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    • Gerald Finzi
    • Edmund Blunden
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Gerald Finzi

The information on this page is a biographical sketch for Gerald Finzi; offering the reader a basic knowledge of his life and work. There are some suggestions at the bottom of this page for resources and links that should help those looking for additional information.

Gerald Finzi, was a man drawn in several directions during his life. He was a man who devoured the written word. He was a man who realized life is short and that we should strive to leave something that makes a difference to humanity. He was a man acquainted with grief and war and despised choices that some men make for others. He was a man who fought for the underdog. He was a man who liked to take walks in his youth so as to soak up nature and to become grounded to his native England. Lastly, he was a man who believed in conservation of music and of the simple things in life, namely apple trees. One can find all of these attributes in the literature he read as well as the songs he composed.

Gerald Finzi: Was born in London on July 14, 1901 and died on September 27, 1956 in the hospital at Oxford, England.

Father: John Abraham (Jack) Finzi (1860-1909)

His occupation was that of a ship broker. He died rather horrifically with cancer of the mouth when Gerald was eight years old.

Mother: Eliza (Lizzie) Emma [née Leverson] Finzi (1865-1955)

She was a home maker and amateur pianist.

Siblings:

• Kate (Finzi) Gilmour (Feb. 28, 1890-)
  Author of: Eighteen Months in the War Zone: The Record of a Woman's Work on the Western Front - published by Cassell and Company in 1916.
  
  
• Felix John (Aug. 11, 1893 - Aug. 3, 1913)
• Douglas Louis (Feb. 17, 1897 - July 7, 1912)
• Edgar (Dec. 17, 1898 - Sept. 5, 1918)

Spouse: Joyce (Joy) Black (March 3, 1907 - June 14, 1991)

She married Gerald on September 16, 1933. Her occupation was that of an artist and a home maker.

Children:

• Christopher (Kiffer), born: July 1934
  Continued Gerald Finzi's leadership of the Newbury String Players after Gerald's death.
• Nigel, born: August 9, 1936 and died June 25, 2010 Obituary for Nigel Finzi

Education:

From almost the outset of his existence Gerald Finzi seemed to want to control his own education. He resisted a formal education by feigning sickness and consequently was taught privately. What he did not learn from private tutors he learned on his own primarily from reading. He studied music formally, first with Ernest Farrar (1885-1918) between the years 1915 and 1916. Farrar had been a student of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) and was also friends with Ralph Vaughan Williams. At the onset of the First World War, Farrar joined the army and made arrangements for Finzi to study with Sir Edward Bairstow (1874-1946). Bairstow was the organist and choirmaster at York Minster. Finzi studied with Bairstow between 1917 and 1922. In 1918 Finzi was given the news that his first teacher Ernest Farrar had been killed in action. This came as quite a shock to the young Finzi who before he was eighteen had lost his father, and all three of his brothers as well as Farrar who had become a father figure to him. In 1922 Finzi stopped studying with Bairstow and moved with his mother to Painswick in Gloucestershire. Finzi was attempting to find his own voice by creating a utopia of peace and solitude in the countryside. In 1925 Finzi moved back to London and began studying counterpoint with Reginald Owen Morris (1886-1948). The move to London had several benefits for Finzi. First and foremost it allowed him to establish a network of friends that would serve him the remainder of his life. Many of these friends became good colleagues that then gave Finzi advice as well as constructive criticism. The list of friends and colleagues included: Howard Ferguson, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arthur Bliss, Robin Milford, Edmund Rubbra, and Gustav Holst.
(McVeagh)

Influences on Finzi's Musical Composition:

They include composers that he studied while learning music composition with Ernest Farrar, Sir Edward Bairstow, and R. O. Morris. They surely included all of the great early composers but Finzi also appreciated lesser known composers as well as his own contemporaries. Diana McVeagh writing a Finzi biography for Grove Music Online lists the following composers that contributed to Finzi's developing style of composition:

Ralph Vaughan Williams stands out in the list above as one who possibly helped Finzi the most in his musical development as well as success as a composer. Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was extremely helpful to Finzi on various fronts. Finzi admired Vaughan Williams compositions and when Finzi was allowed in to the inner circle of Vaughan Williams' friends he gained numerous contacts and avenues for further advancement. Vaughan Williams' music was attractive to Finzi because it offered a less complicated harmonic palate and also its use of English folk song for its foundation was of an interest to Finzi. Vaughan Williams was also an extremely positive influence for Finzi in that he encouraged Finzi on numerous occasions and he, Vaughan Williams, also seems to have exerted a calming influence into Finzi's life.

A person that Diana McVeagh doesn't mention as to someone who deeply influenced Finzi's composition was that of composer and pianist, Howard Ferguson (1908-1999). Ferguson must be given credit for helping Finzi on several fronts. They both had met while studying with R. O. Morris and became life long friends. Finzi was not a good pianist and so many times Ferguson would be the one that not only played through Finzi's compositions for the first time but would also make suggestion as to how to improve the composition. His suggestions advised Finzi on such things as the the piano accompaniment, interpretive marks such as dynamics and phrasing as well as a general sounding board for ideas. Ferguson also played the premiere performances of many of Finzi's works that involved the piano.

Another influence on Finzi's composition would also include his study and consequent preservation of lesser known and sometimes forgotten composers. His study of their works enhanced his own style in the same way young composers had done since the time of J. S. Bach. Through his preservation efforts of forgotten composers he was either directly or indirectly influenced. The composers works that Finzi sought to preserve include those of: Ivor Gurney (1890-1937), William Boyce (1711-1779), and Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918) who was mentioned by Diana McVeagh in her biographical remarks for Gerald Finzi.

Compositional Characteristics:

One of the characteristics that comes to mind immediately with regards to Finzi's song writing is his ability to set the words. They seem quite naturally declaimed in his songs. Stephen Banfield comments on Finzi's ability to set words carefully: "The purity of Finzi's word-setting has often been remarked upon. In addition to shaping his melodic contours to the rise and fall of the conversing or the reciting voice, he is thorough, probably unconsciously." (Banfield, 282) Diana McVeagh concurs with Banfield's remarks but goes further to say that Finzi's style directly correlates to his inspiration from the texts themselves: "Finzi unerringly found the live centre of his vocal texts, fusing vital declamation with a lyrical impulse in supple, poised lines." (McVeagh, Grove Music Online) This craftsmanship with words probably comes from his early love of the printed word and how it was his teacher as well as friend for many years while growing up. When Finzi died in 1956 his literary library was larger than that of his musical library. His good word setting could also possibly stem from his working on and off on a song sometimes for many years. While discussing Finzi's compositional style Mark Carlisle had the following to say in his dissertation: "He [Finzi] was a slow and fastidious composer, often writing many sketches of music for different pieces that would be put a way for several years before being revived and completed."
(Carlisle, 8-9)

Another characteristic of Finzi's song writing is his use of syllabic writing, meaning that he almost never set more than one syllable per note. Finzi seems to strive for the purity of the word and not to adorn it with a melissma. Diana McVeagh concludes the lack of melissma in Finzi's writing was because he did not attempt to paint the text as his contemporaries and those long before him had: "He was little concerned with word-painting, and his songs are virtually syllabic (in contrast with Britten’s and Tippett’s)." (McVeagh, Grove Music Online)

Still another characteristic of Finzi's writing is his harmonic support and how he seemed to steer clear of practices that were going on with his contemporaries. Diana McVeagh says: "Finzi's sense of tonality and form was idiosyncratic." (McVeagh, Grove Music Online) Mark Carlisle also addresses Finzi's harmonic palate in his dissertation:

Finzi's characteristics are conservative especially by contemporary music standards. Finzi did not attempt to move music forward with his counter point or harmonic palate but instead thought it more important to allow the poetry to speak for itself. Stephen Banfield writes in his Finzi biography:

Donald Eugene Vogel, in his dissertation dating from ten years after Finzi's death believes Finzi's music is a bit of a hodgepodge of styles ranging from the seventeenth century through the twentieth century but he also believes it is held together by Finzi's musical convictions:

Finzi's contribution to vocal literature is one that seeks to elevate English poetry. He was not intimidated by the poetry of Thomas Hardy and instead embraced it even though many thought it was not possible. His music is a fabric woven from the past and the present tinged with a folk idiom at times. He laboured for his fruit and was not appreciated greatly for his craftsmanship during his life but his work did not go in vain for his songs continue to grow in popularity, a testament to his fine work.

Occupation:

Finzi fortunately did not have to support himself financially from his work but instead relied on funds that came from his inheritance and frugality. Later when he married Joyce Black he also had the support of her family for finances. His occupation was that of a composer. Before getting married Finzi briefly taught composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1930 to 1933. During World War II, Finzi was drafted into the Ministry of War Transport (1941-5) and was given some compensation for his service. Also, during the war Finzi founded the Newbury String Players. This group was started to primarily help with morale in the country but it also gave Finzi a vehicle for his music and the music of lesser known composers. His work with the Newbury String Players was not for financial reasons but rather for his own personal edification and community involvement. Finzi also did some tutoring of private students while living at his home of Ashmansworth. Not an occupation but rather a hobby that consumed Finzi, and one that he was extremely proud of, included his conservation of threatened apple tree species. This hobby was again not for financial gain but just another example of Finzi's drive to preserve and protect.

Works of Gerald Finzi:

Voice and piano: By Footpath and Stile, A Young Man's Exhortation, Earth and Air and Rain, and Let Us Garlands Bring.

Posthumously published works for voice and piano: Till Earth Outwears, Oh Fair To See, I Said To Love, and To A Poet. After Finzi's death, Howard Ferguson helped Joy and Christopher Finzi assimilate the songs listed above and get them ready for publication. Finzi's Tall Nettles was arranged for voice and piano by Christian Alexander.

Solo voice and orchestra: By Footpath and Stile, Dies Natalis, Farewell to Arms, Two Milton Sonnets, Let Us Garlands Bring, Four Songs from Love's Labour's Lost, When I set out for Lyonnesse, Published posthumously: In Years Defaced (six Finzi songs for tenor voice arranged by Colin Matthews, Jeremy Dale Roberts, Christian Alexander, Judith Weir, and Anthony Payne.

Chorus and orchestra: Lo, The Full, Final Sacrifice, God is gone up, Intimations of Immortality, For St. Cecilia, Let us now praise famous men, Magnificat, In terra pax, Muses and Graces, and Requiem da camera.

Orchestral works: A Severn Rhapsody, New Year Music (Nocturne), Love's Labour's Lost, The Fall of the Leaf - Elegy for Orchestra, Introit, Eclogue, Clarinet Concerto, Grand Fantasia and Toccata, Cello Concerto, and Violin Concerto.

String orchestra: Romance and Prelude.

Chamber music: Introit, Interlude, Elegy, Five Bagatelles, Prelude and Fugue.

