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Living JWdsters  of  Music 

GRANVILLE  BANTOCR 


ANNEXH.  O.  ANDERTON 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


LIVING    MASTERS    OF    MUSIC 
EDITED  BY  ROSA  NEWMARCH 


GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 


<;KA\\  II.I.E  BANTOCK 
1914 

Photo,  by  H'alter  Scott 


BY  H.  ORSMOND  ANDERTON 


LONDON  :   JOHN  LANE,  THE  BODLEY  HEAD 
NEW  YORK:  JOHN  LANE  COMPANY    MCMXV 


PRINTED  IN   GREAT   BRITAIN  BV 
W.    BRENDON   AND    SON,    LTD..    PLYMOUTH 


MU 

4-iD 


PREFACE 

(    MANY  hold  that  a  man's  friends  are  not  fit  to  write  his 

^    biography  because  they  are  too  partial.    On  the  other 

I    hand,  a  man's  enemies  are  certainly  not  fit  for  the  task  : 

j    they  are  too  prejudiced.    "  Impartial "  people  only,  it 

is  said,  can  do  the  work  properly.    But  these  Minoses 

can  only  fit  themselves  for  the  undertaking  by  entering 

5  into  sympathetic  relations  with  their  subject,  i.e.  by 

<  becoming  his  friends,  and  so  ceasing  to  be  impartial. 

I   And  thus  this  singular  argument  ends  in  a  vicious 

circle. 

Why  all  this  solemn  pretence  ?     Why  not  frankly 
•\  acknowledge  friends  in  the  first  instance  and  judge 
T  according  to  the  result  ?     Only  by  sympathy  can  one 
man  understand  another ;    and  the  greatest  dramatic 
poet  is  he  who  can  get  inside  another  man's  skin,  see 
through  his  eyes,  feel  with  his  heart,  and  think  with  his 
brain  :     only   so — through   sympathy — can   he   realise 
and  show  forth  his  characters. 

Bantock  and  I  are  friends,  it  is  true.  I  have  received 
many  kindnesses  at  his  hands,  and  I  am  pleased  to  own 
it.  I  do  so  frankly,  and  my  readers  are  welcome  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  fact.  He  and  I  are  in  many  ways 
opposed :  our  philosophical  views,  our  outlook  on  life, 


vi  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

differ :  our  friends,  in  fact,  often  say  that  we  agree  in 
nothing  :  but  we  agree  to  differ,  and  we  do  so  friendly. 
Biography  of  a  living  man  is,  of  course,  subject  to 
many  reticencies.  There  are  personal  matters  that 
should  not  be  public  property  :  and  the  affairs  of  others 
are  often  involved  and  act  as  a  restriction.  Much, 
however,  can  be  given  that  is  of  interest :  and  this, 
I  hope,  will  be  found  in  these  pages. 

H.  O.  A. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE    .......         v 

CHAPTER 

I.     INTRODUCTORY  :  THE  SETTING  OF  THE  PICTURE         i 

II.     EARLY  LIFE  UP  TO  ENTRANCE  AT  THE  ROYAL 

ACADEMY  OF  Music          .         .         .         .14 

III.  ROYAL  ACADEMY  OF  Music,  1889-93     .          .       20 

IV.  DIFFICULTIES,  1893-7.          ....       28 
V.     NEW  BRIGHTON,  1897-1900.         ...       43 

VI.     BIRMINGHAM,  PART  I  .         .         .         .         .68 

Midland  Institute,  1900 — Conducting, 
etc. — Songs,  'Cello  Pieces  Greek  Plays, 
Choral  Works,  Omar,  1906-9. 

VII.     BIRMINGHAM,  PART  II         ....     104 

University  Work — Birmingham  Philhar- 
monic Society — Competition  Festival  Work — 
Adjudicating,  etc. — Unaccompanied  Choral 
Music — Part -Songs,  Atalanta,  Vanity  of 
Vanities — Instrumental  Work,  String  Orches- 
tras, Dante  and  Beatrice,  Fifine,  etc. — The 
Great  God  Pan. 

VIII.     PERSONAL  MATTERS  AND  TRAITS  .          .140 

LIST  OF  WORKS          .....     147 
WORKS  BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF  THIS  VOLUME   .     156 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PORTRAIT,  1914  (Walter  Scott)         .  .  Frontispiece 

FACSIMILE  LAST  PAGE  OF  OMAR  .  .  page  93 

PORTRAIT,  1904  (J.  Russell  &  Sons)  .  .       „  104 

FACSIMILE  PAGE  OF  PAN     .         .  .  .       „  131 

BROAD  MEADOW  (Reginald  Haines)  .  .       „  141 

MANUSCRIPT  AND  SIGNATURE          .  .  .       ,  16 


GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 


GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

CHAPTER    I 

INTRODUCTORY.     THE   SETTING  OF  THE   PICTURE 

To  one  travelling  through  a  forest  it  is  sometimes 
difficult  to  judge  which  are  the  tallest  trees.  One  must 
get  away  from  the  over-arching  roof  of  leafage,  away 
from  the  glades  and  alleys,  and  the  fretwork  of  light 
and  shade,  to  some  open  space — if  possible  to  a  piece  of 
rising  ground  whence  one  can  see  the  woodland  spread 
out  at  one's  feet,  and  note  the  mightier  trees,  perhaps 
a  pair  of  giant  oaks  or  beeches,  that  stand  out  above 
their  fellows.  And  in  the  same  way,  if  the  ordinary 
observer  to-day  were  asked  to  name  the  largest  person- 
alities in  the  musical  worldof  England, leaving  outDelius, 
who  is  now  more  Continental  than  English,  he  would 
perhaps  find  it  difficult  at  first  to  answer.  Ask  a  foreigner, 
however,  and  the  answer  would  come  without  hesitation 
— Elgar  and  Bantock.  They  are  the  two  outstanding 
figures,  and  complementary  to  each  other,  though  they 
do  not  cover  the  whole  range  of  the  English  spirit.  There 
is  none  of  that  sweet  delicacy  of  woodland  charm  which 
is  so  common  among  the  poets,  in  either  of  these  :  and 
there  is  not  the  spirituality,  or  the  peculiar  seraphic 


2  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

blitheness  that  we  find  in  the  best  of  Walford  Davies's 
work,  or  again  in  Byrd's.  But  they  do,  in  a  sense, 
supplement  and  complete  each  other.  Elgar's  outlook 
is  largely — one  might  say  chiefly — religious,  and 
especially  Catholic.  The  Dream  of  Gerontius  is  full  of 
intense  religious  fervour ;  and  such  works  as  The 
Apostles  and  The  Kingdom,  though  far  behind  that  in 
essential  quality,  show  the  same  devotional  attitude  of 
mind.  The  symphonies,  too,  are  Western  in  their  type 
of  mentality.  The  idea  of  the  first — the  return  of  man's 
spirit  to  faith  and  strength  after  long  battling  with  the 
difficulties  and  doubts  of  life — is  cast  in  the  mould  of 
the  West.  Another  aspect  of  Elgar's  mind  is  shown  in 
the  Pomp  and  Circumstance  marches,  and  the  Froissart 
and  Cockaigne  overtures — a  glorification  of,  and  exulta- 
tion in,  this  external  visible  life,  which  essentially  and 
typically  is  characteristic  of  our  homme  moyen  sensuel. 
On  the  whole,  too,  Elgar's  music  has  a  peculiar  nervous 
excitement  which  seems  to  arise  from  a  somewhat 
feverishly  neurotic  temperament :  this  being  the  case 
with  The  Music-Makers  and  the  symphonies  to  a  re- 
markable extent. 

With  Bantock  all  is  different.  His  outlook  is  rational- 
istic, and  largely  Eastern,  though  this  latter  phase  is 
rather  less  pronounced  since  the  completion  of  Omar. 
He  hates  all  pomp,  and  circumstance,  and  ceremony, 
with  a  perfect  hatred.  Instead  of  Imperial  or  Corona- 
tion marches,  he  gives  us  a  Labour  March.  His  music 
shows  none  of  that  nervous  excitement  of  which  I  have 
spoken.  So  far  from  the  devotionalism  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  we  find  in  him  not  infrequently  that  note  of 
arraignment  of  the  very  nature  of  things,  that  defiance 
of  Providence,  which  is  so  strong  in  Shelley,  and  which 
Fitzgerald  has  imported  into,  or  greatly  intensified  in, 


INTRODUCTORY  3 

his  translation  of  the  Riibdiydt  of  Omar  Khayyam,  as, 
for  instance  : 

O  Thou,  who  man  of  baser  earth  didst  make, 
And  even  with  Paradise  devise  the  snake, 

For  all  the  sin  wherewith  the  face  of  man 
Is  blackened,  man's  forgiveness  give — and  take  ! 

(LXXXI.) 

Or  again : 

Ah  Love  !  could  you  and  I  with  Him  conspire 
To  grasp  this  sorry  scheme  of  things  entire, 
Would  we  not  shatter  it  to  bits,  and  then 
Remould  it  nearer  to  the  heart's  desire  ! 

(XCIX.) 

At  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  in  Shelley — 
and  in  all  such  writers — there  is  a  subconscious  instinct 
of  appeal  to  some  more  remote  power  or  ideal.  There 
is  an  ideal  Order  of  the  Universe,  they  feel,  in  which  the 
actual  visible  order  is  condemned.  In  Shelley,  the  Zeus 
whom  Prometheus  defies  is  at  last  dethroned  by  the 
ordinance  of  this  overruling  justice  :  and  in  ^Eschylus 
there  was  some  harmonisation,  though  we  know  not 
exactly  what.  Though  they  think  they  arraign  the 
nature  of  things,  they  unconsciously  stultify  the  verdict. 
More  terrible  is  Shakespeare's  indictment  in  King  Lear  / 
but  that  was  a  phase  through  which  he  passed  to  the 
tranquillity  of  his  last  period.  Bantock  dwells  upon 
and  intensifies  such  passages  in  a  way  that  makes  his 
own  sympathetic  attitude  clear.  A  striking  instance  is 
the  close  of  Omar,  II,  where  the  first  of  the  above- 
quoted  passages  brings  this  section  of  the  work  to  a 
large  climax,  and  where  this  defiant  protest  is  thundered 
out  with  all  the  forces  at  command  on  a  chord  of  Dfr, 
the  trumpets  blaring  out  against  it  a  C,  and  the  whole 
ending  with  this  rebellious  discord. 

On  Bantock's  bias  for  Oriental  colouring  and  ways  of 


4  GRANVILLE  BANTOCK 

thought  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  much  ;  this 
aspect  of  his  genius  is  already  a  commonplace.  The  use 
of  Eastern  scales  and  melodic  phrases,  the  sympathetic 
treatment  of  the  imagery  of  Omar,  in  which  the  Sultan, 
the  Angel  of  Death,  the  Hand  of  Fate  writing  human 
lives,  the  shadow-dance  of  humanity,  the  Beloved,  the 
garden  of  roses,  and  the  wine,  are  the  chief  figures 
employed — his  choice  of  these  subjects  and  long- 
self-identification  with  them  are  sufficient  to  show  his 
essential  kinship  with  this  aspect  of  the  Oriental  mind. 
And  yet  there  is  of  course  a  strong  vein  of  the  West  in 
him.  He  is  a  curious  mixture — what  one  might  call 
an  optimistic  pessimist.  His  ultimate  views  of  life  and 
destiny  are  those  of  Omar — pessimistic ;  but  his  more 
vigorous  Western  organisation  gives  him  a  zest  for  the 
life  that  hovers  for  an  instant  in  the  jaws  of  oblivion, 
and  brings  him  to  the  typically  pagan  position  of  Horace 
— carpe  diem  :  or,  as  it  is  put  in  nobler  form  in  the  work 
which  he  has  set  comparatively  lately : 

Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might : 
For  there  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom, 
in  the  grave  whither  thou  goest. 

(Eccles.  ix.  10.) 

There  is  another  contrast  between  the  two  musicians, 
that  will  perhaps  be  of  interest.  Elgar's  symphonies 
and  such  works  deal  with  ideas,  but,  if  one  may  say  it, 
in  the  somewhat  abstract  manner  of  the  philosopher — 
as  a  sort  of  artistic  Pure  Reason.  Bantock  always 
treats  such  matters  from  the  poet's  point  of  view.  He 
will  set  Meredith  :  or  he  takes  a  subject  such  as  Brown- 
ing's Fifine  for  orchestral  treatment,  where  the  problems 
of  human  relationships  are  veiled  beneath  the  move- 
ments of  living,  breathing,  human  personalities — of  the 
poet  who  feels  the  need  of  a  wider  mental  range  even 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

though  it  lead  him  into  the  snares,  the  wife  who  foolishly 
tries  to  confine  him  to  her  own  small  though  noble 
circle  of  life,  the  butterfly  figure  of  the  dancer  with  its 
allurement — and  the  consequent  catastrophe.  Bantock, 
like  Browning,  is  absorbed  by  this  great  question  ;  but, 
also  like  Browning,  he  shapes  the  matter  out  by  the 
drama  of  throbbing  human  creatures — goes  down  into 
the  bustle,  and  noise,  and  tawdry  vulgarity  of  "  the 
fun  of  the  fair,"  and  draws  his  views  of  life  from  its 
rough  and  tumble  :  while  Elgar,  on  the  contrary,  views 
it,  and  moralises  on  it  like  a  priest,  or  a  philosopher  aloof 
in  his  study.  Bantock's  figures  glow  vividly  on  his 
canvas  :  Elgar  hardly  has  figures  save  that  of  a  solitary 
muser. 

Of  this  pictorial  quality  in  Bantock's  music  one  need 
not  say  much.  Sometimes  it  is  little  more  than  surface 
painting  ;  but  in  other  cases  he  seems  to  penetrate  to 
the  heart  of  the  Idea,  and  work  from  within  outwards. 
To  those  who  have  not  felt  it  in  such  instances  as  the 
figure  of  Life  as  a  Caravan  stumbling  through  the 
desert,  or  the  Shadow-dance,  nothing  that  one  could 
say  would  much  avail.  Of  all  this  Elgar  has  nothing : 
he  writes,  as  I  have  said,  either  as  a  philosopher  or  as 
a  maker  of  "  abstract  music,"  whatever  that  phrase 
may  cover. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  two  are  really  in  a  true 
sense  complementary,  as  well  as  being  the  two  out- 
standing figures  in  our  musical  art  of  to-day.  At  the 
York  Festival  of  1910  both  had  works  performed  ;  and 
before  the  gathering  broke  up  the  two  were  photo- 
graphed together.  Men's  actions  sometimes  have  a 
significance  deeper  than  they  know  ;  and  we  may  see 
in  this  picture  a  piece  of  unconscious  symbolism  which 
is  not  without  a  very  real  significance.  It  is  hardly 


6  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

necessary  to  labour  the  antithesis  further  ;  what  I  have 
said  will  perhaps  prove  suggestive  to  the  reader  of  other 
points  of  contrast.  It  will  now  be  more  profitable  to 
turn  to  the  surroundings  into  which  these  two  figures, 
and  especially  of  course  our  own  immediate  subject, 
were  born,  which  moulded  them  to  some  extent,  and 
which  they  are  helping  in  their  turn  to  mould. 

During  the  years  1884-9,  when  Bantock's  interest 
in  music  awoke  and  kindled  into  life,  musical  conditions 
in  England  were  very  different  from  what  they  are  now. 
There  was  less  popular  interest  in  music  of  any  high 
value,  none  of  that  widespread  democratic  movement 
which  is  to-day  its  most  remarkable  feature — the  Musi- 
cal Competition  Festivals.  Music  in  the  provinces  was 
hibernating.  There  were  no  orchestras  out  of  London 
save  the  Halle  Orchestra  at  Manchester.  There  were 
choral  societies  which  practised  such  works  as  The 
Holy  City,  The  Wreck  of  the  Hesperus,  and  The  Ancient 
Mariner,  together,  of  course,  with  the  Messiah,  St. 
Paul,  and  Elijah.  In  London  and  the  suburbs  there 
were  similar  choral  societies  giving  similar  works,  but 
adding  others  such  as  The  Creation,  Schubert's  masses, 
and  Mozart's  masses  (especially  the  Twelfth,  which  is 
not  his),  and  a  few  more  modern  works.  Barnby  was 
doing  good  work  at  the  Albert  Hall,  where  he  produced 
Dvorak's  Stabat  Mater  for  the  first  time  in  England,  in 
1883.  Prout's  Borough  of  Hackney  Choral  Association, 
too,  were  cultivating  the  wilderness  of  the  East  End, 
and  performing  music  of  the  highest  class  :  and  modern 
works  were  slowly  filtering  into  the  country  by  other 
channels.  Bach  was  gradually  becoming  known : 
not  so  very  many  years  before,  anyone  ordering  a 
copy  of  the  Wohltemperirte  Klavier  had  to  wait  till 
it  could  be  procured  from  Germany.  In  1871  the 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

Matthew  Passion  was  performed  at  Westminster  Abbey, 
and  about  the  same  time  the  annual  performances  at 
St.  Paul's  were  established.  The  Philharmonic  Society 
had  for  years  been  doing  good  work,  performing  the 
best  music  in  existence  ;  and  the  season  of  1855  had 
been  conducted  by  Wagner,  who  had  somewhat  startled 
them  out  of  their  Mendelssohn  cult.  The  celebrated 
Popular  Concerts  at  St.  James's  Hall  reached  their 
thousandth  performance  in  1887,  and  were  a  powerful 
influence  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  chamber-music 
of  the  highest  class,  as  well  as  in  setting  a  high  standard 
of  performance.  A  galaxy  of  players  appeared  there 
— Joachim,  Halle,  Norman  Neruda  (afterwards  Lady 
Halle),  Piatti,  Ries  (2nd  violin),  Zerbini  (viola),  Mme. 
ScS'Umann,  and  in  fact,  all  the  principal  artists  of  the 
day.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  remarked  that 
although  there  were  by  now  many  English  musicians 
of  high  attainments,  public  favour  was  unduly  concen- 
trated upon  these  foreign  singers  and  players — a  fact 
which  retarded  our  own  musical  renaissance.  Intelli- 
gent interest  had  been  awakened  as  to  the  work  of  the 
Madrigal  Era,  and  the  Musical  Antiquarian  Society  had 
issued  in  score  many  works  by  the  best  writers  of  that 
period.  Chappell,  too,  had  made  his  very  valuable 
collection  of  folk-songs,  Music  of  the  Olden  Time,  which 
is  still  one  of  our  most  important  sources  for  such 
things.  Connected  with  both  these  undertakings,  and 
an  ardent  worker,  was  Macfarren,  of  whom  I  shall 
speak  in  a  moment. 

The  Triennial  Festivals  played,  at  that  time,  a  useful 
part,  and  gave  opportunities  for  works  to  be  heard  in 
the  provinces,  which  would  otherwise  have  been  im- 
possible. Unfortunately,  from  a  musical  point  of  view, 
although  some  new  works  were  performed  and  a  few 


8  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

commissioned  under  these  conditions,  these  festivals — 
— not  being  primarily  musical,  but  charitable  events, 
and  thus  being  under  the  management  of  non-musicians 
— tended  to  encourage  a  stagnant  state  of  things  ;  and 
the  works  more  heard  than  any  others  were  money- 
earners  such  as  Messiah  and  Elijah.  Of  course,  one 
must  not  lay  the  whole  blame  on  organisers  :  the  public 
demand  is  a  condition  which  has  to  be  reckoned  with. 
But  organisers  have  some  function  of  direction,  and 
this  they  abdicated.  They  cared  chiefly,  as  Plato  says, 
to  tickle  the  tastes  and  fancies  of  the  monster :  they 
gave  little  encouragement  to  English  musicians  :  the 
errors  of  each  reacted  on  the  other  :  and  the  result 
was  a  musical  morass,  or  quagmire,  which  is  only  now 
being  drained  and  cultivated. 

Among  those  who  had  done  most  thus  to  "  stub 
Burnaby  Waste  "  was  G.  A.  Macfarren,  who  at  the 
time  of  which  we  are  speaking  was  Principal  of  the 
R.A.M.,  and  Professor  of  Cambridge  University.  He 
was  born  in  1813,  and  his  long  and  strenuous  life  was 
spent  in  teaching  and  writing.  His  Chevy  Chace  over- 
ture was  produced  in  1836,  and  was  performed  later  in 
Leipsic  by  Mendelssohn.  His  John  the  Baptist  came  in 
1873,  and  King  David  in  1883.  But  his  less  pretentious 
work,  such  as  May  Day,  with  its  rustic  English  atmo- 
sphere, and  some  part-songs,  such  as  The  Three  Fishers, 
are  perhaps  more  essentially  valuable.  His  support  of 
the  Mendelssohn  cult  seems  to  have  been  somewhat 
excessive ;  but  his  later  growth  into  an  admiration  for 
Bach,  and  his  preaching  of  the  Bach  gospel,  were  a 
valuable  force  on  the  right  side.  At  the  time  of  which 
we  are  speaking  his  harmonic  theories  held  the  field. 
They  were  coherent,  and  brought  order  and  perspicuity 
where  previously  had  been  mere  empiricism.  They  had 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

the  defects  of  a  system,  however.  Neither  nature  nor 
art  can  be  got  into  a  bottle  :  and  though  an  aid  at  first 
the  system  became  later  a  restraint  that  prevented  free 
growth.  The  present  teaching  methods  are,  however, 
largely  founded  upon  him,  and  through  him  on  Day. 
He  died  in  1887,  and  was  succeeded  at  the  R.A.M.  by 
Mackenzie,  at  Cambridge  by  Stanford. 

Another  prominent  figure  was  that  of  Sullivan,  who 
was  born  in  1842.  By  this  time  (1889)  the  stream  of 
Savoy  operas  was  slackening,  though  performances 
went  on  merrily.  Pinafore  came  in  1878,  Pirates  in 
1880,  Patience  in  1881,  and  lolanthe  in  1882  ;  and 
however  we  may  regard  these,  they  were  at  least  a 
typical  product  of  the  time  we  are  considering,  and  so 
must  not  be  passed  over.  The  Martyr  of  Antioch  ap- 
peared in  1881.  The  great  but  ill-managed  experiment 
in  national  opera,  beginning — and  almost  ending — 
with  the  production  of  Ivanhoe  in  1891,  was  a  severe 
disappointment  to  many  who  had  hoped  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  permanent  opera  in  London.  The 
Golden  Legend  followed  in  1898,  and  in  1900  Sullivan 
died. 

A  personality  of  to-day,  who  was  then  one  of  the  more 
living  forces,  is  Parry,  born  in  1848.  His  music  to 
Aristophanes'  Birds  was  written  for  the  production  at 
Cambridge  in  1883.  Blest  Pair  of  Sirens  came  in  1887, 
and  Judith  in  1888.  In  1894  he  succeeded  Grove  as 
Director  of  the  Royal  College  of  Music,  which  had 
been  founded  in  1883  ;  and  in  1900  succeeded  Stainer 
as  Professor  at  Oxford.  His  books  on  music  are 
valuable.  The  Art  of  Music  appeared  in  1893,  and 
more  lately  there  has  been  a  good  one  on  Bach. 

A  man  of  great  promise,  and  with  a  growing  reputa- 
tion, was  Goring  Thomas,  who  was  born  in  1851,  and 


io  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

studied  under  Sullivan  and  Parry.  His  early  opera, 
The  Light  of  the  Harem,  appeared  in  1879  ;  the  cantata, 
The  Sun-Worshippers,  at  Norwich  in  1881  ;  the  opera 
Esmeralda  in  1883,  at  Co  vent  Garden  ;  and  Nadeshda 
(also  at  Co  vent  Garden)  in  1885.  Both  of  these  attained 
success  in  Germany.  Thomas's  hopeful  career  was  cut 
short  in  1892. 

The  next  whose  name  must  be  mentioned,  and  who 
at  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking  formed  one  of 
a  sort  of  triumvirate,  the  other  two  being  Parry  and 
Mackenzie,  is  Stanford,  born  in  1852.  He  studied  in 
Germany,  and  his  opera,  The  Veiled  Prophet,  was  pro- 
duced at  Hanover  in  1881.  In  1885  he  became  con- 
ductor of  the  Bach  Choir  in  succession  to  Goldschmidt. 
In  1883,  on  the  opening  of  the  Royal  College  of  Music, 
he  became  professor  of  composition  there,  and  succeeded 
Macfarren  at  Cambridge  in  1887.  His  German  training 
has  not  been  altogether  to  the  good  ;  but  in  some 
works  he  has  broken  away  from  this  influence  to  a 
considerable  extent,  and  the  choral  ballad,  The  Revenge, 
produced  at  Leeds  in  1896,  made  an  instant  appeal. 
His  Irish  descent  has  had  considerable  influence  on  his 
work,  and  the  Voyage  of  Maeldune,  the  opera  Shamus 
O'Brien,  and  some  Irish  songs,  are  among  its  fruits. 
Of  the  second  we  shall  hear  again  in  connection  with 
Bantock's  own  life. 

The  third  of  this  triumvirate  is  Mackenzie,  who  was 
born  in  1847.  He,  too,  was  trained  in  Germany,  and 
then  entered  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music  as  a  violin 
student  under  Sainton.  Jason  appeared  in  1882,  but 
his  larger  reputation  began  with  the  opera  Colomba  in 
1883  ;  and  this  led  to  the  Rose  of  Sharon  (Norwich, 
1884).  About  the  same  time  appeared  the  orchestral 
ballad,  La  belle  Dame  sans  Merci,  founded  on  Keats's 


INTRODUCTORY  n 

poem,  and  perhaps  Mackenzie's  most  valuable  orches- 
tral work.  The  Troubadour  appeared  in  1886  ;  and  in 
1888  Mackenzie  was  elected  to  succeed  Macfarren  at  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Music. 

When  Bantock  entered  this  Institution  in  1889,  there- 
fore, Mackenzie  was  Principal,  as  now  :  Parry  was  soon 
to  be  Principal  at  the  Royal  College,  as  now  :  and 
Stanford  occupied  his  present  position  on  the  staff. 
So  that  for  twenty  years  and  more  these  three  posts 
— and  one  of  them  for  thirty  years — have  been  in  the 
same  hands  :  a  fact  which  gives  food  for  thought. 

