choral works
- electronic Kaleidoscope
and Okeanos
- stage works
Patria I-III (No.1 `The Characteristics of Man',
No.2 Requiems for a Party Girl); opera Loving;
music theatre Apocalypse (Part I John's vision,
Part II Credo); ritual Ra; outdoor events Music
for Wilderness Lake and Princess of the Stars
───────────────────────────────────────
recommended works:
The Crown of
Ariadne (1979) for harp
East (1972)
for chamber orchestra
In Memoriam:
Alberto Guerro (1959) for strings
Music for the
Morning of the World (1969) for soprano and tape
The Princess
of the Stars (1981) [see text]
ritual Ra
(1983)
String Quartet
No.3 (1981)
String Quartet
No.4 (1988-1989)
String Quartet
No.5 Rosalind (1989)
Sun (1982)
for unaccompanied choir
───────────────────────────────────────
bibliography:
R. Murray Schafer
The New Soundscape, 1969
The Book of
Noise, 1970
The Tuning
of the World, 1977
On Canadian
Music, 1984
───────────────────────────────────────
SOMERS
Harry Stuart
born 11th September
1925 at Toronto
died 9th
March 1999 at Toronto
───────────────────────────────────────
A prolific composer
who has worked in most genres, Harry Somers is, with Murray
Schafer, the only Canadian composer who has received
more than a passing exposure outside Canada.
In his earlier
work he mixed elements of a free atonality with those of a
tonal base: the beautiful and carefully paced North Country
(1948) for string orchestra, one of the most effective of
Canadian landscape evocations, contrasts neo-classical contrapuntal
passages with sparse suggestions of the northern wilderness
that inspired it, the melodic phrasing angular, the support
essentially tonal. Passages of the exploratory and eclectic
Suite for Harp and Chamber Orchestra (1949), which
draws on a variety of styles, point to a recurring feature
of Somers's music: a slow melodic line either unsupported
or very sparsely supported. This, a feature of his operas,
reached its most extended form in the long (21 minute) Music
for Solo Violin (1973), in which the Muezzin call which
inspired the opening gradually evolves in a quasi-improvisatory
fashion.
Following those
early works, Somers's output has been marked by its eclecticism,
different pieces often being in highly contrasted styles and
driven more by context of commission and performance than
by compositional pattern, though there has been a gradual
integration of techniques originally inspired by the avant-garde,
and spatial and theatrical effects were increasingly used
in the 1960s. Some features, though, have remained consistent,
especially a sense of generating and maintaining tension in
the listener, by rhythmic interjections, declamatory effects,
contrasting styles, occasionally superimposed, and abrupt
changes in dynamics, which Somers has called `dynamic unrest'.
His harmonic vocabulary is also wide-ranging, depending on
the context of the piece, and has drawn on 12-tone and atonal
techniques, but often uses moments of tonal suggestions in
non-tonal surroundings.
The best known
of his orchestral works is perhaps the rather bombastic Fantasia
for Orchestra (1958); more interesting is the grittier
and less compromising language of the Symphony for Woodwinds,
Brass and Percussion (1961), whose first two movements
use juxtapositions and sometimes superimposition of rhythms
in clear textures, and declamatory and spatial effects within
the orchestra, although the last two movements are closer
to Somers' avowed intent to write a piece `suitable for a
wide audience'. The Picasso Suite (1964) for small
orchestra is particularly attractive: based on music originally
written for a television documentary, the suite is in nine
short sections, seven of which depict different periods in
the painter's style. The small orchestra is used sparingly
(the sixth section uses flute alone), and the suite includes
gentle pastiche, from rag-time to neo-classical Stravinsky.
Of his chamber music, the rather dark String Quartet No.2
(1950) in five movements, played continuously, is lean and
introvert, regularly threatening to break out into more emphatic
writing, but pulling away from it, maintaining tension in
the process. The String Quartet No.3 (1959) contains
interesting ideas and construction, but is rather colourless;
based on themes from his earlier opera The Fool, it
uses 12-tone techniques in a single movement, ending with
a fugue. Potential listeners to the two early violin sonatas
(No.1, 1953, No.2 1955) should beware Somers's rather disarming
statement that they belong more to the 19th century than the
20th; with the String Quartet No.2 they are akin to
the later Shostakovich chamber works in harmonic language,
formal construction, and general feel, though they lack the
Russian's ability to suddenly change gear or produce a passage
of searing memorability.
