An Imperishable Heritage: British Choral Music from Parry to Dyson; a Study of Selected Works

354 Pages·2012·4.634 MB·English

by  Stephen Town

An ImperIshAble herItAge:
brItIsh ChorAl musIC from
pArry to Dyson
To my wife, Denise
and
In Memoriam
Archie Town
(13 June 1913–10 September 1996)
Mary Jo (Jones) Town
(13 December 1923–30 September 1984)
An Imperishable heritage:
british Choral music from
parry to Dyson
A study of selected Works
stephen toWn
Northwest Missouri State University, USA
© stephen town 2012
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
stephen town has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and patents Act, 1988, to
be identified as the author of this work.
published by
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
town, stephen.
An Imperishable heritage: british Choral music from parry to Dyson : A study of
selected Works.
1. Choral music – great britain – 20th century. 2. Choral music – great britain –
19th century. I. title
782.5’0941-dc23
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
town, stephen, 1952–
An Imperishable heritage: british Choral music from parry to Dyson: A study of
selected Works / stephen town.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Choral music – great britain – 20th century. 2. Choral music – great britain –
19th century. I. title. II. title: british choral music from parry to Dyson.
ml1531.t68 2012
782.50941 – dc23 2011052208
bach musicological font developed by © yo tomita
Isbn 9780754605362 (hbk)
Isbn 9781409448792 (ebk)
V
Contents
List of Chapter Appendices vii
List of Tables ix
List of Figures xi
List of Music Examples xiii
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xxiii
1 Hubert Parry and The Vision of Life Reconsidered: “And we
are faint with longing to hear the message clearly” 1
2 Voces Clamantium and Beyond These Voices There Is Peace: The
Embodiment of Parry’s Character Polarities 37
3 Two Versions of The Three Holy Children by Charles Stanford:
Context, Design, and Extant Scores 61
4 Elegiac Ode by Charles Stanford: An Inspired Setting, Influential
Exemplar, and Filial Tribute 87
5 Flos Campi by Ralph Vaughan Williams: “From Raw

Intimations to Homogeneous Experience” 105
6 “The light we sought is shining still”: An Oxford Elegy by
Ralph Vaughan Williams 135
7 “So great a beauty on these English fields”: Requiem da Camera
and Gerald Finzi (1901–1956) 177
8 “The visionary gleam”: Gerald Finzi, Ralph Vaughan Williams,
and Intimations of Immortality 197
9 Symphony No. 9, Sinfonia Sacra by Edmund Rubbra 217
10 The Morning Watch, Op. 55 by Edmund Rubbra 247
11 “A home of unfading splendour”: Quo Vadis by George Dyson
(1883–1964) 263
vi An Imperishable Heritage: British Choral Music from Parry to Dyson
12 George Dyson’s Nebuchadnezzar and the Stimulus of Parry,
Stanford, and Walton 287
Afterword 299
Bibliography 305
Index 319
List of Chapter Appendices
1 Text of The Vision of Life (1907/revised 1914)
by Hubert Parry 23
2 A Transcription of Parry’s Outline of Beyond These Voices
There Is Peace 57
3 Text of The Three Holy Children (1885/revised 1902)
by Charles Stanford 77
5 Revisions to the Autograph Full Score of Flos Campi
by Ralph Vaughan Williams 127
6.1 The Scholar-Gipsy and Thyrsis by Matthew Arnold as Set
by Ralph Vaughan Williams 158
6.2 Catalogue Entries and Descriptions of Harnham Down
and An Oxford Elegy 170
7 Description of the Requiem da Camera Manuscripts 191
8 William Wordsworth’s Intimations of Immortality
as Set by Gerald Finzi 211
9 Description of Sinfonia Sacra Autographs 241
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List of Tables
2.1 Voces Clamantium: summary motivic and tonal chart 41
2.2 Beyond These Voices There Is Peace: summary motivic
and tonal chart 51
3.1 The Three Holy Children: chart of tonal areas and themes 75
9.1 Sinfonia Sacra schema 230