The World of DECCA Post 10 Renaissance Period Music, Instrumentalists, Singers and Religious Music

Foreword

We will be tidying up the remaining composers by nipping back to Renaissance

Period this time around and then we'll say hello to a few of the main players (which is where Marisa Robles comes in) and singers on our Classical records and finish off this post with a look at the Religious Music LPs. So let's go ...

RENAISSANCE COMPOSERS

THOMAS TALLIS, WILLIAM BYRD, GREGORIO ALLEGRI, ORLANDO GIBBONS, GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI, JOHN TAVERNER

Moving on to THE WORLD OF KING’S: THE CHOIR OF KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE: DIRECTED BY DAVID WILLCOCKS (SPA 245) and VOL. 2 (SPA 590) on which, along with Handel, Bach and Vivaldi, SPA 245 gives us Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and Gregorio Allegri. You might have thought that composing music was a peaceful, private occupation unconcerned with the politics of life

outside of that placid realm. I daresay that most times that was the case but Thomas Tallis, who largely wrote religious music for the church, would have had to be more careful than most. Tom, you see, was working during the reign of Henry VIII and through to that of Elizabeth I. In the course of this period, regal preference of Church denomination moved from Catholicism to Church of England back to Catholicism and then to Protestantism. Keeping everyone happy during these changing times would surely have been a challenge … a time for keeping calm … not losing one’s head … sort of … Still, don’t worry for Tallis. He survived until a good age, half of which (about 40 years) he spent working as composer and organist at the Chapel Royal alongside

young William Byrd. As for Tallis, so for Byrd the potentially uncertain future but for William, it may have been less for his music (because he wrote less for the Church) than for his firm support for Catholicism. He would have been born into Henry’s Anglican Church and would have been seven or eight when nine-year-old Edward VI took over and favoured Protestantism. Next in line, after about six years of Ed’s reign, was Catholic Mary I. Now it was OK to be Catholic and with William being around 13 years of age, his formative years would have been spent being theologically comfortable … for five years or so, that is. Then it was Elizabeth I’s time on the throne and guess what – she was Protestant. Bad news? Could have been but wasn’t. It looked like Liz had a soft spot for Tom and Willy. She offered them both the monopoly to print music and make it available to musicians and choirs thus rendering performance easier and more comparable across all of England. Both Tallis and Byrd have a tune on SPA 590 as well.

Gregorio Allegri was a priest, composer and singer and easily his most well-known piece is the ‘Miserere’ which closes SPA 245. This Catholic piece was arranged for two choirs; one of four and one of five voices and since the time that it was written, was performed each year during Holy Week. At this time, the Vatican preferred to keep the song list secret and transcribing and any type of copying was illegal and dealt with harshly. Not so harshly, however, that 14 year-old Mozart couldn’t rock up at a gig and, after hearing it a couple of times, commit a faithful copy to paper. Now, it is just this sort of illegal downloading that gives everyone a bad name! Anyway, there is an abridged version of ‘Miserere’ on THE WORLD OF YOU HUNDRED BEST TUNES VOL. 2 (SPA 155).

‘This is the Record of John’ is Orlando Gibbons’ only piece in our record collection and, of course, it concerns John the Baptist. The work was a commission piece from the President of St John’s College, Oxford and this college is dedicated to, that’s right, John the Baptist. Oh, and the occasion for which it was requested was St John the Baptist Day. If you examine the information above closely, you may perceive a trend.

Hmmmm … Polyphony or not polyphony. That was the question put to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. You might think that the answer is a bit tricky. Or maybe, like me, you might think that it’s the question that’s tricky. It was like this, you see. There were supporters for plainsong and some for polyphony as the future for church music. Plainsong is unaccompanied church songs such as Gregorian chant whilst polyphony is a style which combines a number of parts at the same time. Palestrina came up with a Mass that apparently clinched it in favour of the P word. The victory piece was dedicated to the Pope of the time, Marcellus but, unfortunately his reign lasted just 55 days and the music never met his ears. Still, if you are curious, the work in question, though not invited to the WORLD OF party, is ‘Missa Papae Marcelli’. An alternative Pierluigi polyphonic tune, ‘Hodie Beata Virgo’, did get an invite, however and this and ‘Salvator Mundi’ by Tallis are also nice examples and if you’re still not too sure what I’m on about, give these a listen on SPA 590. You’ll see, my friend. You’ll see.