Somers's vocal
music illustrates his eclectic practice of changing idioms.
The short but very beautiful cycle Three Songs on Words
by Walt Whitman (1946) for baritone and piano have the
clarity, very lean textures, and something of the luminous
quality of Britten's Donne or Hardy settings.
The Five Songs for Dark Voice (1956) for contralto
and orchestra, to specially written texts by Michael Fram,
are avowedly Mahlerian in their style and cast, the five songs
acting as the movements of a symphonic structure; the liquid
textures of the fifth song in particular are atmospherically
beguiling. Twelve Miniatures (1963) for soprano, flute,
spinet and cello are settings of Japanese haiku, grouped into
four sets of three to follow the seasons and the months respectively.
Those seasonal contrasts are not overt in the music, which
is deliberately rarefied in texture and rhythm to match the
haiku style. Evocations (1966) for mezzo-soprano and
piano is based on words by the composer evoking the Canadian
landscape; the text is often fragmented into constituent syllables,
and special effects figure in the piano writing - the singer
singing into the piano (in a haunting echo of the bird-call
of the Canadian loon), the use of rubber hammers. Voiceplay
(1971) for solo vocalist takes the reduction to the constituents
of words considerably further, using thirteen different pitches
for thirteen vowel sounds, the vocalist taking the roles of
lecturer, actor, and demonstrator; the experimentation echoes
earlier avant-garde vocal explorations without being particularly
effective. In complete contrast, the Five Songs of the
Newfoundland Outports (1968) for chorus and piano, Somers's
best-known work, are based on songs from a collection of traditional
songs published four years earlier. The arrangements are very
free, with the choir using Newfoundland techniques of emulating
instruments vocally; the familiarity of these songs in Canada
over Somers's other work is due to Canadian cultural conditions,
and they should not be considered representative of Somers's
styles or concerns.
Somers's first
opera was The Fool (1953), a chamber opera for four
characters representing various levels: the personal, the
psychologically symbolic, and the political. Both the libretto
(by Michael Fram) and music are highly stylized, with a chamber
ensemble (ten players), whose colours recall the neo-classical
Stravinsky. The main moods veer between the grotesque
(the opening of both the two scenes and some of the fool's
music is in the spirit of Walton's Façade) and
the lyrical, and the work successfully integrates suggestions
of music from earlier styles, from the 17th century through
quasi folk-song to a suggestion of Milhaud's The
Creation of the World in the instrumental section that
leads to the close of the work. The often spartan or silent
accompaniment to the vocal lines, which in style extend from
sung speech and recitation to traditional full sung line,
anticipates Somers's later operas.
One of the landmarks
of Canadian music was Somers' second opera, Louis Riel
(1966-1967), commissioned for the centenary of Canadian Confederation.
The libretto, by Mavor Moore, concerns a pivotal and still
contentious event in Canadian history, the second uprising
(1884-1885) of the Métis (`half-breeds') under their charismatic
leader Louis Riel, and his subsequent capture and hanging,
thus placing the work in the genre of historical nationalistic
grand-scale opera. However important as a symbol, the opera
has not become a staple in the Canadian repertoire, receiving
only one production (1967, revived in 1975 and shown at a
Canadian festival in Washington). The reasons for this neglect
belong both to the libretto and the music. Opera is not a
good medium for the accurate depiction of historical events
on a large scale: it needs either a distorting focus on some
particular facet, or a genius (and considerable length) to
interweave the combination of the historical and the personal,
as is found in Prokofiev's treatment of Tolstoy.
Louis Riel is neither, complicatedly switching between
different settings in 17 scenes with a large cast, and the
libretto, while theatrically colourful and imposing, fails
to home in on a convincing musico-dramatic thread. Musically,
the idiom is modernistic, with cluster effects, small bursts
of orchestral comment, often high orchestral writing; the
vocal lines employ wide and uneasy ranges, sometimes unaccompanied
or sparsely accompanied, and regularly semi-spoken, with chorus
writing sounding like Britten with added dissonance.