Chorus and piano or organ: Ten Children's Songs (songs to poems by Christina Rossetti), Three Anthems, Lo, the full, final sacrifice, Let us now praise famous men, Magnificat, Muses and graces, and Two Motets.

Unaccompanied chorus: Three Short Elegies, Seven Unaccompanied Part Songs, Thou dids't delight mine eyes, All this night, and White-flowering days.

Work best known for: Let Us Garlands Bring

Publishers:

• Boosey and Hawkes
• Banks Music for: (Requiem da camera)

Religious and Political beliefs:

• Gerald Finzi's ancestors were Jewish but he considered himself agnostic. Nevertheless he wrote several choral works suitable for religious services.
• His political beliefs included remaining active in the political process and with regards to conflict, he considered himself a pacifist.

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Unpublished Analysis Excerpts

The following are biographical comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the life of Gerald Finzi. Dr. Lee extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 16, 2012. His dissertation dated 2003, is entitled:

A Performance Study of Gerald Finzi's Song Cycle
"Before and After Summer"

This excerpt begins on page 1 and concludes on page 27.

The preceding were biographical comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the life of Gerald Finzi. Dr. Lee extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 16th, 2012. His dissertation dated 2003, is entitled:

A Performance Study of Gerald Finzi's Song Cycle
"Before and After Summer"

The excerpt began on page 1 and concluded pn page 27.

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The following is an excerpt from Samuel Rudolph Germany's dissertation. Dr. Germany extended permission to post this excerpt on December 20th, 2010. His dissertation dated August 1993, is entitled:

The Solo Vocal Collections of Gerald R. Finzi Suitable for Performance by the High Male Voice

The excerpts come from pages three through fifty-four, one hundred twenty-three through one hundred twenty-nine, one hundred thirty-one through one hundred thirty-five, and one hundred thirty-seven through one hundred thirty-nine.

Please choose a tab below to navigate to the section indicated.

Pertinent Biographical Data

Gerald Raphael Finzi was born on July 14, 1901, into a prosperous businessman's family. This heritage allowed Finzi a comfortable provision, for which he was grateful the rest of his life, but it offered little of the emotional support which he direly needed. (J. Finzi) Among the five Finzi children, Gerald was the only one with musical talent, and was understood, in this respect, only by his mother. From the beginning, those who could have been his first companions and friends, his sister and brothers, treated him as a strange. (Caesar, vii) (J. Finzi) As a result, a sense of isolation developed in Finzi during his childhood and remained with him to some extent into his adult years. Finzi's sense of security, then, was sharply shadowed by the successive premature deaths of virtually all significant male figures of his young life. Thereafter, Finzi was frequently haunted by thoughts of transience and mortality. (Caesar, vii) (McVeagh) Thus affected with an introspective nature, Finzi sought and found solace in literature. (McVeagh, 67)

His private world of "companion minds from other times" (J. Finzi) served, furthermore, to compensate for what his conventional education lacked. Finzi achieved dismissal from prep school by feigning swooning fits. A subsequent period of tutoring was brought to a premature close by the outbreak of World War I. Then after the age of thirteen, he was largely self-educated, believing he could determine what he needed and learn it for himself. The great minds of the past were available to him by his reading their works. (McVeagh, 67) The amount he read, especially during his teens and early manhood, was remarkable. His life's philosophy and his well-spring of song emanated from this devotion to literature. (J. Finzi)

By his early teens Finzi conceived the desire which was to regulate all his future activity: he would be a composer. Music became a primary focus, in spite of the obstacles before him. Sir Charles Stanford of the Royal College of Music strongly discouraged him from a career in music due to Finzi's lack of facility on any instrument. (Ferguson) Virtually the only encouragement Finzi received came from his mother as he turned to pursue his study via private instruction. (Caesar)

His first major study of composition, and that which was of the most profound influence, was with Ernest Farrar from 1914 to 1916. Farrar was thoroughly Stanford-trained, acquainted with many important musicians, and himself an active composer. "He understood the sensitive, stubborn teenager, who, had he met at that early stage a dry, orthodox teacher, might easily have withered." (McVeagh, 67) It is understandable, therefore, that Farrar's calling up to war and subsequent death on the front made such an imprint upon Finzi's consciousness that he could still remember it with a great deal of bitterness and melancholy even thirty-five years later. (Caesar)

Finzi's remaining compositional study was with Sir Edward Bairstow until 1922. This contact gave Finzi crucial exposure to sacred choral music and observations of the lessons of other pupils, among them solo singers. It is almost certain that Finzi learned much of his skill in vocal composition this way, for he never studied singing himself. (McVeagh, 67) It was here that he first heard the young soprano, Elsie Suddaby, perform Ivor Gurney's "Sleep," composition which was to affect him immensely. (Ferguson) In 1922, Finzi moved to rural Painswick to compose in the romantic seclusion of the countryside of Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and Gurney. (McVeagh, 594)

A subsequent study of counterpoint with Richard O. Morris in 1925 led Finzi to move to London, Morris and others convinced Finzi that he needed a change of environment to stimulate his composition and to counteract his introspective bent. The London period, which extended from 1926 to 1933, was a fruitful time for Finzi. He frequented concerts, theaters, and galleries, becoming thoroughly acquainted with all the current trends in music and art. For the first time, he mingled with other young artists/musicians, developing a circle of friends including Howard Ferguson, Edmund Rubbra, Robin Milford, and Marion Scott. (McVeagh, 594) Finzi had first contacted Ralph Vaughan Williams via correspondence in 1923, and by 1927 he was a regular visitor in the renowned composer's home. Records of a steady stream of correspondence between the two show a great deal of mutual admiration and shared advice concerning composition. Through Vaughan Williams, Finzi also became friends with Gustav Holst. (Cobbe, 9)

Finzi's compositional efforts at that time produced some of his freshest, most individual, music as well as some weaker pieces. Occasional performances of his works increased his confidence as his name became known, In 1928, Vaughan Williams conducted the first performance of a violin concerto by Finzi, although it was later withdrawn from publication, along with the Severn Rhapsody. (McVeagh, 594) There were performances of individual songs on poetry by Thomas Hardy and the first of many Hardy collections (A Young Man's Exhortation in 1933). Among his other works of the time were a great number of unfinished song fragments and complete single songs, many of which later became parts of published sets for high male voice, such as Two Sonnets by John Milton, Farewell to Arms, and Dies Natalis. (Banfield, 444-5) Further acknowledgement came with Finzi's appointment to teach composition at the Royal Academy of Music (1930-3). (McVeagh, 594)

It was clear, however, that London provided too much stimulation for someone of Finzi's enormous intellectual and nervous energy. His marriage to Joyce Black (also called Joy) in 1933, though conducted in private simplicity with the Vaughan Williamses as sole witnesses, (Cobbe, 10) was seen by Finzi as saving him from a nervous breakdown. (Caesar, viii) Howard Ferguson recalls the intense, restlessness of his character prior to this:

Ferguson states that beneath a vibrant, buoyant exterior, Finzi allowed only a privileged few to see an underlying pessimism, which was even more intense at that point in his life. (Ferguson, 134) Reports indicate that Joy's liberating warmth, practical efficiency, and undying support of Gerald's work did much to ease his introspective solitude.
(McVeagh, 594) Joy, herself an artist of astounding natural gifts in sculpting and drawing, selflessly and untiringly gave of herself to free Gerald to do his work. Her immense strength of character proved to be one of his major resources for the rest of his life.
(Ferguson)

Soon after his marriage, it became clear to Finzi that quiet and concentration were absolutely essential to his compositional method. Earlier, in 1922, Finzi and his mother settled in a rural atmosphere at Painswick in Gloucestershire. There he attempted to put his emerging philosophical ideals to practice. Convinced of the superiority of rural life, he eagerly sought the chance to live independently off the land as a vegetarian, and to compose in solitude. Now, after the interruption of the London years, he looked again to the country for a place to settle with his family. First living at Aldbourne in Wiltshire, where their two sons were born, the Finzis eventually acquired a 16-acre site high on the Hampshire hills. By 1939, the home they designed for working practically was completed at Ashmansworth, near Newbury:

Aside from the war years he spent working in London in the Ministry of War Transport, Finzi resided permanently there at Church Farm at Ashmansworth. (Caesar) Finzi's new-found contentment with wife and family enabled him to address many projects with great enthusiasm. Finzi hated the idea of things passing away, and thus he was driven to collect and cultivate, always championing the cause of the neglected. (McVeagh, 594) Whether it was the informal welcoming of stray cats, the salvation of some 400 varieties of apple trees from extinction, or his more academic undertakings, all were pursued with great commitment. (Bliss, 6) (Caesar, x)

Finzi's first encounter with the music of Gurney during his study with Bairstow not only influenced his own composition but also motivated a commitment to Gurney's work and the furthering of his reputation. Finzi was a major force behind the Music and Letters Gurney Symposium of 1938, and the publications of Gurney's works: the first volume of songs in 1937, another song volume in 1952, and a collection of poetry in 1954. Similar efforts in later years followed with the scholarly editing of eighteenth century musical works by William Boyce, John Stanley, Capel Bond, Richard Mudge, and others. (Caesar, viii)

Finzi was never proficient on any instrument. His founding of the Newbury String Players, a small, mainly amateur orchestra, toward the beginning of World War II provided him with his first experience performing music publicly and proficiently. Although by nature one who dislike public appearances, Finzi was to find his experiences as conductor of the group to be a vital feature in his own musicianship, as well as in his personal campaign for the underdogs, as it were. Following Finzi's intent, the group explored chamber music by little-known composers of the past, including those who benefited from his previously mentioned editorial efforts. First performances were also given to new music by unsung young composers. To many of these, he offered assistance or consultation as private students of composition. (Vogel, 9)

Following World War II, Finzi received the first of several commissions for his compositional efforts, including such choral works as Lo, the Full, the Final Sacrifice and For St. Cecilia. (C. Finzi) Other choral works, such as the ambitious Intimations of Immortality, brought recognition with their performances at the Three Choirs Festival. His confidence and experience were evident in the larger works for orchestra which he completed during this time, two concertos 9clarinet and cello) and the Grand Fantasia and Toccata for piano and orchestra. (McVeagh, 69) Two solo song sets found their completion dates within this period as well: Let Us Garlands Bring and Before and After Summer. (Banfield, 446) Yet as always, there is no easy chronological dating of any of these works. Finzi was a slow worker, often taking several years to complete a single movement or song. (C. Finzi) Their listing here is largely indicative of their having been put together in final form for publication at that time.