John Taverner was a pal of Thomas Cromwell around the time of Henry VIII’s replacement of Catholicism with the Anglican Church of which Cromwell was a major player. He became an agent for the Crown but prior to this Tav had been writing music with Catholic leanings and was having to distance himself from them. It might have been a bit awkward from time to time because though he was working with Cromwell he had sympathy with those persecuted by him. Still, he was able to resign after a couple of years so must have found a way to walk a straight line. John Taverner and Giovanni Palestrina also make just one appearance each and these are on the abovementioned SPA 590.

CLASSICAL MUSIC INSTRUMENTALISTS

MARIA ROBLES

The Spanish harpist, Maria Robles, came to the UK in 1960 when she was about 23 years of age; liked it and stayed in this green and pleasant land permanently. Maria appears on two WORLD OF LPs; THE WORLD OF THE HARP: MARISA ROBLES (SPA 348) and THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS VOL. 2 (SPA/A 164). Whilst our maestra of the harp gets to

entertain us for the whole of SPA 348, she is invited to pluck the strings on Side 1 only of the Christmas record. Mind you, it is a fine piece of work; Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols which was written for voices plus the harp. You’ll find a little more detail on A Ceremony of Carols below. Side 1 of SPA 348 is taken up largely by composers from the Basque region of Spain and their particularly northern styling accentuating the intimate melody more so than the music of the South which is more about the rhythm. The tune that opens the record is by Manuel de Falla, ‘The Three Cornered Hat’ and the back cover notes tell us that

the interesting thing here is that Falla arranged the version here specifically for Marisa Robles’ aunt, Luisa Menarguez. There are three more Spanish pieces that follow with last tune of Side 1 being one by Mozart … or is it? The track listing states that ‘Theme, Variations and Rondo Pastorale’ is attributed to Mozart, and whilst his presence is strongly felt, research seems to have revealed that the ‘Theme’ and ‘Variations’ are from the pen of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (a name, which if not already in use, would have to be invented) whilst the ‘Rondo Pastorale’ is a re-arrangement of the final movement of Mozart’s String Trio K. 563. The composer implicated in this transcripion is Viennese pianist and composer Anton Eberl. Side 2 features single works of five more composers including the harp-heavy interlude from A Ceremony of Carols.

JOHN WILLIAMS

Australian John Christopher Williams is a true guitar virtuoso. His family moved to England when John was about ten years of age and his father, Len, established the London Guitar School so Williams Jnr had a ready tutor for the instrument until the age of 11. From this age,

John Williams attended summer schools to be tutored by Spanish classical guitar maestro Andrés Segovia or Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobrena if you prefer. On leaving secondary grammar school, Williams studied at the Royal College of Music but, because there was no guitar department at this time, John took on the piano instead. He graduated after three years and was encouraged to set up a department to cater for budding guitarists and stayed on to get it off the ground and run it for a couple of years. Throughout his very successful career, Williams has largely pursued excellence in the playing of classical works such as those found on JOHN WILLIAMS PLAYS BACH & SCARLATTI (SPA 592) but he was also involved in classical/jazz/rock fusion band Sky rubbing shoulders with such as Who guitarist, Pete Townshend and jazz singer, Cleo Laine whilst his version of Stanley Myers’ ‘Cavatina’ was used for popular movie, The Deer Hunter. These collaborations rapidly expanded the public consciousness of his work, boosting his popularity enormously.

