Butterworth, George (1885-1916)

[Edgy 2]

This piece of mine was a victim of the coronavirus. A London ensemble (amateur) was seriously interested in it - I'd sent off scores and vocal scores. But of course that's at least "on hold" if not abandoned.

So I've produced a video using computerised sound (quite good sound, though). Obviously there's no singer, though the tunes are emphasised. Likewise there's no narrator so everything id sone as rolling script. But if you persevere there's quite a lot of unknown Butterworth (and unknown me) in this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDH8eUaQCJM

Thank you for this Pabs

[Pabmusic]

Came across this again.

https://youtu.be/GDv-FUfOXNQ

[Pabmusic]

Well, it's been a while. Here's a better version of The Lent Lily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mktO-s0ogg0

[smittims]

Goodness, what dedication! Clearly Butterworth is important to you. Thanks for posting this.

I'm always fascinated to think what he might have composed had he survived the war.

[french frank]

Well, it's been a while. Here's a better version of The Lent Lily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mktO-s0ogg0

Good to see you again, Pabs . (Will need to keep this for this evening.)

[Serial_Apologist]

Well, it's been a while. Here's a better version of The Lent Lily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mktO-s0ogg0

It's lovely, thanks Pabs, and to echo french frank, welcome back; sorry to hear of your loss.

[Pabmusic]

Goodness, what dedication! Clearly Butterworth is important to you. Thanks for posting this.

I'm always fascinated to think what he might have composed had he survived the war.

My feeling is that he'd not have composed much, if at all. For one thing, he was never commissioned to write anything,* and for another his entire output that survives dates from about 1909-1914, with most of it following his mother's death in January 1911. On one occasion in 1913 he snapped at someone who'd called him a composer: "I'm not a composer - I'm a professional Morris dancer!"

Seriously, though, he was a really slow composer, one of history's great revisers. Did you know there are 3 versions of the Shropshire Lad Rhapsody - all different (slightly) and named respectively The Land of Lost Content (1911), The Cherry Tree (1912), and Rhapsody: "A Shropshire Lad" (1913)? It's the latter that was published, but Butterworth had indicated some revisions to that, which were not printed. I think he would had replaced Cecil Sharp at the EFDSS instead of Douglas Kennedy. And we might have seen him on Joseph Cooper's Face The Music in the 1960s.

* In early 1916 Robert Bridges and Henry Walford Davies approached Sir Hubert Parry to contribute to a fund-raising concert for Fight For right (a right-wing organisation lobbying the Government not to seek peace with Germany). Bridges suggested Parry set some verses by William Blake - "And did those feet...". Parry, very left-leaning, refused and suggested they approach George Butterworth. But he was in France, and in any case, Parry produced a song ("Here you are - do what you like with it"). But that might have led to Butterworth's only commission.

[smittims]

That's most interesting; thank you.

[LMcD]

That's most interesting; thank you.