britten's lyrics and balldas of thomas hardy

8/11/2019 Britten's Lyrics and Balldas of Thomas Hardy

1/8

Britten's 'Lyrics and Ballads of Thomas Hardy': Sad Tales for WinterAuthor(s): Wilfrid MellersSource: The Musical Times, Vol. 142, No. 1877 (Winter, 2001), pp. 27-33Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1004574.

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2/8

Britten's

Lyrics

ndballads

of

Thomas

Hardy'

Sad tales

for

winter

In

the

25th

nniversary

ear

ince the

composer's

eath

WILFRID MELLERS

revisits classicEnglish songcycle

IN

1953

BENJAMIN

RITTEN COMPOSED

-

only

few

years

fter

is

Spring ymphony

of 1949

-

his

wintry

masterpiece,

nder he

title f Winter ords.

he

work

s a

cycle

of

settings

or

enor

nd

piano

of

poemsby

Thomas

Hardy

who,

uperficially,

ay

eem the

east ike-

ly

of Britten's

any

poetic

masks,

who

include

Auden,

imbaud,

ichelangelo,

onne,

Blake,

nd

William outar.

We're

pt

to

think f

Hardy espe-

ciallyHardy

he

poet

as

old,

sere,

etrospective,

living

n a

past

he'dnot

only

ost

but

thought

e'd

humanly ailedn;whereaswe think fBrittens

perennially oung,

fnotfor hatreason

acking

in

wisdom.Over

the

years,

owever,

've come to

think hat he

Hardy

ycle,

Winter

ords,

s the

finest nd most

deeply

haracteristic

fthe

ycles

dedicated

o a

single oet,

nd tovoice and

piano.

In

between

he

Spring ymphony

nd

Winter

words

Britten

omposed

his second

grand,

nd

tragic,

pera,

Billy

Budd,

nd since

most of Brit-

ten's hamber

works re

n some

sense

chippings

from is

operaticworkshop,

t

may

be

helpful

o

approach

he

song-cycle

y way

of the

opera.

t

has often een

said that ll Britten's

peras

gra-

vitate round he ametheme; nd the imitation

of

range

s

part

of

the evidence

f his

genius.

n

dealing

with nnocence nd

persecution

ritten

knew

what

he

knew,

nd that

he theme f the

sacrificial

capegoat

s relevant o our time s

patent nough.

We are obsessedwith nnocence

because

we have ost

t;

and for he ame reason

we resent

nd

persecute

hose

who haven't. rit-

ten

ouldn't ave dealtwith

his heme o

power-

fully

f

thadn't een

deeply

ersonal

ohim.What

matters

s that

his

art

reates,

rom

ersonal

on-

flicts hat

don't

oncern

s,

myths

hat

prove

o

be

deeply

nd

disturbinglyertinent.

nd at east

before eath n Venice

Billy

Buddmust ount s

Britten's

most

obsessionally ersonal opera:

so

much o

that,

t

the

timeof the

original

erfor-

mances,

momently

ondered

whether he

per-

sonal interests eren't

oo

strong

o

be

mytho-

logised.

One can

put

the

point imply y saying

thatMelville's

womenlessman-of-warannot

be

an

adequate

mage

for he

Ship

of Life.

Grimes,

though

n

unhero,

s

genuinely tragic

haracter,

the

Sauvage

Man

who,

given

different

ircum-

stances,

might

ave

grown

o civilised

onscious-

ness.

Billy

s nota

tragic

igure

ecause we aren't

aware hathe has

potentiality

or

rowth.

e

is

a

child

destroyedy

his

childishness,

y

stammer

thatwe

cannot

ccept

s mea

ulpa

as

a,

et lone

as

the,

tragic

law'. or this

reason,

he crucifix-

ion

analogy,

o

stridentlymphasised

n

the

first

production,

eemed

llegitimate. illy

annot

be

equated

with

Christ,

who did

growup,

thehard

way.

Later

productions,

ith the

Christ

quation

played

down,

onvincedme

that

t's

unhelpful

o

compareBudd withGrimes, ince n BillyBudd

the

drama

s

mainly sychological

nd

archetypal,

not

social

nor

even,

except

n

a rather

pecial

sense,

moral. hus he

hip

sn'tomuch heWorld

as theMind: nd the

mind

s that f

Captain

Vere,

who is

the

opera's

entral

haracter ecause he's

the

nly

uman onsciousness e're ware f.

Billy

and

Claggart

re what

they

re: theirwhite nd

black rebothwithin

ere's

syche,

nd the

pera

tellsus that

rowing p

is a

complex

quilibrium

between

the

contradictorympulses

they

don't

'stand

or' ut are.We

cannot as

Billy

ries o

-

dispose

of evil

by

a blind

blow,

provoked

y

the

inarticulatenessf thegoodwithin s. To accept

destiny,

ith

ourage

ather han n

will-less

assi-

vity,

s themost

formidable

themost

special'

n

the ensereferredo

above moral

bligation

e

are

ikely

o come

cross;

nd Britten's arvellous

musical

metaphor

or

his

cceptance

the

pro-

cessionof slow

major

triads

hat,

choing

nd

resolving

he minor

triads

of

Claggart's

ria of

destruction,

nitiates hedeath-sentence

moves

us so much ecausewe know hat

illy

annot ive

to taste hefruitsf

experience.

et

his

esolution

is,

of

course,

not

Billy's

ut that f

Vere,

who has

lived

through

is

ife

o find

eace

n

submission

to a law

beyond ood

and evil'because t

recog-

nises their

mutuality.

he

action

of

the

opera

s

enclosed within

he

memory

f this old

man,

whose

name

means

ruth.