SIMON PRESTON, STEPHEN CLEOBURY

Kings College, Cambridge features prominently in the early biographies of both of our organists, Simon Preston and Stephen Cleobury. Preston, some ten years older than Cleobury, was a chorister there before becoming, sometime later, an organ scholar which, like an apprenticeship, probably exposed him to all aspects of the business of playing in exalted environments. This would have been very useful for his stints as sub-organist at Westminster Abbey and Christ Church, Oxford. He returned to Westminster as Organist and Master of the choristers until approximately 50 years of age and began composing in earnest and touring his artistry at the keys. Stephen spent his organ scholarship at St John’s College, Cambridge and was sub-organist at Westminster Abbey and then, later, Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral. In his mid-thirties he was in office at King’s College as Director of Music for the Choir. He iwas Conductor Laureate and was due to retire in 2019 when he was 70 years of age. Sadly, in the November of said year, Stephen Cleobury died.

PETER KATIN

English pianist Peter Roy, well … I don’t know how to … Oh, I’ll just tell you the story. Rosemary Brown, right, was a medium and, as they do, she received messages from

those who have passed away. Not any old Bob, Dick and Harry for Rosemary, though. Oh no. More Johann, Franz and Frédéric and they weren’t getting in touch to spook the taxman or anything. No, they had music to impart. Now, our man Pete was a favourite of Ms Brown and

so the dictated music was put his way and he recorded it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the mighty Decca that got his signature for these sessions so we won’t find the tunes in our record collection but, in the cause of the dissemination of all good music, and apologies to our host, there are records credited to Rosemary Brown and Peter Katin called, for example, A Musical Séance and Rosemary Brown’s Music. Ahem … moving on. Peter Katin was invited onto Roy Plomley’s BBC radio show, Desert Island Discs and amongst the expected kind of selections like Mozart and Chopin, he chose ‘Wind Round My Heart’ by Beatrice Lillie, the Kirchin Band playing ‘Mambo’, ‘Mrs Worthington’ by Noël Coward and ‘Blow the Wind Southerly’ by star of the WORLD OFs, Kathleen Ferrier. You may know that, on this programme, the guest gets to choose a luxury item to be marooned with along with the music and Katin selected a painting titled, ‘Virgin on the Rocks’. Never heard of it but make mine a double! Ho ho, but seriously folks, this picture was painted by Leonardo da Vinci and check out the music if you like, but have a look at the painting, too, if you like. I realise that we have kind of veered off piste a bit but suffice it to say that Peter Katin can be heard on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: TCHAIKOVSKY (SPA 168), RACHMANINOV (SPA 169) and GRIEG (SPA 170) plus on other compilations.

RAWICZ AND LANDAUER

Polish Marjan Rawicz and Austrian Walter Landauer were a piano duo located in Vienna until relocating to the UK. So how would an Austrian bump into a Polish person. Well, it could

happen if the Austrian was on holiday taking a leisurely stroll and heard a likeable polka by Smetana being whistled by a Polish gentleman, also on holiday, taking a leisurely stroll and, the Austrian being bold enough to ask what the tune was, strike up a lasting friendship and professional partnership. They went on to play with WORLD OF No. 1 Mantovani amongst others. There is a story of our two friends’ ensemble playing precision1 which if true, and there is no reason to believe that it is not, is pretty impressive. It goes thus: with their pianos set up in two different rooms, an open connecting door between them, they could begin a

piece together then, a short way in, the door could be shut until they were approaching the end of the tune. The door could then be opened to reveal the two players’ impeccable timing as they finished the piece perfectly together. Well, I thought that that was impressive, anyway. Though they DID write some pieces themselves, none of them feature on THE WORLD OF RAWICZ & LANDAUER (SPA 13) or THE MUSICAL COMEDY WORLD OF RAWICZ & LANDAUER (SPA 139). The former record provides ten waltz pieces by seven different classical composers plus three tunes from the Strauss catalogue, the ‘Accelerations’ and ‘Emperor Waltzes’ from the pen of Johann Jr and ‘Der Rosenkavalier Waltz’ from unrelated Richard. It’s difficult to see why SPA 139 is called the ‘… Comedy World …’ as the music played is straight and though the pieces may be light-hearted (e.g. Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady) they are hardly comedic. Still, when all is said and done, if a little bit of light-hearted piano is what you need, this will do the trick.