However, all too often the music has little or no memorable
character, and a major failing is that at many of the heightened
moments for which opera is so suited, the possibilities are
not realized or are passed over. It is recommended below more
for historical than musical reasons.
The sense that
the theatre supersedes the music in Louis Riel is sustained
in Somers' fourth opera, the three-act Mario the Magician
(1988-1992), also to a libretto by Mavor Moore based on the
Thomas Mann novel of the same title (and just predated by
an opera on the same subject by the English composer Stephen
Oliver, 1950-1992). It received almost as much attention and
promotion as Louis Riel, and a million dollar budget.
Again, the plot - of a family caught in Fascist Italy in 1929
- is theatrically imposing, requiring, like Louis Riel,
a large cast, its themes the outsider in a xenophobic society
and the manipulation of individuals by an individual (the
magician of the title). The style is not as eclectic as Louis
Riel, the action more continuous; theatrical effects include
the use of the cast in the audience. For much of the opera
the tension that is a component of Somers' style here extends
into an almost continuous hysteria, which creates constant
theatrical tension, but not musical interest or characterisation.
However, in the third act, the humiliation of Mario the waiter
by the magician, and the waiter's revenge, the emotional range
suddenly widens, and the characterisation becomes cogent,
in a powerful ending to an otherwise weakened work without
an individual musical style; the hopes that Somers might prove
a powerhouse for indigenous Canadian opera have not yet been
realised.
───────────────────────────────────────
works include:
- Symphony (`Symphony
No.1'); Symphony for Woodwinds, Brass and Percussion
- guitar concerto;
2 piano concertos; Concertante for violin, string orch.
and percussion; Suite for harp and chamber orch.
- Elegy, transformation,
jubilation for orch.; Fantasia for Orchestra, Five
Concepts, Lyric for Orchestra, Movement for
Orchestra, North Country, Passacaglia and Fugue,
Picasso Suite, Prelude and Fugue, Sketches
for Orchestra, Stereophony, Those Silent Awe-Filled
Spaces, Variations and other works for orch.; Little
Suite for String Orchestra on Canadian Folksongs, Scherzo
for Strings
- Sonata for
Guitar; Music for Solo Violin; Duo for 2
violins; 2 violin sonatas; flute trio; 3 string quartets;
Suite for Percussion for 4 drums and piano; Movement
for Woodwind Quintet
- 5 piano sonatas;
Strangeness of Heart, Three Sonnets, 12 x 12
: Fugues for Piano and other works for piano; Variations
on opening a music library for 2 pianos
- song cycle with
orch. Five Songs for Dark Voice; twelve Miniatures
for soprano, recorder, viola da gamba and spinet ; Improvisation
for narrator, singers and chamber ensemble; Kuyas for
soprano, flute and percussion; Zen, Yeats and Emily Dickinson
for 2 actors, soprano, flute, piano and tape; song cycles
Evocations, Three Simple Songs, Three Songs,
and other songs; Three Songs for the Coming of Spring
for choir; Chura-churum for chorus, flute, harp, piano,
4 percussionists and 8 loudspeakers; Crucifixion for
chorus, English horn, 2 trumpets, harp and percussion; Five
Songs of the Newfoundland Outports for chorus and piano;
Gloria for chorus, 2 trumpets and organ; A midwinter
night's dream for soloists, three young soloists, children's
chorus and piano or 2 pianos; The owl and the pussy-cat
for three soloists and piano; Three Limericks for mezzo-soprano,
chorus and instrumental ensemble; Voiceplay for voice
- ballet Ballad;
And for soloists, dancers and chamber ensemble; mime
piece The Merman of Orford
- operas The
Death of Enkidu, Louis Riel, The Fool and
Mario the Magician
───────────────────────────────────────
recommended works:
song cycle Five
Songs for Dark Voice (1956)
opera Louis
Riel (1966-1967) [see text]
North Country
(1948) for orchestra
Picasso Suite
(1964) for small orchestra
song cycle Three
Songs on Words by Walt Whitman (1946)
───────────────────────────────────────
bibliography:
B. Cherney Harry
Somers, Toronto, 1975
───────────────────────────────────────
TREMBLAY
Gilles Léonce
born 6th September
1932 at Arvida, Québec
───────────────────────────────────────
If Schafer
is the major Canadian composer who has allied techniques of
the avant-garde with specifically Canadian imagery and concerns,
Gilles Tremblay is the Canadian composer who has most consistently
embraced the international, abstract explorations generated
by the European avant-garde. His relatively small output has
showed a consistency of idiom and purpose, and a concern with
spatial and temporal concepts that has affinities with Eastern
thought and music, as do his favourite colours and timbral
effects, recalling the clashing cymbals of China, the temple
horns of Tibet, the delicate tracery of gamelan, the flutes
of Japan.