Truth s

old,

ike our

mage

of

Hardy,

nd like

him t s unblinkered

n its

cceptance

f

destiny.

That Brittenhouldhave turned o

Hardy,

n

the

intimatemedium f

chamber

music,

fter is

ep-

ic Melvillian

eascape,

thereforeeems natural

enough;

for

ll his

cosmopolitan

ophistication,

he wasa

profoundlynglish omposer

who,

fter

THE MUSICAL TIMES

/ WINTER 2001

27

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3/8

theunknowable astes fthe

ocean,

omeshome

to

the

English ountryside

t a time

ong enough

ago

to

be aware of an historical

ast, yet

near

enough

obe

mmediatelypprehensible.

ndwith

his

customary

elf-knowledge

ritten hose

ust

thoseverseswhich re

germane

o his

purpose.

They

re not

Hardy's reatest

oems,

which end

to be those most

deeply

rooted n his

personal

history

usually

oo

rhythmically

nd

emotionally

subtle to take or

need

projection

nto sounds

other han hoseofthe peaking oice. Poems2

to

7

of hose

Brittenelects

ome nto

he

ategory

he calls ballads': ramatic

ignettes

hat et scene

and tell

tale,

inyperas xploiting

ritten's

phy-

sical' uralisation

f

xperience.

he

opening

nd

closing ongs,

however,

re

yrical

nd

philosoph-

ically

reflective,

he theme

being

precisely

he

relationship

etween nnocence

nd

Experience.

The first

oem,pointedly

nough,

s called At

day-close

n

November'.

he

rhythm

f theverse

accordswith the bleak

andscape,

making

or

calm

acceptance

f

impervious

ime's hreat o

childhood'snnocence.Old'

Hardy,

ike

old

Cap-

tainVere,knows,ut theyoung nesdon't, heir

happiness ying

n

their

gnorant

nknowingness.

Britten's usical

mages

re

precise.Although

he

verse's

ulse

s slow

nd

weary,

hemusic s

quick

and

mpetuous',

ike he hildren's

rolicking,

hile

the

bitonal hords

often

elescoped

onics nd do-

minants)

nd the islocatedr

yncopatedhythms

of

the

piano

enactboth

he

wind-blustered

way-

ing

of the trees

nd the

gitation

ithin

he

ged

poet's

eart. he ntermittentnison

s,

always

p-

proached y tightlyhrygian

emitonic

b,

ug-

gest

stoic

cceptance

f

he

nevitable,

he itonal

arpeggios

eing

oud,

but the unison Ds

always

soft.

While he

telescoped

armoniesnd dislocated

rhythms

ontinue

n the

pianopart,

hevocal

ine,

though

nchored

n the ntermittentnison

Ds,

is

highly

hromaticised,

ith

raditionally

obscure'

D minor s the asic

onality,cting

ut,

s

so often

in

Britten,

ur

undeniably

bscure

ilgrimage.

he

vocal ine s no less

distraught,

ometimes

row-

ing

from erbal

nflexion,

ut at other

imes io-

lently

ontradicting

t,

s in the tress n the r-

ticle n the

opening hrase:

The enhours'

ight

s

abating'.

he hiatus

n

thefastish altz

hythm

s

the latebird

wings

cross' s both

physical

ction

and

psychological

istress;

imilarly

ith he

pine

trees

maged

s

waiting

altzers',

herein ritten

doesn't

hesitate o

repeat

words to

intensify

he

physicality

fhis musical

metaphors.

n

the

next

stanza

hehemiola

hythm

tretched

cross

hebar

lines makes the beech leaves wither o

yellow-

ness,

and the recurrencef the

openingphrase

for set

every

ree

n

my

June

ime'now

gives

n

offbeattress o the rucialI': the

person

who

n-

stigated

he then-new ree-lifehatnow

-

in

a

hemiola

roop

f

major

ixth

nderlined

y

false-

related

riads

oth

major

and minor

obscures

the

ky.

The final

tanza s introduced

y

the

original

cross-accented

onics

nd

dominants ow n

trip-

le

piano,

nd

the ocal

ine,

rown

more

major

han

minor,

ocks

weetly hrough

ntervals

idening

from

ourtho

fifth,

o

sixth,

o

seventh,

rooning

of

the

hildren'slissful bliviousness.

gain,

x-

tensions o thevocal

ine

bothmake ction udible

and

point

ts

meaning:

onsider

he

melisma

n

theword never' hatmakes hechildrenramble'

while at the same time

tressing

he word's e-

morselessness.

imilarly,

he

emphasis

on

the

word

no'

n

the

phrase

when

no

trees'

ransmog-

rifies

minor nto

major

hird

s

part

f a

warmly

drooping

ixth,

alanced

by

a

rising

eventh t

the remembrancehat

here

ife

once

was. The

hushed

armonies

hilly-shally

etween

major

nd

minor,

hough

or he

deathly

inal

hrase

'none

will

n

time e

seen')

thedecline

down

the cale

to

the

tonic

D,

again by way

of

Phrygian

l,

is

irremediably

inor.This time the downward-

pushing

b

stays

n the final

bitonal

arpeggios

which, eing etween riadsfA andEbmajors,re

now a devilish ritone

part.

he ultimate nison

D

is a brief

uaver, p

but ccented:

wary ccept-

ance

evanescing

nto

ilence.

After

hilosophical

eflection ritten urns o

specific

nstances to what

Hardy

alls moments

ofvision'

r

satires f circumstance'.he second

poem,

Midnight

n the

Great

Western',

resents

a scene nd a human ituation ith ividmmedi-

acy.

