Parry, C. H. H. (1848-1918)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes, so would I, but I think the programme's 'mission' was to bring to the fore Parry's [nowadays lesser-known] work as a larger-scale composer, e.g. as a symphonist.

I think so - looking at the last time Parry was CotW six years ago (the programmes were repeated the following year) it does look as if there was more attention on the sort of works that LMcD suggests. But strange that they chose to undertake this "mission" with "bleeding chunks" and individual Movements from the large-scale works (which also happened in 2012): the slow movement/section of the Fifth Symphony (which, for me, stood out as by far the best Music of the whole week) was particularly bizarre in this respect.

[LMcD]

Just got back from the first concert in the Ilkley Concert Club new season, in which the Leonore Trio played Parry's first Piano Trio from the late 1870s. Much more interesting than the violin & piano pieces played on Monday and Tuesday's CotW broadcasts, and far better representative of Parry's talents. In language, a sort of "missing link" between Mendelssohn and Brahms, but also a few ideas originating in various bits of The Ring, which Parry had heard in Bayreuth during the initial performances of the cycle.

The Leonore Trio are in the process of recording all three Parry Piano Trios for Hyperion (together with the Piano Quartet): if the other two are up to this standard, they'll be very welcome additions to the repertory.

Edit: the recording by the Deakin Trio is YouTubable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAhhzW2pwxg

I've just listened to the Piano Trio - it's a fine work. much less Brahmsian than I might have expected. Many thanks for the heads up! I shall certainly look out for the Hyperion release. I already have the excellent Parry/Stanford nonets.

[BBMmk2]

I've just listened to the Piano Trio - it's a fine work. much less Brahmsian than I might have expected. Many thanks for the heads up! I shall certainly look out for the Hyperion release. I already have the excellent Parry/Stanford nonets.

The Bax Nonet is well worth a look.

[LMcD]

The Bax Nonet is well worth a look.

You've reminded me that I have both the Nonet and the Octet on audio cassette - I'll give them another listen.

[Serial_Apologist]

The Bax Nonet is well worth a look.

If you like Irish folksongs mixed with Debussyian harmonies. Which I happen to.

[BBMmk2]

If you like Irish folksongs mixed with Debussyian harmonies. Which I happen to.

It’s a bit more than that SA!

[gurnemanz]

... As well as holding the Chair of Music at Oxford.

Various Parry events this Friday at Oxford Lieder. Schedule here.

[LMcD]

Petroc has just played part of the premiere recording of movements from Parry's 'Suite Moderne'. ('Breakfast' at 2 hours 53 minutes)

[Pabmusic]

Petroc has just played part of the premiere recording of movements from Parry's 'Suite Moderne'. ('Breakfast' at 2 hours 53 minutes)

This is a strange piece of programming on the part of Chandos. Why record only some movements of the Suite Moderne? If the whole suite was too long to be a filler for the Fourth Symphony, why not record something else - the full orchestra version of Lady Radnor's Suite for instance? Parry originally wrote it with wind & timps, but Novello would only publish it with strings.

[BBMmk2]

This is a strange piece of programming on the part of Chandos. Why record only some movements of the Suite Moderne? If the whole suite was too long to be a filler for the Fourth Symphony, why not record something else - the full orchestra version of Lady Radnor's Suite for instance? Parry originally wrote it with wind & timps, but Novello would only publish it with strings.

Very strange of Chandos to do that! They’re normally very good about couplings.

[LMcD]

I assume Professor Dibble has orchestrated the whole of the Suite Moderne...?

[Pabmusic]

I assume Professor Dibble has orchestrated the whole of the Suite Moderne...?

I hope not. The suite exists in full score - I have a copy of it in Parry's (very neat) youthful hand. The original is in the RCM.

[Cockney Sparrow]

As its a rare event, rather than post in performances, I thought I would post, here, this 3 April performance of Judith at RFH :

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/125753-parrys-judith-2019

[Pabmusic]

I've just finished typesetting this for publication by Musikproduktion Höflich of Munich (should be published in a couple of months - I hope someone plays it). Dutton recorded three 'movements' though not the whole suite.

Here is a video I've made of the music. Of course it's computerised, but the sound's really good. And here's the text of the preface I wrote for the score.