He was one of
the very few Canadian composers who launched straight into
a contemporary idiom without an early period of a more traditional
style, and his immediate influences were Varèse and
Messiaen. The short piano pieces Phases
(1956) and Réseaux (Networks, 1956) echo Messiaen
in their construction, with sharp cluster-bursts contrasted
with slow progressions of isolated notes, but their concentration
on the spaces between the notes, particularly the resonances
of the piano, heralds Tremblay's primary preoccupation with
sonority and timbre, and especially the relationship between
event and the after- or pre-echo, the sounds between event.
This duality, between sound and its shadow, between event
and its alter-ego, resonates throughout Tremblay's work; on
first encounter it may make his work seem (incorrectly) somewhat
bitty, as events are inclined to flare up and die away, like
astronomical incidents, but since the space between those
events is of such importance, it requires (like many other
similar avant-garde explorations of sonorities) a change of
perception on the part of the listener, a concentration on
the space and resonances between events, and not just on the
events themselves.
Cantique de
durées (1960) for orchestra applied spatial concepts in
the orchestra within a serial framework, with seven groups
of players, five on stage, three (wind and ondes Martenot)
ranged around the audience. Kékoba (`Evening Star'
in Hebrew, 1965, revised 1967) for three soloists, ondes Martenot
and percussion contrasts precise events (especially percussive)
with more fluid sonorities (especially created by the ondes
Martenot) in a flow of action and reaction, in part created
by the use of limited choice: one player choosing a particular
percussion instrument for a passage, for example, determines
the instrument of the next percussionist. The final section
is a setting of `Ave maris stella' in which the actual word
`star' is treated in several languages. A cycle of works entitled
Champs (in the sense of a electromagnetic or similar
`fields') explored the `fields' of pitch, duration and timbre,
and their interactions, both determined and unexpected; the
forms include the use of mobiles, here precise collections
of events whose order of appearance is not predetermined.
The rather restrained Champs I (1965, revised 1969),
for piano and two percussionists, with its pitter-patter of
events like the rhythmic effects of a collection of wind chimes,
uses `reflexes' in which one player reacts to another, extending
in Champ III, Vers (Towards, 1969) for instrumental
ensemble, to a chain of reactions, growing out from earthy
sonorities and bright chimes in a kind of avant-garde spring
rite. Champs II, Souffles (Breaths, 1968) includes
blowing effects in wind instruments without creating concrete
notes.
The interaction
of these elements of play and sonorities reached a further
stage in Solstices (1971, subtitled Les jours et
les saisons tournent) for flute, clarinet, horn, bass
and two percussionists. Each instrument represents a season;
the actual starting point of the work is determined by the
date and time of performance, and a relay system is used,
passing activity from one season to another, creating interplays
between the `seasons'. This may be extended to other instrumental
groups, either in the same location or distant locations,
connected electronically. The effect is of a spontaneity of
event within a generality of framework, although it is necessary
to know the seasonal associations. Jeux de solstices
(1974) is for full orchestra; here the four seasons are represented
by four moods, each with a different technique, and mobile
construction is used, the form and development of the performance
controlled by the conductor. Oralléluiants (1974-1975)
for soprano, tenor and ensemble with microphones, juxtaposes
slow moving textures (emulating breathing) with rapturous
or excited interjections, combined with suggestions of ritual
with gongs and the flute prominent.