The

poem's oggingyet ilting hythms,

m-

pelledby

their nternal

hymes

nd consolidated

by

the shortfinal

ine

to each

stanza,

have a

theatricaleductiveness

uggestive

f music-hall

to whichBritten'sural imagery espondswith

precision, resenting

he little cene

as

an

'in-

stance' f hildhood's

unconsciousness',

hichwas

the

general

heme

f

the

preludial

oem.

Music-

ally,

Britten

pens

with an

ingeniouspianistic

simulation f the

railway ngine,

whichhoots

n

eliding

riads

f

C

minor

nd

(in

effect)

major

by

way

of

half-pedalling

evice.When the rain

starts

moving

t's

n

bumpy

taccato

uavers

re-

inforced

y

double

ppoggiaturas,

verwhich he

vocal

line

journeys'

n

wandering

melismata n

an

arpeggiated

ominant riad. he train

oise,

t

firstn

3/4,

hen

n

a 6/8

figure

hat ften rosses

the

barlines,

ourneys

o dark'

Eb

minor,

with

momentary

ift

o

E

minor hatrenders he

boy

'bewrapt

past knowing'.

These vocal roulades

evoke he ittle

ad's

vacancy

s,

tickettuck

n

hat,

he

travels

hrough

he

night, nowing othing

f

his

destiny

or

ven,

ikeus

grown-ups, nowing

thathe doesn't now The melisma t theend

of

the tanza s

again

n

Eb

minor,

hough

he

final

third ecomes

major,

hifting

ack,

s thedomi-

nant

G,

to

C

minor

or

he

next tanza.

This has

music dentical ith he

first,

or he

ourney oes

THE

MUSICAL TIMES

/ WINTER 2001

8



4/8

on,

egardless

f

nything

e

may

hink f

or

hope

for

t.But

he hird

tanza,

when hewords

pecu-

late bout

world

nkown' that f he

Journey-

ing

Boy's

re-consciousness?

sinksfrom

to

Bb

minor,

making

he

boy plunge

lone'

bitonally.

The final tanza eturnso

the rain's

minor

og-

ging,

hough

fterhe

melismatic

ourney

he ocal

line

opens

nto

C

major,

r at least nto

a mode

that eers owards

h,

ften ith

lattenedecond

and

sharpened

ourth.

ere the

rhythms

f the

singingineand thepiano's rain ecomedesyn-

chronised,

nd the music

grows

agitated

s it

momentarily

eaches

the

E

minor

t had ten-

tatively

ouched

n;

Gh

urns, owever,

nto the

fifth f the

original

C

minor,

n

which

key

the

triplet rabesques

meander

final ime.The last

note

n thevoice

part

s

briefly

nd

touchingly

S,

so the

promise

if

t'sC

major)

or the hreat

if

t's

E

minor)

s

eft

n

suspension.

he

train

rinds

o a

halt,

whistling

from far'.

The next

poem, Baby

nd

wagtail',

s one

of

Hardy's

ry

ittle

okes:

which lso concerns

Un-

consciousness.,

nd

perhaps

he

irth f onscious-

ness also, since at the end the baby threatens

to

think.

ardy's

rch

ittle

oem

has the

coyness

of the

magazine

erse

of

ts

period,

nd Britten's

waltzy

ilt

nd added

note'

ea-shop

armony

atch

the manner

crupulously.

et

of

course

Hardy's

poem,though

light,

s not

magazine

erse,

oth

because

ts

point

s satirical

nd because he vents

are described

with such

emotional,

s well as

physical,

recision.

ritten reats

he

okey poem

jokily,

making

t

a scherzo that

gives

him

op-

portunity

or

physical

description

hat s also

psychological

nsight.

he

accompaniment'

s

in

a

lilting

/8

n

ambiguous onality;

he

first

tea-

shop-like' hordmight e F majorwith added

sixth,

hough

o

key

s

decisively

stablished,

nd

the

vague

tonal

direction eflectshe random

o-

mings

nd

goings

of the

creatures

hrough

he

ford. he

wagtail's lutterings

re

manifestn

the

pianist's ight

and

figuration,

n

semiquavers

n

12/16

gainst

he eft and's

/8.The vocal ine s

poised

n

2/4

overthe

triple hythms.

he

open-

ing phrase, voking

he

baby,

miles

through

n

innocuous

but

presumptivelyodly )

fourthnd

fifth:nd the

blaring

ull has the ame

figure

e-

causehe s

pre-conscious'

oo.

Although

he

wag-

tail shows

no

shrinking',

ritten akes

him hir-

rup

shade

nervily,hough

he

ocking

ass coun-

ters

hefaint

right

ith

reiteratedriad

f

nno-

cent

A

major.

he

stallionnvertshe

falling

ourth

to

a

rising

fifth

ithout

xacerbating

he bird's

composure:

hile he

mongrel

links ack towards

F

and

Bs,

ess bold

n inebutwith

piquant

alse

relation etween

A

and

Ab.

The

wagtail, ipping,

sipping,

nd

prinking,

rovokes

mini-cadenza

in

the

piano part,

which akesus backto theori-

ginal

figures,nly

o

dissipate

n

contrary

otion

chromatics,

he finalchord

being

a

glowing

A

major

triad.

o

perhaps

he

baby

decides not to

think,

fter ll

The

next

number,

The little

ld

table',

s

an-

other

satire f ircumstance'

hich

omplements

the

previous

ne

nthat t snot bout

baby

but

about

n old man

Hardy

imself),

emembering.