Another  of  this  generation,  with  whom  Bantock  came 
into  close  relations,  since  he  studied  under  him  at  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Music,  was  Corder,  born  in  1852. 
He  won  the  Mendelssohn  Scholarship  at  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Music,  and  went  to  Cologne  to  study  under 
Hiller.  His  opera  Nordisa  was  produced  at  Covent 
Garden  in  1887  ;  and  the  Sword  of  Argantyr  at  the  Leeds 
Festival  of  1889.  He  is  the  author  of  the  translations 
of  Wagner's  operas,  of  a  book  on  Instrumentation,  etc. 

Of  the  younger  men,  more  nearly  Bantock's  con- 
temporaries, one  need  say  little,  as  their  influence,  in 
this  earlier  period,  except  when  he  came  into  personal 
contact  with  them,  was  slighter.  Elgar  was  born  in 
1857.  He  was  to  have  gone  to  Germany  to  study,  but 
the  plan,  perhaps  fortunately,  proved  impossible.  He 
is  thus  an  English  product,  and  a  provincial  one,  since 
he  comes  from  Worcester  where  he  remained  till,  in  1877, 
he  went  to  London  and  took  violin  lessons  of  Pollitzer. 
He  then  returned  to  Worcester  and  became  an  organist. 
His  larger  reputation  was  delayed  till  after  Bantock's 
student  days  were  over.  The  Enigma  Variations  ap- 
peared in  1899  ;  the  Froissart  overture  in  1900.  In 
the  same  year  came  his  great  achievement,  Geronlius  ; 


12  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

in  1901,  Pomp  and  Circumstance ;    and  in  1903,  The 
Apostles. 

A  group  of  promising  students — Bennett  (now 
organist  at  Lincoln  Cathedral),  Ed.  German,  and  Stuart 
Macpherson — had  already  left  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Music  when  Bantock  entered,  the  last-named  remaining 
on  the  staff  as  professor.  McCunn,  too,  had  left  the 
Royal  College  of  Music  (resigning  his  scholarship  in 
1886),  and  had  produced  The  Land  of  the  Mountain 
and  the  Flood,  by  which  his  name  became  widely  known, 
in  1887.  The  cantata  Lord  Ullin's  Daughter  came  in 
1888  ;  and  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  at  Glasgow  in 
December,  1888,  and  the  Crystal  Palace  February, 

1889,  the  year  of  Bantock's  entrance  at  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Music.     Another  man  with  whom  Ban- 
tock was  thrown  into  contact  was  Wm.  Wallace,  who 
was  born  in  1860,  and  studied  for  two  terms  at  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Music  in  1889,  his  scena,  The  Lord  of 
Darkness  being  produced  at  one  of  their  concerts  in 

1890.  His  symphonic  poem  The  Passing  of  Beatrice 
was  brought  out  at  the  Crystal  Palace  in  1892  by 
Manns,  who  thought  highly  of  his  powers  and  did  a  good 
deal  for  him. 

For  a  fuller  realisation  of  the  conditions  at  this 
time,  it  should  be  remembered  that  though  Wagner 
had  died  in  1883  the  controversies  that  raged  about  his 
name  were  still  violent.  The  great  Wagner  Festival 
held  at  the  Albert  Hall  in  May,  1877  (Wagner  and 
Richter  conducting),  although  not  a  success  financially, 
had  stimulated  and  popularised  the  interest  in  Wagner 
in  this  country,  and  had  led  to  discussions  on  musical 
art-principles,  and  to  a  more  vivid  artistic  life  generally. 
The  Richter  concerts,  making  Wagner  propaganda  one 
of  their  main  features,  were  a  flourishing  institution. 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

Walter  Bache's  concerts,  too,  championing  Liszt's 
cause,  had  prepared  the  way  for  the  master  himself; 
and  at  his  visit  to  London  in  1886  he  was  received  with 
enthusiasm.  The  adherents  of  Brahms  were  crying  up 
their  hero  and  decrying  Wagner  as  such  people  usually 
do.  To  such  minds  it  seems  impossible  to  be  loyal  to 
one  man  without  running  down  another.  It  is  unin- 
telligible to  them  that  both  may  be  great  though  in 
different  ways  and  on  different  planes;  and  that  one 
order  of  mind  will  necessarily  admire  one,  while  another 
type  must  find  its  mental  nourishment  elsewhere.  Into 
these  controversies  Bantock  plunged  eagerly,  and,  as 
will  be  supposed  by  all  who  have  known  him  later,  he 
violently  espoused  the  cause  of  the  moderns.  Wagner 
and  Liszt,  as  iconoclasts,  appealed  to  his  pioneer  in- 
stincts. And  Wagner,  full  of  life  and  colour,  and  the 
passion  of  living,  enlisted  his  sympathies  far  more  than 
Brahms,  whose  somewhat  cold,  grey,  passionless — what 
one  might  call  abstract  and  philosophical — music,  left 
Bantock  cold  and  unresponsive. 

Such  is  a  hasty  sketch  of  the  conditions  into  which 
Bantock  was  thrown  at  his  entrance  into  the  arena  of 
his  future  life  and  labours  :  we  will  now  give  a  rapid 
outline  of  his  own  early  life  up  to  his  initiation  at  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Music. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY  LIFE  UP  TO  ENTRANCE  AT  THE  ROYAL 
ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC 

GRANVILLE  RANSOME  BANTOCK  was  born  on  the  7th 
August,  1868,  his  father  being  the  distinguished  surgeon 
and  gynaecologist,  George  Granville  Bantock,  M.D., 
F.R.C.S.EDIN.,  who  was  at  one  time  President  of  the 
Gynaecological  Society.  During  the  period  when  Lister's 
method  of  using  the  carbolic  spray  in  surgery  became 
fashionable,  Dr.  Bantock  and  Lawson  Tait  held  out 
strongly  against  the  innovation,  insisting  that  wounds 
did  not  heal  under  carbolic  influence,  and  that  all  that 
was  needed  was  absolute  cleanliness.  Although  he 
suffered  considerably  in  his  practice  for  many  years,  Dr. 
Bantock  refused  to  give  way  to  what  he  considered  a 
mistake.  Lister,  at  the  International  Medical  Congress 
at  Berlin,  said  :  "  Dr.  Bantock,  whose  remarkable  series 
of  successful  ovariotomies  may  seem  to  justify  his 
practice,  does  not,  I  believe,  prepare  his  ligatures 
antiseptically.  The  success  achieved  by  Bantock  and 
Tait  proves  a  stumbling-block  to  some  minds."  Dr. 
Bantock's  opposition  has  been  justified :  his  views  have 
finally  prevailed :  the  carbolic  spray  has  been  aban- 
doned :  clean  water  only  is  now  used :  and  what  is 
currently  called  Listerism  is  nearer  to  Bantock's  practice 
than  to  Lister's  own  early  gospel.  May  we  not  see  in 
this  dogged  persistence  in  the  face  of  overwhelming 
odds  on  the  part  of  the  father,  one  of  the  roots  from 

14 


EARLY    LIFE  15 

which  grew  that  untiring  perseverance  which  has  helped 
the  son  to  his  present  position  ? 

At  the  time  of  the  boy's  birth  the  family  were  living 
in  Cornwall  Road,  Westbourne  Park.  About  the  age  of 
six  he  went  to  a  preparatory  school  kept  by  three  ladies, 
in  Lancaster  Road.  Here  he  remained  some  three  years, 
and  then  went  to  Mr.  Shapcote's  school  in  Powis  Square. 
He  was  plodding,  and  a  good  worker  ;  his  memory  was, 
from  the  first,  good  ;  but — as  is  often  the  case  with  men 
built  on  a  large  scale,  mentally — he  was  not  quick  or 
brilliant  in  any  way  in  childhood.  He  took  piano  lessons 
from  a  lady  teacher,  but  hated  them,  and  shirked  practice. 

About  1880  the  family  moved  to  the  house  in  Gran- 
ville  Place  with  which  the  doctor  is  usually  associated. 
The  boys  (the  next  brother,  Leedham,  being  now 
included)  remained  for  a  time  at  Mr.  Shapcote's  as 
weekly  boarders.  The  school  was  given  up  shortly 
afterwards,  however,  and  they  were  transferred  to  Mr. 
Sutton's  in  Holland  Park. 

Although  he  worked  well  at  his  lessons,  he  was  no 
bookworm,  and  had  a  healthy  boy's  love  of  play  which, 
in  a  London  house  without  garden,  was  not  always  easy 
to  get.  The  favourite  cricket-pitch  was  a  long  passage 
at  the  top  of  the  house,  the  noise  and  racket  in  which 
were  constantly  bringing  down  reproofs  from  the  Olym- 
pians on  the  heads  of  the  budding  champions,  consisting 
now  of  Gran,  Leedham,  Claude,  and,  finally,  the  sister, 
Connie.  The  usual  children's  games  of  course  played 
their  part  ;  but  the  passion  for  trains  seems  to  have 
had  deeper  roots  than  usual  and  to  have  appealed 
to  some  mathematical  instinct,  which  has  apparently 
reappeared  in  still  greater  force  in  the  next  generation. 
The  passion  for  animals,  too,  which  has  remained  with 
him  through  life,  appeared  thus  early  ;  and  squirrels, 


16  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

snakes,  toads,  lizards,  white  rats,  etc.,  were  stowed 
away  somehow.  His  old  nurse  has  described  to  me 
her  disgust  when  the  white  rats  ran  over  her  at  meals. 
As  some  alleviation  of  this  cramped  life,  the  children 
had  friends  at  Turnham  Green,  then  a  country  place, 
whither  they  sometimes  went  to  stay.  Here  there 
was  a  large  garden  where  they  could  play  freely.  On 
one  occasion,  while  at  their  games  there,  Gran  got 
a  splinter  of  glass  into  his  little  finger.  An  operation 
was  necessary  to  remove  it ;  but  the  finger  got  drawn 
up,  and  has  never  fully  recovered. 

About  1884  (cetat.  16)  Gran  began  to  take  a  real 
interest  in  music,  and  a  liking  for  his  piano  lessons. 
This  slowly  developed  into  a  wish  to  take  up  music  as 
a  profession  ;  but  of  this — the  usual  story — the  doctor 
would  not  hear,  and  the  boy  began  to  prepare  for  the 
Indian  Civil  Service  Examinations,  first  at  school, 
and  finally  under  a  coach.  A  physical  trouble  saved 
the  situation.  Had  Schumann  not  injured  his  hand 
we  should  probably  have  had  one  pianist  the  more, 
and  been  the  poorer  by  much  of  his  finest  work.  In 
the  present  case  it  was  an  affection  of  the  eyes  that 
intervened  like  the  good  fairy  in  disguise.  He  was 
examined  by  a  specialist,  who  found  no  radical  defect, 
and  said  that  it  was  due  to  general  overwork,  and  that 
all  reading  and  study  must  be  given  up  for  six  months. 
This,  as  he  was  now  about  seventeen,  necessitated 
relinquishing  the  idea  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service ; 
and  he  again  tried  to  persuade  his  father  to  let  him 
adopt  music  as  a  profession.  The  doctor,  however, 
was  inexorable.  His  Scottish  nature  was  not  very 
readily  responsive ;  he  was  somewhat  autocratic 
and  reserved,  being  much  absorbed  in  his  exacting 
practice  ;  and  the  boy  was  timid  of  him.  In  the  result, 


EARLY    LIFE  17 

after  a  good  deal  of  uncertainty,  he  was  entered  as  a 
pupil  for  chemical  engineering  at  the  City  and  Guilds 
Institute,  in  South  Kensington. 

Here  again  the  parallel  with  Schumann  appears. 
Just  as  Schumann  neglected  his  law  studies  for  his 
pianoforte  practice,  so  Bantock — hating  his  task  of 
filing  down  six-inch  cubes  to  two-inch  cubes,  and  such 
diversions — spent  his  time  at  the  South  Kensington 
Museum  over  music-scores.  Lectures  were  jilted  for 
concerts  ;  he  plunged  into  the  ocean  of  music  as  into 
his  native  element,  and  became  a  devoted  worshipper 
of  Wagner  and  Liszt — in  those  days  the  symbols  of 
all  that  was  daring  and  revolutionary  in  art.  He  had 
had  no  teaching  at  all,  beyond  his  piano  lessons,  and 
knew  none  of  the  shoals  and  rocks  of  that  ocean  of 
music,  but  he  must  build  his  own  little  craft  and  go 
a-sailing  on  wider  journeys.  There  are  some  songs 
of  this  period  still  remaining  in  MS.  The  one  that 
appears  to  be  the  earliest  is  called  Sweet  Maid,  and 
has  mostly  an  "  Alberti-bass,"  changing  towards  the 
end  into  repeated  chords ;  the  harmonisation,  too, 
seems  to  indicate  a  first  attempt.  Next  comes  a  set 
called  Four  Songs,  though  there  are  actually  five, 
dated  December,  1888.  When  one  remembers  that 
he  had  never  had  a  lesson  in  harmony  in  his  life,  one 
wonders  more  especially  at  the  feeling  for  harmonisation. 
There  are  a  setting  of  Goethe's  Leise  zieht  durch  mein 
Gemuth  (in  transl.),  a  Love  Song,  Love  in  May,  In  the 
Forest,  and  Heine's  Du  bist  wie  eine  Blume  (also  in 
transl.).  There  is  also  a  Grand  Galop  that  shows  a 
distinct  idea  of  plan,  having  a  regular  episode,  and  a 
return  with  coda  and  cadenza.  Another  piano  piece 
seems  to  suggest  that  he  was  acquainted  with  Bach's 
two-part  Inventions. 


i8  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

At  last  the  Principal  of  the  Institute  sent  for  him 
and  told  him  he  was  doing  no  good,  and  that  his  bent 
was  evidently  for  art.  Bantock  agreed,  and  begged 
him  to  see  the  doctor,  and  do  what  he  could  to  persuade 
him  of  the  true  state  of  affairs.  Prof.  Armstrong 
accordingly  wrote  to  Dr.  Bantock,  who  called  to  see 
him.  Very  unwillingly  he  at  last  realised  the  position, 
and  allowed  Granville  to  leave  the  College  and  take 
some  private  harmony  and  counterpoint  lessons  of  Dr. 
Gordon  Saunders,  at  the  Trinity  College  of  Music, 
London.  These,  however,  only  lasted  three  months ;  after 
which  Bantock,  finding  his  desires  confirmed  by  this 
tentative  measure,  and  feeling  the  necessity  for  a  wider 
and  fuller  training,  succeeded  in  persuading  his  parents 
to  send  him  to  the  Royal  Academy. 

During  this  time  he  was  at  work  on  a  Requiem  Mass, 
and  a  symphony,  of  which  last  I  shall  speak  in  the 
next  chapter.  The  Requiem  shows  the  influence  of 
Rossini  in  the  cast  of  the  phrases.  I  was  surprised  to 
notice  this,  as  the  two  writers  seem  absolutely  alien. 
Bantock,  however,  explains  that  he  went,  about  the 
time  of  writing  it,  to  a  performance  of  the  Stabat  Mater, 
and  was  much  impressed.  Another  influence  is  apparent 
— that  of  the  Lohengrin  Prelude.  The  work  opens  with 
a  long  arpeggio  passage  on  a  chord  of  C,  first  major  and 
then  minor,  which  rises  to  the  extreme  treble  range, 
descends  a  little,  and  then  floats  away  into  the  heavens. 
A  similar  passage,  followed  by  an  Amen,  closes  the  work, 
evidently  symbolising  the  entering  of  the  soul  into  its 
rest.  There  is  a  distinct  feeling  for  harmonic  effect, 
and  altogether  the  mass  is  a  remarkable  effort  for  one 
entirely  untaught.  The  work  was  never  scored. 

I  will  only  mention  further  (i)  a  Polonaise  for  piano, 
which,  for  a  self-taught  youth,  is  certainly  good.  The 


EARLY    LIFE  19 

polonaise  rhythm  is  caught,  and  there  is  an  intelligible 
plan.  And  (2)  Two  Meditations  for  pianoforte  and  violin. 
The  first  is  rhythmically  alive  and  full  of  verve.  The 
second  is  more  remarkable,  in  a  way.  It  shows  very 
clearly  the  influence  of  Wagner's  Trdume,  and  the 
harmonic  freedom  of  the  piece  is  striking,  in  an  un- 
taught tyro. 

It  was  about  this  time,  or  rather  earlier,  that  I  made 
Bantock's  acquaintance  ;  and  in  the  late  July  and 
early  August  of  this  year  (1889),  he  and  I  went  together 
to  Bayreuth,  where  we  saw  Parsifal  and  Tristan.  We 
were  greatly  delighted  with  Niirnberg,  and  especially 
the  Lorenzkirche  with  its  many  memories.  Returning, 
we  came  down  the  Rhine  from  Mainz  to  Koln.  The 
whole  trip  was  a  memorable  experience,  and  one  which 
neither  of  us  has  forgotten. 

At  last  the  first  goal  of  Bantock's  ambition  was 
reached,  and  after  the  summer  holidays,  in  September, 
1889,  he  entered  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music. 


CHAPTER  III 

ROYAL  ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC,    1889-93 

IN  September,  1889,  then,  Bantock  entered  at  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Music  as  a  student  of  composition, 
under  Frederick  Corder.  He  also  studied,  at  various 
times,  and  in  varying  measures,  the  clarinet,  violin, 
viola,  organ,  piano,  and  kettledrums,  during  his  stay 
in  the  Institution  ;  and  has  since  played  also  the  horn 
and  tuba,  thus  gaining  experience  that  has  been  of 
service  in  his  instrumentation. 

The  first  competition  for  the  Macfarren  Scholarship 
occurred  at  Christmas,  1889,  just  a  term  after  his  en- 
trance. He  determined  to  compete,  but  thinking  that 
Corder  might  consider  him  presumptuous,  he  kept  his 
own  counsel.  He  sent  in  two  movements  of  a  symphony 
in  C  minor,  some  Monologues  for  Milton's  Satan,  and 
a  few  songs — all  written  without  advice  of  any  kind — 
and  was  successful.  The  scholarship  was  awarded  not 
so  much  for  attainment  as  for  promise,  and  provided 
three  years'  free  tuition  at  the  Institution.  At  the  end 
of  this  time  he  was  appointed  sub-professor,  an  office 
which  carries  no  salary,  but  a  reduction  of  fees. 

Of  the  symphony,  only  the  Scherzo  can  now  be  found. 
It  is  in  3/4  time,  Presto,  and  is  evidently  influenced  by 
Beethoven's  scherzos.  The  mirth  is  a  little  heavy,  and 
the  instrumentation,  as  might  be  expected  from  one 
entirely  without  experience,  very  uncertain.  More 

20 


ROYAL  ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC,  1889-93      21 

striking  are  Satan's  Monologues,  which  must  have 
weighed  heavity  in  his  favour,  showing  as  they  do  distinct 
dramatic  promise.  There  are  three,  taken  from  Paradise 
Lost,  I,  242-63  ;  I,  315-30  ;  and  IV,  70-93.  All  show 
the  influence  of  Wagner,  the  opening  of  the  first,  in 
particular,  that  of  Im  Treibhaus,  from  the  FiinfGedichte. 
To  the  last  line  of  this — 

Better  to  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven — 

we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  at  a  crisis  in  his  own 
career.  In  the  last  two  an  almost  identical  figure  is 
used,  and  these  are  perhaps  the  most  interesting.  The 
choice  of  such  a  subject  at  the  outset  of  his  career  is 
typical  of  his  attitude  throughout,  and  foreshadows 
the  rebellious  utterances  of  Omar.  Two  slight  settings 
of  Heine,  written  early  in  1890,  show  growing  experience, 
but  have  nothing  specially  distinctive. 

Judging  from  a  couple  of  his  reports  of  1889  and  1891, 
he  must  have  been  an  ideal  student.  Perhaps  such 
things  seldom  speak  more  truth  than  tombstones  ;  but 
Mr.  Corder  has  confirmed  their  testimony,  in  conversa- 
tion with  me,  and  spoken  of  him  as  even  then  the  inde- 
fatigable worker  that  he  has  shown  himself  since.  An 
indication  of  this  restless  energy  is  given  in  the  fact 
that  hardly  had  he  entered  when  he  was  one  of  the 
moving  spirits  in  the  foundation  of  an  Academy  maga- 
zine, The  Overture,  the  first  number  of  which  appeared 
in  March,  1890,  and  which  ran  for  four  years  under  the 
editorship  of  Mr.  Corder. 

Bantock  was  also  one  of  the  remodellers  and  most 
energetic  members  of  The  Excelsior  Society,  a  union  of 
students  past  and  present.  This  met  at  the  houses  of 
various  members ;  but  the  lion's  share  of  entertaining  fell 
to  Bantock,  and  the  spacious  drawing-room  at  Granville 


22  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

Place  proved  an  excellent  concert-room.  Mrs.  Bantock 
gave  a  warm  welcome ;  and  the  doctor,  having  some- 
thing of  the  statelier  manners  of  the  older  school,  added 
a  touch  of  courtliness  to  the  proceedings.  Chamber- 
music  and  songs  were  given,  besides,  as  a  rule,  compo- 
sitions by  members,  and  from  time  to  time  lectures  on 
Wagner  and  various  burning  questions  by  Corder  and 
others. 

Bantock  poured  out  a  profusion  of  compositions 
during  his  student  period.  One  of  these — a  continuation 
of  his  Miltonic  work — was  an  overture  called  Satan  in 
Hell,  a  typical  student's  subject.  It  was  tried  one 
afternoon  at  the  orchestral  practice.  After  some  fearful 
cacophanous  passage,  in  which  the  players  had  all  got 
inextricably  tangled  up,  Mackenzie,  who  was  conducting, 
exclaimed  in  despair,  "  Where  are  we  now  ?  "  To  which 
came  the  demure  reply,  "  In  hell,  sir." 

But  Milton  soon  proved  stale.  Bantock  yearned  for 
newer  and  greater  things  ;  he  was  under  the  influence 
of  the  fact  that  Wagner  had  written  his  own  poems, 
and  determined  not  only  to  do  the  same,  but  to  achieve 
distinction  in  pure  literature  as  well.  The  opulence  of 
his  schemes  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that,  besides  the 
grandiose  plan  of  twenty-four  symphonic  poems  on 
Southey's  Kehama,  he  projected  six  Egyptian  dramas, 
of  which  one — Rameses  II — was  written  and  published. 
He  wrote  also  another  play,  outside  this  scheme — Phyllis, 
Queen  of  Thrace.  Shortly  after  this,  however,  he  came 
to  see  that  his  true  work  lay  in  music,  and  wisely 
limited  himself  in  area  for  the  sake  of  the  additional 
strength  thereby  gained. 

The  musical  works  for  which  he  wrote  his  own  words 
were  the  operas  Caedmar  and  The  Pearl  of  Iran,  and  the 
Recitation  Music,  Thorvenda's  Dream.  This  is  an  "  early 


23 

work  "  in  character  as  well  as  in  period.  Another  piece 
of  the  same  class  is  The  Blessed  Damozel  ;  but  Bantock, 
having  come  to  feel  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of  this 
genre,  wrote  nothing  more  of  the  kind. 

Two  more  pieces  on  somewhat  the  same  level  may  be 
mentioned  before  we  come  to  the  larger  works.  Both 
are  for  pianoforte,  and  both  have  mottoes  prefixed,  for 
"  poetic  basis  "  was  Bantock's  early  flame,  as  well  as 
his  lifelong  love.  The  first  is  a  Reverie  in  E$,  in  a  some- 
what facile  vein  of  musing,  but  suitable  for  popular 
consumption.  The  other,  a  Barcarolle  in  F  minor, 
with  a  motto  from  Browning,  makes  more  demand 
upon  the  player,  and  has  more  character.  Both  pieces 
were  published  by  Ashdown,  the  composer  receiving 
nothing  for  them  but  a  few  copies — an  arrangement 
which,  at  the  time,  was  very  welcome  to  one  yearning 
to  see  himself  in  print. 

Of  the  larger  works  of  this  period,  we  will  speak  first 
of  the  projected  "  Kehama "  cycle  of  symphonic 
poems.  There  were  to  have  been  twenty-four  of  these, 
corresponding  with  the  twenty-four  divisions  of  the 
poem,  but  only  fourteen  were  actually  written,  of 
which  two  were  published.  They  are  founded  on 
Southey's  Indian  poem,  The  Curse  of  Kehama  ;  and 
thus  we  see  Bantock,  on  the  threshold  of  his  career, 
showing  that  bent  of  mind  for  which  he  has  since 
become  celebrated,  and  turning  instinctively  to  the 
East  as  a  relief  from  the  stiffening  trammels  of  classical 
tradition.  The  first  number,  The  Funeral,  is  now 
called  Processional,  and  has  been  performed  several 
times.  It  represents  the  funeral  procession,  by  night, 
of  the  Rajah  Kehama's  son,  whose  corpse  is  borne 
onward  in  his  palanquin  beneath  a  crimson  canopy, 
and  surrounded  by  lavish  Oriental  pomp — torches, 


24  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

Brahmins,  maidens,  soldiers,  drums,  gongs,  and  the 
myriad  life  of  India.  The  striking  rhythms  and  tone- 
colours  have  just  that  flavour  of  the  bizarre  which  is 
necessary  to  visualise  the  scene.  A  flowing  melody 
which  forms  the  second  subject,  represents  the  two 
chief  wives  and  a  train  of  lesser  ones,  who  are  forced 
to  perform  suttee.  Finally  comes  the  lighting  of  the 
pyre  ;  and  amid  the  blare  of  horns  and  trumpets,  and 
the  maddened  cries  of  the  crowd,  the  piece  comes  to  an 
end.  The  character  of  the  other — Jaga-Naut — is  of 
the  same  order.  It  is  highly  pictorial,  and  shows  the 
lofty  car  swaying  as  it  ploughs  its  course  onwards 
through  the  crowd  of  devotees  who  throw  themselves 
in  its  way  and  are  crushed,  while  a  band  of  Yogis 
dance  in  honour  of  the  god  (5/4).  This  piece  was  per- 
formed by  the  Philharmonic  Society,  but  it  so  shocked 
their  sensibilities  that  they  made  a  vow  of  "  never 
again  "  as  regarded  Bantock. 