While continuing
the general patterns of his idiom - dualities, contrasts,
resonances, and mobile forms - the correspondences between
Tremblay's techniques and the interactions of the natural
world were explored further in Compostelle I (1978)
for clarinet and ensemble, written for Messiaen's
seventieth birthday, and in perhaps the most effective score
from this period, Fleuves (Great Rivers,
1976) for orchestra, which ranges from grand statement to
the delicacy of wind chimes at its close. Equally effective,
but exploring gossamer tracery rather than the grander scale,
is "...le sifflement des vents porteurs de l'amour..."
("...the whistling of the winds, bearers of love...",
1971) for flute and percussion with microphones, which takes
its title from St.John of the Cross. Here frost (delicate
sounds) is contrasted with warmth (more linear melodic lines),
using extended flute techniques (such as breath harmonics)
and a wide range of lighter percussive colours. These two
works perhaps provide the best introduction to Tremblay's
methods and sounds. The imposing Vêpres de la Vierge
(1986) for soprano, chorus, flute, organ and orchestra was
written for the 850th anniversary of the foundation of the
Abbey of Our Lady at Sylvanès, France; contemporary effects
intertwine with the influence of Gregorian chant, the sonorities
reflect the acoustics of the Abbey, and the interaction of
blocks of sound, both choral and instrumental, and of silence
is much in evidence. It opens with a long and inspired flute
solo using extended techniques and influenced by Eastern musics;
this in itself (counter-balanced later in the work by the
soprano soloist) is worthy of attention by flute-players,
and the whole work is a powerful addition to the modern choral
repertoire for large buildings.
Among his other
works was the electronic 'sound-environment' (Centre-élan,
1967) for the Québec Pavilion at Expo 67, which was in five
sequences drawn from a widespread variety of Québec sounds,
from the sea to industry, and ending with an evocation of
the Northern Lights.
───────────────────────────────────────
works include:
- Compostelle
I for clarinet and ensemble; Envoi for piano and
15 instrumentalists
- Cantique
de durées, Fleuves, Jeux de Solstices for
orch.; Ver le soleil for orch. or for instrumental
ensemble
- Souffles
(Champs II), Vers (Champs III) and other
works for instrumental ensemble
- "...le
sifflement des vents porteurs de l'amour..." for
flute, percussion, and microphones; Le signe du lion
for French horn and tam-tam; Solstices for flute/piccolo,
clarinet, horn, double-bass, and 2 percussionists
- Phases,
Pièces pour piano, Réseaux and Traçantes
for piano
- Dzèi
for soprano, flute, bass clarinet, percussion and piano; Kékoba
for mezzo-soprano, tenor, percussion and ondes Martenot; Oralléluiants
for soprano, ensemble and microphones; Vêpres de la Vierge
for soprano, chorus, organ and orch.
- electronic Centre-élan
and Dimension Soleils
───────────────────────────────────────
recommended works:
Fleuves
(1976) for orchestra
Jeux de solstices
(1974) for orchestra
Phases
(1966) for piano
"...le
sifflement des vents porteurs de l'amour..." (1971)
for flute, percussion and microphones
Vêpres de la
Vierge (1986) for soprano, chorus, flute, organ and orchestra
───────────────────────────────────────
WILLAN
Healey
born 12th October
1880 at Balham (London, U.K.)
dies 16th February
1968 at Toronto
───────────────────────────────────────
Willan's huge
output (over 900 works) divides into two groups, the secular
works, which follow the English late Victorian traditions
of Stanford and Parry, and the considerable
body of religious works, either choral or for organ, that
are more eclectic in idiom.
Among the most
often heard of the secular works is the Piano Concerto
(1944, revised 1949), which is heavily influenced by Rachmaninov
(especially in the melodic cast), and while attractive enough
is a pale clone of the Russian composer, much in the fashion
of Hamilton Harty's similar piano concerto.