Although

his

poem

is

bleakly

bout non-com-

munication,

his s not because

memory

s dim-

medbutrather

ecause

t

s too acute:

nd Britten

captures

his

by

making

his

setting

he most

'realistic'ongthusfar,ince thecreaking f the

table becomes

the substance

f

the

music. The

piano part

nunciates

he

Creak

n

rocking ua-

vers

n

2/4

'quick

and

light'),

piced

withfalse

relations hat are

double

appoggiaturas,

nter-

spersed

with

scale-figurep

or down

hat,

ross-

ing

the

barlines,

nd

overriding

ey,

makes the

creaks

umpilypasmodic.

hat s whatwe would

expect

f table hat's venolder

han

Hardy

was;

but the vocal

line

-

which

at first

eems

to be

merely nomatopoeic

ike he

iano-part changes

at the

referenceo one who

gave you

to

me',

for

thesewords re et

to a 'warm'

melisma,

ntensify-

ingthePhrygian minor. he firsttanzaends

with

wriggling

emiquavers

hat transformhe

table's reak nto

quawk;

nd

although

he econd

stanza

begins gain

with

physical

mitation,

he

breaks

n

the vocal

line shift ttention rom he

table'smaterial

reaking

o themental tate fthe

man

who

regards

t.The

point

ies

n

my'

Hardy's)

incomprehension

fthe reasons or hewoman's

gift,

ll those

ong years go:

and

the

extended

melisma

n theword did'

n

the

phrase

I

did not

understand',

dds

pathos

to the

yricism

f the

setting

f

the words

one

who

gave you

to

me';

indeed Britten'stresshints that

Hardy's

words

mean hat, hilehe then id notunderstand,ow,

he does.

suspect

hiswas

Hardy's

ntention

oo,

though

hatwe'renot surewhether he

nostalgia

is

pleasurable

r

painful

s an

aspect

of ife's rre-

mediable

mbiguity.lthough

his s

very

much

Song

of

Experience,

t seems o eave the ld man

baffled,

nknowing.

he

chromaticised

ppoggia-

turas

n

the melismataron out the

bitonality

f

the

reaky ccompaniment

nto

Phrygian

minor,

as

thefinal

tanza eturns rom ecollectiono the

tablehere and

now. The

lyrical

melismata ecur

on thefinal

hrase,

from

ong go',

third

ower,

landing

n the tonicE.

Though

the heart f the

song

hasbeen he

einvoking

f motion

ongpast,

if

not

totally

uried,

hat inal

roop

to thetonic

renders he

feeling

lusive,

ven

ghostily

nsub-

stantial,

s

compared

ith hehard ittle ablewe're

left

with,

emitonicallyqueaking

nto he ternal

silence.

The next

number,

The choirmaster's

urial',

s

the

longest

ong

and

forms

he

climax to the

cycle, eing

ballad

n

thebasic

sense

that t tells

a

psychologically

omplex

tory.

t's a

story,

e

note,

of the

old

times',

when

Hardy

was a lad: a

THE

MUSICAL

TIMES

/ WINTER

2001

29



5/8

ghost tory

arrated

y

tenorman'

whohad

ung

for

he choirmaster

hroughmany

years;

nd

it

turns

n

the contrast

etween he

choirmaster's

Blakean nnocence nd thevicar's

mundane,

nd

therefore

nBlakean,

xperience.

n

this ale

the

vicar s on the

world's,

nd

perhaps

he

Devil's,

side,

whilethe choirmasters on

God's ide

-

as

God,

t

turns

ut,

s on his. The

measuredmove-

ment

f

the

hortlined

hyming

erses reates

is

openheartedimplicity:

hich

Britten choes

by

settinghenarrativenopen-eared nglicanitur-

gical

ncantation,

n

the

Mixolydian

mode on

Bb.

The

piano accompanies

with imulated

hurch-

organ

he

equest

hat he

hymn

Mount

phraim'

should

be

played

t

his

grave-side:

nd there's

hint

fdominantmodulation efore he

potential

vision f he

eraphim

ilts

n

airy

otted

hythmed

triplets

ack to

B1

with

lat

eventh,

o fade

n

an

unresolved econd.

The

worldly

icar

rompts quicker empo

the

servicemust

be

hustled

hrough,

t

might

ain);

and also

an

abrupt

hift o A

major.

There's

subtle nversion

fvalues

here:

or

lthough

b

s

traditionallyn earthy'ey,nthis ontext,s the

key

fthe

imple-hearted

hoirmaster

n

tsMixo-

lydian

modal

form,

t

enshrines

piritual eracity:

while hevicar's nnocent'

major

an

only

efer

ironically

o his

professional

ole as a

'dealer'

n

spirits

nd

spooks.

The

Lydian harp

ourths

n

the

vicar's

music

piquantly

dmit he Devil into his

pseudo-godly

ong,

and

the

vast

tonal distance

between

b

nd A

majors,

modalised r

not,

s

pal-

pable.

The

piano's olling igure

ounds

both

pon-

derous

and

pompous;

possibly

t

emulates he

corporeal

movements f

grave-digging,educing

the

burial

ervice

iterally

o an

earthy

ankness,

as opposed o the piritual ope, fnottotal aith,

thechoirmasteras

n his

seraphic

ision.

The choirmaster's

ixolydian

b

returns,

ou-

chingly,

hen thevicar

tops

orating,

aving

e-

cided

that

it

had better ot be'. But thereturn

s

momentary,

nd

when,

to

get

t

through

aster

'They

bury

heMaster

Without

ny

tune',

music

is

virtually

anished rom ritten's

core,

for he

vocal

line turns

nto

numbly

eiterated

ts

and

the

piano part

becomes a

chugging

f

quavers,

pointed

with

aggressive

ouble

appoggiaturas.