In the final stage of his life, Finzi was, as he always had been, preoccupied with time, or the lack of it. He was haunted by the sense that he would never have time to complete all that was in him to write. This was apparent long before, reaching back to his childhood when he was forced to deal with the deaths of so many before their time. At age 26, his own brief stay in a sanatorium for tuberculosis no doubt added to this haunted sense. (Ferguson, 134) He had set the Milton texts at that time, and he quoted a portion again in 1941, when his work was interrupted by war:

When in 1951, he was diagnosed as having a form of leukemia and was given only 10 years to live, his fears were realized. He quoted the poet Tychborne in the "Preface" to his own catalog of works, soon after his knowledge of the diagnosis: "At 49 I feel I have hardly begun my work, 'My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun;/And now I live, and now my life is done.' " (Vogel, 10) Even with the knowledge of his declining health, Finzi was apparently unrebellious. He continued with his quiet, conscientious composition in rural seclusion until his death. (Banfield, 275) The disease had greatly weakened his immune system, and he died of shingles on September 26, 1956, from a chance contact with the chickenpox virus during the Gloucester Festival of that same year. (McVeagh)

Personality Profile

From: Samuel Rudolph Germany's dissertation entitled: The Solo Vocal Collections of Gerald R. Finzi Suitable for Performance by the High Male Voice. Dr. Germany extended permission to post this excerpt on December 20th, 2010.

Previous scholarly studies, in their attempts to explain his long-standing connection with Thomas Hardy, have shed much light on the personality of Gerald Finzi. McVeagh quotes Finzi's own explanation of this connection, in which Finzi singles out a sentence from Rudland's Life of Hardy:

In childhood, Finzi had witnessed his own share of suffering, much of it connected with war and premature death. Thus, his own feeling of the futility of war intermingled with his fundamental misgivings about life. (Banfield, 276) T. Hold recognizes, however, that in his music, Finzi captured the melancholy of such feelings without the bitterness. (Hold, 310) Perhaps this was also true in his life.

Finzi was an agnostic, possessing in his character a mixture of stoicism and fatalism. Like Hardy, he held to the force of chance in life. (McVeagh) But whereas Hardy's rejection of Christianity was bitter and rigid, Banfield comments on Finzi's more mellow temperament even in such matters as these: "Personally unable to accept the Christian myth, he was nevertheless capable of wishing that its truth might be regenerated for him." (Banfield, 275) Christopher Finzi notes that his father's position on such matters was neither vehement nor hesitant. It was simply a matter of fact. (C. Finzi)

Finzi's personality was encircled by a vibrancy and an abundance of energy. He certainly could be quite defiant on issues when he felt such a reaction was needed. yet within the man was a strong sense of nostalgia, in which the past was, in some ways, more intense than the present. (C. Finzi) He treasured the "power of the memory to crystallize the past." (McVeagh) And it is increasingly apparent that a sense of melancholy was definitely present within his complex makeup of intellect and emotion. Finzi stated that "the proportion of feeling, combined with intellect, must, of course vary with the individual." (G. Finzi, 14) In Finzi, the scales tipped more toward feeling than reason. (Banfield, 276) It was the ability to respond freely that was most essential to him. (C. Finzi) He valued it in others, referring to it as the heightened perception with which all response is intensely felt:

Historical Perspective

From: Samuel Rudolph Germany's dissertation entitled: The Solo Vocal Collections of Gerald R. Finzi Suitable for Performance by the High Male Voice. Dr. Germany extended permission to post this excerpt on December 20th, 2010.

The early roots of English vocal music were rich with sensitivity to the English language. Purcell and his predecessors knew how the English language responded to music, and how music responded to the English language. But in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, English song composers largely attempted to follow foreign examples in song settings. Henry Raynor states that such an approach either the poetry that grows immediately out of colloquial speech or that which intensifies the idiosyncrasies of the language." (Raynor, 66) During that time the English language was largely considered to be inappropriate for music. As a result, stilted, metrical settings of songs prevailed, and England, until about 1880, lacked a musical response to almost the entire Romantic movement with its wealth of subjective response to language in song. (Banfield, 12)

Gerald Finzi is recognized as one of a large group of English song composers of the early twentieth century who adopted the texts of Romanticism and assimilated the methods of musical Romanticism to bring, as it were, "the deadened imagination out of hibernation." (Banfield, 12) Stephen Banfield relates, in Finzi's own terminology, the crucial need that had existed for a compulsive "chosen identification," the need to express something individual and personal in the composer's own imagination by comparing it with the poet's:

Finzi often stressed that an individual response to words constitutes the most significant factor in composing songs and that native song emerges from native language. (G. Finzi, 3) His own chosen identification was with his beloved English literature and resulted in a compellingly realistic presentation of the sounds of the English language in music. His receptiveness to poetry's variable nuances made Finzi on of the finest composers of English song in this or any era. (Walker, 8) He created melodic lines whose rhythmic complexity accepted prolongations, hesitations and minute varieties of stress as fundamental. Although his word setting can be seen as directly in line with the work of Vaughan Williams, Moeran, Ireland, Warlock, and Gurney, (Raynor, 70) none truly predated him in this ability or to this degree. (Ferguson)

Finzi's subjective expression of the text through accompaniment and harmony follows in the essentially Romantic tradition, creating a culminating rather than an innovative effect. (Banfield, 324) This conservative, backward-looking element gives evidence not only of the musical influences which are present in his work but also of those which are notably absent. Vaughan Williams, Elgar, and Parry are readily identifiable as native contributors to the Finzi style. The noticeable foreign influence is that of Bach, whose Baroque contrapuntal characteristics are clearly more apparent than those from any intervening periods. (McVeagh, 595) Conspicuously absent are the contemporary influences of the Parisian neo-classicists and the Viennese serialists. (McCoy, 8) Bliss states that Finzi "owed nothing to Schoenberg, Hindemith, Bartok, and Stravinsky. . . Well versed in the musical and literary traditions of England, he expressed love for their traditions alone." (Bliss, 6) Boyd comments that "Gerald Finzi is a quiet composer, whose music breaths the air of the countryside by which he is surrounded." (Boyd, 18)

In fact, at St. James Church in Ashmansworth, adjacent to the Finzi's Church Farm, an engraved window by Laurence Whistler was dedicated to the memory of Gerald Finzi. (Butt, 581) The window depicts music as a symbolic tree, its roots ending, or rather beginning, with the initials of fifty English composers, and its branches budding into notes. The English countryside is shown surrounding the tree. Framing the scene are four famous lines of English literature in praise of music. It is entitled "In Celebration of English Music" and aptly portrays Finzi's place in history as a truly English composer, one known most for his vocal music and one whose work is absorbed by the expression of his native English language and literature. (Window)

Yet it was more than just the fires of nationalism at work, for Finzi's harmonic isolation from the surge of tonal experimentation was even more severe than that of many of his own English contemporaries. (McCoy, 9) For this element, he was frequently criticized, especially in the earlier years. Finzi's view of art does not demand originality in concepts. He does not strive to grasp the new or the unexpressed. Banfield quotes Barton: "As has been said of Hardy, 'As an artist, he prefers an old world, whose accumulated tragedies he can count as part of his own experience.' " (Banfield, 279) But increasingly, as Finzi's work has gained repute, rebuttals of such negative views show his conservatism in a positive light. Russell evaluates Finzi's work as "unremitting exaltation . . . of integrity over novelty." (Russell, 9) "His style is so different from those of his much-noised contemporaries that he is regarded as a placid backwater off the main stream, as one who (it would seem) almost perversely writes music which is a joy to perform and a pleasure to listen to." (Russell, 15) N. G. Long states: "The point is that Finzi writes sensitive and fastidious music, and it should be judged and enjoyed on its merits, and not prejudged according to whether or not it follows some hypothetical stream of music." (Long, 7)

In summarizing Finzi's historical role, Stephen Banfield writes:

Certainly Finzi possessed a clear understanding of his own place in the historical scheme of things. Ina series of lectures presented at the Royal College of Music entitled "The Composer's Use of Words" he articulated a knowledgeable, and on occasion provocative view of the history and aesthetics of the English song. (McVeagh, 595) Although Finzi's comments that follow were not intended as a defense of his own position as a composer of the twentieth century writing in an essentially nineteenth century idiom, perhaps they could serve such a purpose more than adequately:

STYLISTIC TRAITS OF FINZI'S VOCAL MUSIC

From: Samuel Rudolph Germany's dissertation entitled: The Solo Vocal Collections of Gerald R. Finzi Suitable for Performance by the High Male Voice. Dr. Germany extended permission to post this excerpt on December 20th, 2010.

General Output

Gerald Finzi's musical output contains three large orchestral works in the genre of the concerto with solo works for piano, cello, and clarinet. He also wrote several instrumental chamber works. (McVeagh) However, the bulk of his output, and that which has received the most critical acclaim, is made up of vocal compositions. Both choral compost ions and solo songs were his major venues. He is acknowledged essentially as a miniaturist in his greatest compositional achievements, the solo songs. Finzi completed 90 solo songs, 71 of which comprise thirteen song collections. This figure, no doubt, would have been larger, had he finished the over 60 song fragments that remained incomplete upon his unfortunate early death. (Banfield, 444-7) (See Appendix A.)

Stylistic Traits

Textual Influences

An immense and deep perception of English literature and poetry, unusually well-developed at an early age, formed the foundation and springboard for much of Finzi's creativity. (Burn) His son, Christopher, states: "He was probably a literary man first and a musician second, in one sense. I think there was no other musician who read as widely in the English language as he did, or had such an extensive knowledge of English literature." (C. Finzi) In everyday talk and letters, Finzi quoted from the great English writers because they were his chosen everyday companions. (McVeagh) Finzi's own outstanding library of over 3,000 volumes contained English literature of every period, revealing a breadth of interest and devotion to both major and minor authors. (Caesar, ix-x) Among those who provided inspiration for his music were Thomas Hardy, John Milton, Robert Bridges, Edmund Blunden, Thomas Traherne, William Wordsworth, and William Shakespeare. (Banfield, 444-6) In the selection of texts to be set to music, Finzi chose only those with which he felt a strong kinship. General textual topics which support his own philosophies of life recur in his settings. Among these topics are those that reveal a preoccupation with the passing of time, a sense of fatalism, and the power of the memory to hold moments of the past. Also reappearing are those dealing with the futility of war and the beauty of nature. Finzi was additionally drawn to the innocence of youth and child hood. (Banfield, 276-8)

In selecting these texts with which he felt such strong kinship, Finzi often chose poetry which some considered unsettable. Finzi acknowledged technical reasons for difficulty with certain texts:

Finzi ardently disagreed with critics who recommended that musicians should avoid distorting great or even good poetry by coupling it with music. (Cline, 13) He wrote:

Compositional Process

Diana McVeagh illustrates the initial stage of Finzi's unusual compositional process and the manner in which the literature so inspired him: "As lines [of poetry] ran through his head, so they would gather music to them." (McVeagh) "He would read something and it would produce maybe only a couple of bars . . . a completely spontaneous reaction. he might then find that was all he got, and he would put it away in his drawer and leave it." (C. Finzi) He would not necessarily start with the first line, but with any phrase that suggested music. Only rarely were revisions made to these first incomplete sketches. (Banfield, 287) Works would then continue in process, each added to from time to time until a large batch of sketches, generally quite discontinuous, was compiled for a particular work. (Ferguson, 131)