EDEN AND TAMIR

Ms Bracha Eden and Mr Alexander Tamir were an Israeli piano duo though Tamir was born

Alexander Wolkovsky in Lithuania. It was their tutor that suggested they play duets and their debut came in 1954 when they were aged approximately 25 and 22 respectively. They appear on THE WORLD OF BRAHMS (SPA 315) playing ‘Waltz No. 15 in A flat major Op. 39’ which also crops up on their own LP THE WORLD OF TWO PIANOS (SPA 349) along with Brahms’ Hungarian Dances and Slavonic Dances by Dvorák, some Debussy and Rachmaninov plus others. Not only did they perform and record complete piano works of writers such as Brahms, Rachmaninov and Mozart but they were also the first to play a keyboard version of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring at the composer’s suggestion. Splendidly cacophonous in places it is too, though sadly, this piano version doesn’t feature anywhere in our collection.

NARCISO YEPES

Yepes was a self-taught maestro of the Spanish guitar who found that a mere six

strings were not enough to make the sound that he required. For Narciso Yepes, a minimum of ten were needed. His exceptional and distinctive style attracted the attention of several composers who presented him with new works to interpret, often contributing to the writing by solving problems of expression where the composer could not. Yepes appears on three WORLD OF records: THE WORLD OF THE SPANISH GUITAR (SPA 179), THE WORLD OF SPANISH GUITAR VOL. 2 (SPA 278) and (considered elsewhere) THE WORLD OF GREAT CLASSICS: RODRIGO: GUITAR CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ

(SPA 233). Spanish guitar music sprung historically from a combination of the Moorish way of plucking the guitar strings and the more rhythmic strum of the Latin sound. SPA 179 features the music of top-notch Latin composers Brazilian Villa Lobos and Spanish music-makers, Tárrega, Turina, Torroba, Sor, Albéniz and Falla. The former three here also crop up on SPA 278 along with Spanish composers Narváez, Sanz, Malats and Pipó; Argentine Pujol, and Italian Savio. Narciso also contributes a piece to finish the record.

HEITOR LOBOS, FRANCISCO TARREGA, JOAQUIN TURINA, FEDERICO TORROBA, FERNANDO SOR,

Heitor Villa Lobos provides two tracks on both SPA 179 and 278. One is a Choros, these being the type of tune played by Choreos, bands who might be found playing on the streets of Brazil, one of which Villa Lobos joined when he was just 16 years of age. The back cover notes tell us that he composed 16 choros after studying the genre and introducing his own design. ‘Choros No. 1’, which gets this LP underway, is for solo guitar but others in the series were written for double orchestra and military band – quite a range. As for Villa Lobos, so for Francisco Tárrega who also has two tunes on each record; listen out for the tremolo that is his main focal point of ‘Recuerdos de la Alhambra’ on SPA 179. Felipe Pedrell Sabaté, a musical scholar, was a collector of unchronicled Spanish folk tunes as well as pupils, one of which was Joaquín Turina. Turina was a pianist but began to understand from Pedrell, that the national instrument of Spain is the guitar and was able to write for it as his two pieces on SPA 179 show. Federico Moreno Torroba was the youngest of this group of composers writing light opera and symphonies as well as guitar pieces. Prior to Pedrell’s tutorship, there were few players composing for guitar and it was Fernando Sor’s time spent studying at a monastery that turned him towards the guitar from his favoured violoncello. The remaining two composers on SPA 179, Albeniz, who has four slots, and Falla, are covered elsewhere.