Mixolydian

ncantationn

Bbrecurs, owever,

o

effect da

capo

when the

vision

of the

Seraphimis

apparently

ulfilled. he

exfoliating

otted-

rhythmedriplets

make

angels

dance to the an-

cient

tave',

he

yricism

ow

being

more ustain-

ed,

and

garlanded

with

piano

figurations

hat u-

minously

low,

like aints n

church-glass'.

gain,

Time s effaced

n

elisions f

onic, ominant,

nd

subdominant;

nd

again

thevocal linefadeson

an unresolved

econd,

with

the

piano

on a C

minor hord

with

uspended

eventh.

he

final

phrase,

Such the tenorman told When he had

grown

ld',

distances heold

tale,

eing

ung

un-

accompanied

n

the

tyle

f

Anglican

hant

which

seems,

s

part

f

Hardy's

nciently

ural

world,

o

have

beenwith s since

Timewas'. The astnote

is a flat

eventh,

enying

adential

inality:

ut

although

hismini-drama

asts

only

roundfive

minutes,

t

covers

n

emotional

ange

not alto-

gether

emote rom he

recently

roduced)

pic

drama

of

Billy

Budd.That

great pera

also ends

with

unaccompanied

hant,

when

Captain

Vere,

outside he

ction,

freezes' he ale n

a

Time

past

that s also eternallyresent: s are, n Britten's

setting,

he choirmasternd thevicarof

Hardy's

ballad.

tT

HE

last two

ongs

have concerned

ove

and deathin

retrospect

nd

memory.

The next numberhas no human

po-

pulation

nd neither ells

tale

nor re-

counts a

specific

ncident. Proud

songsters'

s

about birds as

birds,

nd returns

o

the

initial

theme

f

un-consciousness.

hough

the

song

s

not

narrative,

t

s

physically

escriptive,

apturing

in

burgeoning

resent

oments

he

pre-conscious'

life xisting ithin, etoblivious f, emporality.

A

simple

f

rregular

ocal line

(in

5/4)

s

gar-

landed with

piano triplets,

ecundal

quiverings,

and

chattering

rills,

reating

sonority

hat s

richly crunchy,ap-filled,

s those oud

night-

ingales

hortle

way

o their

ursting

earts' on-

tent,

as if llTimewere heirs'. n this

hrase

he

voice

expands

n

a

oyous

melisma,

hough

t the

same

time

the

shimmering

econdsbecome un-

stably

hromatic,

ince hebirds' ime

s

not

really

for

ver,

xcept

n the

ense

that

hey

on't

know

that t isn't.The second stanza ooks back from

thebirds' bullient

resent

o a

past

a

mere

year

agowhenthese brand-new'irdswereonlypar-

ticlesof

grain,

And

earth,

nd

air,

nd rain'.Al-

though

there's sudden modulation o

Mixo-

lydian

G and a

quietening

f

dynamics,

ritten

doesn't bandonhis

secundal

uiverings,

or his

5/4

metre,

hichhe

may

have

chosen

because

t

reflects

like the5/16 stinato

f the

Agnus

Dei

ofthe War

requiem

Nature's r God's

magical

pentacle.

When

he reaches he

final

hrase

fthe

slower-pulsed

econd verseBritten

gnores

Har-

dy's

marvellouslyxpressive

unctuation

n

order

to

rise,

n both vocal line and

pianistic

witter-

ings,

o

the

riginal

xultation,

ith

long

melis-

ma ontheword air'.

Hardy's unctuation

ccords

better ith ur

nostalgic

uman

esponse,

hich

Gerald

Finzi,

n

his

deservedly

ell-known

et-

ting,

ollows

meticulously

ritten's

ersion,

ow-

ever,

s more n

tunewith

he

mplications

fHar-

dy's oem,

n

that t

ndulges

n

no

retrospection

but

simply ccepts

Nature's

ecundity,

owever

darkly

consciousness'

may

be threatened

y

our

own,

s

well as

the

birds',

phemerality.

FromNature's nconsciousness e

return or

the seventh

ong

to the all too

human

pre-

THE

MUSICAL TIMES

/

WINTER 2001

0



6/8

dicament,

nd to a

poem

that

xactly

alances he

second

poem

and thefirst arrativeballad' in

the

sequence.

At the

railway

tation,

Upway'

s

both

a momentof vision and a satire of

cir-

cumstance,

aking

s back to the

ong

about the

Journeying

oy

n

the

railway arriage,

ut

pre-

senting

still clearer

ichotomy

etween

nno-

cence

and

experience.

ritten's

etting

s mimetic

and

operatic,

the

piano part consisting

f a

stylisation

f

the

boy'sfiddling,

otated n

one

staveonly.He playsfree-rhythmedariationsn

theviolin's

pen

strings,

roundfifthsn G and

E,

intensified ith

Phrygian

bs

nd

Fls;

and on

alternating escending

minor,

nd

occasionally

major,

hirds,

hich

gravitate

owards,

ut don't

reach,

nnocent

A

major

at least until

he

very

end,

and even then the thirds re

ambiguously

major

r

minor.