Finzi often spread the composition of a single work out over a number of years until he began the completing stage. This putting-together of the sketches by filling in the gaps was never an entirely fluent endeavor; songs that appeared spontaneous might have been compiled only after endless sketches and rough drafts. (Ferguson, 131) Finzi hated intellectually contrived solutions. Yet his favorite phrase, "art conceals art," (C. Finzi) reveals the balance he sought:

Due to his compositional process, unfinished works from many early years abound. Over 60 song fragments remained unfinished upon his death although a gratifying number of early fragments were completed in his final, comparatively prolific year. (Banfield, 287) Finzi assigned opus numbers when he began works rather than when he completed them. Thus blank opus numbers have resulted from works which were planned but not finished. In addition, the posthumous works have earlier opus numbers than those of the last works published in his lifetime. (Ferguson, 132)

Lack Of Chronological Development

Other features are recognizable as being directly linked to Finzi's idiosyncratic compositional process. Amazingly, stylistic disunity is never noted in collections whose individual pieces were composed over a long period. This is due to what some refer to as a homogeneous style, which permeates all Finzi's music. Apart from the very early writings, Finzi's work shows very little chronological development. This has been a controversial issue among critics seeking to evaluate his work. (C. Finzi)

Harmonic Usage

Finzi's conservative harmonic language is definitely tonal. Tonic and dominant scale-degrees still possess a traditional, mutually polarizing, function. (Banfield, 284) Often these degrees are used obsessively in a characteristic inverted pedal point. Banfield refers to these as restless, searching tonic and dominants which subjectively depict textual mood. (Banfield, 324)

Evaluators note that most of Finzi's specific harmonic traits are tools of subjective mood setting. N. G. Long recognizes a prevailing type of harmony with many seventh chords, other extended harmonies, and suspensions as correlating with the brooding or fatalistic substance of many poems which Finzi chose to set. (Long, 9) In contrast, exclusive use of triadic harmonies is quite rare. (Hansler, 403) Finzi's rich, nostalgic harmony, then, employs chromaticisms of the nonharmonic tone type to convey the mood of the text. (Parker, 18) This results in a rich harmonic effect, spiced with the bittersweet dissonances which resolve, only to be replaced by new ones in other lines. (Hansler, 403)

Finzi employs other chromaticisms temporarily to blur or suspend the tonality and to achieve color by segments of modality in the manner of Ralph Vaughan williams. (Cline, 32) Even though the tonality is clear, Finzi often uses tonic avoidance at cadences to achieve continuation of poetic thought. (Parker, 18) Occasionally, he uses other practices to obscure the tonality in varying degrees: the employment of the tonic only in weak inversions or on weak beats after a new key is suggested by accidentals; and the suggestion of two closely related keys, often a major and its relative minor, without clearly establishing either one. (Hansler, 398)

Finzi does not use harmony as a structural device. (Ferguson) He almost totally avoids fully harmonized modulations to the dominant and subdominant keys. Frequently he begins and ends a song in different keys, with no apparent sense of pattern. This is not seen as a freeing influence of the twentieth century upon his work. Whether this is a chosen abhorrence of intellectually contrived solutions (C. Finzi) or something which simply is not inherent to his nature, (Ferguson) perhaps it is connected to his fragmented compositional process. (Ferguson)

Melodic Element

Finzi produces some of the most singable melodies in the English repertoire of the twentieth century, a feature that is remarkable for a non-singer. (Ferguson) Banfield compares this singable quality to that of a folk tune:

This fluency with creating vocal lines also affects his instrumental writing. Few contemporary composers, in the lyrical aspect, wrote so vocally in every way. "the voice was his starting point." (C. Finzi)

Prosody

As the vocal melody is his initial inspiration for the rest of the musical composition, so the sound and meaning of the text provide the initial impulse for the melody. Finzi comments to Edmund Blunden: "I like music to grow out of the actual words and not be fitted to them." (Burn) Walker observes that Finzi allows the poetry to shape his musical thought: "He never imposes himself upon the words but rather allows himself to be imposed upon by them." (Walker, 8) His resolution of text into musical solutions is not a technical thing; it is spontaneous, in keeping with his general compositional process. (C. Finzi)

The melodic contour of the vocal line is never virtuosic or obtrusive, and this quality of "homeliness" is determined by Finzi's speech-like word settings. The shapes of his melodies often follow the rise and fall of the inflection of the conversational or reciting voice. This has the effect of making Finzi's vocal lines quite unforced, natural, and often emotionally low-pitched and conversational. (Banfield, 282) In settings, Finzi aptly uses a mixture of lyrical arioso and recitative. (Boyd, 21)

Rhythmically, the vocal lines of Finzi's songs are obvious conversational matches to the poetry. (Banfield, 325) In some settings, on the surface, Finzi's rhythms can appear to be highly complex and difficult, yet upon reading the text they make sense. Finzi emphasizes that "the natural rhythm and stress of words must be preserved at the expense of metrical accents." (G. Finzi, 10) However, he sometimes uses metric manipulation of irregular with regular meters for proper transcription of syllabic emphasis. (Cline, 34) When setting poetry with lines of equal length and more recognizable rhyme schemes, Finzi exhibits more regularity and repetition. (Parker, 14) The overall rhythmic freedom of the vocal line within the framework of a more tightly constructed instrumental accompaniment is crucial to the effectiveness of much of Finzi's vocal writing. (Long, 9)

Finzi's songs are almost exclusively syllabic. (Banfield, 325) In his lectures, "The Composer's Use of Words," Finzi does not express opposition to melismatic settings, but he recognizes that such a style places words in a somewhat secondary role. (G. Finzi, 2) He writes: "Melisma . . . can become the handmaid of a melodic line and enhance it in a way that syllabic treatment could never do, even though it may be, in a slight way, at the expense of the words." (G. Finzi, 5) However, his feelings regarding virtuosic exhibition in song are clearly stated:

He also did not exalt the extreme of merely heightened speech:

With his prevalent syllabic style, Finzi's own position on the continuum indeed can be seen as ruled more by the words and his respect for their recognition. Perhaps Finzi felt a close affinity with the French songwriters, whose common use of syllabic settings he correlated with an intense respect for their language. (G. Finzi, 5)

Banfield refers to the severely syllabic style as "the circumscribed invention of the vocal content," (Banfield, 325) and criticizes it as a limitation as most evident in Finzi:

Finzi, however, recognizes more florid settings, as exemplified by Benjamin Britten, as an acceptable, alternative style to that in which words are the first consideration. (G. Finzi, 7) He states that "neither view is better than the other; their value is in their difference; neither are new conceptions and both styles will inevitably flower again and again, one after the other, for the continual refreshment of the spirit." (G. Finzi, 8)

Accompaniments

Donald Ivey credits Finzi, along with Warlock, with the establishment of a more linear texture in English song writing with greater contrapuntal interest between accompaniment and vocal line. (Ivey, 239) Finzi's affinity for contrapuntal writing is quite evident early on, and the imitative aspect, even when it is not strict counterpoint, stays very strong throughout his life. Finzi's writings indicate preference for the free or partially free type of imitation. (Hansler, 397) Interludes and underpinnings in the accompaniments are riddled with imitative entrances based on motives from the melodic line. Motivic ideas, much more than harmonic ideas, control forward movement, (Cline, 32) often resulting in what is considered to be rather weak harmonic progression. (Banfield, 280)

The essentially vocal inspiration gives Finzi's accompaniments certain other limitations. The first of these, an excessive continuity, contributes to one of the cliches of Finzi's work. The steady pulsing bass line, and other such ostinato patterns in accompaniments not unlike Elgar and Vaughan Williams, are characteristic of many songs. (Long, 9) A second limitation is apparent in Finzi's piano accompaniments. In the early years, they were not really piano writing at all. They were just contrapuntal lines. (Ferguson) Finzi was not a pianist, and even though it was his chosen instrument for composition, he could not play his own accompaniments. (C. Finzi) Only in the later years did Finzi develop a feeling for writing for the piano, especially notable in all the late songs. Howard Ferguson states that although these late works are not pianistic in the normal sense, they do sound admirable on the piano in a completely individual way. (Ferguson)

Formal Structure

It is difficult to define a consistent architectural basis for Finzi's songs, for he rarely duplicates a form. The loosely through-composed variety is among the most effective because Finzi can thus seize all the dramatic possibilities of the poem. (Boyd, 21) Longer songs tend to avoid sectional repetition and become "arioso scenas" whose segments are differentiated by varying rates of movement and figurations, which may or may not possess cross-references between them. (Banfield, 287) Straightforward strophic form is most uncommon; Finzi rarely uses wholesale strophic repetition, preferring to group stanzas into some other perceptible patterns. Most dual-stanza poems are composed to sound like "a single musical paragraph with a caesura in the middle." (Banfield, 287)

Melancholy Influence

Ferguson has commented on the private side of Finzi which revealed a certain melancholy and which affected his composition greatly. His earlier works were almost always slow and lyrical. Slow movements and songs of larger works were invariably the first to be composed. Ferguson states that this was the characteristic mood of his music. (Ferguson, 132) An example of this can be seen in the completed single songs of the late 1920's which came to be parts of later published sets: Dies Natalis, Farewell to Arms, and Two Sonnet by John Milton. The majority of these were slow, lyrical songs, (Banfield, 444-5) "but, as he himself said, a composer grows not only be developing his natural bent, but by reacting against [it]; so it need not surprise us if his mastery of a more vigorous, extrovert type of music was a later manifestation." (Ferguson, 132) Faster music was much harder for him to write in the early years; however, this apparently was one technical weakness which he overcame by the later years. (Ferguson)

From: Samuel Rudolph Germany's dissertation entitled: The Solo Vocal Collections of Gerald R. Finzi Suitable for Performance by the High Male Voice. Dr. Germany extended permission to post this excerpt on December 20th, 2010.