Of his two symphonies, the Symphony No.2 (1941 rev.1948)
is more likely to be heard; in ethos and idiom, it belongs
to a pre-First World War aesthetic, with a Brucknerian opening
movement, a jauntiness in the scherzo combined with Elgarian
turns of phrase, and, after a slow mysterious opening to the
finale (the most interesting section of the symphony), a huge,
blazingly triumphant finale. The two violin sonatas may occasionally
be encountered, the rather dull Violin Sonata No.1
(1916) being in a late Romantic idiom, while Baroque elements
pervade the Violin Sonata No.2 (1923).
There was also
a Celtic streak in Willan's interests, combined with the influence
of Wagner, which emerges in the rather beautiful Poem
for string quartet (1904, revised 1930), arranged for string
orchestra in 1959, and more overtly in his major work, the
opera Deirdre. Based on the Irish legends of
Deirdre of the Sorrows, it started as incidental music to
a radio drama by John Coulter (1941), was then recast as a
radio opera (1945), and finally revised into its form as a
three-act stage opera (1962-1965). It uses leitmotifs, though
sparingly, lush orchestration, and has been criticised for
its dramatic weakness. He also wrote six ballad-operas (two
have been lost), using folk-music as the source of the songs.
More highly regarded
than these is Willan's organ music, especially the virtuoso
Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue (1916), and the
two Preludes and Fugues (1908 and 1909), which reflect
a European late-Romantic chromaticism. The fine Introduction,
Passacaglia and Fugue is an imposing work, taking full
advantage of the resources of the late-Victorian organ in
a taut musical construction. The opening is dramatic, the
hushed mystery of the initial chords suddenly blazing out.
The eighteen variations on the passacaglia ground bass contrast
the delicate and the imposing, the climax placed in the penultimate
variation to allow a gentle link to the fugue, which eventually
sheds its chromatic hues in a final blaze of triumph. Among
his later organ works, the Choral Preludes of the 1950s
are the most successful.
Willan's sacred
vocal music is in the English tradition, but with the additional
influence of Renaissance polyphony, sometimes overt in such
unaccompanied choral works as the five-part motet Gloria
Deo per immensa sæcula (1950). But the range of style
is considerable, from the spartan textures of the Lutheran
Missa Brevis in G (1954) to the more personal style
he adopted in compositions for his own church, St.Mary Magdalene,
Toronto, where the influence of early polyphony and plainsong
is evident. They include fourteen settings of the Missa Brevis
(1928-1963) and a set of eleven Liturgical Motets (1928-1937).
His most celebrated choral work is perhaps An Apostrophe
to the Heavenly Hosts (1921) for unaccompanied double
choir, using texts and musical influences drawn from Eastern
Orthodox rites. Its four parts are linked by ethereal amens,
and the mystical tone only coalesces in the more concrete
final section, based on the hymn `Ye watchers and ye Holy
ones', before a return to the ethereal in final alleluias.
Those who enjoy Holst's choral music might well
consider investigating this work.
Willan was an
organist and conductor, notably at St.Mary Magdalene (1921-1968),
and taught at Toronto, where his pupils included many of the
later generation of English-speaking Canadian composers, including
John Beckwith, Godfrey Ridout and John Weinzweig.
───────────────────────────────────────
works include:
- 2 symphonies
- piano concerto
- Overture
to an Unwritten Comedy and other works for orch.
- 2 violin sonatas;
piano trio; Poem for string quartet (also string orch.)
- Variations
and Epilogue on an Original Theme for two pianos
- 2 Preludes
and Fugues, Introduction Passacaglia and Fugue,
2 Passacaglia and Fugue and many other works for organ
- cantata The
Mystery of Bethlehem for soloist, chorus, organ and optional
instruments; The Story of Bethlehem for soloists, women's
chorus and organ; very large body of liturgical choral works,
including An Apostrophe to the Heavenly Hosts for unaccompanied
double choir, and other works for chorus and orch.
- 6 ballad operas
(2 lost) including The Beggar's Opera and The Order
of Good Cheer; operas Deirdre and Transit Through
Fire
───────────────────────────────────────
recommended works:
An Apostrophe
to the Heavenly Hosts (1921) for unaccompanied double
choir
Introduction,
Passacaglia and Fugue for organ (1916)
Poem (1904,
revised 1930) for string quartet or string orchestra (1959)
───────────────────────────────────────