Another  work  which  foreshadows  the  future  is  the 
picturesque  ballet,  Egypt,  in  three  scenes,  in  which 
some  Coptic  phrases  are  used,  and  in  which  the  scale 
with  two  augmented  seconds  appears.  The  instru- 
mentation is  still  uncertain,  and  the  handling  of  the 
material  simple  ;  but  the  piece  is  certainly  one  of  the 
shadows  cast  before  by  coming  events. 

Very  different  is  the  case  with  The  Fire-Worshippers. 
The  words  are  taken  from  Moore's  Lalla  Rookh  ;  and 
we  have  here  a  young  man's  romantic  work  written 
with  technique  adequate  for  its  purpose.  Of  course, 
Bantock,  even  if  he  did  it  at  all,  would  not  carry  out 
the  work  in  the  same  way  now  ;  but  that  is  not  to  say 
that  he  wrould  really  improve  upon  what  he  has  done. 
As  it  stands  it  suits  Moore's  poem,  with  its  somewhat 
facile  sentiment  and  Byronic  passion.  The  point  of 


ROYAL  ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC,  1889-93       25 

view  is  changed.  Youth  has  its  own  way  of  looking 
at  and  feeling  things ;  and  that  way  is  quite  as  true, 
and  represents  a  reality,  just  as  much  as  the  views  of 
maturity.  Both  are  integral  parts  of  man's  nature 
as  a  whole — a  point  on  which  Stevenson  enlarges 
admirably  in  Virginibus  Puerisque.  The  Fire-Wor- 
shippers deals  with  the  loves  of  the  daughter  of  a  Mussul- 
man emir,  and  the  chieftain  of  the  more  ancient  race 
of  fire-worshippers  (Ghebirs)  of  Persia.  The  scene  is 
laid  in  the  emir's  palace  overlooking  a  romantic  region 
on  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  afterwards  in  the  mountain- 
fastness  of  the  Ghebirs,  who  are  finally  exterminated 
by  the  Mohammedans.  Young  romance  and  the  vigour 
of  youth  suffuse  the  whole ;  and  the  advance  made 
since  the  two  songs  mentioned  above  as  written  early 
in  1890,  is  remarkable.  The  overture,  a  striking  piece 
of  work,  was  performed  at  the  Crystal  Palace  under 
Manns.  The  work  has  been  performed  in  its  entirety 
recently,  and  would  suit  many  a  choral  society  which 
might  hesitate  before  undertaking  the  later  works. 

Caedmar,  a  one-act  opera,  is  on  the  whole  surer  in 
musical  technique — i.e.  it  is  woven  in  a  more  continuous 
web — than  its  successor,  The  Pearl  of  Iran.  The  reason 
of  this  we  shall  see  shortly.  The  work  shows  the  in- 
fluence of  Wagner  throughout,  more  especially,  perhaps, 
that  of  the  Siegmund-Sieglinde  portion  of  The  Ring, 
and  of  the  Forest-Murmurs  ;  but  the  whole  conception, 
texture,  and  phraseology  of  the  work  reek  of  Wagner. 
This  is  not  said  as  a  reproach  ;  it  is  quite  natural. 
Early  Beethoven  is  Mozart  diluted,  and  every  one  must 
learn  from,  and  assimilate,  the  best  that  has  gone  before 
him.  It  is  well  that  Bantock  had  thoroughly  mastered 
his  craft  in  this  way  ;  he  was  now  fledged,  and  ready 
to  think  out  his  own  individual  methods,  develop  his 


26  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

own  individuality,  and  learn  in  the  larger  school  of 
life.  The  drama,  like  that  of  The  Pearl  of  Iran,  is  simple 
and  somewhat  naive.  Caedmar,  a  wandering  knight, 
comes  into  a  forest-glade  as  the  shadows  of  evening 
deepen,  prays,  goes  to  sleep,  and  the  elves  appear  and 
dance  around  him.  Hulda  then  enters,  fleeing  from 
her  tyrannical  husband,  who  has  "  desecrated  the 
marriage  bond."  Caedmar  awakes,  and  the  two  vow 
eternal  fidelity.  The  husband,  Andred,  then  appears, 
and  he  and  Caedmar  fight.  Hulda,  rushing  between 
them  to  separate  them,  receives  Andred's  sword  and 
falls  ;  Caedmar  then  slays  Andred.  A  scene  ensues 
between  him  and  Hulda,  who  then  dies  ;  and  the  opera 
closes  with  a  vision  of  her  spirit  floating  heavenwards. 
Bantock's  mastery  of  his  musical  material  is,  however, 
remarkable.  The  scoring  of  the  work  was  finished  about 
September,  1892.  Signer  Lago  was  at  that  time  under- 
taking his  ill-starred  London  season,  and  Bantock  sent 
him  a  copy  of  the  vocal  score.  It  took  his  fancy,  and 
was  produced  at  the  Olympic,  receiving  three  or  four 
performances  under  the  conductorship  of  the  composer 
— a  wonderful  send-off  for  the  young  artist.  A  little 
earlier  in  the  year  he  had  given  an  invitation  concert 
at  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music,  where  also  Caedmar 
had  been  performed,  though  without  orchestra  or  stage- 
action. 

The  charges  of  Wagnerism  levelled  against  him  in 
the  criticisms  of  Caedmar  induced  Bantock  to  design 
his  next  work  on  different  lines,  and  to  employ  choruses, 
etc.  The  Pearl  of  Iran  is  a  one-act  opera,  like  its  prede- 
cessor, and  the  scene  is  laid  in  the  Ural  Mountains. 
Lhara,  a  Persian  maiden,  is  travelling  under  the  pro- 
tection of  her  lover  Ahmed,  a  Tartar  prince.  The 
convoy  is  attacked  on  her  account,  by  Ourgen  with 


ROYAL  ACADEMY  OF  MUSIC,  1889-93      27 

his  Kirghiz,  and  Ahmed  is  slain,  whereupon  Lhara  kills 
herself  to  avoid  falling  into  Ourgen's  hands.  The  piece 
is  picturesquely  laid  out ;  there  are  Eastern  phrases 
to  give  local  colour,  dances  of  Circassians,  slaves,  women, 
Tartars  (with  barbaric  rhythms),  love-duets,  and  a 
Persian  song  with  lute  accompaniment  which  is  worth 
publishing  separately.  The  whole  is  handled  with 
skill,  musically  ;  but  the  difficulty  of  welding  together 
this  greater  variety  of  material  has  caused  that  lack  of 
the  sense  of  unity,  as  compared  with  Caedmar,  of  which 
I  have  spoken.  The  personality  of  the  composer  is 
not  yet  mature  ;  and  the  work  (like  Caedmar}  has  not 
the  advantage  of  Moore's  verse.  It,  however,  taken  in 
conjunction  with  the  other  two,  shows  the  writer  to  be 
well  equipped  for  his  work,  so  far  as  training  could 
make  him  so.  There  was  now  only  needed  the  growth 
of  his  own  individuality. 

During  his  time  at  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music  Bantock 
had  several  works  performed  at  the  official  concerts,  among 
them  the  overture  to  The  Fire-Worshippers,  Wulstan,  a 
scena  for  baritone  and  orchestra,  and  the  suite  of 
ballet  music  written  for  the  drama  Rameses  II.  This  is, 
of  course,  a  small  work,  but  is  picturesque,  and  shows 
resource  and  an  ear  for  local  colour,  if  the  expression 
may  be  allowed.  The  material  was  incorporated  in  the 
larger  Egyptian  ballet  already  mentioned.  During 
the  latter  part  of  this  period  his  mind  began  to  be 
occupied  with,  among  other  things,  the  idea  of  those 
Songs  of  the  East  which  did  not  become  an  actuality 
till  later.  He  now  felt  that  his  work  at  the  Academy 
was  done,  and  in  1893  he  left  the  Institution. 


CHAPTER   IV 

DIFFICULTIES,    1893-7 

IT  is  a  commonplace  that  the  course  of  the  artist  never 
runs  smooth :  the  exceptions,  at  any  rate,  are  so  few 
as  to  be  almost  negligible.  Bantock  in  this  particular, 
if  in  no  other,  was  orthodox  ;  for  there  now  followed 
four  years  of  struggle  in  which  he  was  obliged  to  turn 
his  hand  to  anything  and  everything,  and  in  which  his 
lavish  instincts  (in  things  material  as  well  as  artistic) 
were  severely  repressed,  while  his  outward  means  were 
precarious,  dwindling  at  times  almost  to  a  minus 
quantity.  As  the  lives  of  artists  go,  however,  he  can- 
not be  said  to  have  had  an  unusual  share  of  hardship  ; 
for  when  these  four  years  were  over  he  at  least  got  a 
permanent  engagement  which,  though  an  uncongenial 
one  in  many  ways,  enabled  him  to  do  good  work  :  and 
after  three  more  years  he  entered  upon  an  ever-widening 
course  of  influence  and  reputation. 

On  leaving  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music  he  found 
himself  in  a  difficult  position.  He  had  no  particular 
connection,  musically.  He  could  get  no  pupils  for 
harmony  or  composition  ;  and  he  was  not  a  pianist 
or  violinist  in  the  sense  of  the  professional  teacher.  He 
played  the  organ  on  and  off,  and  applied  for  some 
organists'  posts  ;  but  nothing  definite  resulted  ;  and 
he  was  glad  to  avail  himself  of  an  invitation  on  the 
part  of  the  Trinity  College  of  Music  to  correct  some 

28 


DIFFICULTIES,    1893-7  29 

harmony  examination  papers  at  so  much  a  hundred. 
He  also  picked  up  some  jobs  in  the  way  of  scoring  other 
people's  compositions — in  other  words  playing  ghost, 
a  part  which  seems  hardly  suited  to  him.  This,  as  every- 
one who  has  done  anything  of  the  sort  knows,  means 
practically  supplying  ideas  to  a  considerable  extent ; 
since  orchestral  workmanship  cannot  exist  apart  from 
a  continual  interplay  of  subsidiary  ideas  with  the  main 
conceptions  of  the  piece. 

Amid  all  these  anxieties,  however,  he  kept  his  larger 
outlook.  He  went  on  with  the  scoring  of  The  Pearl  of 
Iran,  and  projected  other  big  works — among  them  an 
opera  for  which  he  bullied  me  into  doing  the  words 
"in  a  hurry "  as  always.  He  began  the  music ; 
but,  seeing  no  opening  for  opera,  he  gave  it  up.  This 
view  of  opera  he  has  not  only  maintained  since,  but  has 
come  to  regard  this  art-form  as  an  unsatisfactory 
hybrid,  and  to  entertain  for  it  a  certain  aversion.  He, 
in  fact,  feels  that  the  conventions  it  involves  are  too 
violently  unnatural,  and  that  the  mind  cannot  really 
dwell  upon  and  appreciate  the  drama  and  the  music 
simultaneously  :  one  or  other  must  suffer. 

At  this  time  I  used  to  see  him  about  once  a  week, 
when  I  went  into  town.  The  approach  to  his  study  at 
Granville  Place  was  a  long  dark  passage  near  the  top 
of  the  house,  and  immediately  beneath  the  sometime 
"  cricket-pitch  "  :  and  I  can  still  see  Bantock's  bulky 
figure  filling  up  the  doorway  as  he  welcomes  me  in  with 
a  smile.  The  room  was  a  tiny  one,  where  you  lived,  as 
it  were,  in  line-land.  There  was  just  enough  space  for 
a  small  pianette  behind  the  door  :  his  writing-desk  was 
under  the  window :  and  cabinets  of  drawers  were 
ranged  along  the  right-hand  wall  leading  to  it.  Here 
many  a  scheme  was  hatched,  among  others  that  of  a 


30  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

journal  which  actually  ran  for  some  years,  and  obtained 
a  succes  d'estime  if  not  material  success. 

This  was  The  New  Quarterly  Musical  Review,  which 
Bantock  started  on  a  capital  of  about  £15,  and  which 
he  managed  and  edited  entirely  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility. Erskine  Allon,  since  dead,  Wallace,  and  I 
were  associated  in  the  scheme  in  a  sense  ;  for  we  formed, 
with  Bantock,  the  inner  circle  of  the  staff,  and  the  last 
two  edited  during  Bantock's  absence  in  America.  Of 
course  no  one  was  paid — it  was  hoped  that  would  follow : 
and  it  will  strike  all  as  remarkable  that  Bantock  was 
able  to  infect  so  many  good  men  with  his  own  ideas 
and  induce  them  to  contribute,  when  I  state  that  men 
like  Dr.  Seidl,  of  Weimar,  Mackenzie,  Streatfeild,  New- 
man, Rogers,  Shedlock,  Corder,  H.  Davey,  Dr.  Steggall, 
Abdy  Williams,  and  Graves,  wrote  from  time  to  time  ; 
while  Legge,  Fuller  Maitland,  and  Gilbert  Webbe  were 
regular  contributors.  I  myself  wrote  the  opening 
sonnet  and  Introduction,  and  one  or  two  larger  papers, 
besides  ordinary  reviews.  The  only  article  bearing 
Bantock's  own  signature  was  one  (a  significant  fact) 
on  Confucianism  and  Music.  The  magazine  struggled 
on  for  three  years  ;  but  there  was  not  a  sufficient  public  ; 
and  Bantock's  absences  from  home  made  the  work  of 
carrying  it  on  very  difficult ;  so  that  ultimately,  in 
February,  1896,  the  enterprise  was  given  up.  It  was 
a  spirited  attempt.  The  review  was  of  the  highest 
class,  taking  the  status,  for  music,  that  the  standard 
reviews  such  as  the  Contemporary  and  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury took  for  ordinary  literature. 

'Tis  not  in  mortals  to  command  success, 

says   Addison's   hero ;    but   certainly,   like   him,   this 
venture  did  more,  and  deserved  it. 


DIFFICULTIES,    1893-7  31 

Before  its  relinquishment,  however,  as  the  reference 
to  Bantock's  absence  in  America  will  have  suggested, 
he  had  secured  some  regular  engagements.  The  first 
of  these,  a  conductorship  in  a  touring  opera  company, 
was  obtained  through  a  theatrical  agent,  and  he  went 
round  the  provinces  for  some  weeks,  under  this  contract, 
with  the  burlesque,  Little  Boy  Blue.  It  was  uncon- 
genial work  ;  the  music  was  far  from  his  ideal ;  he  could 
get  little  time  for  his  own  writing  ;  and  the  constant 
travelling  and  effervescence  of  theatrical  life  grated 
upon  him.  However,  it  was  the  only  thing  to  be  done, 
and  he  had  to  make  the  best  of  it.  Some  of  his  ex- 
periences in  finding  "  pro  "  lodgings  were  amusing  ; 
and  it  seems  that  he  had  a  curious  way  of  providing  for 
his  bodily  sustenance.  On  arriving  at  a  new  town,  and 
securing  his  pied-a-terre  ,he  would  adjourn  to  the  market, 
buy  a  huge  cabbage,  and  present  it  to  his  landlady  with 
instructions  to  serve  it  in  instalments  as  long  as  it 
lasted. 

This  contract  led  to  others  of  the  same  type  but  a 
stage  higher,  inasmuch  as  it  introduced  him  to  the 
Gaiety  Company.  He  got  an  appointment  as  conductor 
in  one  of  George  Edwardes's  touring  companies,  and 
went  through  the  provinces  on  a  fresh  round  with  two 
or  three  pieces  such  as  The  Gaiety  Girl,  Gentleman  Joe, 
and  In  Town. 

One  good  thing,  however,  arose  from  all  this.  Ed- 
wardes  determined  to  arrange  a  tour  round  the  world 
with  two  or  three  pieces,  including  The  Gaiety  Girl,  and 
Bantock  was  offered  the  post  of  conductor.  The 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  world  in  this  way  was  too 
good  to  be  lost,  in  spite  of  the  irksome  nature  of  the 
occupation  that  Sjnade  it  possible  ;  and  he  accepted 
without  hesitation.  The  pieces  were  played,  during 


32  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

1894-5,  in  various  towns  of  America  and  Australia  ; 
and  the  experience  of  other  lands,  men,  and  manners 
made  a  great  impression  on  Bantock's  mind  and 
broadened  his  outlook  in  many  ways.  He  was  es- 
pecially delighted  with  Colombo,  Honolulu,  and  Samoa, 
where  they  touched,  though  they  did  not  play.  He 
visited  Niagara  and  received  the  orthodox  thrills.  I 
have  a  letter  describing  his  sensations  ;  but  Niagara 
is  now  vieux  jeu,  and  I  refrain  from  quotations. 

He  met  with  one  or  two  adventures  during  this  tour. 
Perhaps  the  most  striking  was  at  San  Francisco.  He 
used  sometimes  to  go,  after  the  performance,  to  China- 
town ;  and  on  one  occasion  was  returning  late,  when 
he  was  chased  by  some  rowdies.  He  ran  :  they  followed : 
revolver-shots  ensued  :  he  emerged  into  a  main  street, 
cannoned  into  a  constable,  and  after  explanations, 
he  was  only  called  a  fool  for  being  there  so  late  alone. 

In  the  circumstances  of  travel  his  inborn  love  of 
collecting  curiosities  and  of  animals  was  bound  to  assert 
itself,  and  he  arrived  home  with  a  wonderful  assortment 
of  beasts  and  other  properties  of  various  kinds.  When 
in  Melbourne  he  scared  everyone  out  of  the  hotel  lounge 
by  appearing  with  what  looked  like  one  of  their  deadliest 
snakes  wound  round  his  arm.  It  was  one  he  had  bought 
in  Sydney,  where  an  almost  identical  species  is  non- 
poisonous.  He  brought  back,  too,  like  the  traditional 
sailor,  a  parrot.  There  were  also  an  opossum  and  an 
Australian  bear :  but  all  these  early  amours  were 
destined  to  end  in  loss.  His  most  beloved  acquisi- 
tion was  Nancy — or,  more  exactly,  Nan-tsze — an  ape 
which  he  bought  in  Sydney.  Nancy  used  to  walk  the 
streets  of  Melbourne  with  him,  holding  his  hand  like  a 
child.  She  would  gambol  in  the  tree-tops  in  the  Botani- 
cal Gardens,  but  always  returned  at  his  whistle.  Her 


DIFFICULTIES,    1893-7  33 

Simian  Highness,  however,  got  him  into  some  diffi- 
culties. One  day  she  escaped  from  his  room  in  the  hotel 
and  found  her  way  into  the  pantry,  where  she  enjoyed 
herself  by  throwing  down  various  piles  of  crockery — 
an  amusement  which  resulted  in  a  nice  little  bill  for  the 
conductor.  I  remember  going  up  to  his  study  just  after 
his  return,  and  being  greeted  by  Nancy,  who  then  fled 
to  his  shoulders.  The  young  lady,  however,  was  one  day 
found  swinging  on  the  chandelier :  the  family  did  not 
approve  of  its  new  member,  and  Nancy  retired  to  the 
Zoo. 

Shortly  after  his  return  from  this  tour  Bantock  was 
engaged,  in  succession  to  Henry  J.  Wood,  to  take 
Shamus  O'Brien  round  the  provinces.  This  tour  in- 
cluded not  only  the  regular  English  round,  but  a  num- 
ber of  Irish  towns  as  well — Belfast,  Waterford,  Limerick, 
Cork,  and  Dublin.  The  first  night  was  a  terrible  ex- 
perience. A  member  of  the  band  had  been  married 
during  the  day.  All  his  comrades  attended  the  wedding, 
and  "  passed  the  rosy,"  as  Dick  Swiveller  says,  so  often 
that  when  they  came  to  performance  they  were  still  in 
a  hilarious  condition ;  and — averse  to  taking  life 
seriously — played  scales  or  anything  they  fancied, 
instead  of  the  parts  set  down  for  them,  with  results  that 
may  be  imagined  ;  while  the  management  kept  sending 
round  to  the  front  to  know  what  they  were  doing. 

It  was  about  this  time,  also,  soon  after  returning  from 
America,  that  Bantock  met  and  became  engaged  to  the 
lady  who  afterwards  became  his  wife — Miss  Helen  F. 
Schweitzer.  She  has  written  the  words  for  many  of  his 
works,  and  has  been  of  inestimable  help  to  him  in  count- 
less ways,  besides  showing  her  own  powers  as  a  poetess 
in  a  little  volume  issued  about  the  time  of  their  engage- 
ment, and  also  in  the  more  mature  coUection  of  poems 


34  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

entitled  A  Woman's  Love,  published  in  1911.  One  of 
the  first  results,  musically,  of  this  engagement  was  the 
realisation  of  Bantock's  long-cherished  scheme  of  a 
series  of  Songs  of  the  East,  which  now  took  definite 
shape,  Miss  Schweitzer  undertaking  to  provide  the 
poems. 

With  these  songs  we  arrive  at  some  of  Bantock's 
really  characteristic  production.  Naturally,  in  a  collec- 
tion of  thirty-six  songs  some  will  be  less  interesting  than 
others  ;  but  in  all  of  the  six  albums  there  is  fine  and 
individual  work ;  and  while  there  may  have  been 
earlier  isolated  pieces  cast  somewhat  in  this  mould, 
there  had  been  no  previous  attempt  on  anything  like 
this  scale  to  bring  the  mental  outlook  and  feeling  of 
the  East  into  European  music  ;  so  that  the  publication 
is  in  its  way  an  event. 

Taking  first  the  Songs  of  Persia,  we  find  No.  2,  The 
Hymn  of  the  Ghebirs  (i.e.  a  Hymn  to  the  Sun,  by  the 
ancient  Fire-Worshippers),  which  arrests  the  attention 
by  its  unusual  idiom.  No.  3  is  named  after  The  Simurgh, 
the  fabulous  bird  of  wisdom  and  might,  that  dwells 
amid  the  whirling  winds  of  the  desert-mountain,  and  is 
probably  the  original  of  the  mysterious  roc  of  the 
Arabian  Nights.  It  will  be  remembered  that  when 
Aladdin,  by  the  prompting  of  the  disguised  magician, 
demanded  to  have  a  roc's  egg  suspended  from  the  dome 
of  his  palace,  the  genie  was  almost  ready  to  slay  him 
for  having  insulted  his  "  master."  The  answer  has 
puzzled  many  generations  of  children  :  but  the  refer- 
ence seems  to  be  to  this  mysterious  genie-bird  of  wisdom 
and  power.  The  song  is  full  of  the  rush  of  monstrous 
wings  and  whirling  winds ;  while  the  central  portion 
hints  at  the  glamour  of  the  bird's  magical  treasures  and 
wisdom.  Perhaps  the  songs  which  appeal  most  directly 


DIFFICULTIES,    1893-7  35 

to  the  heart,  however,  are  the  two  following  ones. 
No.  4,  The  Harem,  with  its  languorous  atmosphere,  its 
delicate  arpeggios,  and  its  passages  constructed  on  an 
Eastern  scale  with  two  augmented  seconds,  is  full  of 
charm  and  conjures  up  the  scene  vividly  before  the 
mind.  The  song  is  a  tragic  one  :  the  light  of  the  harem 
is  slain  by  a  jealous  rival :  but  the  tragedy  is  not  of  the 
blood-and-thunder  order,  being  suffused  with  tender 
beauty.  The  peculiar  close  at  the  end  of  the  verse  is 
especially  characteristic.  The  next — No.  5,  Zal,  has 
the  same  kind  of  languid  charm,  but  without  the  tragic 
element.  Here  we  have  a  story  like  that  of  Rapunzel. 
The  maiden  lets  down  her  long  torrent  of  hair  from  her 
turret,  fastening  it  above,  and  the  prince — the  nursling 
of  the  magical  Simurgh,  climbs  up  and  kisses  her — this 
happy  denouement  being  again  portrayed  by  a  character- 
istic Oriental  passage  with  two  augmented  seconds. 

In  the  Songs  of  Egypt,  No.  I,  Invocation  to  the  Nile, 
No.  2,  The  Unutterable,  and  No.  3,  Bridal  Song,  are  all 
good.  But  the  glory  of  this  group  is  undoubtedly  No.  5, 
The  Lament  of  I  sis  (for  the  lost  Osiris),  with  its  deeply 
impressive  pathos.  One  seems  to  feel  here  a  foretaste  of 
the  poignancy  of  /  loved  thee,  Atthis,  in  the  Sappho  Songs. 

The  first  of  the  Chinese  set  is  a  highly  picturesque 
Song  of  the  Bells,  constructed  on  three  "  changes,"  the 
last  being  a  modified  version  of  the  first.  Nos.  2,  For- 
saken, 3,  Love  Song,  and  5,  Lullaby,  are  pleasant,  but 
not,  perhaps,  so  charged  with  Oriental  colour.  Nos.  4, 
In  the  Palace,  and  6,  War  Song,  are  mostly  in  unison, 
and  characteristic,  with  a  certain  exotic  bizarrerie. 

The  Songs  of  Japan,  though  dainty  and  pretty,  are 
hardly  so  convincing,  being  rather  more  Western  in 
phrasing  and  harmonisation :  but  the  dance  in  the 
Musume's  Song  (No.  i),  has  the  true  ring.  To  me,  per- 


36  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

sonally,  the  last,  The  Song  of  the  Sword,  is  the  most 
attractive. 

Of  the  Songs  of  India,  the  first,  The  Nautch  Girl,  is 
full  of  colour  and  character,  as  also  is  No.  3,  By  the 
Ganges,  which  has  since  been  published  separately  as 
The  Fire-Fly.  No.  5,  In  the  Village,  too,  seems  to  call 
up  a  vision  of  an  Indian  pastoral  settlement  with  the 
pungent  odours  of  the  smoke  rising  into  the  morning  air. 
As  suits  the  subject  it  is  simple,  being  constructed  upon 
two  phrases  slightly  varied.  The  Fakir's  Song,  too,  with 
its  unresting  movements,  symbolising  the  soul  hurried 
along  in  the  whirlpool  of  rebirth,  is  characteristic.  The 
Prayer  to  Vishnu,  and  the  Dirge,  also  show  a  very  dis- 
tinct vein  of  Oriental  imagination. 