GASPAR SANZ, LUIS D NARVAEZ, EMILIO PUJOL, JOAQUIN MALATS, EDUARDO DE LA MAZA, ISAIAS SAVIO and ANTONIO RUIZ-PIPÓ

Gaspar Sanz was the guitarist at the court of Don Juan of Austria and during this time, he produced a Spanish guitar tutorial which melded both the strumming (classical) and plucking (Moors) style to form a particularly Spanish style. Luis de Narváez is the earliest known writer for the vihuela, an early predecessor of the guitar, adapting lute music for it and it is he that opens up SPA 278. Here, we can listen to ‘Guardame las vacas' which features variations on ostinato harmonies, those that obstinately repeat phrases of melody throughout. So … learning all the time! And there’s more. Emilio Pujol was a student of Francisco Tárrega and even though the days were long with just short breaks for lunch, Pujol continued practicing during them. His perseverance pays off to our advantage as we can now sit back and listen to ‘The Bumble Bee’.

The one tune by Joaquín Malats on the record is his most popular, ‘Serenata Española’ which is known as a salon piece – music that the composer himself would normally play at informal gatherings of learned acquaintances. Moving on, Eduardo Sainz de la Maza (brother of Regino) brings ‘Habanera’ to the party. If you listen to this tune, you’ll discover that ‘habanera’ means to have a rhythm similar to that of a tango, but I felt like telling you anyway. Well, there aren't too many Uruguayans in our story but we have one now. Isaias Savio was hugely influential in most of South America but especially Brazil in the dissemination of knowledge and of the playing of the guitar, mingling and merging until it had touched people throughout the region. One of his most important pieces is ‘Escenas Brasileiras’ and it features here. Finally, Antonio Ruiz-Pipó is considered a neoclassisist whose style has leanings toward that of Manuel de Falla. He has written works of many different types including large orchestra and chamber orchestra along with songs for voice though he favoured music for piano and guitar.

CLASSICAL MUSIC SINGERS

JOAN SUTHERLAND

Australian soprano, Joan Sutherland’s amazing vocal pyrotechnics resulted in her being known as ‘La Stupenda’ but it was her collaboration with vocal coach, and future husband, Richard Bonynge that helped set her on course as a coloratura soprano. Coloratura singing involves a supreme vocal agility characterised by ascending (usually) runs, leaps from low to high notes or hitting high notes from a standing start as well as the trills – maybe slow, but usually fast alternations between two sung notes which, in the ‘hands’ of a coloratura soprano, would normally be performed towards the summit of the singers range. Joan Sutherland’s autobiography is called A Prima Donna’s Progress but this, we can assume, is said tongue in cheek as most reports of her personality emphasise that she was very down-to-earth, sharing jokes and laughter in her dressing room even after, probably, overwhelming

audiences with yet another tragic death. Sutherland started singing in her youth as a mezzo, copying her mother’s delivery; mezzo being a voice pitched between soprano and the deepest female voice, contralto. When aged 19, Joan won a singing competition, the prize being free tutoring and it was these teachers who persuaded our diva that she was actually a soprano but it was as a mezzo that she began her professional career and sang this style until Richard Bonynge intercepted. Sutherland recorded exclusively for Decca for the last 30 years of her singing life and on THE WORLD OF JOAN SUTHERLAND (SPA 100) she sings the music of ten different composers, including ‘Conversation Piece: I’ll Follow My Secret Heart’ by Noel Coward plus the traditional tune, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. Richard Bonynge conducts eleven of the 13 pieces here. Joan Sutherland can also be heard throughout THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BEETHOVEN: CHORAL SYMPHONY (SPA 328), ‘The Gypsy and the Bird’ on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BIRDS IN MUSIC (SPA 367), ‘Ave Maria’ on THE WORLD OF SCHUBERT (SPA 426), ‘Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song)’ on THE WORLD OF MENDELSSOHN (SPA 433), ‘Un Soir Perez La Capitaine’ from Le Coeur et la Main and ‘Nun’s Chorus’ from Casanova on THE WORLD OF OPERETTA FAVOURITES (SPA 466) and finally, Joan Sutherland sings ‘Micaëla’ on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: BIZET: CARMEN. Incidentally, Richard Bonynge was allowed out on his own from time to time and can be found, for example, on THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: PAS DE DEUX (SPA 487) conducting two pieces for ballet.