Moreover,

he hirds

renot

open',

likeBritten's

ingerprint

chains

of

thirds',

ut are

chromaticallyompromised:

s is

appropriate

o

a ballad

in

which

nnocence

nd

experience,

n

theforms f

boy

and

convict,

re so

bluntly

x-

posed

nd

opposed.

he

boy's

ratio ecta

s

speech-

inflected,upported ydronenotes, ften itonal

or

n

false

elation,

n the

pseudo-fiddle.

he nar-

rative ections re

accompaniedby

the violin's

broken

hords,

limaxing

hen he onvict oisters

intohis satirical

itty

bout

freedom,

n a

dotted

rhythmed major arpeggio,

lbeitwith

Lydian

sharp

fourth. he violin's hirds

uiveringly

e-

scend from he climax

to

a low

F,

and

the final

quatrain

returns o

narration,

ver the fiddle's

sustained itonalnotes. The

'smiling'

onstable

affects

o be

unconscious

f he ronic

uxtaposition

of nnocence nd

experience:

hich s the

cycle's

psychological

limax,

ince

n

beingconsciously

unconscious the constable s a representative

ModernMan.

ndeed,

Britten's

usic,

ike

Hardy's

ballad,

seems to

hint

that

both

Boy

and

convict

are

innocents,

n

the

eyes

of

the Law:

until

the

Boy's originalrising

fifth n

E

returns n the

words And o

they

went

on',

at which

point

he

travel nd travail

f

boy

nd convict

ecome,

ike

the

pilgrimage

f

he

first allad's

ourneyingoy,

a

synonym

or

he

humancondition. t the end

the

boy's pen-stringediddling

urns nto

rpeg-

gios

ofA

major

nd

minor,

nd

disperses

n

semi-

quaver

thirds,

ow

floating p

instead

f

down.

There s no defined

onclusion,

or his

mbiguity

between nnocence nd

experience,

reedomnd

captivity,

ife nd

death,

s

for ver.

Such

s theburden f the

final,

pilogic ong,

'Beforeife nd

after',

he

poem

of which s

spe-

cifically

bout

he

Fall,

quated

with he ransition

from nconsciousnesso consciousness.

he

rhyth-

mic nd

metaphorical

ife f hat

oem

sso

highly

charged

hat

we

cannot

ake

t

baldly

s a state-

ment hat

nothingness

r nirvana

s

preferable

o

the

pain

of

experience.

aradoxically,

he

anguage

of

negation

eeks to be

powerfullyhysical;

he

crash,

ross,

rack,

incing

nd

waning,

heheart-

wringing

nd

sense-stinging,

enerate

kind of

pride

n

being

human;

for t

is

something,

ot

nothing,

o have been

through

o

much,

nd we

deserve he

however

llusory anacea

of

respite.

Britten's

etting

ffirms

his

heroic

tance,

egin-

ning

n

glorious' major

with hick riads

n

the

left

hand,

and with the

right

hand

floating

n

octaves,

symmetrically

etween

ifth

nd sixth.

The vocal

ine,

beginning igh

ut

oft,

lternates

stepwisemovement ithgodly ourths,hile he

bass line mounts the scale from

D

to

B,

then

quietly

alls.

or the first

ime he

quaver

move-

ment s stilled

n

wonder n thewords When ll

wentwell'.

Momently,

he enseofwonder reezes

the

chugging

movement f

Time,

as the

voice

moves

etween onic nd the

major

econd,

while

the

piano

enunciates oncords

f

G

major, alling

flatwardso C on thewords none

sufferedick-

ness',

eetering

n

ambiguous onality

nd n

pain-

ful,

thickly

cored

false relations

hrough

he

'starved

ope'

and

heart-burnings'.

ith return

of the

noble

falling

ourths

n

the voice

part,

modulation o blissfulG majorseems feasible

but,

n

an

interrupted

adence,

he ower

mediant,

Eb

major,

ssubstitutedorwhatwould

havebeen

thenew onic.

he

pulsing uavers

re

gain

tilled

to minim

oncords

n

Eb

and

Bb,

ut their ffect

is

paradoxical:

or

whereas t the minims'

irst

appearance

hey'd

oldus that

allwentwell'before

we were

onscious, ow,

while

endering

he hud

of

Time

mmobile,

hey

bring

wrack o

things'.

Perhaps

his

suggests

hat there re

positive

s

well s

negativespects

o the

rowth

f

conscious-

ness'

through

tsremorseless

rocession

f

uaver

triads. his eems o

be

mplicit

n

what'seft f

he

song,as it is in Hardy's oem,since themusic

grows

more

yrically

ffirmativehemore

exture,

harmony,

nd

tonality

re

clouded.

The third tanza

veers betwen

Eb with flat

seventh nd

Bb,

ts

dominant,

hevoice's

rching

fourths

eing

ever more

pervasive.

ossibly

Eb

here

mplies

measure f human

heroism,

s it

often

id in

eighteenth-

nd

nineteenth-century

European

music;

nd

possibly

t'sno

accident hat

the basic

key

of

Proud

songsters'

ad

been E;

major, ayinghomage

to the birds'

of

course

unconscious)

eroism. nd

lthough

hen

bright-

ness dims nd dark

revails'

hevocal ine

droops

chromatically

ndotted

hythm,

he

hugging

ass

quavers

rise.On thewords No sense was

stung'

theminim riads

gain

banish

he

lumpingua-

vers,

though

his time the

triads re no

simple

concords,

ut a dominant eventh fE

major

fol-

lowed

by

an F# riad hat s

simultaneously ajor

and minor. he chords'

tillnesss thusnot

quite

immobile;

n the

contrary,hey

ead intothe di-

sease of

feeling' assage

which

generatesnergy

fromts

bitonality,

rganum-style

riads

escending

from to

E

major

n

the eft

and,

while he

right

THE

MUSICAL TIMES

/

WINTER 2001

31



7/8

hand,

choed

by

the

voice,

ises

p

the cale

of

G

major.

he

pattern

s

sequentiallyepeated

s

pri-

mal

rightness

akesthe

tinct f

wrong',

he

bass

triads

muddily

alling

rom 1

to

Eb,

hen rom

b

to

Dg,

while he

rising

cales reach

up

to

Fl.