"Cyclic" (Collective) Publication/Performance

Finzi's preparation of completed songs into collections for publication was a task involving much thought and immense care. Only one of the collections can actually be viewed as a cycle, and Finzi did not wish his Hardy settings on the whole to be viewed as cycles. Nonetheless, all songs were published in sets. Although it is doubtful that he created songs with cycles or sets in mind, he would have viewed the finished collections as complete volumes. (C. Finzi) Finzi claimed that in grouping the songs for publication, he was lessening the chances of a single song being overlooked or not being performed. (Banfield, 290) Joy Finzi noted Gerald's emphatic thoughts about the collective nature of his work. The ordering of songs within a set was intended to provide significant contrast for cyclic performance. (Vogel, 5)

Diction Considerations

Finzi's son, Christopher, and Ferguson both agree that a major consideration for singing the songs of Finzi is the articulation of the language. Christopher states that many singers, especially those with big voices, have difficulty singing English well. (C. Finzi) In addition to a lyric voice, Ferguson states that special notice of the consonants is necessary in order to achieve proper articulation of the diction. (Ferguson) Finzi himself stated that "to the composer for whom words are significant (for they are not significant to all composers) the surest way to communicate with his audience is for them to be able to hear and understand the words he is sharing with them." (G. Finzi, 4)

Interpretative Indications

In his detailed approach to language setting, Finzi made frequent use of grace notes. Rhythmically, they should always appear before the note. (Ferguson) Unfortunately, other details of the musical score are not always as clear. Ferguson, a frequent interpreter of Finzi's music in performance, noted that in the early years, Finzi exhibited a great deal of uncertainty in matters of detail for the performer:

Due to his lack of performance experience, Finzi had little confidence in such matters. These problems, however, began to diminish with his conducting the Newbury String Players. It was really with them that he first learned the point of view of a performer, which he had ridiculed before. As a result of these experiences, his attention to interpretative indications became more detailed. (Ferguson)

Even with this increase in direction, Finzi was still less specific than some other composers. This was due, largely, to his never performing as a soloist and to his lack of proficiency on any instrument. Thus, even with his increased experience via conducting, he was unaware of all the specifics a performer would want to know. (Ferguson) Furthermore, as a profoundly shy man, he was far too embarrassed to provide a good interpretation of his own music for performance. (C. Finzi)

Finzi always looked to the performer for appropriateness in good interpretation of his work, and there was flexibility in his thought process for that. Finzi realized that no amount of markings could guarantee a good performance. He was comfortable with the idea of different interpretations of his compositions. Dangers do exist, however, among the less than ideal situations of performance. Christopher Finzi, who has conducted many of his father's works, notes a tendency among performers to overdo the direction Finzi did give. (C. Finzi) Ferguson remarks that, regarding dynamic indication, sometimes too little and sometimes too much was given; overall, it would be better just for the singer to react. (Ferguson)

Ferguson gives important remarks concerning the appropriate interpretation of Finzi's accompaniments. As one of Finzi's oldest and closest friends, he was often involved in the making of a Finzi work. He knew Finzi's musical mind as well as anyone. Ferguson was the pianist in several premiere performances, as well as on recordings. (McVeagh, 19) His remarks indicate that rubato, especially at the marginal level, is an essential feature of Finzi's music which cannot accurately be indicated and which is vital to the accompaniment. Furthermore, it is this feature which makes Finzi's music difficult for some to interpret at the piano. "It's rather rare to encounter somebody who naturally feels how Gerald's music should go. It's partly a give and take rhythmically and a live line instead of something that's strict." Ferguson was influential in the selection of Clifford Benson as pianist for several recent recordings of Finzi's works, noting that Benson has a remarkable natural feel for Finzi's piano accompaniments. (Ferguson)

Ferguson enumerates other elements which are essential to an appropriate interpretation of Finzi's piano accompaniments. It is obvious that in Finzi's music there is never a conception of a vocal line and a foundation upon which it is set. Instead, the pianist must recognize the equal partnership which exists between voice and piano there are many times that the accompaniment seems to be singing exactly what was just sung by the voice. The contrapuntal nature of the piano writing supports what should be incorporated in any accompaniment. "You have to mentally orchestrate it, so that it's in different layers of sound, rather than something flat that you just throw at the wall." (Ferguson)

Vocal Preferences

Commentators have noted general inclinations in Finzi's voice designations for his solo works. Joy Finzi spoke of Finzi's affinity for middle-ranged instruments and voices. (Cline, 25) It has been noted that this affinity included male solo voices. In the last year of Finzi's life, Joy reported on a compositional effort: "Hoping it was going to be a tenor song it turned, in the final making, into an inevitable baritone." (Banfield, 299) Previously documented research efforts have already supported this fondness for the baritone. (Cline & Vogel)

It has been recognized that Finzi had a marked preference for the male solo voice in general, (Ferguson & C. Finzi) but perhaps this feature has not been given adequate notice. There is a marked absence of anything written specifying mezzo soprano and no work exclusively for soprano. Only Dies Natalis lists the soprano voice, and then it is an option (soprano or tenor). Of the nine collections compiled by Finzi himself, eight contain specifications for male voice and none contain the generic high/low voice indication. Four of the thirteen solo collections were published posthumously, and only these contain the generic indication. Finzi's possible intentions for these latter works appear in the "Editors' Notes" from the published scores of Oh Fair to See and till Earth Outwears. When explaining the transposition of songs, the editors state that Finzi described uncertainty over whether a given song was suitable for baritone or tenor. Perhaps, had Finzi lived to publish the remaining works himself, his previous practice would have continued with predominant specification of the male voice. (Finzi, Editor's note)

Finzi song lists do show a majority of works written specifically for baritone. However, errors in previous research data possibly have exaggerated this as a greater percentage than it is in actuality. Donald Vogel's research of 1966 contains a listing of Finzi's published compositions by opus number. Vogel includes the solo vocal collections, giving the number of songs in each, but without detailing the individual song titles. (Vogel, 117-9) Banfield's research of 1981 contains a more specific listing of all the individual songs and fragments composed by Finzi, published and unpublished, indicating those compiled to form solo vocal collections. (Banfield, 444-7) (See Appendix A.) Taking into account deleted items from Banfield's list which are irrelevant to this study, (see annotation) both lists contain the same vocal collections, which, in fact, include 71 songs. However, Vogel lists only 63 songs in the body of his document. It is obvious from the way he lists the items in his Appendix that he fails to count Dies Natalis, Farewell to Arms, and Two Sonnets (all with tenor designations) among the total song compositions of Gerald Finzi. These would account for the eight-song difference between his quoted figure of 63 and the actual total of 71 songs which are included in the combined collections. Furthermore, Vogel's introductory statement is not consistent with his own appendix list. He states that 39 songs are designated specifically for the low male voice, whereas, in his own list, only 22 songs are shown as specified for baritone. His miscalculation goes on to list seventeen remaining songs for low voice which could be suitable for the male voice, an error which inaccurately presents the works for baritone as constituting 89% of Finzi's output. (Vogel, 2) According to Banfield, there are 27 songs specified for baritone, with twelve remaining for low voice, giving 39 which could be appropriate for baritone, a possible 54.95 of the complete output. (Banfield, 444-7) (See Appendix B.)

Second highest on the list of songs would be works written specifically for tenor. Fourteen songs were written specifically for tenor, and another four for soprano or tenor. (annotation) Of the remaining fourteen posthumously published works for high voice, many could be considered more appropriate for the male singer due to textual considerations. All of these fourteen could be appropriately performed by tenor. This constitutes a total of 32 songs, from six collections, a possible 45.1% of Finzi's output, which could be performed by the high male voice. (annotation) (See Appendices A. & B.)

Additional data taken from solos in major choral works support this penchant for the male soloist. The high male voice, specifically, is given exclusive, significant solo designation in two of Finzi's most substantial choral works, Intimations of Immortality and For St. Cecilia. (McVeagh, 596)

Finzi respected various specific singers; however, soprano Elsie Suddaby is the only female singer mentioned by commentators. Tenors Eric Greene and Wilfred Brown and baritones John Carol Chase and Robert Irwin were frequently used in performance and recordings of Finzi's works, and Finzi thought well of them. (Ferguson & C. Finzi) With these singers, Finzi's noted preference for the lyric, as opposed to the dramatic, voice type is evident. (Ferguson) Although there were singers whom he did respect, Finzi never wrote anything with a specific singer in mind. His conception of the songs was totally abstract. (C. Finzi)

Transposition

Finzi's abstract manner of composition, perhaps, went so far as to affect the general range of his works in many cases. When the posthumous songs were edited for publication, some were transposed because it was known that Finzi would have had no objection to that. Finzi frequently, and quite cheerfully, transposed songs himself in order for them to fit into a particular set. Ferguson states support for the possibility of transposition of published sets into a low or high edition:

Christopher Finzi notes that the fact his father wrote more for the baritone was simply because he possessed a baritone range himself. Finzi, no doubt, would have been pleased with "anything to get a good performance." (C. Finzi)

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SUMMARY

From: Samuel Rudolph Germany's dissertation entitled: The Solo Vocal Collections of Gerald R. Finzi Suitable for Performance by the High Male Voice. Dr. Germany extended permission to post this excerpt on December 20th, 2010.

Gerald Finzi's solo vocal music offers a significant contribution to the general repertoire of twentieth century English solo literature and to the specific repertoire of the high male voice. Finzi combines a profound understanding and love of English literature and of the sounds of the English language itself with an awareness of the expressive potential of the music elements of solo art song in a consummate fashion. Neither his medium nor his materials were novel. His primary concern was the integrity of expression, not the innovation thereof. His art appears as a culminating expression with the simple objective of capturing in music "the essence of poetry that moved him, and, in his own way, to embellish, underscore, and reflect the poetry so that it would touch the heart and soul of the listener." (McCoy, 191)

Finzi's "musical language is significant in that it stands apart from that of many of his contemporaries." (McCoy, 191) His melodic lyricism, textual imagery, and essentially tonal harmonic idiom place him firmly in a strong affinity with the Romantic method of expression. Such rootedness was evident early on and remained so without clearly delineated periods of creative change throughout his life.

Finzi valued the retained ability to react emotionally to life, much as a child reacts or should have the freedom to react. He was thus motivated to set poetry that moved him in this respect, frequently settling upon that in which the past was more intense than the present. He hated the idea of things passing. Thus, with a sense of subtle melancholy, he perpetuated many of the techniques and tools of the Romantic era not only in his solo music, but also in his choice of texts. Through John Milton, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Traherne, William Wordsworth, and other writers, he found his freedom to respond.

Possibly Finzi will be remembered for the linear contrapuntal texture of his accompaniments, so masterfully exemplified in the works discussed in this document. The consistent quality of accessibility and pleasantness, both to the performer and the listener, found in his songs will probably remain as a memorable feature. Other traits of his style and compositional practices, as featured in the compositions for high male voice, have also received attention. Perhaps in the long term, it will be the immaculately sensitive word-settings of such creations as Dies Natalis that will mark him for perpetuation. Commentators have remarked that no other composer predated him with such articulate, idiomatic settings of the English language to his degree. Whether the setting was of a simple metrical poem, a literary work considered too complete in itself for music, or a complex unsettable text, the wedding of his music to the mood of the text creates a synthesis which is truly remarkable.

For the high male voice specifically, the twentieth century English repertoire will probably never again claim as significant a body of work as that composed by Benjamin Britten for Peter Pears. Although Finz's collections do not comprise such a quantitative body of work for tenor, they are nonetheless substantial. This study has shown fourteen songs in three set written specifically for tenor (Farewell to Arms, Two Sonnets by John Milton, and A Young Man's Exhortation), and four songs of Dies Natalis written for soprano or tenor. Of the two posthumous collections for high voice, Oh Fair to See and Till Earth Outwears, containing fourteen songs, many could be seen as textually more suitable for male voice. It should be recognized that these works are representative of compositional efforts throughout Finzi's life.