STUART BURROWS, GERAINT EVANS

The music on THE WORLD OF SACRED MUSIC: SONGS OF PRAISE (SPA 62) and THE

WORLD OF SACRED MUSIC VOL. 2 (SPA 297) along with THE WORLD OF SACRED SONGS: STUART BURROWS (SPA-R 219) is performed for us by the aforementioned Stuart Burrows as well as Geraint Evans, who makes his only WORLD OF appearance on SPA 297 with two songs. Also chipping in are Kathleen Ferrier, Joan Sutherland and Kenneth McKellar who are all covered elsewhere.

Welsh tenor (ex-soprano) Stuart Burrows performs 12 songs on SPA-R 219, two of which (‘Ave Maria’ and ‘The Holy City’) also make appearances on SPA 62. The Burrows record opens with ‘The Lost Chord’ with

music by Arthur Sullivan and it sounds just a little incongruous on an LP of sacred songs. Sure, the subject matter leans towards Godliness as the singer goes in pursuit of the source of the mysterious chord that honked inexplicably from the organ but if one was in that Sunday-morning-in-Church mood, it would surely be broken by the unmistakable Gilbert & Sullivanesqueness of it all. I’m not sure that the artistry of our splendid tenor is not a little wasted here. Still, try it yourself, some time. Whatever we might think about this song, Mr Burrows is soon back

on track with the magnificent ‘Jesu, Lover of my Soul’, Negro spirituals such as ‘Jericho’, ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ through to ‘Abide with Me’. Even Dvorák’s ‘Goin’ Home’ passes muster and sits nicely behind the two previous spiritual tunes. The composer of the latter noted the style of the traditional spiritual songs of North America whilst visiting one time and imbued his own music with the idiosyncrasies of it. Of course, I’m talking about the ‘Largo’ from his ninth symphony From the New World. Of the many accolades that Burrows has received, one of his favourites was the naming of one of the 38 Eurotunnel shuttle trains, which were all named after opera singers from around the world, including his good self.

RELIGIOUS MUSIC ROUND-UP

Moving on with this section on religious music we have HYMNS FROM KING’S: THE CHOIR OF KING’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE (SPA 553). Of these 14 hymns, I recognise just three: ‘There is a Green Hill Faraway’, ‘Abide with Me’ and ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’. Teacher

Mrs Cecil Francis Alexander wrote the words to almost 400 hymns, of which, ‘There is a Green Hill …’ is one. The lyric may seem quite simple but many of the poems that Mrs Alexander composed were for young children. She was keen to grab the attention from the off with images that were easy for a child to call to mind and I must say, when I was young and being exposed to hymns for the first time at school and Sunday school, I was very able to transport myself to this mysterious grassy hill somewhere someplace else. I remember having trouble with the concept of someone having to suffer horrendously so that the rest of us might be saved but the thing is, I was hooked. Hymns, like Christmas carols, have their melodies updated from time to time but the tune to which our hymn is set, written by William Horsley, is the most popular version. This record is more interesting than it might have been simply because most of the songs are those from the ‘less’ end of the ‘well-known’ spectrum.

THE WORLD OF SACRED MUSIC: SONGS OF PRAISE (SPA 62) contains The Choir of Paisley Abbey, which is a parish church in Paisley, Scotland, who provide two rousing pieces, ‘Praise My Soul’ and ‘Jerusalem’; Heather Lewis, who provides a fine rendition of ‘Hear My Prayer’ and ‘O for the Wings of a Dove’; The Choir of St. Marks Church, North Audley Street sing ‘O God, Our Help in Ages Past’; James Blades, who plays chimes and Charles Smart who plays the organ on ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ and finally, The Choir of Landaff Cathedral contribute Brother James’ Air (The Lord’s My Shepherd).