The

last

repetition

f the

sequence

takes the

triads own

to

the

tonic

D

major

nd the

vocal

line

up

to

F#.

he ultimate

riesof

How

long?'

oscillatebetween

high

F# nd

G,

the notesthe

song

had

started

rom,

ow

oud,

even

assertive.

The noblefalling ourths,choedbythepiano,

reestablish

he onic

key

unambiguously,

hebass

triads

wavering

etween

onicD

majors

nd

first

inversions f

the

dominant

eventh. he

piano's

final

alling

ourthsre till

otent:

lthough

on-

sciousness,

n

obliterating

nconsciousness,

e-

stroys

den,

t s

nonethe ess

whatman

was born

for. incehe 'fell'

from

den,

and never

really

lived

n

t,

he

cannot vade

consciousness'

hich,

ifhe cantake

t,

may

e

his

ultimate eward. ven

themost

rivialncidents

escribed

nd

the

most

fleeting

oments

nvisioned

n

the

ycle

ave heir

place,

and their

ntrinsic

ignity,

n the

patterns

ofexperience.

THIS

s

why

Britten's

eticulous

lanning

of

the

cycle

s not

so much

clever s

significant.

wo

philosophical,

s

distinct

from arrative

r

operatic,

ongs

serve

as

prologue

nd

epilogue,

he

prologue

eing

n

traditionally

obscure'

minor,

key

f

pilgrimage,

and the

pilogue

n

glorious' major,

lbeit

with

many

fortunate

alls'

nto lat

eys.

nside he

pro-

logue

and

epilogue

re

placed

two

paired,

uasi-

operatic tory-songs

ith

railway

ettings

hat

imply

human

pilgrimages,

r

journeys

o

desti-

nations nknown. he firstresentsnunknown

and

unknowing'

ourneyingoy,

n

turbulent

minor

Beethoven's

dynamic'ey),

with

ewilder-

ing

tinges

f rational'

major

or

of

painful'

minor,

with ome

ambiguity

s to the tonic.The

matching enultimate

umber

n

the

palindrome

concerns

fiddling oy

t a

railway

tation,

long

with convict

who is consciousof

ittle

xcept

that e s

handcuffed,

hereas

he

fiddling oy

s

free.

Unsurprisingly,

hisnumber

annotdecide

whethert s in

(dour)

Aminor

r

n

(shining)

A

major.

Within he

wo

ailwayongs

Britten

laces,

in

his

palindrome,

wo

small

scherzos,

he first

being

bouta

baby

and a

wagtail,

which

begins

around

astoral

major

utevanesces

n

blithe

A

major

when the

baby

decides or is he

encou-

raged

by

Nature

r God?

-

not

to

think.At

the

other nd

we have

song

bout he

obliviousness

of

birds,

hattering,

n

unconscious

heroism,

n

humanly

eroic F

major.

Then,

as

the midmost

air,

we have a

song

about

n

old man

Hardy

imself)

ho

fails con-

sciously'

o

remember,

nd

thereforeounderstand:

this

being

in E

minor,

purgatorial ey

and,

indeed,

ach's

ey

f

rucifixion.his s

bracketed

with the

climacteric,

nd

longest,

ong

about a

dead

Choirmasternd a

living

Vicarwhose

roles,

as

representatives

f theFlesh and the

Word,

re

reversed:

or

he

dead

choirmaster'sasic

key

s

Mixolydian

b

major

a tritone

way

from

purga-

torial' minor nd

traditionally

n

'earthy' ey

one

step

down

the

cycle

ffifths

rom

astoral

major

while heVicar's

remote)

ey

fA

major

displays

nnocence

nly

ronically,

nd even

ynic-

ally.The epilogic ong- both thegrandestnd

the

deepest

is

pointedly

alled Beforeife

nd

after';

nd moves s

deeply

ecause

we know

hat,

however

esperately

hose

oaring

How

longs'?'

yearn

or

renewal

f

Eden's

nconsciousness,

ur

destiny

an

only

e

consciousness,

hich

mbraces

pleasure

nd

pain

alike.

Consciousness,

f ts

na-

ture,

nvolves he

ragic

ense.

Only

human

eings

have t.

Postscript

In

compiling

ost fhis

ong-cycles

ritten

sual-

ly

et more

poems

hanhe

finally

ncluded n

the

sequence. his s true f heHardy ycle iscussed

above: of which a

new editionhas

recently

p-

peared, ncorporating

wo

settings

made

at

the

same time s the

anctioned

equence,

ut

event-

ually

mitted. ditorial

pinion

nsists

hat

hese

two

songs

must on

no account be

included n

performance

f the

cycle

s

originally ublished

by

Britten;

ut

presumably

opes

that

heymay,

as occasion

offers,

e

performed

eparately.

e

cannotknow for ure

whether ritten

xcluded

them

ecausehe

thought

hey

weren't

p

to

stan-

dard,

or

because he

thought hey

would have

compromised

he

symmetry

f the

cycle

as

he

eventually haped it. In offeringomments n

these wo

ongs,

nalogous

o the

ext

f

thefore-

going

ssay,

too

accept

he

published

ycle

s

an

entity,

hilst

hinking

hat he new'

ongs

merit

attention.

Each

songbelongs

o a familiar

ardy-type,

If

it's ever

Spring gain'

being

a

song

of

nostalgia,

'The

children nd

Sir Nameless'

eing

satire f

Circumstance.he

nostalgia-number

s

n

two

yric-

al

stanzas with a brief

efrain,

ecalling

n

ex-

perience

f

human ove

vividly

emembered

n

the

context f

Nature,

n a

spring

nd summer

ro-

bably ong

vanished.

