CE Winchester Cathedral 23.i.19 [L]

[Gabriel Jackson]

Going back to Holst's setting, I have just dug out my copy, and notice that he set ALL ELEVEN verses as laid out in The Oxford Book of Carols. This includes v.6 which mentions 'Jews' in a less than favourable context.

Stravinsky set all the verses as Ricercar II of his Cantata. According to Robert Craft, critic Miriam Norton 'savaged' the work in her review of the premiere on account of the anti-semitic content. Others expressed their hurt and anger about it and Stravinsky dismissed them as 'rarrow-minded' and claimed that the poem was a masterpiece of Christian literature and couldn't be tampered with.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Stravinsky set all the verses as Ricercar II of his Cantata. According to Robert Craft, critic Miriam Norton 'savaged' the work in her review of the premiere on account of the anti-semitic content. Others expressed their hurt and anger about it and Stravinsky dismissed them as 'rarrow-minded' and claimed that the poem was a masterpiece of Christian literature and couldn't be tampered with.

Yes - Taruskin also criticises the choice of text here; and it seems that the composer revised his attitude and allowed "my foes" to replace "the Jews" (as happens in Craft's recording of the Cantata). As Taruskin pointed out, Stravinsky's attitude to word-setting in many of his other works suggests that it was the rhythm of the words that was as important to his settings as vowel sounds and spoken pronunciation.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Yes - Taruskin also criticises the choice of text here; and it seems that the composer revised his attitude and allowed "my foes" to replace "the Jews" (as happens in Craft's recording of the Cantata). As Taruskin pointed out, Stravinsky's attitude to word-setting in many of his other works suggests that it was the rhythm of the words that was as important to his settings as vowel sounds and spoken pronunciation.

Did Stravinsky authorise that change (Craft recorded the Cantata after Stravinsky's death)? It's not in the published score.

[Pulcinella]

Did Stravinsky authorise that change (Craft recorded the Cantata after Stravinsky's death)? It's not in the published score.

My pocket score (Boosey and Hawkes: No 666 on the outside cover, B & H 17245 inside) is copyright 1952, the year of composition.
Has it been reprinted since?

PS: I can find no mention of any alteration to the words in the liner notes of Craft's 1995 recording (Naxos). Nor is there anything in Eric Walter White's Stravinsky: The composer and his works.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Did Stravinsky authorise that change (Craft recorded the Cantata after Stravinsky's death)? It's not in the published score.

Ah - I'll have to hunt out the Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky (in which the Taruskin essay appears) - IIRC, Craft said that Stravinsky gave verbal permission for the change in the late '60s. (The original lyrics didn't disturb either Isaiah Berlin, or the committee if the Israel Festival when they commissioned Abraham & Isaac ten years after the Cantata - A&I is dedicated "to the people of the state of Israel", and the composer was warmly received by the Israeli audience at the premiere. Nevertheless, the original words are unnecessary and unpleasant, I feel.)

[Gabriel Jackson]

My pocket score (Boosey and Hawkes: No 666 on the outside cover, B & H 17245 inside) is copyright 1952, the year of composition.
Has it been reprinted since?

PS: I can find no mention of any alteration to the words in the liner notes of Craft's 1995 recording (Naxos). Nor is there anything in Eric Walter White's Stravinsky: The composer and his works.

The copyright date is just that, when the work was copyrighted.

The most recent recording of the Cantata (https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...y-choral-works), for which I wrote the liner notes, uses the original of the text. If an alternative was available, they would have sung it. (The matter of the anti-semitic material was specifically addressed in the notes.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

(The matter of the anti-semitic material was specifically addressed in the notes.)

A very sensible way of dealing with the matter.

[mopsus]

There is also the unpleasant stereotype referenced in Judas' betrayal of Jesus out of 'covetousness'.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Ah - I'll have to hunt out the Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky (in which the Taruskin essay appears) - IIRC, Craft said that Stravinsky gave verbal permission for the change in the late '60s.

Taruskin also says that we should 'close our ears' to the offending material, which also suggests that any change that Stravinsky authorised was informal, given that it isn't in the score, doesn't it?

(The original lyrics didn't disturb either Isaiah Berlin, or the committee if the Israel Festival when they commissioned Abraham & Isaac ten years after the Cantata - A&I is dedicated "to the people of the state of Israel", and the composer was warmly received by the Israeli audience at the premiere.

Maybe the dedication, and the choice of Hebrew for the text, was some kind of atonement?
I didn't know, until I looked into all this, that there was so much anger and upset about these words at the time of the premiere. Alexandre Tansman, previously an enthusiastic biographer of Stravinsky, wrote to him expressing his disappointment and dismay that Stravinsky should set those words only seven years after the discovery of the full horrors of the Holocaust, and Stravinsky never spoke to him again.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Taruskin also says that we should 'close our ears' to the offending material, which also suggests that any change that Stravinsky authorised was informal, given that it isn't in the score, doesn't it?

I think you're right there.

Maybe the dedication, and the choice of Hebrew for the text, was some kind of atonement?
I didn't know, until I looked into all this, that there was so much anger and upset about these words at the time of the premiere. Alexandre Tansman, previously an enthusiastic biographer of Stravinsky, wrote to him expressing his disappointment and dismay that Stravinsky should set those words only seven years after the discovery of the full horrors of the Holocaust, and Stravinsky never spoke to him again.

I didn't know that this was the cause of the rift with Tansman - Stravinsky severed many of his former friendships after adopting Serial methods for his compositions; I had just presumed that this was another such. Very sad.

[Pulcinella]

The copyright date is just that, when the work was copyrighted.

Yes, in this case applying to the Boosey and Hawkes printed score, which is why I wondered if there had been a revision/subsequent edition.
It would seem not.

[DracoM]

Does anyone else get irked by the Trivago-like PR puff at the start of almost every CE?

[teamsaint]

Can somebody tell me if Winchester have changed their cassock colour over the years ? My recollection was that back in the early 70’s they wore purple, as did Salisbury, who changed at that time to green.

Answers on an offical cathedral postcard......

[Wolsey]

[...]It really could do with a brand new one. If Worcester and Manchester can manage it, I'm sure Winchester could. I wouldn't say that the existing instrument is utterly beyond the pale, but it really is a stodgy, lumbering thing and I don't know anyone who thinks very highly of it. I spent a week at it once way back in 1970 and it felt a bit like pulling an elephant out of quicksand.

I have to say that I simply do not recognise this as a description of the Winchester Cathedral organ today which I have played both before and after Harrison's rebuild in 1988. Willis's organ was altered by Hele in 1905, and a more radical rebuild was undertaken by Harrison in 1938. Their rebuild fifty years later was equally radical, and the interior was completely re-designed. The disproportionate Hele additions obscured tonal egress and have been re-sited; the swell reeds have been rescued from an unbelievably buried position and restored to Willis's original pressures, etc. The organ which you may have played in 1970 bears no relation whatsoever to the instrument today, and as I write this with David Hill's 2002 CD recording of the organ playing in the background, my opinion of this splendid instrument is only further confirmed.

[Finzi4ever]

Winchester certainly does not need a 'brand new one'! Tweaking, updating electronically and a little revoicing quite possibly but that's it.