Finzi, Gerald (1901 - 1956)

[Pulcinella]

Apparently there is only one instance in the 50+ Hardy settings where Finzi sets a syllable to more than one note. That is remarkable, and accounts in part for why the vocal line always seems so natural. (I'll now not rest till I remember the song and the word in question.)

In Parry to Finzi, Trevor Hold mentions 'the long roulade of notes on the word 'weep' at the end of 'Come away, death', but he also says: But in the main, Finzi assiduously abides by Cranmer's dictum, 'for every syllable a note'.

This is not quite the same as saying no more than one note per syllable, however!
And yes, Come away is not a Hardy setting, so this is not a greatly helpful post!

[Pabmusic]

Apparently there is only one instance in the 50+ Hardy settings where Finzi sets a syllable to more than one note. That is remarkable, and accounts in part for why the vocal line always seems so natural. (I'll now not rest till I remember the song and the word in question.)

It occurs in For life I had never cared greatly, at "unclo_aked a star".

[Keraulophone]

Finzi enthusiasts may like to know that his Eclogue and Requiem da Camera are to be performed at the St Endellion Easter Festival in Cornwall during the week after Easter, 2-8 April.

The founder of the Easter and Summer Festivals, the late Richard Hickox, had a missionary zeal to bring to light less-performed but significant works by many British composers, and the huge number of his recordings of these are a fitting memorial to his commitment and enthusiasm. Many such works were initially revived by RSH at St Endellion before progressing up country via one of the orchestras he was associated with and subsequently into the recording studio.

http://endellionfestivals.org.uk/2017_Easter_Programme

This is the 2018 programme despite what the link shows. Guest artistic director for the week is David Watkin, whose recording of the Bach 'Cello Suites, made shortly before an autoimmune condition forced him to stop playing, was one of my personal Records of the Year 2015.

Requiem da Camera
Finzi wrote the Requiem da Camera (1923-24), his first attempt at an extended work, in memory of Ernest Farrer, his composition teacher who died on the Somme in 1918. The third of its four movements is a baritone setting of Hardy’s In Time of the Breaking of Nations, flanked by choral settings of Masefield and Gibson and introduced with an orchestral prelude (added in 1925) that has phrases from Butterworth’s Housman song Loveliest of Trees woven through it. Finzi subsequently reworked the third movement, although the orchestration of the draft score of this movement remained incomplete and was finished by Philip Thomas in 1984, and Requiem da Camera received its full premiere in 1990.

Eclogue for Piano and String Orchestra, Op.10
Eclogue and Grand Fantasia and Toccata were named by Finzi's executors, his widow Joy, son Christopher Finzi and Howard Ferguson, and published posthumously by Boosey & Hawkes as separate movements of what is thought to have been an intended piano concerto. This projected central movement was written in the late 1920s and twice reworked in the 1940s and 1950s as Finzi realised that the concerto was unlikely to be completed. The title associates the music’s pastoral style with poems from Virgil’s Bucolica that were known as eclogae, which became the generic term for pastoral Latin poetry. Kathleen Long gave the first performance in January 1957 at a memorial concert four months after the composer’s death.

[gurnemanz]

It occurs in For life I had never cared greatly, at "unclo_aked a star".

Thanks for remembering - most impressive! I'm a relatively recent fan of his songs, having bought the great value Hyperion twofer, "Earth and Air and Rain". It's the sort of revealing detail I would not have noticed on my own. Now I shall also remember.

We were pleased recently to stumble upon Finzi's house while visiting the church at Ashmansworth.

[BBMmk2]

Thanks for remembering - most impressive! I'm a relatively recent fan of his songs, having bought the great value Hyperion twofer, "Earth and Air and Rain". It's the sort of revealing detail I would not have noticed on my own. Now I shall also remember.

We were pleased recently to stumble upon Finzi's house while visiting the church at Ashmansworth.

Gurney, have you heard Roderick Williams's cycle of Finzi songs on Naxos. Certainly worth an investigation.

[Pabmusic]

Gurney, have you heard Roderick Williams's cycle of Finzi songs on Naxos. Certainly worth an investigation.

A bit of pedantry: the Hardy songs are grouped in sets, some by Finzi, some Howard Fergson, with some sets being for tenor, some for baritone. On Naxos Roddy Williams does the baritone sets (like Earth & Air & Rain) while John Mark Aynsley does the tenor sets (like A Young Man's Exhortation). Likewise on Lyrita the songs are divided between John Carol Case and Robert Tear (with Ferguson at the piano).

[BBMmk2]

A bit of pedantry: the Hardy songs are grouped in sets, some by Finzi, some Howard Fergson, with some sets being for tenor, some for baritone. On Naxos Roddy Williams does the baritone sets (like Earth & Air & Rain) while John Mark Aynsley does the tenor sets (like A Young Man's Exhortation). Likewise on Lyrita the songs are divided between John Carol Case and Robert Tear (with Ferguson at the piano).

I should have known that Lyrita had recorded these!

[Pabmusic]

I should have known that Lyrita had recorded these!

Some of the very first Lyrita recordings (1960s).

[ardcarp]

son Christopher Finzi

Is he still alive, and to what extent did he 'make it' in the world of music? I recall that he conducted the classic Wilfrid Brown LP of Dies Natalis.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is he still alive, and to what extent did he 'make it' in the world of music? I recall that he conducted the classic Wilfrid Brown LP of Dies Natalis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Finzi

[Pabmusic]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Finzi

He conducts a nice Hyperion disc of Robin Milford.

The future Mrs Pabs No. 1 was a friend of his daughter Theresa, and she (the future Mrs Pabs) and I stayed over at Church Farm quite a few times. Good memories (we were young!) and interesting 'communal' gatherings...

[ardcarp]

He conducts a nice Hyperion disc of Robin Milford.

The Lyme Regis composer? Or at least connections with that place?

[Pabmusic]

The Lyme Regis composer? Or at least connections with that place?

I don't know about Lyme Regis, but Milford was a pupil of R. O. Morris, son of Sir Humphrey Milford of OUP, and took his own life in 1959. He was a good friend of Gerald Finzi.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdMmAd3VTTc

[gradus]

According to 'Finzi,His Life and Music' (McVeagh) he cultivated 386 varieties (I know nothing about apples or gardening but can that be right ?) including

Haggerstone Pippin
Lord Lennox
Morris's Russett
Baxter's Pearmain
Roxbury Russett
Welford Park Nonsuch
Mead's Broading
Norman's Pippin

I've only just caught up with this, many thanks for listing them.

[ardcarp]

I don't know about Lyme Regis, but Milford was a pupil of R. O. Morris, son of Sir Humphrey Milford of OUP, and took his own life in 1959. He was a good friend of Gerald Finzi.

He retired to Lyme.....

Robin Humphrey Milford was an English composer.
Born: 22 January 1903, Oxford
Died: 29 December 1959, Lyme Regis
Genre: Modern/contemporary
Education: Royal College of Music, Rugby School



He is still remembered there. An old friend of mine, Reg Pocock, a fine musician who sadly died some time ago took a keen interest in Milford's music and promoted it wherever he could. (Not sure about the 'modern/contemporary' classification!)