CLASSICAL MUSIC AT CHRISTMAS

Christmas is represented in the WORLD OF series by four LPs. The WORLD OF CHRISTMAS VOLUMES 1 AND 2 (SPA/A 104 and 164), THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC (SPA 501), and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS: A FESTIVAL OF LESSONS AND CAROLS (SPA 528).The latter platter features more obscure Christmas-related pieces on Side A with compositions such as Handel’s Zadok the Priest which was composed for the coronation of King George II and is thus, not very much to do with

Christmas at all. Annual radio broadcasts of the festival of lessons and carols is essential listening for many on Christmas Eve with the complete programme comprising nine readings and something like 20 carols and hymns; way too many for the lowly vinyl 12” disc. For this reason, SPA 528 comprises six lessons and just 12 Christmas songs including all of your old favourites such as ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ (which has always been used to get proceedings off to a festive start), ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ and ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’. The WORLD OF CHRISTMAS and the WORLD OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC contain well-known carols, the latter with some unfamiliar tunes interspersed and including Vaughan Williams’ ‘Fantasia on Christmas Carols’, sung by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge … whilst, in the red corner, the WORLD OF CHRISTMAS VOLUME II has performances by the choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. The St John’s record is made up of Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Christmas on Side A and a collection of gentle festive songs, most of which I, for one, had not heard before (and I’ve seen a few Christmases!) on Side B. For those of you who prefer traditional carols at this time of year, however, do not fear. The penultimate track is good ol’ ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’. Anyway, all of these records were released under the care of DECCA subsidiary label, ARGO.

John Pierre Herman Joubert contributes a jaunty one and a half minutes to SPA/A 164 and, incidentally, SPA 501 in the form of ‘Torches’, an accompanied chorus who exhort us from the off with, ‘Torches, Torches, run with torches’! Now, call me boring but, assuming these are flaming torches, I really must suggest a little more caution. The chorus, however, is much more in line with my sentiments. It goes, ‘Ah, Roro, Roro, my baby. Ah Roro, my love, Roro!’

Haven’t a clue what it means which only adds to the laughing joy of singing it. A gentler carol on this LP makes up the top two of Joubert’s best known tunes. It is ‘There is no Rose’ whose full title is sometimes suffixed with ‘of Such Virtue’. The lyric is anonymous and the melody has been written a number of times but John J’s composition is the most enduring. These two songs and arrangements of several other carols take up Side 2 of this record but the whole of Side 1 is occupied, as mentioned above, by Benjamin Britten and his A Ceremony of Carols with stellar guest star, WORLD OFs very own Marisa Robles on harp in the unusual combination with choir. The work comprises 11 songs, one for solo harp and ten with voices, two of which are given a second outing on Side 2; the above-mentioned ‘There is no Rose’ which gets another melody and arrangement along with ‘Balulalow’ which also gets reworked anew. The words to the latter were written by the three Wedderburn brothers from Scotland (the title meaning ‘Lullaby’ in the Scots language) and as well as Britten on Side 1, Peter Warlock composed the melody for the version found on Side 2. ‘Warlock’ was not his given name. This was Philip Heseltine. He dropped out of University life having taken to drink and the occult. He died at the age of 36 apparently succumbing to the self-administered fumes of coal gas.

Most of the Christmas carols on SPA/A 104 are traditional songs with no specific composers but we do have Mendelssohn who wrote the classic ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ and Bach

who produced the pretty ‘In Dulce Jubilo’. Both of these heavyweights are dealt with elsewhere in these writings but there is one other declared composer here that may be less well-known. The record label states that ‘Away in a Manger’, was composed by German reformer Martin Luther but there appears to be some doubt about its origins. There are claims2 that Luther wrote the lyric of the first and second verses under a title of ‘Child’s Christmas Hymn’ or as a Christian newspaper had it, ‘Luther’s Cradle Song’ but that the third verse was made up by a John T MacFarland with the tune being composed by Charles H Gabriel, who may have written the third verse but credited it to Luther. However, perhaps Gabriel didn’t write the melody; perhaps it was William J Kirkpatrick. Another source3 asserts boldly that Luther had absolutely nothing to do with writing the words or melody to this carol! Nice little ditty, though.

