British Music 1919-1939

[Petrushka]

I'm currently reading Richard Overy's book, The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilization, 1919-1939 in which he discusses the widespread culture of decline and the belief that Western civilization was doomed that existed between the wars.

Overy's brief does not include music so I wonder to what extent this pessimistic mood was mirrored by British composers of the time? Without thinking too hard I can only come up with the Elgar Cello Concerto, Vaughan Williams' Symphony No 4 and, as it does depict a collapse of a civilization, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast.

Can any of our resident British music experts come up with any other works that expressed the spirit of the times?

[EdgeleyRob]

Rubbra's 1st symphony came to mind immediately.
Less obvious maybe are Bridge's 3rd string quartet and Holst's Egdon Heath which bring to my mind thoughts of troubled,worrying or uncertain times.
Vaughan Williams maybe expressed the mood towards the end of that period in Dona Nobis Pacem.

[richardfinegold]

Herbert Howells (sp?)? Although I think personal tragedy played a role there. William Alwyn was active in that era although my recent dip into his Music doesn’t bring to mind any civilization-is-kaput type pieces....Havergail Brian wrote some early works in that time frame and he always seems to have Mahlerian feel to my ears...

[LMcD]

Walton's 'Façade' possibly expresses the spirit of some in the late 1920s.

[bluestateprommer]

Random ideas:
1. With jazz in the air in the 1920's, one could include The Rio Grande of Constant Lambert as a work "reflecting the times".
2. The flip side from the same composer could be 11 years later, with Summer's Last Will and Testament.
3. Morning Heroes of Arthur Bliss could be seen as AB trying to come to terms with WWI and its aftermath, with the obvious personal connection of the death of his brother in battle.

I don't know necessarily, taking LMcD's point, that "reflecting the times" automatically means a 'doom and gloom' outlook, as the default.

[ahinton]

Havergal Brian's certainly a major contender, I think - the Gothic Symphony in particular. Rubbra 1 (which has already been mentioned) also seems on occasion to sail to within an uncomfotrable distance of Allan Pettersson!

[Petrushka]

I don't know necessarily, taking LMcD's point, that "reflecting the times" automatically means a 'doom and gloom' outlook, as the default.

This, though, is the point of Richard Overy's book that I mention in my OP. The artistic, scientific, literary, philosophical and racial view in Britain between the wars was one of pessimism and 'end of civilization'. My thought was whether this same outlook was present in the classical music of the period. It isn't necessarily a reflection of the horrors of the Great War but of a feeling on what the future might hold. Composers have often been a useful barometer of the times in which they lived, influenced as they so often are by other artistic and social forces, and I was wondering if this was true of the inter-war years in Britain.

Some interesting suggestions so far re Rubbra and Brian. What about Bax?

[LMcD]

This, though, is the point of Richard Overy's book that I mention in my OP. The artistic, scientific, literary, philosophical and racial view in Britain between the wars was one of pessimism and 'end of civilization'. My thought was whether this same outlook was present in the classical music of the period. It isn't necessarily a reflection of the horrors of the Great War but of a feeling on what the future might hold. Composers have often been a useful barometer of the times in which they lived, influenced as they so often are by other artistic and social forces, and I was wondering if this was true of the inter-war years in Britain.

Some interesting suggestions so far re Rubbra and Brian. What about Bax?

I'm not qualified to write much about Bax, but Britten's interwar compositions included:

The Simple Symphony
Soirées Musicales
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
The Piano Concerto
The Violin Concerto
Mont Juic (with Lennox Berkeley)
Of these, I would suggest that only the last two share Auden's view of the 1930s or allude to the impending conflict.

[EdgeleyRob]

This, though, is the point of Richard Overy's book that I mention in my OP. The artistic, scientific, literary, philosophical and racial view in Britain between the wars was one of pessimism and 'end of civilization'. My thought was whether this same outlook was present in the classical music of the period. It isn't necessarily a reflection of the horrors of the Great War but of a feeling on what the future might hold. Composers have often been a useful barometer of the times in which they lived, influenced as they so often are by other artistic and social forces, and I was wondering if this was true of the inter-war years in Britain.

Some interesting suggestions so far re Rubbra and Brian. What about Bax?

I suppose the nearest thing Bax wrote to anything which might be described as depicting the end of the world as we know it is the last movement of the 2nd Symphony (1926).
Bax did say the Symphony should convey an oppressive and catastrophic mood.

[Lat-Literal]

Holbrooke was compared with Poe in his leaning towards the, quote, bizarre and morbid.

But some of that dated way back.

Horribly morbid in the assessment of some while at the Academy (mid 1890s).

"Beautifully morbid" (Newman, 1902)

I think the most beautiful decade in classical music is 1910-1919.

There is an indescribable peak in much of it musically which is not to say that there aren't many other peaks.

I have no doubt that it is because it is on a cusp and incorporates tragedy.`

[Stanfordian]

Holbrooke was compared with Poe in his leaning towards the, quote, bizarre and morbid.

But some of that dated way back.

Horribly morbid in the assessment of some while at the Academy (mid 1890s).

"Beautifully morbid" (Newman, 1902)

I think the most beautiful decade in classical music is 1910-1919.

There is an indescribable peak in much of it musically which is not to say that there aren't many other peaks.

I have no doubt that it is because it is on a cusp and incorporates tragedy.`

I've always thought that the Golden period in British Classical music is around 1900-1920.

[Hornspieler]

I would agree about Vaughan Williams (4th Symphony) and William Walton (1st Symphony)

Arnold Bax and Sir Arthur Bliss spring to mind - and also John Ireland.

A lot of "light music" was written at that time by composers whose output was best described as "very pleasant but easily forgotten" during those inter-war years.

A day spent in the Sir Henry Wood Library in the Royal Academy of music would reveal a wealth of music which is now forgotten.

Hornspieler."

[LMcD]

I don't know much about Bax's symphonies - I've only ever heard the 6th. However, it might be of interest that, whatever his feelings about WWI, the following works were completed immediately afterwards:
Tintagel (1919)
Summer Music (1920)
The Happy Forest (1921)
Perhaps the wealth of light music in the period under discussion was, for some, one way of dealing with the horrors of that conflict?
I have all the Ronald Corp British/European/American Light Classics Hyperion CDs and listen to them quite regularly.

[Ferretfancy]

I'm not qualified to write much about Bax, but Britten's interwar compositions included:

The Simple Symphony
Soirées Musicales
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
The Piano Concerto
The Violin Concerto
Mont Juic (with Lennox Berkeley)
Of these, I would suggest that only the last two share Auden's view of the 1930s or allude to the impending conflict.

I would add Our Hunting Fathers to that list. It thunders against the suffering of animals, but these could count for mankind. I have a BBC recording, now deleted, in which Pears is extraordinary, but I don't seem to be able to locate a recent version, although I have heard Ian Bostridge in a concert a couple of years ago.

[Stanfordian]

I would add Our Hunting Fathers to that list. It thunders against the suffering of animals, but these could count for mankind. I have a BBC recording, now deleted, in which Pears is extraordinary, but I don't seem to be able to locate a recent version, although I have heard Ian Bostridge in a concert a couple of years ago.

Britten's Violin Concerto - I regard as a 20th century masterwork.

The score went out of fashion for a while so I'm glad so many of the younger players have taken it up in recently, namely Steinbacher, Frang, Roth, Trusler and also those a bit older Jansen, Zimmermann and Vergerov.