"Charles Hubert Hastings Parry

(b. 27 February 1848, Bournemouth;
d. 7 October 1918, Rustington)


HYPATIA

Suite from the incidental music to the play by Stuart Ogilvie (1893)

Overture – Hypatia & Philammon – Street Scene –
Ruth & Orestes – Orestes’ March

Parry was an exceptionally busy musician. He was the Oxford Professor of Music, Professor of Musical History at the Royal College of Music (and soon to be its Director) a member of numerous artistic bodies, an author, and a composer. Many of his compositions were commissions for festivals and other events. In 1892 he accepted one such commission to write incidental music for a West End play to be staged at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket (“The theatre lighted by electricity” announced the programme, giving prominence to the name of the Electrical Engineer) by the flamboyant actor and producer Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree.

The play was based on Charles Kingsley’s 1853 novel that tells a (fictionalised) story of the life and death of the philosopher, astronomer and mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria, who was a teacher opposed to the rise of Christianity, and who was murdered horrifically by a Christian mob in 415 AD at the prompting of Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, after she had spoken against his banishment of Jews from the city. Many of the sentiments of Kingsley’s book betray their Victorian origin – it is heavily anti-Catholic and antisemitic, and it would probably be impossible nowadays to stage the play that Stuart Ogilvie wrote based on Kingsley’s novel, even though Ogilvie toned down some of its prejudices. Nevertheless the book was a major work in its day, and the opportunity the play afforded was perhaps the nearest Parry ever came to writing a mature dramatic opera, albeit one without any singing. It was not easy working with Beerbohm Tree, who constantly called for changes during rehearsals, and even after the first performance. Those changes often meant that Parry had to alter the music. Things reached a climax when Tree demanded a few minutes’ more music for a scene, to which an angry Parry replied, “You don’t want a composer, you want a barrel-organ!” Ogilvie’s play opened on 2 January 1893, with scenery and costumes designed by Lawrence Alma Tadema, and it was a success, running for four months and eventually giving way to the Oscar Wilde’s new play, Lady Windemere’s Fan. Parry’s music was conducted by the noted Wagnerian Carl Armbruster, and is of the highest quality – Hazell’s Annual, reviewing the year’s music in London, called it “charming”. ‘The B in a Box’ – the critic in Punch – thought Dr. Parry’s music the best thing about the play, writing “Altogether a notable piece. Prosit!”

The main theme of Orestes’ March is heard in the Overture as well as being alluded to in the Street Scene, giving unity to the suite. The Overture also contains a beautiful brass chorale which, unhappily, does not appear again in the suite. The 2nd and 4th movements (both entr’actes in the play) are charming miniatures. The concluding march is very fine, with a memorable melody. Parry selected these five orchestral numbers for performance by at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert, indicating the order in which they should be played. But he did no more – for example, by altering the keys to ensure a more comfortable sequence, or by rationalizing any differences in instrumentation between movements. Such differences were because they were composed with four substantial acts in mind, not a 25-minute concert suite. I have written throughout for horns in F, and trumpets in C. Clarinet parts are for instruments in B♭in the first three movements, and A in the last two. I have also added a repeat in the last movement, from bar 7 till letter B. This does not appear in the autograph but is suggested in a handwritten note on the score, though it is not in Parry’s hand. Whether it was intended for separate performance in the suite or for theatrical performance, dictated by practical needs discovered in rehearsal, is not known. The repeat works well but can of course be easily omitted if desired.

Orestes’ March includes cymbals and a side drum that have clearly been added to the autograph, seemingly not entirely in Parry’s hand. A handwritten percussion part exists also that has small parts in pencil for the same instruments in movements 1 and 3. I have included them in this score, although they too can be omitted if desired."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWzygnUB2rk

[Pabmusic]

The overture to Hubert Parry's incidental music to Aristophanes' The Frogs (Βάτραχοι), written for a performance in 1892 at Oxford.

The Frogs is a comedy based around the recent death of Euripides. Basically, Dionysus takes a break from drunken debauchery to journey to Hades to determine whether Euripides or Aeschylus was the greater tragic poet. He takes with him his servant/slave Xanthias. Dionysus disguises himself as the hero Heracles, even though he is a fat, timid, very camp fellow, and Xanthias upstages him at every turn.

The Chorus is a group of frogs, whose "Brekekekéx-koáx-koáx" (Βρεκεκεκέξ κοάξ κοάξ) was pinched by Yale students as their sporting chant (Cole Porter - from Yale himself - uses it in one song).

Anyway, I've just prepared this for publication, and now I'm in the middle of the large-orchestra revision Parry made in 1912. Adrian Boult suggested that as one piece to record, but - alas! - it was never done.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi1yykvcx5I