H J Gauntlett was an English songwriter who composed a melody called ‘Irby’. Not sure what that means except that Irby is a village in Merseyside. Still, don’t worry too much about that because the tune is more popularly sung with the words to ‘Once in Royal David’s City’. Now,

just think; if this carol hadn’t cropped up on THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC SPA 501 (the opener, no less) or, indeed, THE WORLD OF KINGS VOL. 2 (SPA 590), you may never have heard of the village of Irby. And now, you lucky, lucky people – the phenomenon known as the WORLD OFs has another nugget for you. Boris Ord was born Bernhard Ord – no, that’s not it. Wait for it. Wait for it! No, it’s that Mrs Ord’s little boy only had one published piece of music and you have it here on THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS MUSIC! Phew! I hope you were sitting down. Yep, the tune for the song ‘Adam lay ybounden’ is quite unique, therefore, not least because the title contains a word beginning with a Y and a B. Anyway, Ord wasn’t really a composer – his day job was organist and choirmaster of King’s College, Cambridge except during the Second World War when Harold Darke snuck into his seat whilst it was still warm. Harold Edwin Darke, organist AND composer came up with a new tune for the carol, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ three or so years after Gustav Holst gave us the original melody to the poem by Christina Rossetti. I suppose it depends a bit on which version one heard first in one’s formative years of youth as to which one might prefer. In my case, contingent upon anyone caring, it was the Holst tune. A less popular song is ‘Gabriel’s Message’ by Reverend Sabine Baring Gould. The Rev was more of a novelist than anything else but he found time to throw together a few words for hymns and carols. ‘Gabriels’ Message’, which can be found on SPA 501, is one and so is ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’. It was WORLD OF stalwart Arthur Sullivan who wrote the melody of the latter whilst the former was originally a Basque folk hymn with Basque words. Baring Gould came by the song, liked it but didn’t understand a word so, as one does, he simply reworded it in English. He was a busy man. At one time, Rev Sabine was represented by more books in the British Museum Library than any other English writer. It’s no wonder then, that he lost track of his own children, failing to recognise one of them at a party. Mind you, that poor child was one of 15!

DAVID WILLCOCKS

Cropping up occasionally throughout the above discussion on sacred and Christmas music is David Valentine Willcocks, choirmaster and director of music for King’s College, Cambridge. Sir David, as he became, was very particular about everything to do with the choir and its presentation, right down to the entrance and exit from the stage. You know when, during a hymn or Christmas carol, you’ll be enjoying the main melody sung by the choir and then, soaring above the voices is one small, and yet big, voice that surges along its own course, complementing the whole. Well, this would be a descant, a counterpoint to the underlying theme usually sung by a treble or soprano and David Willcocks was known for the writing of them. Apart from THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS (SPA/A 104), THE WORLD OF CHRISTMAS VOL. 2 (SPA/A 164) and THE WORLD OF KING’S (SPA 245), you can hear David Willcocks’ treatment of popular carols on Christmas Eve by way of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s which is usually broadcast annually at 3pm on BBC Radio 4 and repeated on Radio 3 at 2pm on Christmas Day. Incidentally, the first carol performed is traditionally ‘Once in Royal David’s City’. Sir David was quite a stickler, for example, one yawn may be permitted in the morning rehearsal but a second might be rewarded with a dunking under a cold tap. Generally, however, his genial manner and personality won him the respect and admiration of the young gentlemen of his choir.

Refs:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rawicz_and_Landauer

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Away_in_a_Manger

3. http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/History/away_in_a_manger.htm

Other references available on request

Regarding the LP cover images, they are photographs of the records in my own collection and are taken by my own hand (which explains the slight wonkiness of some of them). All images are, however, copyright of Decca.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of any image in any form should be considered prohibited.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the text in any form is prohibited, restricted by permission of the author.

In the next Post we have a small section on Elizabethan Music then a listed round-up of all unmentioned composers and other contributors who have cropped up just once or twice in our record collection. There are also short sections on the music of Spain, overtures and then finally next time, the conductors. Ding ding!