A secondary focus of this document was to investigate any possible substantiation for a predilection for male solo voice in the writings of Finzi. Such a predilection would provide more support for the appropriateness of performance of these works specifically by high male voice. The following data does appear to support such a penchant for the male solo voice in general:

(1) Both Howard Ferguson and Christopher Finzi commented in personal interviews that Gerald Finzi did indeed appear to prefer the male solo voice.

(2) Solo vocal collections compiled by Gerald Finzi in his lifetime are designated predominantly for male voice. Seven of nine collections are indicated to be exclusively for male voice, three for tenor and four for baritone. Of the remaining two collections, none are indicated to be exclusively for female voice. All the generic, high/low voice collections were posthumously compiled and published from individual songs which remained unpublished at his death. Editor's notes in these editions contain Finzi's remarks which could support his intention to set a least some of these songs for male voice.

(3) Only Dies Natalis specifies the option of female voice; yet it has been reported that Finzi himself indicated his preference for its performance by tenor.

Given this data, Finzi's predilection for male solo voice seems apparent, and this should affirm the appropriateness of a designated body of material specific to the repertoire of the high male voice. This body of material includes a total of32 solo songs in six collections, including the two posthumous collections for high voice. In the cas of Dies Natalis, further data from live performances and recordings support a tendency for performance by tenor. In the years since Finzi's death, some commentators report a tradition in England of the performance of Dies Natalis by tenor. All recording of Dies Natalis since the first one have been done by tenors.

Specific compositional; practices of Gerald Finzi possibly could support an even greater body of literature appropriate for the tenor voice:

(1) Finzi's mode of composition was an abstract one, in which no specific singer was ever in mind.

(2) On the testimony of Christopher Finzi, the large number of baritone writings occurred, not because h preferred such a voice type, but because he essentially had a baritone range himself.

(3) It has been documented that Finzi did not compose works with an organizational key scheme, indicating no particular series of key relationships which should be maintained between songs.

(4) Finzi frequently transposed songs in order to compile appropriate collections, indicating that no specific pitch range or color was set in his mind in association with a particular song. The editors of the posthumous collections saw the transposition of songs as completely acceptable and in keeping with Finzi's own practice.

(5) Ferguson reported in a personal interview that transposition of his published works would have been perfectly acceptable to Finzi. However, due to a tendency for low piano writing, it would be most appropriate to transpose the works written for low voice up for a higher range.

Thus, it could be possible that many or all of the works for low male voice could be effectively transposed into high edition, appropriate than for performance by high male voice. Such a possibility would lend further support to the general philosophy of Gerald Finzi: "anything to get a good performance."

Finzi's commitment to literature and its expression through song was lasting. His desire to reach out beyond his own time was more than just a backward look to the music and texts of times past:

With his continuing focus on inexorable time, Finzi buried under the porch of his home at Ashmansworth one of his song settings. The setting is on a text by James Elroy Flecker, "To a poet a thousand years hence":

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APPENDIX A

From: Samuel Rudolph Germany's dissertation entitled: The Solo Vocal Collections of Gerald R. Finzi Suitable for Performance by the High Male Voice. Dr. Germany extended permission to post this excerpt on December 20th, 2010.

COMPREHENSIVE FINZI SONG LIST

Banfield, Stephen. Sensibility and the English Song: Critical Studies of the Early 20th Century, 2 volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, 444-7.

Sources: Gerald Finzi, 1941, 1951; Diana McVeagh, 1975-81

Key:

Song # / Title / (Author) / (Gerald Finzi's Comp. Date)
____ indicates Vocal Collection/op. # / voicing / (publication date) /
premier performance data

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APPENDIX B

From: Samuel Rudolph Germany's dissertation entitled: The Solo Vocal Collections of Gerald R. Finzi Suitable for Performance by the High Male Voice. Dr. Germany extended permission to post this excerpt on December 20th, 2010.

LISTING OF GERALD FINZI'S SOLO VOCAL COLLECTIONS

BY VOICE DESIGNATION

(Germany, 137-9)

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Unpublished Biographical Excerpts

The following is a biography for Gerald Finzi by John Keston. Mr. Keston extended permission to post this excerpt from his thesis on September 30th, 2011. His thesis dated May 1981, is entitled:

Two Gentlemen from Wessex: The relationship of Thomas Hardy’s poetry to Gerald Finzi’s music.

This excerpt begins on page sixteen and concludes on page thirty-one of the thesis.

AN INTRODUCTION TO GERALD FINZI'S BIOGRAPHY

In order to write a short biography of Gerald Finzi, it was necessary to go to the primary source, his widow Mrs. Joy Finzi, who resides in England. After a great deal of research in libraries and through correspondence, it was discovered that there were no secondary source materials available. Musician friends of the writer of this thesis, resident in England, found that Finzi's widow was still alive and active in immortalizing the composer's music. Correspondence with Mrs. Finzi revealed that indeed there was little written about her husband. A few notes about his life appear on record jackets, but they are insufficient for a comprehensive biography. British musicologist, Diana McVeagh, has been working on Finzi's life and work since his death and her is to be published within the next year or two according to Mrs. Finzi. [Diana McVeagh published the biography: Gerald Finzi His Life and Music in 2005 by The Boydell Press]

This writer arranged to interview Mrs. Finzi at her home in the county of Berkshire, England, on the 20th and 21st of November, 1979. The ensuing biography was compiled from recordings and written notes taken at these interviews with Mrs. Finzi who graciously imparted her knowledge and reminiscences of her talented husband, allowing this writer to share information hitherto unpublished, with his readers.

CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL

British composer Gerald Finzi was born in London, July 14th, 1901, into a prosperous middle class family. His childhood was lonely, unhappy and unsettled by his father's death when he was just six years old [Gerald's father died in 1909 when Gerald was eight years old]. Of the five children in the family, all boys [incorrect - the oldest sibling of Gerald's is his sister, Kate], Gerald Finzi was the youngest. His early childhood was further overshadowed by the death of three of his brothers. The first died when Finzi was eleven, the second and third when he was twelve and seventeen. He had not much in common with his family. His mother, hardly able to cope with the boys, sent Finzi to a preparatory school in Camberly, Surrey, in the South of England. He hated school and made up his mind not to learn. The only subject that he really cared for was music, he played the organ and was interested in composition. He entered school at age eight and left at age thirteen. While at school he demonstrated, deliberately, an inability to learn and was kept in the same form for four years. Today, Mrs. Finzi says, "He would be considered a mental reject or retarded." (Joy Finzi, interview)

FINZI LEAVES SCHOOL

He did not like school and wanted to leave; so he devised a plot to get out of school by staging fainting spells which he did most convincingly. He said that they were perfectly feigned. He believed children were so much cleverer and inventive in this regard than adults. The last fit at Camberly was staged while taking a bath. He lay there just leaving his nose above the water and this so agitated poor matron that she summoned the doctor who thought it would be better if the boy left school. Thus Finzi intrigued his way out of school at the age of thirteen and never had any more formal schooling. He had got his way. (Joy Finzi, interview)

TO THE CONTINENT AND BACK

His mother then took him to Switzerland with his brother. Finzi's widow says that this was a marvellous time for him; that he enjoyed Switzerland immensely. Unfortunately for him, World War I broke out while they were there and so plans were made to return to England. His mother was somewhat eccentric and insisted that the family stop en route in Paris to visit the Louvre. She wanted her boys to see the Winged Victory. They were traveling sixty pieces of luggage, but in spite of this they went to the Louvre. Although there were no official guides or public there, (the Parisians were taking the war seriously and the Germans were close at hand; they could hear the guns being fired) she insisted on having the two boys see the Winged Victory and practically forced her way in. After this incident they continued the journey to England, arriving safely. (Joy Finzi, interview)

FINZI'S INTEREST IN MUSIC AND LITERATURE

Finzi had decided while in school at Camberly that he wanted to be a composer. He had left there at age thirteen and received no further education. Mrs. Finzi said that he believed in what Samuel Johnson had said "never learn anything until the not knowing of it is a positive nuisance to you." (Joy Finzi, interview) Like Hardy, Finzi was an avid reader of prose and poetry. His widow explains that from age thirteen on he was entirely self-taught. He build a vast library, a remarkable collection of books, which, because of his loneliness, he turned to as his friends. Mrs. Finzi has since donated the library to the University of Reading. The room in his home which housed all his books has been replicated at the University and is called the Finzi room. It comprises his writing desk and chair, the more that ten thousand books which he collected during his lifetime and other personal paraphernalia: ink wells, pens, envelopes and notepaper.

DECISION TO COMPOSE

While in preparatory school in Camberly, Finzi played the organ and enjoyed his music, but hated his other studies. He was later advised by Sir Charles Stamford, a composer at the Royal Academy of Music, not to go into music. His widow says that he immediately took no notice of this; he was determined from his prep school days to become a composer and set out to do so. (Joy Finzi, interview)

YORKSHIRE

On the family's return from Switzerland and because of the war Finzi's mother had decided that the family should move to the middle of England to be away from the southern coastal areas where she thought there might be an invasion by the Germans. (Joy Finzi, interview) They went to live in Yorkshire.

PRIVATE STUDY

Having previously decided to become a composer of music Finzi started his composing career by studying privately in Yorkshire under Ernest Farrar, a vital young English composer whose works were now being recognized. Farrar later enlisted in the army and was sent to France where he was killed in action. Finzi was seventeen at this time and had just lost his third brother. These events again deeply saddened and affected him. (Joy Finzi, interview)

YORK MINSTER

Throughout his life Finzi was haunted always by thoughts of transience, mortality and time's swift passing. (McVeagh, record cover notes) Still determined to compose and after the tragic loss of his composer teacher Ernest Farrar, he went to study privately under Sir Edmund Bairstow who was organist at York Minster in the city of York. Here, according to Mrs. Finzi, he gained valuable experience. Bairstow was an immensely practical man and he had Finzi arrange many anthems and other music for the choir. He was given the responsibility of rehearsing them. Another of his duties was to play the organ. Mrs. Finzi said that his experience at York Minster until 1922 affected his style of piano playing for which he was not renowned; he was not a pianist. She, however, liked the way he played, saying, "It was a sort of creepy crawly style." (Joy Finzi, interview) Finzi felt it a great deprivation never to have formally studied an instrument. He believed strongly that the discipline of learning to play an instrument while the body is growing and changing, whether strings, woodwind, brass or voice, was marvellous for the mind. Because of this belief he insisted that it is not by chance that there is an extremely high percentage of intelligence among the students of the English Choir Schools. (Joy Finzi, interview)

LONDON 1925-30

In 1925, Finzi went to London and studied for a short time with R. O. Morris. (McVeagh, record cover notes) Between 1925 and 1930 Finzi sketched out many compositions, some of which were not finished until twenty or more years later. "Intimations of Immortality," based on Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood," for tenor, choir and orchestra, had its first performance on September 5th, 1950, but had been started before his marriage in 1933. (McVeagh, record cover notes)

ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC

From 1930 to 1933 Finzi was professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He took the place of Sir Arthur Bliss who had gone to the United States. Here Finzi was required to teach composition as a second subject. Second subject in music conservatory in England is a required course for a specific degree but not related to the major. Finzi found in teaching composition as second subject that he was dealing with students who rarely had any talent for this discipline. "He found it dreary and heavy going," recalled his widow. (Joy Finzi, interview) Apart from his teaching at the Royal Academy of Music and a position with the British Ministry of Transport during the Second World War, Finzi did no other work apart from freelance composing. (Christopher Finzi, record cover notes)

FINZI MEETS JOY OR MARRIAGE

While teaching at the R.A.M. Finzi met and married his wife Joy. They were wed in 1933. Mrs. Finzi had her own private income and was keen for her husband to work at his music, so she encouraged him to spend all of his time composing. He gave up his teaching position and they removed to the country, to Ashmansworth near Newbury in Berkshire. (Joy Finzi, interview)

INDEPENDENCE AND COMPOSITION

Being financially independent, he set about composing seriously. However he was a slow worker and needed to discipline himself to work daily. Vaughn Williams influenced Finzi a great deal in this regard. He told Finzi that he believed in a strict regimen of work, telling him, "You must be using your talents, keeping them stimulated so that when the ideas come it's like sharpening your pencil; they are sharp and clear." (Joy Finzi, interview)

WORK HABITS

Mrs. Finzi recounts her husband's work schedule as follows: he composed at the piano from nine a.m. until noon, had a light lunch and a cat nap, resumed at one p.m. or a little after, broke for tea around four p.m. and then worked again until early evening. He never worked nights because he had trouble sleeping. On rare occasions when a score or arrangement had to be finished he would stay up late. (Joy Finzi, interview)

MUSICAL INFLUENCES

In talking with Mrs. Finzi it became apparent that her husband had been an aware, sensitive, caring and gentle man. Evidences of his character, his shyness and reserve; his love of the country, his deep spirituality and love of fine literature are reflected in his music. He was not a braggart and disliked that trait in others. He was humble and concerned himself with as near musical perfection as possible to match the mastery of the poetry that he chose to set. This sometimes caused him great difficulty and he worked rather slowly. (Joy Finzi, interview)

A MUSICAL POPLAR

Because Finzi hated contrived music, he would put an unfinished piece away so that it would work itself out in his subconscious. (Christopher Finzi, record cover notes) This contributed to his slowness. Mrs. Finzi says that as a composer, her husband was more like Edward Elgar, who was like a poplar growing straight up, having one idiom of musical expression. He was not at all like his friend Vaughn Williams whose composing was like an oak tree that branched out in many musical veins. he admired other composers and especially the English ones; those already mentioned and Butterworth, Warlock and Gurney whose music he helped make known, and many others. He thought Britten had marvellous powers of application and that he was like Mahler and Meyerbeer, but that there was not much behind his music. (Joy Finzi, interview)

POETRY AND WORDS

Mrs. Finzi says that Finzi always thought behind his music and indeed he had realms to think about because he used the finest authors' works and there is not one trite or flippant text in any of his music. Thomas Hardy, Traherene, Wordsworth and Shakespeare are those whose works he chose to set and his musical understanding of the sentiments and rhythms of these settings is not only exceptional, but very beautiful. In the last fifteen years there has been an intense interest in Finzi's music and musicians all over the world are discovering the simple pastoral beauty of his works. Finzi's music evolves from his wide and deep experience of reading. His unusual settings of the English language come from his close association of words. Mrs. Finzi says that the vocal lines of her husband's songs so closely follow the natural inflection of the speech of Thomas hardy's poetry because his spiritual affinity for the words and their meanings was acute to an almost finite degree. Indeed, Finzi had a very special response to Hardy and could not read any of his poems without sensing the musicality of the text. (Joy Finzi, interview)

THE DARK YEARS OF WORLD WAR II

Finzi's work on Hardy's poetry continued until the Second World War broke out in 1939, when he decided to help in the war effort. he took a job with the British Ministry of Transport in London, which necessitated his staying in the metropolis. All the young British musicians had been called up and there was little real music being created in the British Isles at all during the dark years of 1940 to 1946. Finzi would go to his home in Newbury each weekend to be with his family. There he and his wife started the Newbury String Players in the winter of 1940. he said he would conduct if his wife, a fine violinist, would get the strings together. There were many professionals living in Newbury away from London because of the war who welcomed the idea and so the group was formed. Their first concert was played in Ashmansworth Church in the village where the Finzis lived at Christmas time and created a good impression upon the audience of about one hundred. Finzi had previously expressed the fear that the players would no doubt have enormous fun playing for themselves, but unless they were good it would be no fun for the listeners. This first concert allayed those fears and the group all agreed that it was worthwhile and important that they continue. The war years were a time of great musical deprivation in England with so many musicians in the armed forces. The group performed as many concerts as possible giving at least twelve concerts per year where music was wanted and needed. Conducting the group had a great beneficial effect upon Finzi's scoring. He was not really a conductor and said so himself, but he loved to make music. (Joy Finzi, interview)

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MUSIC BROUGHT TO LIGHT

While in London with the Ministry of Transport during World War II, Finzi used his spare time researching eighteenth century music because he was always looking for new music for the Newbury String Players. He was instrumental in bringing to light a great deal of eighteenth century music that had been forgotten. He collected a large selection of this music which came to the notice of Cedric Thorpe Davey, composer, professor and head of the music department at St. Andrew's University, Scotland, who recommended that the collection be bought for their archives and conservation. (Joy Finzi, interview)

CONSERVATIONISM

Besides uncovering and conserving ancient music, Finzi was an avid horticulturalist and saved many species of English apples from extinction. He loved to grow things and apples were his speciality. It grieved him that with the disappearance of the private gardener who grew apples for his own table, certain species were in danger of being lost forever. He an a friend formed a movement for the conservation of the endangered species. Finzi much like Hardy was a true countryman who liked to identify with simple country folk. He did not care for them to know he was a musician. He was a shy man and said that "if you are not shy you are not yourself; you are being someone else." He did not like parties, but enjoyed small groups of friends. (Joy Finzi, interview)

FIRST PERFORMANCES

After the war Finzi returned to the country to continue composing. During this time he heard performances of his works. He never felt first performances were very satisfactory. It was difficult to get good first performances and his chief reason for hearing these was only to see if he was satisfied with the work on its technical merit. He was not egotistic about his work and wanted only for it to be right for every one of his own demanding musical aspects. Finzi was always amazed at what people said and what was written about his music. He wrote for the sound alone without any profound attention to or analysis of form and structure. (Joy Finzi, interview)

GILDING THE LILY

Commenting on criticism of his settings of two Milton sonnets in 1936 Finzi stated:

I do hate the bilge and bunkum about composers trying to 'add' to a poem; that a fine poem is complete in itself, and to set it is only to gild the lily . . . Obviously a poem may be unsatisfactory in itself for setting, but that is a purely musical consideration -- that it has no architectural possibilities; no broad vowels where climaxes should be, and so on. But the first and last thing is that the composer is (presumably) moved by a poem and wishes to identify himself with it and share it. (Diana McVeagh, record cover notes)

SELF COMMENTARY

In expressing sentiments about his work as a composer Finzi said:

The artist is like a coral insect building his reef out of the transitory world around him and making a solid structure to last long after his own fragile and uncertain life. Some curious force compels us to preserve and project into that future the essence of our individuality and, in doing so, to project something of our age and civilization. For me, at any rate, the essence of art is order, completion and fulfillment. Something is created out of nothing, order out of chaos; and as we succeed in shaping our intractable material into coherence and form a relief comes to the mind (akin to the relief experienced at the remembrance of some forgotten thing) as a new accretion is added to that projection of oneself. As happens, it is likely that new ideas, new fashions, and the pressing forward of new generations will soon obliterate my small contribution. Yet I like to think in each generation may be found few responsive minds. To shake hands with a good friend over the centuries is a pleasant thing, and the affection which an individual may retain after his departure is perhaps the only thing which guarantees an ultimate life to his work. (Christopher Finzi, record cover notes)

THE LAST YEAR

It may be stated that Finzi did not have any specifically prolific period of composition, but kept working steadily and slowly, sometimes going back to unfinished works that had been started many years before. However, during his last year of life (he was dying of Hodgkin's disease) he had a burst of song writing, says Mrs. Finzi. He wrote quite a few songs that year and scored "In Terra Pax" for orchestra for the Three Choirs Festival. (Joy Finzi, interview)

THE MUSIC IN MY HEART I BORE

Gerald Finzi died in 1956 and in Ashmansworth Church is a memorial window to him celebrating English music and English composers. It was engraved by Lawrence Whistler and the design shows music as a symbolic tree, its roots beginning with the initials of fifty English composers listed below and bordered by single lines from English poetry that Finzi so loved.

15th Century

John Dunstable d 1453

Robert Fayrfax 1464 -1521

John Taverner 1495 - 1545

16th Century

Thomas Tallis 1505 - 1585

Thomas Whythorne b 1528

William Byrd 1543 - 1623

Thomas Morley 1557 - 1603

Giles Farnaby 1560 - 1640

John Dowland 1563 - 1626

Thomas Campion 1567 - 1620

Martin Peerson 1572 - 1650

Thomas Tomkins 1562 - 1656

John Wilbye 1574 - 1638

Thomas Weelkes 1574 - 1623

Orlande Gibbons 1583 - 1625

17th Century

John Blow 1649 - 1708

Henry Purcell 1659 - 1695

18th Century

Thomas Arne 1710 - 1778

William Boyce 1710 - 1779

John Stanley 1713 - 1786

Richard Mudge 1718 - 1763

John Garth 1722 - 1810

Chapel Bond 1730 - 1790

Charles Wesley 1757 - 1834

19th Century

Hubert Parry 1848 - 1918

Charles Stanford 1852 - 1924

Edward Elgar 1857 - 1934

Frederick Delius 1862 - 1934

Vaughan Williams 1872 - 1958

Gustav Holst 1874 - 1934

Rutland Boughton 1878 - 1960

John Ireland 1879 - 1962

George Butterworth 1885 - 1916

Ernest Farrar 1885 - 1918

W. Denis Brown 1889 - 1915

Ivor Gurney 1890 - 1937

Arthur Bliss 1891 - 1975

Herbert Howells 1892 -

Peter Warlock 1894 - 1930

E. J. Moeran 1894 - 1950

20th Century

Edmund Rubbra 1901 -

Gerald Finzi 1901 - 1956

William Walton 1902

Robin Milford 1903 - 1959

Alan Rawsthorne 1905 - 1971

Michael Tippett 1905 -

Elizabeth Maconchy 1907 -

Howard Ferguson 1908 -

Anthony Scott 1912 -

Benjamin Britten 1913 -

The preceding Gerald Finzi biography was by John Keston. Mr. Keston extended permission to post this excerpt from his thesis on September 30th, 2011. His thesis dated May 1981, is entitled:

Two Gentlemen from Wessex: The relationship of Thomas Hardy’s poetry to Gerald Finzi’s music.