The  Songs  of  Arabia  preserve  on  the  whole,  I  think, 
the  most  uniform  level  of  excellence.  No.  i,  The  Meeting, 
with  its  ceaseless  ripple  and  flow, 

Where  the  water  splashed  and  wandered, 

mingled  with  the  love-atmosphere  that  enrays  the  maid 
and  the  Arab  chieftain,  must  prove  attractive  at  once 
to  any  hearer.  No.  2,  Lament,  is  full  of  idyllic  beauty  of 
an  Oriental  cast.  No.  3,  In  the  Desert,  calls  up  the 
scene  vividly.  No.  4,  The  Nightingale's  Song,  with  its 
warbling  lilt  and  throbbing  passion  ;  No.  5,  a  vigorous 
Chieftain's  Battle-Song;  and  No.  6,  The  Return,  with 
its  eager  triumph,  are  each  in  its  own  way  fine.  The 
last  has  been  since  issued  by  Breitkopf  and  Haertel  as 
a  duet ;  and  in  this  form,  with  its  passionate  responsive 
phrases,  is  even  more  captivating. 

These  songs  have  all  been  scored,  and  many  are  now 
a  good  deal  sung.  On  the  whole  they  form  a  fine  body 
of  work,  and  have  helped  to  inoculate  the  West  with  the 
life  of  the  East.  Sometimes  one  feels  that  the  use  of 


DIFFICULTIES,    1893-7  37 

Western  harmony  seems  to  dim  the  vividness  of  the 
Oriental  atmosphere  :  the  songs  were  never  intended, 
however,  to  be  transcripts  of  Eastern  music,  but  only 
to  have  a  distinctive  flavour  in  their  treatment  of 
Oriental  scenes. 

On  his  return  from  the  Shamus  O'Brien  tour,  Ban- 
tock  was  again  becalmed,  so  to  speak,  and  could  find 
no  fresh  employment.  He  was  tired  to  death  of  theatri- 
cal life,  the  continual  travelling,  and  the  lack  of  time 
for  serious  work,  and  wanted  to  find  quiet  employment. 
He  would  have  taken  an  engagement,  however,  had  one 
offered :  but  none  was  forthcoming.  He  tried  to  get 
harmony  teaching  at  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music  : 
they  did  not  want  him.  He  tried  the  Guildhall  School 
of  Music  :  they  did  not  want  him.  Few  things  are  so 
galling  as  to  be  conscious  of  real  powers,  and  yet  to  be 
unable  to  find  means  of  earning  even  a  living.  Week 
after  week  slipped  by  until — when  six  months  had 
elapsed  and  he  was  still  a  "  gentleman  "  in  the  sense  of 
having  no  business  in  this  world,  and  actually  on  his 
beam-ends — his  eye  fell  upon  an  advertisement  stating 
that  a  manager  was  wanted  for  some  Pleasure  Gardens, 
etc.  In  despair,  thinking  that  music  would  not  provide 
him  even  a  bare  living,  he  answered  it,  in  the  hope  that 
his  experience  in  the  theatrical  world  might  help  him 
through.  He  received  no  answer,  however,  and  just 
then  another  engagement  did  at  last  turn  up.  This 
was  to  conduct  various  pieces,  L' Enfant  Prodigue  among 
them,  at  the  Royalty  Theatre,  London.  So  far,  this  was 
an  improvement,  as  it  gave  him  more  quiet  time  for  work. 

The  chance  advertisement,  however,  proved  to  be  a 
turning-point  in  his  career.  For,  after  about  six  months, 
when  he  had  forgotten  all  about  it,  he  received  a  letter 
saying  that  his  application  had  been  considered :  that 


38  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

although  a  manager  had  been  appointed  they  wanted 
a  Musical  Director ;  and  would  he  be  willing  to  under- 
take the  duties  of  this  position  ?  The  letter  came  from 
Mr.  de  Ybarrondo,  who  afterwards  proved  a  good  friend 
to  Bantock,  and  the  offer  referred  to  The  Tower,  New 
Brighton,  near  Liverpool.  The  enterprise  was  a  new 
one,  and  the  buildings  were  in  course  of  erection.  It 
appeared  to  Bantock  in  much  the  same  light  as  the  offer 
of  the  Bournemouth  authorities  appeared  to  Dan  God- 
frey at  about  the  same  time.  He  hoped  to  do — and  for 
a  time  actually  did — something  for  real  music  under  the 
conditions  imposed.  The  authorities  at  New  Brighton, 
however,  proved  less  enlightened  than  those  at  Bourne- 
mouth ;  and  while  the  one  organisation  has  gone  on  for 
some  twenty  years  with  growing  reputation,  the  other 
had  to  be  abandoned  in  the  flush  of  its  artistic  success, 
and  the  orchestra  reverted  to  its  original  status  of  an 
ordinary  amusements  band.  As  will  have  been  gathered, 
then,  from  these  remarks,  he  accepted  the  engagement, 
and,  breaking  away  from  his  London  work,  went  north. 
Before  this,  however,  Bantock  announced,  for 
December  I5th,  1896,  a  concert  at  Queen's  Hall,  at 
which,  with  characteristic  generosity,  he  gave,  besides 
his  own  compositions,  works  by  five  other  young 
English  composers,  viz.,  Wallace,  Erskine  Allon,  Hinton, 
Hawley,  and  Steggall.  A  note  in  the  programme 
sounded  the  pathetic  cry  of  the  artist  in  all  ages,  unable 
not  only  to  win  acceptance,  but  even  to  obtain  a  hearing. 
The  idea  of  a  clique  among  the  composers  represented 
is  disclaimed,  and  the  note  goes  on  :  "  For  the  moment 
any  spirit  of  commercialism  is  set  aside,  and  the  pre- 
dominant desire  has  been  to  advance  the  cause  of  British 
music.  When  the  National  Picture  Galleries  of  Europe 
and  America  compete  with  one  another  for  paintings 


DIFFICULTIES,    1893-7  39 

by  British  artists,  there  is  no  reason  why  the 
concert-rooms  of  this  country  should  be  empty  when 
native  music  is  performed  ;  and  when  that  British 
composer  whose  coming  we  await,  does  arrive,  it  will 
be  well  for  his  fellow  countrymen  to  be  ready  with  the 
bread  instead  of  waiting  to  place  the  traditional  stone 
over  his  grave.  Those  whose  privilege  it  is  to  go  before, 
to  form  as  it  were  the  mere  stepping-stones  for  the  god 
who  is  to  follow,  have  their  little  share  in  their  life-time, 
even  though  they  may  be  forgotten  hereafter  ;  they 
will  continue  to  work  in  hope  as  long  as  earnestness 
brings  no  disgrace,  and  enthusiasm  casts  no  slur." 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  the  concert  was  given  ;  but 
the  result  was  almost  a  foregone  conclusion.  The  public 
did  not  hurry  forward  with  the  bread,  much  less  with 
the  butter.  Queen's  Hall  was  nearly  empty,  though 
the  affair  was  an  artistic  success.  I  can  see  even  now 
H.  J.  Wood,  then  comparatively  little  known,  as  he 
came  eagerly  to  congratulate  Bantock  in  the  artist's 
room  after  it  was  over  ;  and  it  was  here  that  I  first  met 
Miss  Schweitzer. 

Bantock's  own  pieces  were  the  overture  to  Eugene 
Aram,  an  opera  upon  which  he  was  then  at  work,  but 
of  which  he  only  wrote  a  small  portion,  the  Songs  of 
Arabia,  and  The  Funeral,irom  The  Curse  ofKehama  cycle. 

The  last  two  items  we  have  already  discussed.  The 
Eugene  Aram  overture  produced  a  very  favourable 
impression,  and  is  a  fine  piece  of  work.  The  opening 
(B  minor  4/4)  is  full  of  agitated  syncopations,  referring 
to  the  stormy  and  passionate  nature  of  the  man.  But 
Bantock  took  of  him  the  view  indicated  in  Shake- 
speare's lines  : 

There  is  some  soul  of  goodness  in  things  evil, 
Could  men  observingly  distil  it  out, 


40  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

and  there  is  a  good  deal  in  the  overture  that  is  con- 
cerned with  the  better  side  of  Aram's  nature.  Thus, 
before  the  actual  crime  is  reached  there  are  tender 
glimpses  ;  and  the  second  subject  itself,  an  expressive 
melody  in  D  for  violins  and  clarinet,  with  triplet 
accompaniment  in  violas  and  'cellos,  evidently  refers 
to  the  pleadings  of  his  higher  instincts  against  the 
meditated  crime.  This  better  impulse  is  interrupted 
by  the  sinister  murder-theme  in  the  brass.  That  dies 
down,  however,  and  we  reach  a  moment  of  false  peace 
(ten  bars  Molto  lento)  before  the  fury  of  the  psychologi- 
cal struggle  is  let  loose  in  the  "  working."  The  murder- 
theme  becomes  ever  more  insistent,  and  at  length,  in 
a  big  climax,  the  deed  is  done.  The  music  then  dies 
away  to  a  pp,  as  the  man  awakes  to  the  reality  of  his 
action.  Now  follows,  in  E,  and  in  place  of  the  "  return," 
the  third  principal  subject  representing  the  love  of 
Aram's  sweetheart  who  refuses  to  the  last  moment 
to  believe  in  his  guilt.  A  further  passionate  working 
follows  in  which  this  third  theme  soars  to  a  splendid 
exaltation,  with  full  orchestra,  in  B,  mingling  with  the 
murder-theme  which  appears  amid  wild  rushes  for  the 
strings,  the  whole  forming  a  fine  finale  which,  as  Wallace 
says  in  his  programme  notes :  "  Brings  a  strikingly 
dramatic  and  imaginative  work  to  a  close." 

Two  other  works  written  about  this  time  call  for  some 
remark.  The  first  is  the  suite  for  orchestra,  Russian 
Scenes,  which  opens  with  a  picturesque  movement  called 
At  the  Fair,  the  fair  in  question  being  the  celebrated 
Nijni  Novgorod  market.  The  themes  are  racy,  and  the 
scoring  full  of  life  and  colour.  To  say  this  last,  which 
applies  to  the  whole  suite,  is  now  becoming  almost  a 
platitude.  In  Bantock's  hands  the  orchestra  always 
sounds  well.  The  skilful  handling  and  interweaving  of 


DIFFICULTIES,    1893-7  4* 

the  various  strands  of  orchestral  colour  blend  into  a 
harmonious  and  homogeneous  whole  of  iridescent  hues. 
In  this  movement,  At  the  Fair,  the  alternate  bars  of 
2/4  and  3/4  about  forty  bars  in  have  a  striking  effect : 
and  still  more  is  this  the  case  with  the  five-bar  rhythm 
in  the  middle  section.  The  initial  phrase  is  worked  to 
more  completeness  on  the  return  ;  and  the  movement 
ends  with  a  brilliant  Presto.  Altogether,  the  stir,  bustle, 
and  barbaric  life  of  the  fair  are  vividly  suggested. 
No.  2  is  a  bright  and  piquant  Mazurka.  A  Polka  follows, 
full  of  vitality  and  verve.  The  Waltz,  No.  3,  is  founded 
on  the  initial  phrase  of  No.  I.  It  has  many  good  points, 
but  to  me  personally  is  less  interesting  than  the  preced- 
ing movements,  especially  the  first.  Last  comes  a 
Cossack  Dance  which,  with  its  arresting  rhythm,  again 
stimulates  the  interest  and  grips  the  mind.  This 
rhythm  consists  of  a  succession  of  phrases  made  up  of 
three  bars  of  3/4  followed  by  one  of  2/4,  which  seems 
to  represent  two  violent  stamps  in  a  barbaric  dance,  and 
which  seizes  the  hearer  and  clinches  the  subject  with 
forceful  decision.  Overlapping  three-bar  phrases  follow 
in  the  second  section  :  and  this  pictorial  movement 
brings  the  suite  to  a  stirring  finish.  The  suite  is  a  highly 
coloured  and  effective  piece  of  work  ;  and  would  be  a 
suitable  piece  for  many  orchestras  whose  resources  are 
not  unlimited.  It  presents  no  unreasonable  difficulties, 
and  the  orchestra  consists  only  of  the  usual  strings  and 
wood  with  two  horns,  twTo  cornets,  three  trombones, 
drums,  bass-drum,  and  cymbals. 

The  remark  just  passed  on  the  Waltz  will  perhaps 
have  prepared  the  reader's  mind  for  the  fact  that  the 
other  work  is  less  successful.  Just  as  the  first  and  last 
numbers  of  the  Russian  Scenes  are  better  than  the  less 
distinctively  foreign  polka,  mazurka,  and  waltz,  so 


42  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

here.  Bantock  is  at  his  best,  usually,  in  subjects  that 
have  some  exotic  interest ;  and  the  companion-work, 
English  Country  Scenes,  seems  to  belong  to  an  inferior 
branch  of  the  family.  The  scenes  are  Pastorale  (the 
central  portion  of  which  consists  of  a  duet  for  a  drunken 
fiddler  and  piper,  who  cannot  keep  together)  :  a  Ro- 
mance ;  an  Intermezzo,  In  Fairyland ;  a  Benedictus, 
in  Church ;  and  a  Hornpipe.  As  regards  this  suite 
Bantock  is  the  unnatural  father  of  melodrama,  and  is 
almost  inclined  to  disown  his  inconvenient  offspring. 
At  any  rate  the  work  is  not  up  to  the  level  he  had  other- 
wise attained  by  this  time,  especially  in  the  quality  of  its 
imagination. 

The  Queen's  Hall  concert  was  the  culminating  event 
in  this  painful  four-years  "  episode  in  the  life  of  an 
artist."  The  period  was  undoubtedly  a  very  trying  one 
while  it  lasted,  but  one  cannot  say  that,  in  comparison 
with  others,  such  as  Schubert,  for  instance,  Bantock 
was  exceptionally  unfortunate.  The  res  angusta  domi, 
at  any  rate,  now  ceased,  and  early  in  1897  he  left  London 
and  settled  at  New  Brighton  to  take  up  his  new  duties. 


CHAPTER   V 

NEW  BRIGHTON,   1897-1900 

//  faut  cultiver  notre  jardin,  says  Voltaire  at  the  end  of 
Candide  ;  and  if  the  garden  be  a  wilderness  which  needs 
endless  patient  toil  before  it  can  be  made  to  blossom  like 
the  rose — as  was  so  often  the  case  with  the  great  monas- 
teries— your  born  gardener  feels  a  peculiar  satisfaction, 
the  joy  of  triumph  in  difficulties  overcome,  and  of  good 
work  done  for  the  world.  Musically  speaking,  Bantock 
found  New  Brighton  a  wilderness  ;  and  for  a  time  he 
did  make  it  blossom  like  the  rose.  The  place  was  a 
pleasure  resort,  somewhat  of  the  type  of  the  Blackpool 
Winter  Gardens,  though  on  a  smaller  scale  ;  and  the 
music  actually  provided  at  the  time  of  his  advent  was 
an  open-air  military  band.  The  buildings,  however, 
were  to  be  completed  shortly,  and  there  would  then  be 
an  indoor  ballroom  orchestra  to  provide  music  for  the 
dancers.  Bantock's  duties  were  to  conduct  these  bands  : 
such  were  the  conditions  into  which  he  was  now  thrust. 
It  would  have  been  the  end  of  many  an  ambitious 
career.  I  remember  Edward  German's  walking  up  and 
down  Hanover  Square  with  me  discussing  the  wisdom 
of  accepting  an  offer  to  conduct  a  theatre  band.  I  urged 
him  to  take  it.  Ultimately,  after  consultation  with 
many  friends,  he  decided  to  do  so  ;  and  it  led  to  his 
getting  in  with  Irving  and  doing  the  Henry  VIII  music, 
which  gave  him  his  real  start.  Bantock's  case,  however, 
was  apparently  far  less  hopeful.  He  had  to  conduct 

43 


44  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

waltzes,  barn-dances,  and  such  things,  for  five  or  six 
hours  a  day,  Sundays  included ;  i.e.  the  military  bands 
played,  on  Sundays,  music  which  was  not  exactly  dance- 
music,  but  which  was  on  about  the  same  level  of  intelli- 
gence. There  was  apparently  no  possibility  of  any- 
thing more  or  higher :  and  it  was  only  Bantock's 
irrepressible  energy  and  hopefulness  that  enabled 
him  to  achieve  as  much  as  he  did. 

He  began  by  fulfilling  his  duties  punctiliously  as 
military-band  conductor,  thus  showing  the  manage- 
ment that  he  was  thoroughly  competent  for  his  work. 
And  then,  with  some  caution,  he  raised  the  question 
of  the  indoor  band,  which  might  also,  he  suggested,  be 
used  for  concerts  of  a  somewhat  different  cast.  By 
degrees,  and  more  especially  by  the  support  and  assist- 
ance of  Mr.  de  Ybarrondo,  whose  official  position  on  the 
directorate  gave  his  opinions  weight,  these  suggestions 
were  acted  upon.  The  band  was  formed ;  gradually 
enlarged ;  and  in  less  than  a  year  from  the  time  of  his 
arrival  Bantock  was  conducting  Sunday  afternoon 
concerts  at  which  music  of  the  highest  type  was  given. 
I  turn  to  an  old  weekly  programme  for  the  week  ending 
June  4th,  1898.  There  is  dance-music  every  evening 
from  7.30  to  10  ;  and  there  is  also  an  afternoon  pro- 
gramme from  2.30  to  5,  that  for  Monday,  May  3oth, 
being  as  follows : 

Coronation  March  . .   "  Henry  VIII  "        . .  German 

Waltz         ..     "  Moonlight  on  the  Rhine  "  Vollstedt 

Polka          . .       "  Chin  Chin  Chinaman "  Kiefert 

Waltz         ..  "Tresjoli"  ..  WaWeufel 

Selection     . .  "  The  Geisha  "  . .  Jones 

Waltz          ..  "Blue  Danube"          ..  Strauss 

Invitation  a  la  Polka  . .  . .  Thome 

Galop          ..  "  Troika  Race "          ..  Damare 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  45 

This  is  a  typical  programme.  On  Friday,  June  3rd, 
a  special  concert  is  announced,  the  programme  of  which 
is  as  follows : 

Overture     . .         . .     "  Egmont "  . .  Beethoven 

Elegy  for  Strings  . .  . .  Tchaikovsky 

Symphony  in  C      . .      "  Jupiter  "  . .  Mozart 

Siegfried  Idyll         . .  . .  . .  Wagner 

Hungarian  Rhapsody,  No.  2  . .  Liszt 

For  the  following  afternoon,  Saturday,  June  4th,  a 
concert  of  a  similar  but  somewhat  less  severe  type  is 
announced. 

From  these  programmes  a  fair  idea  can  be  gathered 
of  Bantock's  occupations  at  this  time.  For  the  following 
Fridays,  special  items  were  announced,  such  as  Dvorak's 
New  World  Symphony,  Tchaikovsky's  "Pathetic"  Sym- 
phony, Rubinstein's  "Ocean"  Symphony  ;  and  there  was 
a  Beethoven  Symphony  Cyclus,  as  well  as  a  Grand 
Wagner  Concert.  The  transformation  is  astonishing  : 
it  is  like  a  conjuring  trick  :  you  put  a  penny  into  the 
hat,  and  there  comes  out  a  forest  of  the  most  lovely 
roses,  full  of  scent,  colour,  and  freshness.  How  Ban- 
tock  managed  to  win  his  way  so  far  as  to  get  this  result 
out  of  an  ordinary  ballroom  band,  in  the  face  of  an 
unsympathetic  Committee  and  Chairman,  is  a  marvel ; 
and,  of  course,  it  could  not  have  been  done  at  all  without 
the  support  of  the  one  man  who  really  felt  with  him — 
Mr.  de  Ybarrondo. 

But  even  this  was  not  enough  for  his  insatiable 
appetite.  He  conceived  the  idea  of  giving  a  series  of 
concerts  of  the  works  of  living  composers,  largely 
English,  and  where  possible  conducted  by  themselves. 
It  seems  incredible  that  the  management  of  a  small 


46  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

local  amusement  hall  with  a  theatre  band  should  ever 
have  consented  to  such  a  proposal ;  but  the  concerts 
took  place  :  and  the  place  became  famous.  The  New 
Brighton  Tower  Concerts  achieved  a  reputation  in  the 
musical  world  ;  and  the  idea  spread  to  Bournemouth, 
where  Mr.  Dan  Godfrey,  with  a  more  amenable 
governing  body,  has  been  able  to  carry  it  on  over  a 
long  series  of  years.  Almost  as  I  write,  in  fact,  he  is 
celebrating,  amid  a  distinguished  gathering,  the  coming 
of  age  of  his  Bournemouth  concerts.  At  New  Brighton 
this  sudden  efflorescence  of  music  was  like  the  work  of 
magic — a  sort  of  Aladdin's  Palace  of  Music  that  appeared 
in  a  night  and  vanished  in  a  night. 

First  came  a  Co  wen  Concert  (May  28th,  1899)  con- 
ducted by  the  composer,  and  followed  by  Dvorak, 
Rubinstein,  and  French  concerts.  On  June  25th  there 
was  a  Stanford  Concert,  conducted  by  the  composer, 
which  was  succeeded  by  a  Berlioz  Concert.  Then  came 
a  Parry  Concert,  an  Elgar  Concert,  a  Corder  Concert, 
and  a  Wallace  Concert,  all  conducted  by  the  respective 
composers.  A  Tchaikovsky  Concert,  a  British  Concert, 
and  a  German  Concert  followed  :  then  a  Mathieu  Con- 
cert, and  a  Mackenzie  Concert,  the  composers  conduct- 
ing :  and  the  list  was  closed  by  a  Liszt,  a  Belgian,  and 
a  Wagner  Concert.  Other  men  whose  work  Bantock 
brought  to  a  hearing  are  Hinton,  Hamish  McCunn, 
Holbrooke,  Bell,  etc.  These  various  composers  stayed 
with  Bantock,  whose  hospitable  instincts  would  hear 
of  no  other  arrangement ;  and  in  many  cases  the  friend- 
ship thus  formed  has  lasted  for  many  years  and  ripened 
into  a  closer  intimacy. 

Another  writer — whose  first  visit  to  England  was  due 
to  Bantock — was  Jean  Sibelius,  for  whose  work  Ban- 
tock has  a  great  admiration.  At  Bantock's  invitation 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  47 

Sibelius  came  over  to  conduct  his  first  symphony  at 
Liverpool ;  and  the  friendship  thus  begun  has  become 
closer  with  years.  Sibelius  dedicated  his  third  symphony 
to  Bantock  ;  and  at  the  time  of  the  production  of  the 
fourth,  at  the  Birmingham  Festival  of  1912,  he  stayed 
with  Bantock  and  renewed  the  intimacy  of  former  days. 

As  a  not  unnatural  result  of  his  position  at  New  Brigh- 
ton, Bantock  was  invited  to  take  the  post  of  conductor 
of  the  Runcorn  Philharmonic  Society,  a  position  which 
he  filled  for  some  time.  He  has  held  many  such  offices 
at  different  periods,  and  has  done  excellent  work  in 
these  conditions.  His  pioneer  views  have,  however, 
sometimes  urged  him  forward  faster  than  the  members 
of  such  societies  were  willing  to  be  dragged — at  his 
chariot-wheels,  as  it  were  ;  and  this  has  led  in  some 
cases  to  disaster.  He,  of  course,  owing  to  the  reputa- 
tion earned  by  the  New  Brighton  Concerts,  formed 
many  musical  acquaintances  in  Manchester  and  Liver- 
pool, and  has  conducted  from  time  to  time  in  both 
cities. 

As  a  conductor  he  is  especially  characterised  by  readi- 
ness, resource,  and  rhythmical  vitality,  though  he  is  not 
wanting  in  delicacy,  or  in  the  power  of  bringing  out 
clearly  all  the  points  in  the  work  under  performance. 
He  is  especially  averse  to  those  who  set  themselves  to 
produce  new  effects  regardless  of  the  original  intentions 
of  the  composer.  He  is  rather  impatient,  too,  of  the 
finicking,  meticulous  anxiety  of  some  conductors,  and 
prefers  a  more  robust,  simple,  and  virile  style.  He 
prefers  to  sit  in  an  informal  society  and  hear  quartets 
tried  through  by  good  and  understanding  players,  to 
going  to  formal  concerts  and  hearing  the  over-refined 
renderings,  which  are  only  attained  by  endless  rehearsals, 
with  their  consequent  lack  of  vitality.  He  is  fond  of 


48  GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

saying  that  the  test  of  a  great  conductor  is  not  so  much 
what  he  can  do  with  a  symphonic  poem  after  weeks  of 
laborious  rehearsal,  as  what  he  will  do  if,  suddenly,  on 
an  emergency,  set  to  conduct  an  unknown  work  at  a 
day's  notice.  If  he  can  give  a  real  interpretation  in 
conditions  like  these,  and  show  insight  and  sympathetic 
understanding,  he  has  given  the  best  possible  proof  of 
his  capacity.  Bantock  is  also  willing  to  take  practical 
conditions  into  consideration,  and  not  to  be  too  in- 
sistent in  making  demands  that  mean  financial  disaster. 
On  one  occasion  the  Liverpool  Philharmonic  had  an- 
nounced Heldenleben.  When  the  date  approached, 
however,  the  conductor  was  taken  ill,  and  the  Committee 
were  in  a  serious  quandary.  They  applied  to  Wood ; 
but  he  required  so  many  rehearsals  as  to  make  it  im- 
possible for  monetary  reasons  to  accept  his  proposals. 
They  then  asked  Bantock  if  he  would  undertake  the 
matter ;  and  on  consideration  of  the  circumstances  he 
agreed  to  do  so,  the  resulting  performance  being  a 
great  success  both  artistically  and  financially. 