The

subtlety

f the

verses

lies nthe

way

nwhichNature firstnthe

pro-

mise

of

spring,

hen n

the

dreamy

ulfilmentr

possible

disillusion f

ummer makes

ncarnate

the

nevitably

ransient

ove-relationship,

ithhis

supportive

rm around

er' ut

then,

more

hazily,

with he

murmurous ees

achime.

Musically,

he

song

s

no less

physical',

nd remarkable orts

economy

he

attenuationf the extures

nvolves

tonal

ambiguity,

or

lthough

ne

may

think

f

the

key

s

B

minor,

t'smore

ccurately

he

Phry-

gian

mode

on

F#

a tonethat

pens

the

ong

as

THE

MUSICAL TIMES / WINTER

2001

2



8/8

a

pedal

and

on to

which

the final

cadence

resolves.

n

the

opening

ection,

marked

slow',

spring-like

earning

s

expressedvocally

in

a

rising

cale rounded

off,however,

y

a

falling

fifth. he

balancing

ection,

marked

with

move-

ment',

ealswith he

tirrings

fNature's irds

nd

beasts nd

of

the human

overs;

he taut exture

mingles tepwise

movementnd

rising

s well as

falling

ifths

n

free anon.

The

repetition

f

the

original

words t thecloseofthefirsttanzare-

turns o the

originalmusic,

but modulates o

E

minor,

he

D#s

f

which

hift

nharmonically

o

Eb.

The

second stanza

(in

summer)

ubstitutes

pedal

Ebs

forthe

original

#s,

ransmuting

he

rising

o a

declining

cale,

but

nverting

he

fall-

ing

fifths

nto ascents.The effects elusive nd

perhaps

mbiguous, eaving

us

unsurewhether

spring's romise

s fulfilledr

disappointed.

ut

the coda

about

the

hay

and bees achime' s so

sun-drencheds to seem

visionary

a

love that

'neverwas'

on

land,

nor

possibly

ven on

sea.

Modulation hifts ack from he

Eb

major-minor

complex

and

from

hint of

Gb

major

to the

enharmonic# f theopening, ading ppon to

unisonal

F#s.

Britten's on-committal

eticence

n

this set-

ting droitly

atches he imbo f he

poem,

ome-

wherebetween

memory

nd

dream,

r

between

potential

utures. he satireof

Circumstances

another f

Hardy's ry uttings-down

f

Authority,

with

unfledged

hildren s the instrumentsf

execution.At first he

key

of the

song

s

unam-

biguously

whiteC

major,

n

the6/8

igging

f a

round-game,

arked

quick

nd

heavy',

he

uick-

ness

or

ivingness) eing

hat

f

the

hildren,

he

heaviness hat

of

the

nameless

knight

who ob-

jects to their owdy rolicking. is grumpiness

taintsC

major

with riotousmodulations

s,

in

unwittingrony,

e thanks od for is own

blessed

childlessness.

onality

eturns o C

major

when

Sir

Nameless

grandiloquently,

ut n the

ight

f

God

childishly,

nnounceshis intention o

per-

petuate

his

mightiness'

n whathe

expects

o be

eternally

urable tone.But the

llusory

ature f

this

grandiloquence

s

revealed s the

sculpting

music

painfully

rinds

hrough

hirdsn

contrary

motion,

eginning

n

B

minor

a

key

f

uffering )

but

nching

p sequentially,

ith brasive

alse e-

lations,

o attain

glorious

esolutionn

shining

parallel

enthsn

C

major,

withmelismatic

ocal

decorationso

praise

he

onsummated ork. his

leads,

fter

hurch

estorers,

hree undred

ears

later,

ave

demoted he tatue

f

the

nameless

e-

cause

forgotten

night

rom

edestal

o

floor,

o a

return o

thekiddies'

ound-dance,

ts

ig-rhythm

now

sharpened y

dissonant

major

evenths nd

falserelations. heseare aural

mages

for

many

generations

f

children's

obnailed

boots,

chip-

ping

bitsoffthis ld stoneman'.

The final ma-

jor

scales

upwards

or

he

voice,

downwards

or

the

piano

sound

nitially riumphanthough,

n

the ontext f

ternity,

he

ong

nds

pp

on a

wide-

spacedC major riad, refacedya sharpfourth

of the

Lydian

mode

traditionally

ssociated ith

healing

Each of these

ettings

s as

poetically ercep-

tive as Britten

lways

s

in

dealing

with

verse,

though

t'snot

s

easy

o decide

where

heymight

have been

placed

within he

cycle.

Sir Nameless

and the

childrenmake the

ame

point

s

do the

vicar and

the

choirmaster

n 'The

choirmaster's

burial',

erhaps

ess

magically.

If

t'sever

Spring

again'

dds

a

dimension

ot evident

n

the

sanc-

tioned'

songs,

since it deals with

the

elusive

relationship

etweenNature

nd human ove. I

wouldn't,owever, now where oplace itwith-

out

destroying

he subtle

symmetry

f

Britten's

sequence.

Coming

soon

in

The

Musical

Times

Fox on

Finnissy

Jones

on

Maxwell Davies

Simeone on

Expo

37

Wood on

Pierne

To

subscribe

please

use the form n

p.14

or visit

musicaltimes.co.uk

THE MUSICAL

TIMES /

WINTER

2001

WilfridMellers's

latest

book,

Celestialmusic r

thevoice

of

God:

some

masterpieces

f

European eligious

music,

s due out

soon.

33

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