This excerpt began on page sixteen and concluded on page thirty-one of the thesis.

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Unpublished Dissertation Excerpts

The following are introductory remarks, biographical material about Gerald Finzi, information about Thomas Hardy, and concluding statements by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post these excerpts from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:

Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation

This excerpts begin on page one through thirty-three and continue on page seventy-nine through page eighty-two.

In 1951, at the age of 49, Gerald Finzi was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. (Banfield, 422) In reaction to that terminal diagnosis, Finzi added the above as a postscript to a preface written some then years earlier for the catalogue of his complete works. Finzi called the original preface Absalom's Place, and in it he presented his beliefs about his role as a composer and his hopes for his works:

There can be no doubt that much of what Finzi envisaged for himself and his work, as well as his own life expectancy, was cut short by the terminal diagnosis and by his subsequent death in 1956. That there have been "a few responsible minds" who have kept his music and legacy alive is a testament to the devotion of the people around him, as well as to that almost intangible quality in his music that allows Finzi to "shake hands" with many friends today and friends yet to come.

A survey of the available literature on Gerald Finzi shows that, while there were a few articles written about him and his music toward the end of his life, most of the significant research has happened only in the last few years. The publication in 1998 of Stephen Banfield's definitive biography, Gerald Finzi - An English Composer, presents the first complete analysis of Finzi's life and work. Banfield's earlier work, Sensibility in English Song (1985) also provides valuable insight into Finzi and his Hardy settings. Also recent is a volume by John C. Dressler entitled Gerald Finzi - A Bio-Bibliography (1997). The book is valuable for its twin biographical entries, one by Dressler and one by Finzi's long time friend Howard Ferguson. Also of great value is the largely complete bibliography of Finzi scholarship, recollections from performers and associates of Finzi's, lists of performances and recordings, and lists of works, both those finished and those that exist as sketches or were merely planned. Both of these valuable contributions to scholarship on Gerald Finzi were aided by the efforts of the Finzi Trust, an organization formed by Joy Finzi and others in the 1960's to promote the music and legacy of Gerald Finzi. In that role it has sponsored recitals and competitions, underwritten recordings, and promoted scholarship on Finzi. In addition to these major efforts, Gerald Finzi has been the subject of several research projects at both the master's and doctoral level. Papers by Mark Robert Carlisle, Leslie Alan Denning, B. Burton Parker, David Schubart and others, have looked at various aspects of Finzi's song composition, including his settings of Thomas Hardy poems for both high and low voice. These studies give valuable insights into the repertoire that they discuss, but all were written before the most recent Finzi scholarship and consequently do not have the benefit of that research.

What is there about Finzi's music and, specifically his songs, which warrant further study? As will be seen, he was not among the major figures in twentieth century music, even in Britain, where he was eclipsed by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten. He also did not embrace and indeed worked outside of the prevailing currents of mid-century compositional practice. Finzi's output of compositions was also small in comparison with that of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten, and included no symphonies or operas. Gerald Finzi himself is a study in contrasts. Here was a thoroughly English composer of Italian and Jewish background writing music with a distinct romantic flavor in the middle of the twentieth century. His voice was so much his own that his style remained relatively unchanged throughout his life, undisturbed by the tumult of the musical and physical world around him. The author contends that it is that singular, eloquent voice that compels attention. It is a musical voice with a distinct literary bent. It is a voice that does not just apply itself to a text, but rather seeks to conjoin with the text in such a way that neither element seems complete without the other. Herein lies the key to the songs' intrinsic value. Stephen Varcoe, who recently recorded all of Finzi's Hardy setting for low voice, commented about them, saying:

In order to place Finzi's song composition into a larger context, it is instructive to briefly look at the major currents in song composition in Britain during that time. Instrumental music in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century was heavily influenced by the Germans, specifically by Brahms, to some extent Wagner and with the avant-garde represented by Richard Strauss. (Abraham, 38) There was no strong English school of composition until the rise of Edward Elgar (1857-1934), whose melodic and harmonic language showed the influence of Schumann, Liszt and Wagner, with his orchestration that of Richard Strauss. (Plantinga, 400) Elgar's contributions to the song repertoire were not large but his influence on twentieth century English music is considered significant. Every British composer up until Benjamin Britten was held up to comparison. With the advent of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) and Gustav Holst (1874-1934), music in Britain found a means of breaking from the bonds of German influence by the embracing of English folk song. This shift not only allowed for the development of specific British style but also, by its reliance on the folk-song idiom, reduced the influence of the more avant-garde musical current from the rest of Europe. (Abraham, 39)

The period between the end of the nineteenth century and the second world war saw a growing relationship between English music and English poetry that has been termed the English Musical Renaissance. (Banfield, notes) Stephen Banfield, in his study Sensibility and English Song, has chronicled six events around 1900 that were significant in creating a new approach to English song. The events are not themselves related, but together helped set the course that English song composers, Gerald Finzi among them, would follow. First among these was the publication in 1896 of A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Houseman, which did much to bring about a heightened literary sensibility among composers. A second unrelated event was the performance in 1899 of Edward Elgar's Sea Pictures, which was reminiscent of the song-cycles of Mahler. Though significant for elevating the song genre out of the ballad, it produced no similar works by Elgar or any other English composer. The remaining four events are categorized by Banfield in pairs, the first being representative events, and the second being prophetic. The two representative events of around 1900 are the first performance of Sir Arthur Somervell's Tennyson song-cycle, Maud in 1899 and the first performance of Roger Quilter's Four Songs of the Sea, op. 1, in 1900. Both of these events represent initial performances of works by composers who had significant song writing careers. The events termed by Banfield as prophetic are the concert given in London in 1899 of the works of Delius (his first hearing there) and the founding in April of 1902 of a journal called The Vocalist which was to be concerned with the English solo song and its exponents. (Banfield, 2-3)

It its first issue, The Vocalist printed an editorial that commented on the sorry state of the song-writing art in England at the time:

The editor's reference to the ballad, and its hold over composers and public alike, was a reaction to the complete dominance of the form throughout the Victorian era. The ballad, with few exceptions, grew into a stereotypical form which was characterized by poetry and music of pedestrian quality, the two elements often only having an incidental relationship with each other. The form was so prevalent that most every English composer of the period participated in the genre, with the active support of the publishing houses, (Banfield, 13) The Victorian ballad, as it continued, became more of a decorative art than a musical one.

The ballad's prominence not only served to stifle creativity in the song-writing form in England, but also created a virtual firewall between England and the German Lied tradition and, for the matter, much of the Romantic movement. There had been no real vocal music response in England to the Romantic movement as there had been in the rest of Europe which meant that the musical sensibilities of Schubert, Schumann, Wagner and even Brahms had, by the end of the nineteenth century, been neither duplicated nor assimilated by composers of song. (Banfield, 14) The native musical tradition in England was thought by many to have stopped with Henry Purcell. However, there had been a significant response to the Romantic movement in England in the area of literature and, in the end, it was the composer's discovery and assimilation of that literary response that led English song out of the mire of the ballad and into the lyricism of the English Musical Renaissance. (Banfield, 15)

As was mentioned earlier, one of the significant events that led to the increased romantic sensibility of the song form in England was the publication of A Shropshire Lad by A.E. Houseman in 1896. For the next several decades, most every composer in England tried his hand at setting the poems, to varying result. Composers as diverse as C. Armstrong Gibbs, George Butterworth, Arnold Bax, Ivor Gurney, John Ireland and Ralph Vaughan Williams all contributed settings, as did many others. Interestingly, Gerald Finzi wrote some fragments on Houseman texts, but produced no complete songs unlike most of his contemporaries. During this time several other poets proved to be inspirational to song composers. Among them was the American poet Walt Whitman who enjoyed a popularity with composers almost equal to Houseman's. From Charles Wood and Charles Villiers Stanford in the early part of the century to Ralph Vaughan Williams later on, Whitman texts continued to be set, Vaughan Williams noting later in life that Whitman was an influence he had never outgrown. (Banfield, 27)

It was of course British poets who really fueled the renaissance of song composition. With the death of Queen Victoria and the era that bore her name, song composers turned to the group of poets collectively know as the Pre-Raphaelites. Among their group were Algernon Charles Swinburne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter de la Mare, the aforementioned A.E. Houseman, and Thomas Hardy. (Banfield, 90) The musical response to this poetry during the Edwardian age has been characterized as largely harmonic and was influenced by two significant forces. One was the teaching of Charles Villiers Stanford with whom most every composer of the early part of the century studied. The other was the method of training of musicians of the time which included harmony taught first and counterpoint second, the first instruction being felt to have exerted the greatest influence. (Banfield, 90) It is worth noting here that Gerald Finzi was not among those who studied with Stanford, although Ernest Farrar, with whom Finzi studied, did. Also, the most significant change in Finzi's style resulted form his eventual study of counterpoint. (Banfield, 280)

The period between the first and Second World War has been characterized by Banfield as a period of lyrical retreat. (Banfield, 208) It embraced a sensibility that longed for the idealized rusticity of the country and a fantasized idea of childhood. The large group of poets who embraced this retreat was collectively known as the Georgians, named for King George the V who had recently been crowned. Among their number were Walter de la Mare, whose earlier works had been included with the Pre-Raphaelites, and Rupert Brooke. The movement's effect on composers of the period can be seen in their embracing of the English folk song tradition as well as in the increased use of modality as a harmonic device. (Banfield, 208) This can be seen very clearly in the poetry and music of Ivor Gurney, in which Gerald Finzi took a keen interest. Finzi set several of Gurney's poems and, along with Howard Ferguson, was instrumental in getting Gurney's songs published beginning in 1937, the year of Gurney's death. (Dressler, 13)

While this is not a complete survey of the currents of English song composition in the first half of the century, it does provide a background in which to place the works and person of Gerald Finzi. If the English Musical Renaissance was brought about by an embracing of poetry, then Finzi surely stands as the supreme example of the ideal. His love of the English countryside, which is evidenced by his life and his music, also places him securely within that framework. Yet, it is clear that during his lifetime and up to the present day, Finzi's music has escaped both easy classification and wide public knowledge. As early as 1946, in the first lengthy article written about Finzi, N.G. Long, writing for the British journal Tempo, gives what amounts to a defense of Finzi and his style. In this article, Long decries the prevailing means of judging music:

The preceding were introductory remarks, biographical material about Gerald Finzi, information about Thomas Hardy, and concluding statements by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:

Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation

These excerpts began on page one through thirty-three and continue on page seventy-nine through page eighty-two.

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