The  programme  notes  for  these  concerts  at  New 
Brighton,  Liverpool,  and  the  north  generally,  were 
written  by  Ernest  Newman,  who  was  at  that  time  in  a 
bank  in  Liverpool,  and  between  whom  and  Bantock 
a  sincere  friendship  was  formed.  A  few  years  later  he 
migrated  to  Birmingham  at  Bantock's  invitation,  and 
accepted  a  position  on  the  staff  of  the  Midland  Institute 
School  of  Music,  which  he  afterwards  relinquished  for 
purely  critical  work. 

On  March  gth,  1898,  the  marriage  took  place  between 
Bantock  and  Miss  Schweitzer  ;  and  their  home  was 
formed  at  Liscard,  close  to  the  river,  and  a  pleasant 
journey  from  Liverpool  by  steamboat.  For  the  wedding 
Bantock  wrote  a  special  Wedding  March,  a  good  piece 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  49 

of  work  which,  however,  calls  for  no  special  remark. 
It  was  played  by  Dr.  Steggall's  son,  Reginald.  Although 
it  involves  a  personal  touch,  I  think  my  readers  will 
pardon  this,  and  be  interested  to  learn  that  I  sent  a 
copy  of  Omar  Khayyam's  Rubdiydt  as  a  wedding  present 
— a  seed  which  bore  fruit.  Some  years  afterwards, 
when  I  had  congratulated  him  on  the  production  of 
his  Omar  (Part  I),  Bantock  wrote  to  me :  "  Many 
thanks  for  your  kind  congratulations.  It  was  your 
copy  of  Omar  that  I  have  used  throughout,  and  I  am 
most  grateful  to  you  for  my  first  acquaintance  with  the 
glorious  old  sage.  I  might  say  that  I  have  had  the 
intention  of  setting  the  poem  ever  since  your  kind 
present  reached  us,  but  I  have  only  been  able  to  realise 
my  wish  at  this  present  occasion.  Therefore  I  hold  you 
as  sponsor  or  godfather  to  my  child.  Pray  for  his  sins  " 
(October  10/06).  Bantock  still  possesses  this  copy, 
full  of  marks  and  notes  as  to  his  intentions  for  musical 
treatment :  but  amid  the  gorgeous  array  of  fine  copies 
that  he  now  possesses — copies  in  Persian,  copies  with 
pictures  of  all  sorts,  editions  de  luxe,  and  what  not — 
this  humble  little  copy  bound  in  vellum  cuts  a  sorry 
figure  and  looks  like  a  poor  relation. 

The  first  child  of  this  marriage  was  an  orchestral 
work,  the  Helena  Variations  ;  but  four  others,  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  have  arrived  in  due  course.  The  Helena 
Variations  were  produced  by  the  Liverpool  Orchestral 
Society  at  the  Philharmonic  Hall,  Liverpool.  They 
show  conclusively,  I  think,  that  his  marriage  had  stirred 
Bantock  to  the  depths  of  his  nature.  Many  will  prefer 
this  to  any  other  of  his  works.  They  are  usually  con- 
cerned with  outside  ideas,  if  one  may  put  it  so.  Omar, 
it  is  true,  deals  with  various  illustrations  of  a  philosophy 
which  appeals  very  strongly  to  Bantock  :  but  still 


50  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

such  illustration  is  comparatively  external  work.  The 
Helena  Variations  are  more  psychological,  and  go  more 
into  the  inner  recesses  of  man's  nature,  because  into  his 
own  feelings  in  particular,  at  a  time  when  those  feelings 
were  exceptionally  and  profoundly  moved.  The  dedi- 
cation speaks  of  the  variations  as  "  thoughts  and  reflec- 
tions on  some  of  your  moods  during  a  wearisome 
absence  "  ;  and  I  do  not  think  there  is  elsewhere  in 
Bantock's  writings  so  intimate  a  piece  of  work. 

They  are  hardly  variations  in  the  usual  sense  of  the 
word.  The  first  strain  of  twenty-four  bars  is  followed 
by  Variation  I,  it  is  true  :  but  the  variations  do  not 
generally  follow  out  the  whole  phrase,  being  concerned 
mainly  with  fresh  groupings  and  developments  arising 
from  the  motto-phrase  H  (Bt),  F,  B  (B^)— Mrs.  Ban- 
tock's initials.  The  work  is  full  of  resource,  technically 
speaking,  and  shows  great  variety  of  treatment,  though 
there  is  always  a  certain  note  of  serious  brooding  which, 
as  I  have  said,  does  not  appear  so  clearly  elsewhere, 
before  or  since.  The  actual  notes  H,  F,  B,  do  not 
always  appear.  As  the  music  gets  into  other  keys  the 
phrase  founded  on  the  initials  is  accepted  for  the  notes 
themselves  ;  and  sometimes,  of  course,  the  connection 
is  a  little  abstruse.  But  throughout  the  work  the  motto 
is  never  far  off  :  one  feels  it  as  a  gracious  presence  near 
one,  though  one  cannot  always  hear  the  actual  tones. 
One  feels  and  hears 

.  .  .  the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand, 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still — 

though  in  the  present  case  fortunately  the  separation 
was  only  temporary. 

The  motto  is  first  whispered  out  by  the  violins  alone  : 
bassoons  and  horns  join  in  :  then  the  rest  of  the  strings. 


NEW    BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  51 

Variation  III  is  somewhat  lighter  in  character,  though 
the  fact  of  absence  seems  to  cast  a  certain  seriousness 
even  over  thoughts  of  mirth.  No.  IV  is  remarkable  in 
Bantock's  work  for  showing  an  influence  very  unusual 
with  him,  that  of  Brahms.  I  do  not  suggest  any  actual 
reminiscence  ;  but  there  is,  to  my  mind,  a  feeling  of 
Brahms's  serious  moods  here.  No.  V  is  lighter-hearted  ; 
No.  VI  agitated,  with  the  motto  hinting  its  presence 
everywhere.  No.  VII  is  sad,  with  its  serious  horn-strains 
against  the  figure  in  the  basses.  At  the  beginning  of 
VIII  we  get  an  anticipation  of  the  Bantock  of  Omar. 
No.  XI  is  sorrowful  and  delicately  scored  ;  the  imita- 
tional  passage  for  tuba  and  trombones  is  a  striking 
point.  The  variation  ends  with  a  melancholy  phrase 
dying  away  in  first  violins  alone,  and  leading  into 
No.  XII,  the  finale,  which  is  triumphant  and  im- 
passioned, looking  forward  to  the  approaching  reunion 
with  joy  and  exultation.  The  work  is  scored  for  ordinary 
orchestra,  and  presents  no  great  difficulties. 

About  this  time  came  Bantock's  first  appearance  at 
a  Festival.  The  work  was  an  orchestral  one — Saul, 
a  Symphonic  Overture,  and  was  produced  at  the  Chester 
Festival  of  1897.  It  is  scored  for  large  orchestra,  and 
bears  the  motto  :  "  And  all  the  people  went  to  Gilgal ; 
and  they  made  Saul  king  before  the  Lord  in  Gilgal " 
(i  Sam.  xi.  15).  The  grave  opening  for  brass,  followed 
by  the  string  tremolando  with  an  agitated  figure  in 
the  bass,  while  trumpets  blare  with  ever-increasing 
vehemence — all  this  seems  to  suggest  the  general  idea 
of  kingship  and  the  increasing  desire  and  expectation 
of  the  people.  After  this  introduction  comes  the  move- 
ment proper,  Allegro  con  anima  (C  minor,  6/8),  an 
agitated  subject  for  strings,  wood,  and  horns,  which 
presents  the  tempestuous  side  of  Saul's  nature,  and  his 


52  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

jealous  unrest.  Some  thirty  bars  in,  a  passage  for  horns 
and  trumpets,  followed  by  full  orchestra,  hints  at  the 
stronger  side  of  his  character  and  his  masterful  de- 
cision. Still  later  comes  a  touch  of  the  dreamy  and 
poetical  moods,  changing  at  times  to  a  certain  black 
melancholy,  to  which,  we  are  told,  he  was  liable.  With 
the  second  subject  (Andante,  E|j,  2/4)  we  have  the  better 
influence  of  David,  who,  with  his  harp-playing,  calms 
Saul's  dark  moods.  Browning's  portrayal  of  the 
scene  is  well  known.  David  tells  how  he  entered  the 
tent  and  found  the  king  erect,  with  arms  stretched  wide 
— "  so  agonised  Saul,  drear  and  stark,  blind  and  dumb  : 

"  Then  I  tuned  my  harp — took  off  the  lilies  we  twine  round  its 

chords 

Lest  they  snap  'neath  the  stress  of  the  noontide,  those  sun- 
beams like  swords  : 

And  I  first  played  the  tune  all  our  sheep  know  as,  one  after  one, 
So  docile  they  come  to  the  pen-door  till  folding  be  done." 

Various  other  tunes  follow  till  at  last  Saul's  dark  mood 
melts  away.  Browning's  poem  was  not  in  Bantock's 
mind  when  writing ;  but  it  may  help  one  to  realise  the 
gist  of  the  music.  After  this  quieter  mood,  the  passion- 
ate agitation  returns  ;  but  a  sweep  of  the  harp-strings 
again  lulls  it,  till  it  is  finally  subdued,  and  the  strong 
self-control  of  the  idea  of  kingship,  as  given  at  the 
opening,  again  appears,  this  time  on  the  organ  (Maes- 
toso, 2/2).  Here  follows  a  portion  which  occasioned 
some  little  difficulty  at  the  time.  In  the  development  is 
a  picturesque  section  (Allegretto,  G  minor,  3/4)  depicting 
a  procession  of  Israelites  with  the  Ark.  The  chief  part 
is  an  oboe  solo  on  the  Eastern  scale  with  two  aug- 
mented seconds :  and,  as  is  very  natural  in  such  a 
scene,  a  triangle  is  employed.  This  gave  offence  to  the 
authorities  as  unsuitable  to  a  cathedral;  and  after 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  53 

some  controversy,  the  triangle  part  had  to  be  omitted. 
At  the  return,  Saul's  feverish  jealousy  against  David 
reappears,  and  becomes  more  and  more  violent.  He 
is  still  capable  of  more  reasonable  moods,  however, 
and  the  second  subject  (David's  influence),  when  it 
occurs  in  the  retrospect,  is  extended  and  more  elevated 
in  tone.  So  the  struggle  goes  on  between  the  better 
and  worse  sides  of  Saul's  nature  ;  and  the  work  ends 
(Grandioso)  with  kingly  restraint  and  strength. 

Bantock,  with  his  instinct  for  large  designs,  now 
planned  (1897-8)  and,  amid  all  the  whirl  of  his  con- 
ducting duties,  actually  carried  out,  a  vast  work  en- 
titled Christus,  a  Festival  Symphony.  It  was  a  huge 
undertaking  which  was  not  completed  till  August, 
1901,  after  his  migration  to  Birmingham.  It  is  in  ten 
parts,  entitled  respectively,  Nazareth,  The  Wilderness, 
The  Woman  of  Samaria,  Jerusalem,  The  Mount  of  Olives, 
The  Paschal  Eve,  Gethsemane,  The  Judgment,  Calvary, 
Epilogue.  The  work  is  written  for  chorus,  soloists, 
organ,  and  large  orchestra  ;  and  occupies  654  pages  of 
score.  In  many  places,  however — for  instance,  in  the 
unaccompanied  choruses — there  are  two  or  three  lines  to 
a  page  ;  so  that  if  written  throughout  in  full  score  it 
would  be  well  over  700  pages.  I  do  not  propose  to  go 
into  the  work  in  detail.  Bantock  is  not  satisfied  with 
it ;  and  it  has  never  been  performed  as  it  stands, 
though  two  portions  have  been  taken  out,  practically 
re-written,  and  produced  at  festivals,  as  will  be  duly 
recorded  when  the  time  comes.  It  will  be  more  con- 
venient, however,  to  discuss  the  work  as  a  whole  here. 
The  two  parts  referred  to  are  Christ  in  the  Wilderness, 
and  Gethsemane.  The  first  of  these  two  opens  with  an 
orchestral  prelude,  which  is  itself  ushered  in  by  the  two 
chief  motifs  of  the  work,  Resolution  and  Faith.  Follow- 


54  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

ing  this  prelude  comes  a  recitative  telling  how  Jesus 
withdrew  himself  into  the  wilderness.  An  orchestral 
symphony  of  459  bars  then  deals  with  his  meditations 
during  this  period  ;  and  is  succeeded  by  a  Mystic  Chorus, 
in  eight  parts  unaccompanied,  in  which  there  is  much 
fine  and  impressive  work.  A  very  attractive  Air  follows, 
with  more  than  a  touch  of  Oriental  colouring,  to  the 
words,  The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  made 
glad  for  them,  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice.  No.  6,  the 
Epilogue,  Arise,  Shine,  is  for  eight-part  chorus  and 
orchestra,  and  is  a  broad  and  elevated  piece  of  writing, 
founded  on  the  Epilogue  of  Christus.  The  work  is  full 
of  fine  musicianly  qualities,  as  will  be  expected  by  all 
who  know  the  lofty  standard  Bantock  sets  before 
himself,  and  the  high  level  he  maintains. 

Much  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  other  "  Episode 
from  the  life  of  Christ " — Gethsemane.  The  plan  too 
is  similar,  though  on  a  somewhat  smaller  scale.  Here 
we  have,  first,  a  Prelude  of  about  eighty  bars.  Then 
a  recitative — Then  cometh  Jesus  to  a  place  called  Geth- 
semane, etc.  No.  3  is  a  symphonic  representation  of  His 
thoughts  and  feelings,  one  place  being  marked,  The 
Agony.  The  cry  for  the  removal  of  the  cup  is  given  in 
words,  as  also  is  the  interlude,  Why  sleep  ye  ?  Rise  and 
fray.  This  is  succeeded  by  the  Prayer,  which  is  broken 
into  by  the  eight-part  unaccompanied  chorus,  While 
yet  he  spake,  lo  Judas  ! — and  the  Betrayal  Scene  follows. 
The  eight-part  finale,  Fear  thou  not,  for  I  am  with  ihee, 
is  broad  in  conception,  and  has,  as  a  centre-piece,  a 
daring  reversion  to  old  plain-song  methods  which  is 
very  striking. 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  the  high  musicianly  qualities 
of  the  work,  one  cannot  but  feel  that  Bantock  is  here 
not  moving  in  his  natural  element.  He  has  been  de- 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  55 

fleeted  from  his  true  orbit.  He  is  writing  as  an  artist, 
produces  good  artistry,  and  contends  that  any  subject 
can  be,  and  should  be,  undertaken  from  that  point  of 
approach.  It  is  an  important  issue,  and  one  which  is 
well  worth  some  little  discussion. 

It  is  true  that  an  artist  must  work  as  an  artist ;  and 
unless  he  do  this  his  work  must  fail ;  for  no  amount  of 
good  intentions  will  make  great  art  if  the  technique  be 
faulty.  Perhaps,  however,  that  should  be  modified  to 
faulty  according  to  tJie  standard  of  Us  time ;  for  Fra 
Angelico's  pictures,  to  take  one  instance  only,  are  great 
art  in  spite  of  their  technical  limitations.  The  art  of  the 
artist,  however,  must  not  be  too  self-conscious :  it 
must  have  become  second  nature  before  he  is  ready  to 
deal  with  great  themes  and  yet  produce  a  feeling  of 
sincerity.  But,  in  addition  to  that,  the  subject  he  deals 
with  must  be  an  integral  part  of  his  own  nature ;  if  he 
feel  it  to  be  to  some  extent  alien,  this  is  almost  sure  to 
make  itself  felt.  The  same  is  the  case,  too,  in  the 
representation  of  character.  This  can  be  achieved  by 
the  dramatic  poet  as  a  matter  of  artistry,  in  a  sense  : 
but  he  should  not  think  of  the  matter  so,  at  the  time 
of  creation.  His  technique  should  have  become  instinc- 
tive :  he  should  think,  consciously,  only  of  the  Idea. 
Besides  that,  it  should  be  noted  that  the  character 
represented  must  be  an  aspect  of  himself,  i.e.  one  side  of 
his  own  ampler  nature.  Hamlet,  Romeo,  Falstaff, 
Brutus,  Cleopatra,  Imogen,  are  all  facets  of  the  infi- 
nitely larger  nature  of  Shakespeare.  He  is  the  myriad- 
minded  man,  the  man  of  many  aspects.  It  is  true  that 
a  dramatist  sometimes  represents  a  hero  whose  character 
seems  greater  than  his  own  :  but  he  is  potentially  the 
larger  nature,  though  his  imagination  may  present  a 
moral  standard  which  he  has  not  yet  actually  attained. 


56  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

The  perfection  he  bodies  forth  has  not  yet  passed  into 
his  own  character  through  the  action  of  will  and  deed, 
though  it  is  there  in  reserve  in  his  subliminal  nature. 

This  accounts  for  the  unsatisfactory  effect  frequently 
produced  by  novelists  and  dramatists  when  they  try 
to  represent  the  great  men  of  history.  The  character 
is  not  truly  part  of  themselves :  in  many  cases  he  is 
far  larger  and  ampler  than  themselves :  and  they 
cannot,  therefore,  think  with  his  brain,  feel  with  his 
heart,  and  speak  with  his  voice.  So  clearly  has  this 
come  to  be  realised  that  the  better  novelists  have  given 
up  the  attempt  to  make  the  great  characters  of  history 
speak  and  act.  Tennyson's  Arthur  is  a  failure.  Tenny- 
son was — if  I  may  be  allowed  an  American  slang  phrase 
— biting  off  more  than  he  could  chew.  Think,  too — to 
take  another  instance — of  Plato,  as  represented  in 
Lander's  Imaginary  Conversations.  Landor  was  very 
far  from  being  able  to  think  with  Plato's  brain. 

A  great  deal,  however,  may  be  done  by  severe  reserve 
and  restraint.  Bach,  in  dealing  with  Christ  in  the 
Matthew  Passion,  was  dealing  with  the  object  of  his 
sincerest  and  most  heartfelt  devotion — a  devotion  that 
had  become  a  passion  ;  for  his  work  is  full  of  the  sort 
of  devotion  that  we  find  in  Thomas  a  Kempis.  Yet 
Bach,  with  all  his  technical  resource,  limits  himself 
sternly.  He  deals  with  Christ  only  in  the  simplest, 
almost  archaic  manner.  When  Christ  speaks,  it  is  in 
recitative,  his  words  being  surrounded  by  an  aureole,  as 
it  were,  in  the  strings,  instead  of  the  usual  harpsichord 
accompaniment.  And  in  the  case  of  larger  utterances, 
they  are  given  to  the  chorus.  There  is  no  attempt  to 
treat  the  character  dramatically.  The  effect  is  rather 
that  produced  by  the  vast  mosaic  portraits  in  some 
cathedrals,  e.g.  that  grand  archaic  figure  in  the  apse 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  57 

of  Monreale,  that  dominates  the  whole  church.  Those 
who  are  students  of  biblical  literature  will  follow  me 
with  understanding,  if  not  all  with  agreement,  when 
I  say  that  the  same  failure  is  apparent  even  in  the 
Bible  itself.  John's  Gospel  is  full  of  speeches  put  into 
the  mouth  of  Christ,  which  do  not,  I  think,  and  many 
critics  think,  ring  true.  They  are  usually  founded  upon 
some  profound  germinal  phrase — which  appears  to  be  one 
of  the  traditional  logia — which  they  amplify,  and  usually 
weaken.  We  find  long  speeches  embodying  the  writer's 
platonising  philosophy  :  we  do  not  find  the  profound 
insight  of  some  of  the  short  sayings  in  the  synoptics, 
where  we  seem  to  have  authentic  logia  preserved. 

Well,  if  success  be  so  difficult,  it  is  hardly  surprising 
that  in  the  case  before  us  one  cannot  feel  that  it  has 
been  altogether  attained.  To  me,  personally,  the  effect 
produced  is  rather  that  given  by  Kenan's  amiable  and 
pathetic  figure  of  Jesus,  than  that  of  the  exalted  Per- 
sonality who — in  one  way  or  another — has  actually 
affected  the  world's  history  though  he  is  still  so  little 
understood.  Some  say  that  this  was  Paul's  doing  :  but 
Paul  was  transformed  by  the  Idea  of  Christ.  As  music, 
the  two  little  works  are  fine  and  interesting — all  will 
admit  so  much ;  and  no  doubt  to  many  they  will  make 
their  own  appeal  on  the  psychological  side  also.  These 
are  my  own  personal  views,  which  I  give  for  what  they 
are  worth  :  doubtless  there  will  be  differences  of  opinion 
on  the  subject ;  and  each  hearer  must  form  his  own 
conclusions,  which  will  be  influenced  largely  by  his  views 
and  feelings  with  regard  to  the  Personality  who  forms 
the  central  idea  at  the  heart  of  the  works  under  con- 
sideration. With  the  oratorio  as  a  whole,  Bantock,  as 
I  have  said,  is  dissatisfied,  feeling  that  his  technique 
has  not  been  adequate  to  the  subject.  He  has  there- 


58  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

fore  withheld  it  from  publication,  only  using  it  as  a  basis 
for  these  more  finished  portions,  whose  production  will 
be  chronicled  in  the  proper  place. 

During  part  of  the  time  when  Christus  was  being 
written  Bantock  was  engaged  also  on  the  first  of  his 
really  large  scores,  embodying  a  symphonic  poem  on 
the  subject  of  Southey's  Thalaba  the  Destroyer.  Its 
appeal  to  Bantock's  mind  will  be  easily  understood 
when  the  nature  of  the  poem  is  considered.  It  is  a  fan- 
tastic story,  perhaps  deserving  the  higher  epithet 
imaginative  ;  though  such  scenes  as  those  in  the  "  Dom- 
daniel "  or  hell  of  the  sorcerers,  with  their  apparatus 
of  teraphs,  dead  hands,  warm  skulls,  etc.,  are  hardly 
of  the  loftiest  type  of  imagination.  The  Gardens  of 
Irem,  the  fabulous  Bird  of  Wisdom — the  Simorg — and 
all  kinds  of  miraculous  events,  play  their  parts.  Thalaba 
is  a  youth  whose  father  has  been  slain  by  the  powers 
of  evil,  since  they  hoped  to  destroy  in  him  the  great 
enemy  of  their  race.  Thalaba  himself  is,  however,  in 
reality  the  destined  one ;  and  the  murder  of  his 
father  only  brings  their  own  doom  the  nearer.  He  is 
thenceforth  a  being  set  apart : 

..."  Remember,  Destiny 

Hath  marked  thee  from  mankind."  (Book  I.) 

He  is  to  avenge  his  father's  death  by  extirpating  the 
whole  race  of  the  sorcerers.  It  sounds  rather  crude, 
and  like  the  pitiless  creed  of  the  vendetta  among  the 
Corsicans.  And  certainly  it  is  dangerous  doctrine. 
Personal  and  private  vengeance  is  only  too  ready  in  all 
ages  to  masquerade  as  a  holy  zeal  for  the  destruction 
of  the  foes  of  God.  It  is  only  just  to  add,  therefore, 
that  before  the  consummation  is  reached  Thalaba  at 
least  thinks  that  this  element  of  personal  vengeance  is 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  59 

conquered  and  eliminated :  and  the  poet  evidently 
intends  us  to  understand  that  he  was  not  self -deceived. 
Turning  now  to  the  musical  treatment  of  the  story, 
we  may  give  the  composer's  intentions,  as  quoted  by 
Mr.  Newman  in  his  programme  notes  at  the  time  of  the 
production  of  the  work :  "  The  composer  has  in  view 
a  form  of  musical  expression  in  which  the  orchestra  may 
be  regarded  as  a  canvas  upon  which  various  pictures 
illustrating  certain  characters  and  situations  in  a  given 
poem  are  depicted  according  to  the  development  of  the 
plot.  Prominent  ideas  and  dramatic  episodes  are 
associated  with  the  themes,  and  there  is  hardly  a  phrase 
or  modulation  without  its  special  significance  tending 
to  the  elucidation  of  the  subject.  .  .  .  Thalaba  is  the 
prototype  of  the  man  who  meets  and  combats  adversity, 
and,  crushing  the  serpent-brood  of  his  own  lower  pas- 
sions, finally  triumphs  through  self-annihilation.  .  .  . 
The  spiritual  influences  leading  his  soul  to  the  heights  of 
aspiration  and  noble  endeavour  are  typified  first  by  the 
spirit  of  his  mother,  and  second,  by  the  spirit  of  Oneiza, 
the  Arabian  maiden,  under  whose  father's  care  his  child- 
hood was  spent  in  the  desert  solitude.  That  earthly  love 
may  not  distract  him  from  his  allotted  task,  Oneiza  dies 
upon  their  wredding  night,  and  her  spirit  is  henceforth  his 
guiding  star.  Here  we  have  the  ascetic  ideal :  the  body 
must  suffer  and  die  that  the  soul  may  live.  Chastened 
by  his  anguish,  Thalaba  goes  forth,  "  straight  on,  with 
Destiny  his  guide,"  and  through  strange  ordeals  and 
temptations  reaches  the  goal  at  last.  But  death  alone 
can  complete  his  work ;  and,  in  the  final  and  supreme 
surrender  of  his  will  to  Heaven,  death  brings  him 
victory."  Such  were  the  ideas  under  whose  influence 
Bantock  worked  ;  and  he  carries  them  out  and  em- 
bodies them  with  musicianly  skill. 


6o  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

I  have  said  that  this  was  the  first  of  the  really  large 
scores.  Even  this,  however,  is  not  on  the  scale  of  the 
score  of  Omar.  The  instruments  employed  are  such 
as  now  constitute  the  ordinary  festival  orchestra.  The 
opening  (Mesto,  lugubre)  consists  of  an  evil  and  menacing 
passage  for  brass,  representing  the  sorcerers  in  their 
abode  (or  "  Domdaniel ")  under  the  Roots  of  the 
Ocean.  Against  this,  however,  as  if  to  foreshadow  at 
once  the  overcoming  of  evil,  appears  a  figure  in  the 
basses,  from  which  springs  the  second  subject,  the 
theme  representing  Oneiza,  his  beloved  Arabian  maiden 
and  good  genius,  mentioned  above.  Following  this 
comes  a  vigorous  semi-quaver  passage  (Animate) 
representing  Thalaba  himself ;  and  immediately  after, 
a  theme  in  the  horns  (ff),  marked  with  the  motto 
quoted  above  : 

"...  Remember,  Destiny 
Hath  marked  thee  from  mankind." 

This  may  be  conveniently  called  the  Destiny  theme, 
and  is  used  a  good  deal  during  the  course  of  the  piece. 
Upon  this  follows  a  melody  for  violins  (fourth  string) 
representing  one  of  the  spiritual  aspects  of  Thalaba's 
nature,  and  which  also  plays  some  part  in  the  sequel. 
Then,  after  another  reference  to  the  more  energetic 
will-element  in  him,  we  reach  the  end  of  the  intro- 
ductory portion,  and  enter  upon  the  main  movement, 
at  the  Allegro  con  fuoco,  with  this  energetic  motif  in 
the  strings.  It  is  not  long  before  the  "  Destiny  "  theme 
is  added ;  and  this  becomes  more  and  more  insistent 
till  we  arrive  at  the  second  subject,  Moderate  sostenuto, 
a  tender  and  somewhat  melancholy  melody  on  a  scale 
with  two  augmented  seconds.  It  is  given  mostly  to 
wood-wind  at  first,  but  'cellos  and  violas  are  soon 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  61 

interwoven,  and  it  is  gradually  taken  up  by  all  the  wood 
and  strings.  The  theme  is  founded  on  the  phrase 
mentioned  above  as  appearing  at  the  opening,  and 
represents  the  Arab  maid  Oneiza,  one  of  the  strongest 
influences  for  good  in  Thalaba's  life.  All  the  material  is 
now  before  us,  and  we  need  not  enter  into  further  detail : 
Bantock's  intentions  are  sufficiently  explained  in  his 
own  words  quoted  above.  The  evil  is  finally  overcome  ; 
but  there  is  not  much  triumph  for  Thalaba  ;  he  is 
exhausted  by  the  struggle,  and  dies  victorious  but  grief- 
stricken. 

The  work  is  forcible  and  musicianly.  The  way  the 
large  orchestral  forces  are  handled  is  remarkable  ;  and 
though  Bantock  now  feels  that  he  has  left  it  some  way 
behind,  for  the  time  when  it  was  written  it  was  quite 
striking  ;  and  it  would  still  be  an  effective  concert- 
piece.  It  was  produced  at  the  London  Musical  Festival, 
May,  1900,  under  Wood  ;  and  has  been  performed  at 
Antwerp  (February,  1901)  and  at  Liverpool  (February, 
1902)  under  Bantock's  own  baton. 

The  next  work — a  Tone-Poem,  The  Witch  of  Atlas — 
shows  a  distinct  advance  in  one  respect.  The  quality 
of  its  imagination  is  finer  and  subtler.  The  somewhat 
heavy  German  cast  of  thought  is  being  sloughed  away, 
and  we  get  a  more  delicate  and  poetical  atmosphere, 
more  distinctively  English,  evidently  inspired  by  the 
ethereal  genius  of  Shelley,  and  reflecting  the  peculiar 
quality  of  his  poem.  The  opening,  Lento  molto  e  tran- 
quillo,  which  has  for  its  motto  : 

A  lady-witch  there  lived  on  Atlas  mountain 
Within  a  cavern  by  a  secret  fountain  ; 

is  a  fine  ethereal  conception.  It  would  perhaps  be  mis- 
leading to  say  that  the  instrumentation  is  surer :  and 


62  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

yet  in  a  sense  this  is  the  fact.  Instrumentation  at  its 
truest  can  really  not  be  separated  from  the  ideas  it 
embodies,  but  is  the  one  inevitable  incarnation  of  those 
ideas  :  the  idea  and  the  form  are  one.  And  this  is  the 
case  here.  The  cast  of  the  ideas  being  finer,  the  instru- 
mentation is  involved  with  them.  Tremolando  violins, 
with  a  touch  of  the  harp,  and  a  solo  violin  soaring  above, 
answered  after  a  few  bars  by  the  cor  anglais,  create  a 
delicate  and  subtle  vision,  as  it  were.  Other  wood-wind 
gradually  join  in,  then  solo  'cello  ;  and  the  music 
gradually  descends  to  the  lower  register  of  the  strings 
till,  at  bar  32,  we  reach  the  second  section  : 

"Tis  said  she  was  first  changed  into  a  vapour, 
And  then  into  a  cloud,  such  clouds  as  flit 

Like  splendour  winged  moths  about  a  taper, 
Round  the  red  west  when  the  sun  dies  in  it. 

Sustained  chords  for  muted  trombones,  with  harp 
arpeggios,  and  a  fragment  of  the  first  subject  (the  Lady) 
for  solo  viola,  answered  by  solo  violin,  open  this  section. 
It  is  carried  on  by  elaborately  divided  strings,  solo  violin, 
solo  viola,  solo  oboe  and  horn,  and  is  full  of  delicate 
poetical  suggestiveness.  At  bar  59  comes  the  third 
section : 

And  old  Silenus,  shaking  a  green  stick 
Of  lilies,  and  the  wood-gods  in  a  crew 

Came  blithe,  as,  in  the  olive-copses  thick, 
Cicadae  are,  drunk  with  the  noonday  dew ; 

And  Driope  and  Faunus  followed  quick, 

Teasing  the  god  to  sing  them  something  new  ; 

Till  in  the  cave  they  found  the  lady  lone, 

Sitting  upon  a  seat  of  emerald  stone. 

There  is  less  of  the  Silenus  element  than  some  might 
expect  from  Bantock's  later  work  :  indeed  he  and  his 
rout  are  only  just  hinted  at  in  a  quiet  passage  of  semi- 
quaver repeated  chords  for  wood-wind  and  trumpets, 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  63 

Pp.  And  it  is  a  sure  instinct  that  has  led  the  composer 
to  this  restraint,  as  any  enlarging  on  this  idea  would 
have  thrown  the  picture  out  of  focus.  His  imagination 
is  more  concerned  with  the  olive-copses,  the  noonday 
dew,  the  beauty  of  the  assembled  gods,  and  of  the  lady 
in  the  magic  cavern,  upon  her  seat  of  emerald  ;  and  this 
is  expressed  in  a  suave  melody,  an  expansion  of  the 
first  subject  (the  Lady),  streaming  out  in  the  strings 
against  tremolando  wood-wind. 

The  next  section  (bar  98)  tells  how  the  nymphs  and 
shepherdesses  came  marvelling  at  the  beauty  of  the 
Lady.  There  is  a  fresh  figure  of  semi-quavers  in  the 
wood-wind,  but  the  main  subject  is  still  the  original 
phrase  for  the  Lady,  who  is  the  central  figure  of  the 
whole  picture.  At  bar  137  we  have  a  fresh  subject  of 
great  beauty,  still  dwelling  upon  this  central  idea : 

For  she  was  beautiful :   her  beauty  made 

The  bright  world  dim  ;    and  everything  beside 
Seemed  like  the  fleeting  image  of  a  shade. 

Here  we  have  a  long-drawn  melody  for  four  horns,  ac- 
companied by  divided  strings,  with  touches  of  the  harp ; 
the  melody  being  taken  up  later  by  violins  in  the  upper 
register.  This  passes  into  the  next  section  almost  im- 
perceptibly ;  in  fact  the  two  are  practically  interfused. 

The  next  portion,  however,  is  more  distinctive.  It 
is  marked  Marziale  con  anima,  and  illustrates  with  much 
pomp  and  pageantry  of  sound  the  following  stanza : 

And  then  she  called  out  of  the  hollow  turrets 

Of  those  high  clouds,  white,  golden,  and  vermilion, 

The  armies  of  her  ministering  spirits  : 
In  mighty  legions,  million  after  million. 

They  came,  each  troop  emblazoning  its  merits 
On  meteor-flags  ;    and  many  a  proud  pavilion 

Of  the  intertexture  of  the  atmosphere 

They  pitched  upon  the  plain  of  the  calm  mere. 


64  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

Following  upon  this,  a  long  harp  cadence  leads  to 
the  last  piece  of  fresh  imagery,  where  the  Lady  gives 
to  the  most  beautiful  of  her  adorers  a  magic  drink 
which  fills  them  with  a  fuller,  larger  life.  Here  the 
melody  used  is  a  fresh  presentment  of  the  subject  for 
horns  which  is  mentioned  above  as  occurring  at  bar  137, 
and  which  may  almost  stand  as  a  motif  of  beauty  itself. 
This  leads  to  a  resumption  of  the  delicate  opening  ;  and 
the  whole  dies  away  like  a  vision. 

The  work  was  produced  at  the  Worcester  Festival  of 
1902.  It  is  of  extreme  beauty,  and  ought  to  be  in  con- 
tinual request.  English  orchestral  works  are  singularly 
neglected :  but  here  is  one  that  would  repay  any 
conductor,  and  that  is  not  beyond  the  powers  of  good 
orchestras  such  as  are  now  not  uncommon.  It  requires 
delicacy  of  playing,  and  imagination,  certainly  ;  but 
the  passages  present  no  great  difficulty.  It  is  scored 
for  ordinary  large  orchestra. 

Another  piece  belonging  to  this  period  is  the  Elegiac 
Poem  for  'cello  and  orchestra.  It  is  on  an  altogether 
smaller  scale,  being  merely  a  piece  d'occasion,  and 
running  only  to  some  112  bars  ;  but  it  is  a  fine  piece 
of  work,  and  very  effective  in  performance.  The  score 
is  small,  having  only  two  horns  in  addition  to  strings 
and  wood ;  but  the  most  is  made  of  the  resources  em- 
ployed, and  the  tone-colour  is  rich  and  full.  The  piece 
opens  in  D,  Molto  lento  e  sostenuto.  A  fresh  phrase, 
Molto  piu  mosso,  in  B  minor,  follows,  the  violins  giving 
out  a  new  melody  which  is  then  taken  up  by  the  'cello. 
After  this  comes  an  agitato  passage  in  C#  minor,  in  which, 
however,  the  accompaniments  are  kept  down  sufficiently 
to  allow  theTnot  very  powerful  'cello  tone  to  come 
through.  The  mood  then  becomes~quieter  again,  and  a 
fresh  'cello  melody  appears,  Meno  mosso,  piu  tranquillo, 


NEW    BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  65 

in  E.  So  the  changeful  feelings  succeed  each  other  as 
in  elegiacs  generally,  as  different  thoughts  of  the  lost 
friend  come  to  one's  memory.  A  noticeable  point  occurs 
at  the  return  to  D,  where  the  main  subject  is  given  out 
by  'cello,  imitated  by  clarinet  a  tone  higher,  resumed  by 
'cello  a  tone  higher,  and  again  imitated  by  oboe  a  tone 
higher  still,  the  mind  seeming  to  dwell  with  ever- 
increasing  vehemence  on  the  beloved  memory.  After 
a  cadence  for  the  solo  instrument,  a  peaceful  coda 
speaks  of  resignation  in  the  sense  of  loss.  The  piece  is 
effectively  written  for  the  instrument,  and,  along  with 
the  still  finer  Sapphic  Poem,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
later,  forms  a  valuable  addition  to  the  'cello  repertoire. 
The  score  is  published  by  Joseph  Williams  and  Co.  ; 
and  an  arrangement  for  'cello  and  pianoforte  has  been 
issued  by  the  same  firm  edited  by  Willy  Lehmann,  the 
'cellist,  with  whom  Bantock  formed  a  friendship  a  year 
or  two  later,  at  Birmingham. 

Thus  went  on  Bantock's  more  intimate  work,  in  ever- 
increasing  volume  and  fineness  of  structure.  His  ex- 
ternal work,  meanwhile,  was  in  a  less  satisfactory  con- 
dition. He  was  receiving  recognition  in  more  ways  than 
one,  and  his  old  alma  mater  complimented  him  with  the 
title  F.R.A.M.  But  the  divergence  of  views  between 
him  and  the  management  at  New  Brighton  gradually 
became  more  clearly  defined.  Mr.  de  Ybarrondo  was 
obliged,  for  various  reasons,  to  resign  from  the  Board 
of  Directors  ;  and  the  Chairman — his  influence  removed 
— became  more  and  more  hostile.  He  viewed  The  Tower, 
New  Brighton,  purely  as  a  business  affair  :  Bantock 
was  trying  to  make  it  subserve  his  artistic  aims.  It  is 
easy  to  see  that  the  situation  had  become  impossible, 
and  Bantock  began  to  look  round  for  other  employment. 
By  this  time  his  reputation,  and  that  of  his  concerts, 
F 


66  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

were  fully  established  ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
received  offers  from  two  sources.  The  Birmingham  and 
Midland  Institute  had  some  years  before  added  a  music 
school  to  their  educational  organisation  ;  but  this  music 
school  had  never  had  an  official  Principal,  though  Mr. 
Stockley  had  occupied  the  post  of  conductor,  and  that 
of  a  sort  of  unofficial  quasi-principal.  It  was  now 
decided  to  have  a  regular  Principal,  and  to  organise  the 
School  of  Music  on  a  more  complete  and  careful  plan. 
Elgar  had  recently  been  a  good  deal  associated  with  the 
musical  life  of  Birmingham,  largely  owing  to  the  pro- 
duction of  some  of  his  vocal  works  in  that  city.  Thus 
it  came  about  that,  mainly  through  Elgar's  influence, 
the  position  of  Principal  of  the  Midland  Institute  School 
of  Music  was  now  offered  to  Bantock.  The  other  offer 
was  that  of  a  position  on  the  staff  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Music.  Bantock  took  some  time  to  think  the  matter 
over,  as  the  choice  was  an  important  one  ;  but  he  finally 
decided  that  he  would  have  opportunities  wider  and  more 
varied  in  an  organisation  whose  musical  policy  was  as 
yet  not  very  clearly  defined,  and  whose  position  was  still 
to  be  achieved,  than  he  would  as  one  among  many,  and 
with  purely  professional  duties,  in  an  already  established 
Institution.  He  therefore  concluded  to  accept  the  post 
at  Birmingham ;  and  conveyed  his  decision  to  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Music  in  the  words  of  Milton  already 
referred  to  : 

Better  to  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven. 

Before  he  went  to  his  new  sphere  of  action,  however, 
one  more  undertaking  claimed  his  co-operation.  A 
concert  of  British  music  had  been  organised  to  be  given 
at  Antwerp,  and  this  he  had  undertaken  to  conduct.  It 
took  place  in  February,  1900.  The  programme  included 


NEW   BRIGHTON,    1897-1900  67 

some  of  his  own  works,  among  them  Jaga-naut  of  the 
Kehama  cycle,  which  won  a  warm  reception,  and  was 
repeated  about  a  year  later  at  a  Philharmonic  Concert 
in  March,  1901. 

Shortly  afterwards  Bantock  took  a  final  leave  of  New 
Brighton,  receiving  from  his  orchestra  an  address  re- 
gretting his  loss,  and  acknowledging  the  fine  work  he 
had  done.  As  was  inevitable,  the  band  relapsed  to  their 
original  status  as  an  ordinary  amusements  band.  Ban- 
tock, meanwhile,  proceeded  to  Birmingham,  settled  in 
a  house  at  King's  Norton,  and  after  the  summer  vacation, 
in  September,  1900,  entered  upon  his  new  responsi- 
bilities at  the  Midland  Institute. 


CHAPTER    VI 

BIRMINGHAM   (PART  l)   MIDLAND   INSTITUTE,    IQOO,   CON- 
DUCTING, ETC.,  SONGS,  'CELLO  PIECES,  GREEK  PLAYS, 

CHORAL  WORKS,  OMAR,  1906-9 

THE  Birmingham  and  Midland  Institute  was  incor- 
porated by  Act  of  Parliament  in  1854,  at  the  instance 
of  the  Municipality.  The  foundation-stone  was  laid  by 
the  Prince  Consort,  and  the  Institute  has  had  a  long 
series  of  distinguished  Presidents,  among  them  Charles 
Dickens,  Huxley,  Kingsley,  Tyndall,  Dean  Stanley, 
Max  Miiller,  Froude,  Russell  Lowell,  Seeley,  Sullivan, 
and  Freeman.  The  Institute  is  a  sort  of  combination 
of  club  and  educational  establishment.  Not  that  there 
are  arrangements  for  dining  ;  but  the  weekly  lectures 
for  members  only,  the  reading-rooms,  Chess  Club,  and 
various  societies,  give  a  tinge  of  the  club-element. 
The  educational  value  of  the  Institute  has  been  great. 
It  has  been  a  sort  of  forerunner  to  make  straight  the 
paths  of  the  University :  and,  though  the  University 
has  now  appeared,  has  still  its  own  distinctive  work  to 
do.  Evening  classes  for  such  as  cannot  conform  to 
university  conditions  have  provided,  and  do  provide, 
invaluable  means  of  education,  and  some  flavour  of 
university  life.  For  the  numbers  are  large  ;  and  social 
intercourse  combines  with  the  influence  of  various  allied 
societies  to  give  the  students  an  emulation  and  an 
esprit  de  corps  which  private  classes  can  hardly  arouse. 
History,  literature,  mathematics,  languages,  commercial 

68 


BIRMINGHAM  69 

subjects,  art,  and  science,  were  taught  from  the  first. 
The  Art  Department  set  up  for  itself,  later,  as  the 
Municipal  School  of  Art.  The  Municipal  Technical 
School  is  another  child  of  the  Institute.  And  the  School 
of  Music,  which  was  inaugurated  in  a  tentative  way 
some  years  before  Bantock's  advent,  is  now  known 
throughout  England  as  the  School  for  the  Midlands. 
There  are  at  present  some  2250  students,  of  whom  nearly 
1000  belong  to  the  School  of  Music. 

When  Bantock  came  to  Birmingham  in  September, 
1900,  as  Principal  of  the  School  of  Music,  the  duties  of 
his  office  were  not  very  clearly  denned,  since  he  was  the 
first  to  fill  this  position,  and  he  had  to  make  his  status 
for  himself.  The  governing  bodies  consisted  of  Presi- 
dent, Vice-President,  Council,  Committees,  and  Secre- 
tary, which  last  office  was  held  by  Alfred  Hayes,  the 
poet,  with  whom  Bantock  formed  a  cordial  intimacy. 
During  the  last  year  or  two  a  reorganisation  has  taken 
place,  and  Mr.  Hayes  has  been  appointed  Principal  of 
the  Industrial  Side  of  the  Institute.  Other  members 
of  the  organisation  with  whom  Bantock  formed  ties  of 
friendship  were  W.  M.  Gibbons,  at  present  Registrar 
of  Sheffield  University,  and  H.  M.  Francis,  now  Secre- 
tary of  the  Institute.  One  of  Bantock's  first  acts  on 
taking  up  his  office  was  to  move  for  the  appointment  of 
Elgar  as  Visitor  of  the  School  of  Music,  a  position  which 
he  accepted  and  still  holds. 

A  complete  musical  education  can  now  be  obtained 
at  the  School  of  Music.  The  collective  classes  for  rudi- 
ments, ear-training,  harmony,  and  counterpoint  have 
proved  of  great  service  in  raising  the  general  musical 
average  of  the  district.  Bantock's  influence,  as  might 
be  expected,  has  been  exercised  steadily  in  the  direction 
of  fostering  modern  music  ;  and  lectures  on  Strauss, 


70  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

Debussy,  Sibelius,  etc.,  have  been  given  by  Newman 
and  others.  The  orchestra  is  under  Bantock's  personal 
direction,  and  the  list  of  works  performed  since  his 
coming  is  a  fine  one,  many  modern  pieces  being  included. 
There  have  also  been  full  performances  of  Gluck's 
Orfeo,  Iphigenia  in  Aulis,  and  iphigenia  in  Tauris,  as 
well  as  the  greater  part  of  Die  Zauberflote,  entirely  by 
the  students.  During  the  last  few  years,  too,  Bantock 
has  conducted  a  composition  class  which  is  free  to  any 
student  who  shows  himself  capable  of  profiting  by  it. 
Here  they  meet,  on  equal  terms,  university  students  to 
whom,  also,  the  class  is  open  ;  and  this  intercourse  is 
of  benefit  to  both  alike,  and  constitutes  a  link  between 
the  two  institutions.  Much  promising  work  has  resulted, 
a  good  deal  even  showing  actual  attainment,  and  all 
being,  of  course,  of  the  modern  type. 

This  appointment  led  to  Bantock's  being  invited  to 
accept  the  post  of  Conductor  to  the  Birmingham  Ama- 
teur Orchestral  Society,  which  went  on  for  some  time 
under  his  direction,  but  finally  found  the  pace  he  set 
too  great,  and  succumbed.  He  was  also  appointed 
conductor  of  the  Worcester  Philharmonic  Society,  in 
succession  to  Elgar.  Here,  too,  history  repeated  itself. 
These  societies  all  played  the  part  of  Mazeppa  to  Ban- 
tock's wild  steed — "  A  Tartar  of  the  Ukraine  breed," 
as  Byron  has  it — and  found  the  speed  a  killing  one. 
Berlioz's  Romeo  and  Juliet  was  too  great  a  strain  on  this 
society's  powers  of  endurance,  and  they,  too,  gave  up 
the  ghost.  The  Liverpool  Orchestral  Society,  as  already 
described,  gave  Heldenleben  in  1904.  Bantock  was  then 
appointed  conductor,  and  they  proved  to  be  of  firmer 
mettle.  They  stuck  to  their  guns,  and  fought  a  slowly 
losing  battle  for  some  years  till  they,  too,  finally  went 
under.  Another  society  whose  conductorship  Bantock 


BIRMINGHAM  71 

undertook  was  the  Wolverhampton  Festival  Choral, 
here  for  the  second  time  in  succession  to  Wood.  This 
society  gave  the  first  provincial  performance  (after 
the  production  at  Birmingham)  of  The  Dream  of  Geron- 
lius,  under  Bantock's  direction.  He  found  the  duties 
too  much  of  a  tax,  however,  in  addition  to  his  other 
work,  and  resigned  after  three  years.  Shortly  after 
his  settlement  at  Birmingham  a  second  concert  of  British 
music  was  organised  at  Antwerp  (1901),  and  Bantock's 
services  were  again  in  demand  as  conductor.  Some  of 
his  work  was  given  on  this  occasion  also,  with  great 
success. 

Such  were  the  conditions  in  which  Bantock's  lot  was 
now  cast,  and  amid  which  his  work  was  to  be  done. 
Looking  at  that  work  broadly,  we  may  regard  him  as 
having  reached,  with  this  Birmingham  period,  his  own 
maturity.  The  Birmingham  sun  is  perhaps  not  the 
most  genial  to  art :  but  it  was  here  that  his  grain  ripened 
and  that  he  gathered  in  his  harvest.  A  man's  mature 
work  reveals  the  structure  of  his  mind  in  its  larger 
aspects  as  well  as  in  its  more  individual  features  :  in 
discussing  the  work  of  this  time,  therefore,  we  will 
change  our  plan  somewhat.  This  work  separates  itself 
readily  into  broadly  defined  masses  ;  and  we  shall  get 
a  more  perspicuous  view  by  considering  these,  each 
as  a  whole,  and  in  relation  to  each  other,  than  by  the 
chronological  method  that  has  hitherto  sufficed. 

The  difficulty  of  gathering  from  his  writings  the  views 
and  mental  outlook  of  a  dramatic  poet  has  frequently 
been  enlarged  upon  :  and  certainly  it  is  easy  to  go  astray 
and  follow  false  scents  in  this  quest  of  the  dramatist's 
central  personality.  And  yet  there  are  some  broad 
principles  which  may  guide  us  even  here.  Where 
authorities  are  altered,  for  instance,  we  may  find 


72  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

a  clue.  Omissions,  too,  sometimes  tell  us  much  :  silences 
speak  eloquently.  But,  especially,  where  a  particular 
type  of  subject,  or  a  tendency  towards  some  particular 
conclusion  appears  as  a  common  trait  throughout  a 
considerable  body  of  work,  we  may  fairly  suspect  that 
we  have  found  a  hint  as  to  the  writer's  mentality.  But 
if  this  be  so  with  the  dramatist,  much  more  is  it  the  case 
with  the  lyrical  poet  or  musician.  Sometimes  he,  too, 
writes  dramatically,  it  is  true,  as  in  the  instance  of 
Browning's  Dramatic  Lyrics:  but  normally  he  is  uttering 
his  own  emotions — passing  moods,  possibly,  but  still 
his  own  personal  views  and  feelings.  And  if  we  find 
large  masses  of  his  work  tinged  with  the  same  cast  of 
thought,  we  may  be  pretty  sure  we  are  gaining  an  in- 
sight into  the  writer's  mental  outlook.  Songs  give  a 
clue  to  the  mental  calibre  of  a  composer  in  another  way. 
The  man  who  contentedly  sets  the  trivialities  which  are 
sent  round  to  us  in  sheaves  by  the  writers  of  lyrics  for 
the  average  popular  song,  unconsciously  fulfils  Dog- 
berry's aspiration  and  writes  himself  down  an  ass. 

I.  Bantock's  work,  in  the  period  to  which  we  have 
now  come,  is  most  interesting  in  these  respects.  We 
find  a  predominant  vein  of  thought.  The  mass  of  songs 
which  we  now  proceed  to  discuss,  the  'cello  pieces,  and 
the  choral  works,  including  Omar,  show  mostly  the 
same  broad  tendency  :  and  it  is  one  which  is  character- 
istic of  Bantock's  mind.  The  philosophy  of  Hafiz  is 
much  the  same  as  that  of  Omar  Khayyam.  Sappho, 
while  not  so  conscious  of  philosophical  views,  has 
ideas  of  life  which  are  based  upon  much  the  same 
foundation  :  and  the  case  of  the  Browning  songs,  which 
seems  at  first  sight  to  run  counter  to  this  view,  in 
reality  confirms  it,  as  we  shall  see  later. 

The  first  two  sets  of  songs  with  which  we  have  to  deal 


BIRMINGHAM  73 

— the  Seraglio  Songs  and  the  Jester  Songs — do  not 
throw  any  very  striking  new  light  upon  our  subject. 
The  Songs  of  the  Seraglio  follow  up  the  same  vein  that 
Bantock  had  already  so  successfully  worked  in  the 
earlier  Songs  of  the  East.  There  are  four  numbers  in  the 
album,  the  poems  being  by  Mrs.  Bantock :  and  we 
have  here,  both  in  words  and  music,  the  intense  eroticism 
suffused  with  an  Eastern  atmosphere  and  idiom,  which 
we  find  later  carried  to  an  enormously  higher  power  of 
beauty,  range,  and  exaltation,  in  the  Sappho  Songs. 
No.  i,  The  Odalisque,  opens  with  a  characteristic 
Eastern  phrase  on  the  scale  with  two  augmented  seconds. 
There  is  a  middle  section,  rather  less  picturesque,  and 
the  first  part  is  repeated.  No.  2,  A  Persian  Love-Song, 
is  less  like  the  earlier  Eastern  songs  in  idiom.  There  is 
less  actual  harmony  :  in  its  place,  there  are  wavering 
threads  of  sound  amid  which  the  voice  interweaves  its 
exotic  phrases  on  the  same  scale  as  in  the  last  song. 
This  and  the  Lament  of  the  Bedouin  Slave-Girl  are  the 
most  striking  songs  in  the  book  :  they  are  both  highly 
pictorial  and  vividly  suggest  the  Oriental  atmosphere 
and  surroundings.  The  last,  The  Demon  of  Mazinderan, 
is  less  individual,  though  it  is  built  upon  a  picturesque 
figure  with  a  quintuplet  and  diminished  third  which  is 
rather  arresting. 

The  Jester  Songs  are  perhaps  due  to  a  wish  on  Ban- 
tock's  part  to  enlarge  his  range  and  break  loose  from 
the  Oriental  manner,  which  he  may  have  felt  was  in 
danger  of  becoming  a  mannerism.  They  are  not  in 
Bantock's  own  characteristic  vein.  They  are  light- 
hearted  for  the  most  part,  though  the  jester  is  the 
pathetic  figure  who  has  become  a  tradition  since  the 
fool  in  King  Lear,  and  who  carries  a  sore  heart  under  his 
motley.  No.  I,  The  Jester,  is  a  cheery  song  with  a 


74  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

taking  tune,  only  changing  to  a  sombre  mirth  when  he 
speaks  of  creeping 

...  to  a  darkened  corner  to  die, 

While  lightly  the  world  goes  laughing  by, 

and  ending  with  a  laugh.  No.  3,  Will  o'  the  Wisp,  tells 
of  Poor  Will  who  fell  in  love  with  the  moon's  reflection 
in  a  forest  pool,  and  pined  and  died  when  a  cloud  came 
and  took  her  away.  It,  too,  has  an  easily  caught 
melody  ;  and  the  accompaniments,  with  the  leaping 
and  flickering  of  the  ignis  fatuus,  are  suggestive  even 
in  the  piano  version,  and  highly  picturesque  in  the 
orchestral  form.  No.  4,  Sub  Rosa,  begins,  "  Oh  the  life 
of  a  fool  is  free,"  and  this  also  has  a  jolly  rollicking  tune. 
The  accompaniment  is  simplicity  itself,  being  merely 
a  few  chords  suggesting  a  jongleur's  touch  upon  the 
lute.  It  tells  how  a  knight  and  a  lady  in  love  avoided 
each  other's  glance  ;  but  their  very  caution  told  the 
tale  to  the  fool.  From  a  musical  point  of  view,  No.  5, 
Serenade,  is  the  most  interesting,  with  its  5/4  time  and 
individual  rhythm.  The  melody  in  this  peculiar  idiom 
is  quite  readily  apprehended  and  taking,  though  one 
might  perhaps  expect  otherwise.  The  last,  Tra-la-la-lie, 
is  a  gay  and  jovial  little  song  with  a  touch  of  the  fool's 
hardships  in  the  middle.  Altogether,  if  the  humorous, 
quasi-antique  style  is  not  the  most  characteristic  manner 
either  of  Bantock  or  his  wife,  who  wrote  the  words,  the 
songs  are  pleasant  trifles,  musicianly  of  their  kind,  and 
with  a  sure  appeal  to  many  whom  the  profounder  songs 
would  leave  untouched. 

From  these  to  the  Five  Ghazals  of  Hafiz  is  an  enormous 
stride  that  reminds  one  of  the  seven-league  boots  in 
the  fairy-stories.  Bantock  was  now  in  the  thick  of  his 
Omar  studies  and  his  setting  of  the  Rubdiydt.  Omar 


BIRMINGHAM  75 

and  Hafiz  have  much  in  common,  and  in  them  Bantock 
found  thoroughly  congenial  spirits  at  whose  contact 
he  was  himself  kindled  into  flame.  Omar  died  about 
1 1 22,  Hafiz — "  the  greatest  of  Persian  lyrical  poets  " — 
about  a  century  and  a  half  later.  The  ghazals  are  con- 
cerned with  wine,  flowers,  damsels,  etc.,  so  that  he  has 
been  called  the  Anacreon  of  Persia.  This  imagery 
scandalised  the  orthodox,  though  he,  like  Omar,  is  said 
to  have  belonged  to  the  mystical  sect  of  Sufis,  and  to 
have  had  an  esoteric  meaning  hidden  under  these  figures. 
Nearly  all  such  poems  have  been  explained  in  this  way. 
The  Song  oj  Songs  has  been  said  to  be  speaking  in  figura- 
tive language  of  the  Church  :  and  the  Shakespeare  son- 
nets to  have  been  addressed  to  Poetry.  Yet  it  seems 
clear  that  in  passages  like  the  following,  more  is  meant 
than  meets  the  ear  : 

Foolish  niggard  heart ! — life's  flitted,  and  thou  didst  not  pluck 

one  rose 
From  life's  red  bush ;    what's  remaining  ? — name  and  fame  at 

life's  dull  close  ? 
Yet,  except  from  drunkards  fuddled  with  God's  glorious  wine, 

none  learns 
What  was  veiled  :   the  bigot  Zahud  nothing  of  himself  discerns. 

The  drunkenness  and  the  wine  clearly  refer  to  the 
exaltation  of  spirit  in  which  poets  see  visions,  and  with- 
out which  human  life  is  a  dull  jog-trot.  Nay,  in  the  very 
Stabat  Mater,  have  we  not  Cruce  hdc  inebriari?  There 
is  nevertheless  an  undoubted  element,  and  a  very  strong 
one,  of  the  Horatian  philosophy  ;  and  it  is  no  wonder 
that  Hafiz  was  looked  sourly  upon  by  "  the  bigot 
Zahud."  There  was  evidently  no  love  lost  on  the  one 
side  more  than  on  the  other.  Hafiz  clearly  thought  of 
Zahud  much  as  Burns  thought  of  Holy  Willy. 

The  version  used  by  Bantock  is  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's ; 
and  in  these  Ghazals  we  find  the  composer  in  one  of  his 


76  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

most  characteristic  aspects.  The  Eastern  scales  are  less 
in  evidence  :  these  poems  have  appealed  to  him  so 
strongly  that  that  kind  of  surface  pictorialism  is  swept 
aside,  and  we  have  instead  a  spontaneous  and  passion- 
ate utterance  that  carries  one  away.  The  striking  and 
daring  harmonic  effects,  the  rushing  passages,  the  whirl 
of  excitement  in  the  rhythms,  leave  one  almost  breath- 
less. One  peculiarity  in  this  kind  is  very  noticeable 
here,  and  for  the  first  time,  I  think,  though  it  is  often 
found  in  Bantock's  later  work.  An  instance  occurs  on 
page  17,  at  the  words,  Hear  what  the  heart-Subduer  in- 
tends, where  we  have  a  crescendo  and  accelerando  passage 
of  repeated  chords  in  triplets  on  a  ninth,  with  a  rising 
middle  part,  the  whole  rushing  at  the  end  of  the  bar 
from  triplets  into  the  tumultuous  hurry  of  semi- 
quavers. 

The  collection  opens  with  a  short  Prelude  ("  Hafiz 
improvises "),  consisting  mainly  of  harp-arpeggios. 
Triangle  and  tambourine  give  touches  of  Oriental  life, 
and  the  whole  makes  a  picturesque  introduction.  We 
then  plunge  into  a  torrent  of  passionate  emotion  with 
Ghazal  i,  Aid  ya!  send  the  Cup  round  !  The  composer 
is  very  successful  in  emphasising  the  sense  of  the  words, 
following  and  reflecting  their  various  moods,  keeping  the 
rhetorical  accents,  and  at  the  same  time  making  a  con- 
tinuous and  coherent  musical  whole.  This  is  by  no 
means  an  easy  task,  his  peculiar  success  in  which  is 
always  acclaimed  as  Wolf's  supreme  merit.  The  second 
song,  0  Glory  of  full-mooned  Fairness,  is  even  more  success- 
ful, combining  lyrical  and  dramatic  feeling  in  a  more  per- 
fect blend.  A  charming  phrase  at  the  words,  to  the  peace 
of  thy  place,  is  used  later  in  such  a  way  as  to  constitute 
it  a  sort  of  theme  of  the  Belovdd  ;  and  a  shorter  figure, 
growing  from  the  phrase  used  in  speaking  of  the  love- 


BIRMINGHAM  77 

light  in  her  eyes,  is  also  used  as  a  recurring  motif. 
Passionate  abandonment  mingled  with  tender  feeling 
make  this  a  truly  notable  song.  No.  3,  Saki,  dye  the 
Cup's  rim  deeper,  is  slightly  quieter  in  tone  on  the  whole, 
though  it,  too,  has  its  moments  of  passionate  abandon- 
ment. The  rhythmical  figure,  described  above,  of  the 
triplet-chords  hurrying  into  semi-quavers  at  the  end 
of  the  bar,  occurs  twice  with  striking  effect  on  refer- 
ence to  the  Beloved.  There  are,  however,  more  medita- 
tive and  quiet  passages  ;  and  the  subject  in  the  Allar- 
gando  at  the  end  is  strikingly  beautiful.  This  song  will 
appeal  to  many  people  more  than  the  others,  with  their 
greater  stress  of  tumultuous  passion.  In  No.  4,  Sufi, 
hither  gaze !  we  have  a  curious  coincidence.  At  the 
words — 

Sufi,  hither  gaze,  for  brightly  shines  the  mirror  of  the  Cup 
Gaze  into  the  ruby  wine  and  see  what  thing  it  flingeth  up — 

the  music  bears  a  curious  resemblance  to  the  phrase  in 
Omar  associated  with  the  motto,  The  Glories  of  this  world 
pass.  This  song,  too,  is  on  the  whole  quiet  in  tone  ;  and 
there  is  a  beautiful  phrase,  Lento  Flebile,  at  the  reference 
to  the  loss,  by  Adam,  of  the  lovely  lawns  of  Paradise. 
In  No.  5,  The  New  Moon's  silver  Sickle,  Hafiz  thinks  of 
his  soul's  reaping-time  writh  awe,  and  cries  to  his  Good 
Genius  to  awake  ;  then  exclaims  Woe's  me  !  and  falls 
silent,  while  an  impressive  passage  tells  of  his  thoughts. 
The  arpeggios  that  follow  "  while  my  glad  spirit 
mounts,"  are  perhaps  a  little  too  like  the  orthodox  treat- 
ment of  such  a  theme — an  unusual  thing  with  Bantock. 
Even  if  it  is  meant  ironically  I  doubt  its  success.  This, 
however,  is  only  a  passing  incident ;  and  the  following 
Largamente,  ma  con  spirito,  "  Sky,  boast  not  thy  starry 
pomp,"  is  again  admirable.  A  recurrence  of  the  rhythmi- 


78  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

cal  phrase  twice  referred  to  follows,  and  the  song  ends 
with  a  note  of  irony.  These  Ghazals  are  scored,  but 
the  score  is  not  yet  published. 

The  last  of  these  Hafiz  songs  is  a  separate  one,  "  // 
that  Angel  of  Shiraz,"  to  Justin  McCarthy's  translation. 
It  is  perhaps  in  some  ways  the  most  mature  of  them  all. 
The  rather  unfortunate  phrase — "  to  a  lovely  face  what 
need  is  there  of  paint  or  powder  ?" — is  given  in  a  quasi- 
recitative,  which  is  certainly  the  best  way  of  treating  it, 
though  the  phrase  jars,  anyhow,  with  the  atmosphere  of 
the  song.  There  are  other  passages  in  this  quasi- 
recitative,  and  it  must  be  allowed  that  the  procedure  is 
right,  and  in  consonance  with  the  character  of  the  words  ; 
and  yet  the  style  of  passage  seems  to  arrest  the  torrent 
of  poetical  emotion.  It  is  here  that  there  occurs  a  refer- 
ence to  the  insoluble  mystery  of  things,  set  to  a  remark- 
able passage  marked  mistico,  to  which  I  shall  refer  again 
shortly.  The  last  lines  : 

Thou  hast  rhymed  thy  ghazal,  thou  hast  strung  thy  pearls  ; 
Come,  O  Hafiz,  and  sing  it  sweetly,  that  Heaven  may  shed  upon 
thy  song  the  glory  of  the  Pleiades — 

are  set  to  a  beautiful  lyrical  melody  that  grows  out  of 
a  preceding  phrase,  and  worthily  ends  the  song.  Ban- 
tock  himself  likes  this  Ghazal  best,  and  I  can  understand 
the  preference.  I  am  inclined  myself,  however,  to  give 
the  precedence  to  No.  3  in  the  cycle,  for  its  lyrical  fer- 
vour and  happy  mingling  of  various  styles  of  beauty. 
Altogether,  the  group  forms  a  real  addition  to  song- 
literature,  and  must  surely,  in  no  long  time,  become 
more  widely  known. 

Undoubtedly  there  is  more  than  a  tinge  of  scepticism 
in  Hafiz — a  quality  which  is  more  prominent  still  in 
Omar  Khayyam,  whose  arraignment  of  Providence, 


BIRMINGHAM  79 

nevertheless,  is  considerably  intensified  by  Fitzgerald. 
Bantock,  however,  seizes  upon  this  and  underlines  it 
heavily  in  his  setting,  as  in  the  man' s  forgiveness  give  and 
take,  already  quoted.  It  is  the  more  remarkable  at  first 
sight,  therefore,  that  he  should  have  turned  from  Hafiz 
and  Omar  to  set  Browning,  the  poet  who,  of  all  others, 
is  most  characteristically,  and  even  pugnaciously,  opti- 
mistic in  his  views  of  the  dealings  of  Providence  with 
the  world.  The  remark  I  made  a  little  way  back  about 
the  omissions  of  an  artist  here  finds  a  vivid  illustration. 
What  Bantock  seizes  upon  in  Browning  is  not  this  side 
of  him,  but  his  full-blooded,  bounding  vigour,  and 
exultation  in  this  present  life  : 

Man  I  am,  and  man  would  be,  love — merest  man  and  nothing 

more  : 

Bid  me  seem  no  other  !  Eagles  boast  of  pinions — let  them  soar  : 
I  may  put  forth  angels'  plumage  once  unmanned,  but  not  before. 

Browning  was  so  certain  of  himself  on  the  religious  side 
that  he  liked  occasionally  to  dally  with  the  other  side 
as  an  adventure.  Bantock,  in  common  with  Hafiz,  Omar, 
and  Sappho,  takes  the  more  typically  artist's  position. 
For  it  must  be  owned  that  between  artists  and  the  re- 
ligious world  there  is  generally  a  feud.  It  is  rare  to  find 
either  a  great  artist  or  a  great  saint  who  can  see  the 
other  side  and  harmonise  the  two  views.  Yet  there  is 
no  necessary  antagonism  between  art  and  religion,  any 
more  than  between  science  and  religion  :  they  move  on 
different  planes  of  thought  and  life.  Browning  himself 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  this  is  true  ;  and  an  even 
stronger  instance  is  Dante,  one  of  the  greatest  of  artists 
as  well  as  of  seers.  Similarly  in  the  other  case,  Newton, 
Crookes,  and  Romanes  are  sufficient  to  prove  the  point. 
The  public  are  often  misled  by  such  men  as  Huxley  and 
Haeckel,  and  do  not  distinguish  between  their  scientific 


8o  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

and  their  philosophic  utterances.  Science  is  ordered 
knowledge.  When  these  men  speak  scientifically  they 
speak  with  special  authority :  when  they  give  us  their 
views,  and  reason  from  scientific  facts,  they  speak  not 
as  scientists  but  as  philosophers,  and  are  entitled  to  no 
special  deference.  Artists  are  exceptionally  sensitive 
to  the  beauty  of  the  visible  world  ;  and  it  must  be 
confessed  that  their  defiance  is  largely  the  fault  of  the 
religious  world.  These  deny  with  dogmatic  intolerance 
what  the  artist  knows  to  be  true  :  and  the  artist,  seeing 
them  deny  his  gospel,  refuses  in  his  turn  to  believe  their 
gospel.  Burns's  Holy  Willy  is  the  natural  resentment  of 
the  artist  at  seeing  his  gospel  flouted  by  a  hypocritical 
ignoramus.  Another  typical  case  is  the  celebrated 
passage  in  Aucassin  and  NicoUte.  It  is  not  Browning's 
optimism,  then,  or  his  religious  views,  that  attract 
Bantock,  but  his  full-blooded  energy,  his  joie  de  vivre, 
his  emphatic  counsel  to  make  the  most  of  the  sphere 
in  which  you  actually  are.  At  the  same  time  it  is  true 
that  Bantock  is  sometimes  seized  by  his  own  sub- 
conscious personality,  as  all  real  artists  are,  and  shows 
that  there  is,  below  the  surface,  a  feeling  of  this  deeper 
meaning  and  reality  of  things,  to  which  he  responds 
though  he  would  never  put  it  into  intellectualised  form 
or  acknowledge  it  in  words.  His  intellect  rejects  it, 
or  suspends  judgment :  his  instinct  at  times  tacitly 
accepts  it.  The  instinctive  genius  is  sometimes  too 
strong  for  the  intellectualised  opinion  of  the  man,  as  is 
common  with  artists  and  prophets.  We  find  this  even 
in  Omar,  as  we  shall  see,  and  Bantock  responds  to  it 
at  once.  We  find  it  in  Hafiz  : 

For  none  in  their  wisdom  have  ever  solved,  or  will  ever  solve, 
that  mystery. 

(From  //  that  Angel  of  Shiran.) 


BIRMINGHAM  81 

At  these  words  Bantock  gives  us  an  extraordinary 
passage  which  he  marks  mistico,  just  as  he  is  instantly 
moved  to  a  similar  expression  at  I  sent  my  soul  through 
the  Invisible,  in  Omar,  and  marks  one  of  the  motifs  in 
the  same  work,  behind  the  veil.  He  cannot  help  an  in- 
stinctive feeling  that  there  is  something  in  the  Invisible, 
or  behind  the  veil,  though  he  would  not  acknowledge 
it  in  words,  or  only  in  the  most  guarded  manner.  The 
poet  normally  controls  Pegasus :  sometimes,  however, 
Pegasus  takes  the  bit  between  his  teeth  and  carries  him 
whither  he  would  not :  if  he  be  a  true  Pegasus,  higher 
than  he  would. 

When  we  turn,  then,  from  the  Hafiz  to  the  Browning 
songs  (Ferishtah's  Fancies],  we  are  sensible  at  once  of  a 
difference.  There  is  not  quite  the  fervid  glow  of  the 
Hafiz  Ghazals  :  the  peculiar  emotional  intellectualism  of 
Browning  takes  its  place,  and  is  well  expressed  in  the 
music.  Ferishtah  was  a  Persian  historian  (circ.  1550- 
1612)  whom  Browning  uses  as  a  mouthpiece  for  his  own 
philosophy.  In  a  dozen  apologues  various  teachings  are 
set  forth :  to  each  is  appended  a  lyric  :  and  these 
lyrics  Bantock  has  set,  the  whole  being  rounded  off  with 
an  Epilogue.  The  first,  The  Eagle,  utters  Browning's 
preference  for  toil  amid  the  ways  of  men,  helping 
and  strengthening,  rather  than  for  life  in  artistic,  in- 
tellectual, or  religious  isolation,  supported  by  the 
labour  of  others.  He  desires  an  honest  life  of  struggle 
as  a  man  among  men,  tasting  the  true  human  lot 
— a  sentiment  to  which  Bantock  responds  instinctively. 
The  song  is  a  most  attractive  one,  eminently  sing- 
able, and  tingling  with  eager  life.  No.  2,  The  Melon- 
seller,  is  simpler,  but  full  of  tender  feeling:  the  kernel 
of  it — take  apparent  injustice,  or  any  suffering,  for 
love's  sake :  love  overpays  all.  The  motto,  so  to 


82  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

speak,  of  No.  3,  Shah  Abbas,  lies  in  the  last  line  but 
two : 

"Be  love  your  light  and  trust  your  guide,  with  these  explore 
my  heart " ; 

and  the  music  covers  the  sometimes  crabbed  verse  of 
Browning  with  a  robe  of  beauty.  The  next,  The  Family, 
has  evidently  appealed  to  Bantock  with  peculiar  force. 
It  is  from  this  that  the  lines  already  quoted  are  taken : 

"  Man  I  am,  and  man  would  be,  love,  merest  man  and  nothing 
more,"  etc.1; 

and  this  is  in  fact  the  central  conception  of  the  whole 
song-cycle.  Amid  the  eager  torrent  of  song  there  is  a 
momentary  slackening,  and  a  beautiful  phrase  at  the 
words,  Now  on  earth  to  stand  suffices,  etc.,  which  Ban- 
tock uses  as  a  sort  of  motto,  for  he  brings  in  the  phrase 
again  as  a  closing  reflection,  after  the  singer  has  finished. 
Altogether  a  noble  song,  and  peculiarly  characteristic 
both  of  poet  and  composer.  The  Sun,  No.  5,  does  not 
give  up  its  meaning  very  readily  without  a  preliminary 
study  of  the  poem  that  precedes  the  lyric.  And  in  fact 
this  is  true  of  all  this  album.  Let  no  singer  undertake 
them,  or  any  other  of  Bantock's  work,  who  is  not  pre- 
pared to  undergo  some  intellectual  labour.  The  type  of 
song  that  depends  for  its  charm  merely  upon  a  suave 
melody  and  a  beautiful  voice  must  be  sought  elsewhere. 
The  next,  Mihrab  Shah,  is  a  specially  striking  effort,  and 
deals  with  the  function  of  pain  and  of  our  physical 
bodies.  The  lyric  expresses  it  well,  but  this  too,  like 
all  the  rest,  can  only  be  properly  grasped  by  a  study 
of  the  whole  poem,  which  the  music  illustrates  and  en- 
forces with  much  beauty  and  impressiveness.  No.  8, 
Two  Camels,  is  another  to  whose  understanding  a 
knowledge  of  what  goes  before  the  lyric  is  essential : 


BIRMINGHAM  83 

but,  this  being  known,  the  song  is  fine  and  interesting. 
Another  in  which  the  composer  has  poured  himself  out 
in  song  is  No.  10,  Plot-culture,  where  the  central  idea 
of  this  group  of  songs  is  again  forcibly  expressed : 

Take  Sense  too — let  me  love  entire  and  whole — 
Not  with  my  Soul  ! 

The  Epilogue  is  a  noble  piece  of  work  with  its  kindling 
cry — 

Was  it  for  mere  fool's  play,  make-believe  or  mumming, 
So  we  battled  it  like  men,  not  boy-like  sulked  or  whined  ? 

Each  of  us  heard  clang  God's  "  Come  !  " — and  each  was  coming  : 
Soldiers  all,  to  forward  face — not  sneaks  to  lag  behind. 

The  sudden  chill,  too,  amid  the  enthusiasm — "  What  if 
all  be  error  ?  " — is  very  touching,  and  reminds  one  of 
Bunyan's  honest  portrayal  of  the  same  doubt  in  his 
hero,  almost  at  the  end  of  his  pilgrimage.  Browning, 
however,  concludes  : 

4  What  if  all  the  halo  irised  round  my  head  were,  love,  thine 
arms  ?  " 

In  all  this  Bantock  has  found  a  thoroughly  congenial 
spirit  which  has  kindled  him  to  a  fine  response.  In 
some  ways,  indeed,  these  songs  are  the  finest  of  all. 
There  is  none  of  the  haunting  pessimism  of  the  others ; 
but,  in  its  place,  that  heroic  and  eager  determination  to 
make  the  best  of  life  as  it  is,  and  to  see  the  best  in  it,  which 
was  so  strong  in  Browning.  It  is  to  be  deplored,  though 
perhaps  it  is  not  strange,  that  we  do  not  hear  this  cycle 
more  frequently.  It  makes  an  enormous  demand  upon 
the  singer,  certainly  ;  but  would  repay  a  man  with 
sufficient  mental  grip  as  well  as  artistic  temperament 
— a  combination  not  often  found.  The  songs  are 
stimulating  like  mountain-air ;  but  audiences,  too, 
would  have  to  study  the  poems  beforehand ;  and_this 


84  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

is  more  than  the  average  audience  cares  to  do.  The 
songs  are  scored  for  orchestra,  but  the  full  score  is  not 
yet  published. 

Of  the  Sappho  Songs  it  is  difficult  to  speak  tem- 
perately. The  peculiar  beauty  of  this  phoenix  among 
poetesses  seems  to  have  entered  into  the  composer's 
heart.  There  are  a  Prelude,  and  nine  fragments  ;  and 
we  have  the  same  fervid  glow,  the  same  daring  har- 
monies and  varied  rhythms,  as  in  the  Hafiz  Songs,  but 
with  less  of  the  pessimistic  tinge.  The  Prelude  is  opened 
by  the  harp,  languidly  in  5/4,  with  spread  chords  that 
look  like  two  chords  combined,  but  which  are  really,  of 
course,  high  powers  of  single  chords.  These  are  answered 
first  by  'cellos  alone,  and  afterwards  by  clarinets  and 
strings.  The  Prelude  is  full  of  passion,  and  fitly  ushers 
in  the  songs  that  follow.  The  Hymn  to  Aphrodite  has 
something  of  the  beauty  of  a  lovely  girl  before  the  altar- 
flame  ascending  from  a  rocky  height  overlooking  the 
marvellous  violet  of  the  Mediterranean.  No.  2,  /  loved 
fhee  once,  Atthis,  long  ago,  is  laden  with  the  most  poignant 
grief  and  passion.  Nobody  who  has  once  heard  this  song, 
one  would  think,  could  possibly  forget  it  :  it  goes  home 
to  the  heart,  and  burns  itself  into  the  memory  at  once, 
by  virtue  of  its  beauty  and  sincerity.  The  opening  phrase 
for  muted  trombones  and  harp,  with  cor  anglais  giving 
the  sorrow-laden  melody,  sets  at  once  the  tone  which 
swells  to  a  flood  of  grief,  passion,  and  beauty.  One  of 
the  most  striking  numbers  is  No.  5,  The  Moon  has  set  / 
and  it  is  from  this  that  some  of  the  most  poignant 
material  of  the  Prelude  is  taken  : 

I  yearn  and  seek — I  know  not  what  to  do : 
And  I  flutter  like  a  child  after  her  mother : 
For  love  masters  my  limbs  and  shakes  me — 
Fatal  creature,  bitter-sweet ! 


BIRMINGHAM  85 

The  whole  song  is  a  marvel  of  mournful  and  passionate 
beauty.  Peer  of  the  Gods  he  seemed,  too,  is  a  fine  number. 
No.  7,  In  a  Dream  I  spake,  is  different  in  character. 
Death  is  evil :  the  gods  have  so  judged,  is  the  theme  ;  and 
the  music  is  of  a  brooding  melancholy,  sighing  out  the 
lyrical  phrases  with  a  certain  balance  and  consciousness 
of  beauty  unlike  the  passionate  abandonment  of  the 
other  songs.  The  last  two  are  the  only  happy  songs 
in  the  cycle  ;  No.  8,  Bridal  Song,  quite  dithyrambic  in 
its  joy  ;  and  No.  9,  Muse  of  the  Golden  Throne,  full  of  a 
sort  of  shining  gladness.  The  opening  refers  to  the 
opening  of  the  Prelude  ;  and  there  are  other  touches 
here  and  there  that  relate  it  to  what  has  preceded. 
Altogether  it  is  a  wonderful  song-cycle — impressive  even 
in  the  pianoforte  version,  and  doubly  so  with  the  orches- 
tral accompaniment.  It  is  to  be  hoped  they  will  soon 
find  one  of  the  younger  school  of  singers  to  take  them  up 
and  make  them  widely  known. 

Of  the  separate  songs,  one  of  the  finest  is  the  Song 
of  the  Genie,  with  its  forceful  and  pictorial  energy : 

Master  of  Spirits  !    Master  of  Clay  ! 
Call  me,  O  Strong  One  !    Swift  I  obey  ! 

We  almost  seem  to  see  the  Genie  of  the  Lamp  appear 
in  his  terrors  to  Aladdin.  The  words  are  by  Mrs.  Ban- 
tock. 

Another  song,  of  altogether  lighter  calibre,  is  As  I 
ride,  a  setting  of  Browning's  Through  Metidja  to  Abd-el- 
Kadr.  It  is,  of  course,  purely  pictorial,  and  full  of  verve 
and  buoyant  life,  a  quality  which  the  orchestral  version 
greatly  heightens.  One  thing  we  must  remark,  however  ; 
\ve  never  rode  a  horse  that  galloped  so.  He  would  be 
an  anatomical  rarity  that  would  deserve  a  place  in  a 
museum.  However,  to  a  generation  of  city-dwellers 


86  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

who  mostly  ride  buses,  this  will  not  matter  much,  as  the 
gait  of  a  horse  is  unknown  :  and  the  song  is  a  spirited 
piece  of  work.  Other  songs  will  be  found  in  the  list  of 
works,  in  the  Appendix. 

Before  we  leave  this  part  of  our  subject,  however,  we 
must  mention  a  considerable  labour  which  was  under- 
taken by  Bantock  for  the  Oliver  Ditson  Co.  of  Boston. 
This  was  the  editing  and  arranging  of  three  collections 
of  songs  which  were  published  in  separate  albums. 
The  first  two  were  100  Folk-Songs  of  all  Nations  and  do 
Patriotic  Songs  of  all  Nations,  to  both  of  which  Bantock 
prefixed  historical  and  critical  notes.  The  third,  zoo 
Songs  of  England,  is  at  present  in  the  press.  The  whole 
forms  a  valuable  collection  of  some  of  the  best  folk- 
songs of  the  world,  in  a  handy  form  ;  and  is  very  oppor- 
tune in  these  days  when  intelligent  interest  is  being 
awakened  in  the  subject. 

II.  Connected  psychologically  with  the  last  great 
cycle  of  songs,  is  the  Sapphic  Poem  for  'cello  and  orches- 
tra, which  was  composed  for  Willy  Lehmann,  the  'cellist. 
It  is  written  for  small  orchestra,  and  is  very  effectively 
laid  out  for  the  solo  instrument  which  is  not  overloaded 
with  accompaniments,  so  that  the  tone  comes  through 
well.  It  is  full  of  the  erotic  sentiment  which  we  have 
found  in  the  Sappho  Songs,  though  not  of  the  same 
intensity.  The  rhythmical  scheme  is  somewhat  peculiar, 
varying  between  3/2  and  6/4  ;  and  almost  the  whole  is 
woven  upon  the  motto-phrase  with  which  the  Poem 
opens.  It  dies  away  at  the  close  in  languorous  tender- 
ness ;  and  the  whole,  material  and  scoring  alike,  is  full 
of  warmth  and  colour. 

A  third  piece  for  this  instrument  is  the  Celtic 
Poem,  written,  also  for  Lehmann,  in  the  May  of 
1914.  It  is  entirely  different  n  character,  having 


BIRMINGHAM  87 

nothing  in  common  with  the  German  idiom  on  which 
Bantock's  style  was  originally  formed.  It  shows  the 
influence  of  his  later  acquaintance  with  Scottish  music, 
and  the  chief  subject  is  really  a  phrase  from  one  of  the 
Hebridean  songs.  The  idea  of  the  piece  is  as  follows  : 
"  The  Celtic  heaven,  Tir-nan-Og,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  EVER 
YOUNG,  lies  somewhere  to  the  west  of  the  Hebrides,  where 
the  sun  sets.  And  the  Celtic  soul  ever  waits  on  the  shore  of 
the  great  Sea  for  the  coming  of  the  White  Barge  which, 
year  in  year  out,  ferries  the  elect  across  the  waves  to  the 
Isle  where  they  would  be.  And  that  same  Barge  needs 
wind  nor  sail  nor  rudder  to  make  her  speed  like  a  bird  over 
the  sea  ;  the  wish  of  tJie  Fate  that  guides  her  is  her  all  and 
her  in  all."  The  delicate  mystery  and  poetry  of  this 
subject  is  well  illustrated  by  the  music,  which  is  full  of 
the  Celtic  glamour.  It  is  certainly  one  of  Bantock's 
most  individual  efforts.  The  nearest  approach  that  I 
know  elsewhere  to  its  peculiar  quality  is  Sibelius's  Swan 
of  Tuonela,  which,  however,  is  charged  with  a  deeper 
gloom.  There,  it  is  the  land  of  the  dead,  here,  of  the 
ever  young,  as  the  title  says  ;  and  the  idea  is  full  of  a 
serious  gladness  as  of  a  luminous  vision,  rather  than  of 
terror.  These  two  pieces  form,  with  the  Elegiac  Poem 
discussed  in  the  last  chapter,  an  individual  triad  in  the 
literature  of  the  instrument. 

III.  It  is  seldom  in  human  affairs  that  one  period 
is  completely  rounded  off  before  the  next  begins  ;  there 
is  usually  some  overlapping :  and  we  now  come  to  an 
instance  of  this.  Before  Omar  was  finished  Bantock 
was  asked  to  write  music  for  a  performance  of  the 
Hippolytus  of  Euripides,  which  was  to  be  given  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Classical  Association.  Murray's 
translation  was  used;  and  the  work  was  performed  in  the 
Large  Theatre  of  the  Midland  Institute,  in  October, 


88  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

1908,  as  well  as  for  a  week  at  the  Gaiety  Theatre,  Man- 
chester. A  little  later  on,  Bantock  was  invited  by  the 
Bedford  College,  London,  to  write  music  for  a  perform- 
ance which  they  were  contemplating,  of  Sophocles' 
Electra.  This  was  given  in  Greek,  at  the  Court  Theatre, 
London,  on  i5th,  i6th,  and  I7th  July,  1909.  A  third 
work  in  this  kind  is  the  music  to  the  Bacchae  of  Euripides 
(Murray's  translation),  which  is  at  present  unfinished. 

This  appeal  of  the  classics  is  an  index  of  a  loosening 
of  the  exclusive  grip  of  Orientalism  upon  Bantock's 
mind.  It  has  always  been  rather  amusing  to  see  him 
"  discover  "  from  time  to  time,  people  and  subjects 
that  everyone  else  admired,  but  that  he  had  always 
violently  disparaged.  He  now  announced  that  Sophocles, 
Euripides,  and  the  old  Greek  poets,  were  not  old  fogeys  ; 
and  slanged  his  friends,  who  had  tried  in  vain  to  make 
him  see  their  merits,  for  not  admiring  them.  It  is  a 
form  of  self-defence  against  the  chaff  to  which  he  was 
subjected — the  bellum  in  hostes  inferre  of  our  school- 
books.  The  classics  now  began  to  share  his  allegiance 
with  the  East ;  and  after  Omar  was  completed  he  cer- 
tainly showed  a  better  mental  balance  in  this  respect. 
Euripides,  indeed,  has  come  to  be  one  of  his  paragons, 
the  rationalist  element  in  him  (as  expounded  by  Ver- 
rall)  appealing  strongly  to  his  sympathies. 

The  problem  of  Greek  music  is  still  unsolved  :  we  do 
not  know  exactly  what  the  procedure  of  the  ancients 
was.  Bantock  was  anxious  to  produce  an  impression  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  original,  in  modern  conditions, 
and  studied  several  books,  including  a  translation  of 
Aristoxenus.  He  thought  he  had  arrived  at  a  fair  idea 
of  the  subject ;  but  since  then  another  book  has  ap- 
peared which  takes  different  views  and  throws  fresh 
doubt  on  the  matter.  One  can  hardly  give  the  whole 


BIRMINGHAM  89 

play  entirely  without  harmony,  as  in  ancient  times  ;  but 
Bantock  kept,  at  any  rate,  to  Greek  scales  as  far  as  they 
could  be  understood,  and  reduced  the  harmonic  com- 
binations to  the  slenderest  possible  proportions.  The 
orchestra  he  employed  consisted,  in  the  case  of  the 
Electra,  of  flutes,  oboe,  'cello,  double-bass,  tambourine, 
cymbals,  and  two  harps,  yielding  a  tone-quality  some- 
what remote  from  that  of  the  ordinary  modern  orchestra. 
There  is  a  Prelude  (Dorian  Mode)  of  twenty  bars  leading 
into  the  Parados.  The  scansion  of  the  Greek  verse  he 
got  from  Jebb's  edition  ;  and  he  adapted  himself  to 
these  rhythms  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  a  striking 
and  characteristic  result,  with  much  vraisemblance, 
though  without  pedantic  antiquarian  accuracy.  The 
Stasima,  etc.,  are  sung  mostly  without  accompaniment, 
except  for  a  supporting  flute  or  oboe,  and  with  occasional 
touches  of  the  harp  at  the  pauses,  the  harmonic  effects 
being  reserved  for  the  dances.  The  dialogue  between 
Orestes  and  Electra,  however,  is  treated  as  a  lyric,  with 
real  accompaniments  ;  and  the  treatment  of  the  Kom- 
mos  at  the  death  of  Clytemnestra  is  good.  There  are 
striking  instrumental  passages,  with  harsh  discords,  of 
about  a  bar  each,  and  the  cries  of  Clytemnestra  are 
spoken  within,  during  the  pauses.  Altogether,  the 
method  is  justified,  I  think,  by  its  results,  which  give 
a  certain  air  of  remoteness  without  violating  our  modern 
musical  sense. 

IV.  We  now  approach  the  group  of  choral  works 
written  during  the  earlier  half  of  this  Birmingham 
Period,  the  first  being  The  Time-Spirit.  The  poem  is  by 
Mrs.  Bantock  ;  and  in  this  conjoint  work  we  have  an 
expression  of  a  characteristic  element  in  their  united  life 
— Up  !  Quit  you  like  men  in  that  strife  which  is  itself 
life  !  The  Time-Spirit  is  conceived  as  a  mighty  wind 


90  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

that  sweeps  through  the  forest  of  humanity,  bending 
the  great  trees  before  it.  The  opening  section  is  full 
(after  a  couple  of  striking  2-bar  phrases  for  strings, 
brass,  and  wood)  of  rushing  string-passages  and  throb- 
bing wind-harmonies  on  a  C  pedal,  while  the  chorus  cry 
out  in  the  midst  of  the  tumult.  After  a  reference  to  the 
opening  2-bar  phrase,  which  may  be  taken  as  sym- 
bolising the  rending  of  the  storm,  there  comes  a  change. 
There  is  now  less  of  the  lower  register:  we  have  repeated 
semi-quavers  in  the  wind,  and  flashing  string-passages, 
at  the  words,  The  flying  clouds  are  its  pennons,  etc. 
Then,  after  another  reference  to  the  opening  2-bar 
motif,  comes  a  complete  contrast,  Lento  cantabile,  at 
the  words : 

Ah,  ye,  in  the  world's  pleasant  places  ! 
Do  ye  not  see  the  symbol  ? 

Here  we  have  broad  lyrical  phrases  in  imitation,  for  the 
chorus,  with  sostenuto  strings,  quaver  triplets  for  wood, 
and  sestuplet  arpeggios  for  the  harp.  There  is  a  pic- 
torial touch  at  the  words,  By  your  warm  fires  sitting  and 
sleeping — a  languid  passage  on  an  eleventh,  p,  into 
which  steals  a  breath  of  the  Time- wind,  pp,  increasing 
quickly  to  a  great  ff,  at : 

Hear  you  not,  in  ruthless  anger 
Its  mighty  voice  of  warning  ? — 

and  followed  by  a  call  to  action  which  is  given  in  alter- 
nate phrases  by  male  and  female  chorus.  Then  comes 
a  march-like  passage  for  male  voices : 

Hark,  the  spirits  of  mighty  men  of  the  bygone  ages 
To  your  spirits  calling  and  crying  ! 

The  female  choir  joins  in  with  imitational  phrases, 
urging  them  to  follow  fearlessly  into  the  darkness.  Then, 


BIRMINGHAM  91 

after  another  vigorous  section,  imitational  for  choir,  and 
finely  scored,  we  come  to  the  conclusion,  Tranquilla- 
mente,  opening  with  choir  alone,  but  with  quiet  accom- 
paniments after  the  first  few  bars,  and  urging  the  soul- 
guided  wanderer  not  to  fear  the  flail  of  the  time-wind  : 

Like  wheat  it  shall  winnow  and  clean  thee  : 
But  never  was  good  grain  garnered 
That  bent  not  'neath  rain  and  tempest 
As  well  as  waved  in  the  sunshine. 

It  is  a  stirring  work,  fine  in  technique  and  in  spirit,  and 
well  suited  for  competent  choirs.  The  orchestral  parts 
are  not  easy,  and  the  orchestra  is  large  :  but  it  would 
repay  trouble.  It  was  produced  at  the  Gloucester 
Festival,  1904. 

It  will  be  seen  that  The  Time-Spirit  links  itself  on  to 
other  work  of  Bantock's  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken.  The  next  cantata  that  we  have  to  discuss, 
Sea-Wanderers,  which  is  also  a  product  of  the  joint 
personality  of  husband  and  wife,  is  similarly  akin  to 
much  of  his  previous  work.  This  is  the  case  more 
especially  in  two  respects — in  its  agnosticism,  and  in 
its  energy  in  face  of  the  unknown  : 

For  in  haven  we  will  never  lie ; 
Fare  on — ever  onward — our  cry. 

But  these  two  ideas  are  swathed  in  a  sense  of  the  beauty 
and  mystery  of  things,  that  are  especially  strong  in  this 
work.  The  poem  is  based  upon  the  idea  expressed  in 
Longfellow's  line : 

Ships  that  pass  in  the  night,  and  hail  each  other  in  passing. 

Another  thing  that  is  dwelt  upon  is  the  pain  of  the 
isolation,  the  separateness,  of  each  human  soul.  Man 
comes  he  knows  not  whence,  yearns  and  strives  his  little 


92  GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

space,  and  passes  into  the  unknown  :  and  the  close  is 
a  faint  hope  : 

Friends,  may  we  meet  you,  and  greet  you  again  ! — 

followed  by  an  orchestral  passage  from  which  emerges 
pp  and  lontano,  the  renewed  motif : 

We  are  as  ships  upon  the  sea, 
Sailing  into  Eternity — 

the  voices  (four  only  to  a  part)  accompanied  only  by  a 
single  high  E  in  the  strings,  ppp,  and  dying  away  to 
nothing  while  the  E  is  prolonged  till  it,  too,  ceases,  one 
hardly  knows  when.  The  work  is  called,  not  a  cantata 
but  a  Poem  for  Chorus  and  Orchestra  ;  and  there  is  some- 
thing here  in  a  name.  The  piece  is  singularly  homo- 
geneous in  mood  ;  and  there  is  little  of  the  "  laying 
out  "  of  the  ordinary  cantata.  The  mysterious  orches- 
tral opening,  suggesting  the  supra-sensuous  ocean  from 
which  all  life  springs,  and  the  motif  of  melodic  fifths 
representing  the  sea  of  our  visible  life,  recur  from  time 
to  time,  helping  to  keep  the  impression  of  this  primal 
mystery  alive.  The  technique  is  good,  the  choral 
writing  simple  and  mostly  imitational,  though  there  are 
harmonic  passages  also.  One  such  is  that  (Lento  sos- 
tenulo)  where,  unaccompanied  except  for  an  occasional 
touch  of  the  harp  and  strings,  the  choir  enters  p  after 
a  /  climax,  with  the  words  : 

Or  to  a  region,  maybe,  beyond  these. 

The  work  is  quite  within  the  powers  of  an  ordinarily 
efficient  choir.  It  was  produced  at  the  Leeds  Festival 
of  1907,  and  has  been  performed  more  than  once  since, 
notably  by  the  Welsh  Choral  Union,  at  Liverpool,  under 
Harry  Evans ;  and  by  Rutland  Boughton,  a  little 


BIRMINGHAM  93 

later  (October,  1910)  at  the  Birmingham  Town  Hall, 
where  I  heard  it  and  was  deeply  impressed. 

The  production  of  Sea-Wanderers  (1907)  brings  us 
to  the  first  performance  of  another  work  already  dis- 
cussed in  the  last  chapter — Christ  in  the  Wilderness, 
a  remodelled  portion  of  Christus.  This  also  came  to 
its  first  hearing  this  year,  at  the  Gloucester  Festival. 
At  the  ensuing  Gloucester  Festival  (1910)  the  other 
revised  portion  of  Christus — Gethsemane — was  produced  ; 
and  both  these  works  achieved  a  succes  d'estime,  if  not 
the  hearty  welcome  usually  accorded  to  Bantock's 
really  characteristic  work. 

We  have  now  reached  what  I  think  must  always  be 
regarded  as  Bantock's  magnum  opus — that  in  which  he 
is  most  completely  himself  and  unlike  all  others — Omar. 
Portions  of  the  Rubdiydt  had  been  set  before  ;  but  until 
Bantock  undertook  the  work,  the  idea  of  setting  the 
whole  might  appear  almost  fantastic.  Primd  facie,  this 
stream  of  melancholy  and  pessimistic  verse,  always  of 
a  meditative  cast,  would  not  seem  to  lend  itself  to 
treatment  as  a  whole.  Bantock,  however,  began  to 
turn  the  matter  over  in  his  mind  soon  after  making 
acquaintance  with  the  poem,  and  his  solution  of  the 
constructional  problem  is  ingenious  and  successful.  He 
divides  the  work  into  three  parts,  each  of  which  forms 
a  unity  in  itself  and  yet  takes  its  due  place  in  the  scheme 
when  the  work  is  performed  in  its  entirety.  And  in 
addition  to  this  he  has  invented  three  persons  to  whom 
certain  portions  of  the  work  are  assigned  in  accordance 
with  their  character.  These  are,  The  Poet  (tenor) 
representing  the  central  core  of  Omar  himself  ;  the 
Philosopher  (baritone)  representing  the  more  intellec- 
tual and  sceptical  side  of  the  man  ;  and  The  Belove'd 
(contralto).  In  addition  to  these  there  are  a  few  sub- 


94  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

ordinate  parts  for  the  conversation  of  the  pots  in  Part 
III  (Rubdiydt,  84-90)  ;  and  there  is  of  course  the 
chorus  ;  and  the  general  perspective  and  unity  of  effect 
which  Bantock  has  succeeded  in  achieving  by  this 
allotment  of  parts  is,  as  Mr.  Newman  said  on  the  pro- 
duction of  Part  III,  amazing :  "He  has  the  genuine 
architectonic  mind — the  mind  that  spans  at  a  leap  a 
great  structural  scheme  :  the  mind  that,  as  Pater  says, 
'  foresees  the  end  in  the  beginning,  and  never  loses  sight 
of  it '  "'  (Birmingham  Daily  Post,  August  loth,  1909). 
Structural  design  alone,  however,  will  not  save  a  work 
if  the  essential  texture  be  poor  :  and  it  is  only  right  to 
add  that  the  imaginative  quality  of  the  music  is  on  an 
equally  high  level.  That  this  may  not  be  thought  merely 
the  partiality  of  a  friend,  I  quote  further  from  the  same 
source :  "...  there  is  little  in  the  music  of  our  own 
day  to  equal  it  for  variety  and  intensity  and  sustained 
splendour  of  imagination.  .  .  .  One  is  almost  crushed 
under  the  magnificence  of  some  of  the  choral  passages, 
with  their  bold  sweep  and  their  enormous  weight  of 
expression."  The  tendency  towards  surface-painting  is 
perhaps  over-strong ;  but  in  many  cases  Bantock 
works,  not  from  without  inwards,  but  gets  at  the  heart 
of  his  subject  and  portrays  its  very  essence. 

The  score  is  remarkable  for  its  ingenuity  in  one  par- 
ticular— the  division  of  the  strings.  There  are  two 
complete  string  orchestras,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
conductor  ;  and  this  makes  possible  with  the  utmost 
ease,  a  large  range  of  effects  which  are  otherwise  diffi- 
cult to  manage.  One  orchestra  is  frequently  muted 
while  the  other  is  not ;  and  this  of  itself  gives  a  wonder- 
ful variety  of  colour  and  contrast.  Then,  too,  the 
elaborate  subdivisions  so  frequent  in  modern  work  can 
be  made  instantly  by  these  means,  and  of  course 


BIRMINGHAM  95 

responsive  effects  are  ready  prepared.  Besides  strings, 
the  score  consists  of  three  flutes,  piccolo,  three 
oboes,  cor-anglais,  three  clarinets,  bass-clarinet,  three 
bassoons,  double-bassoon,  six  horns,  three  trumpets, 
three  trombones,  bass-tuba,  kettledrums,  bass-drum, 
side-drum,  cymbals,  triangle,  tambourine,  gong,  glocken- 
spiel, camel-bell,  harps,  and  organ. 

It  is  impossible  within  the  limits  here  at  disposal  to 
discuss  so  large  a  work  in  detail,  and  we  must  content 
ourselves  with  considering  it  in  some  of  its  larger  aspects. 
And  this  matters  the  less  since,  to  students,  the  means 
of  detailed  study  are  easily  accessible.  A  year  or  two 
since  I  prepared  a  Table  of  the  Principal  Themes  in  the 
work,  with  names,  and  references  to  the  chief  places 
where  they  occur ;  and  this  table  can  be  had  of  the 
publishers  for  a  trifle.  Some  of  these  motifs  are  striking 
in  themselves — the  passage,  for  instance,  at  the  top  of 
page  3  of  the  vocal  score  (No.  2,  B.  and  H.),  The  Vine, 
associated  with  the  grave  ;  or  the  phrase  which  occurs 
on  page  191  at  the  words,  "  When  you  and  I  behind  the 
veil  are  past"  (No. 9, B. and  H.),  given  out  later  by  muted 
horns.  And  by  the  help  of  these  recognisable  themes 
Bantock  has  built  up  a  colossal  body  of  coherent  musi- 
cal thinking,  grand  in  outline  and  fine  in  quality,  such 
as  we  hardly  find  elsewhere  in  English  music. 

Part  I  includes  the  first  fifty-four  quatrains.  The 
Prelude  represents  early  morning,  the  Muezzin's  call  to 
prayer,  the  early  trumpet  from  the  Sultan's  palace,  used 
later  for  the  pomp  and  glory  of  this  world,  and  El  Kayf 
— a  dreamy,  contemplative  state  well  known  ^uvthe  East. 
Then  comes  the  caU  to  awake,  in  a  vigorous  chorus. 
After  a  short  orchestral  interlude  we  come  to  stanzas 
II  and  III  grouped  together,  and  closing  with  the  first 
great  climax  at  the  cry  Open  the  door,  which  is  followed 


96  GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

by  a  regretful  mood  at  the  transience  of  things  earthly — 
You  know  how  little  time  we  have  to  stay  (No.  3,  B.  and  H.). 
When  the  chorus  ceases,  the  motif  of  El  Kayf  (24,  B. 
and  H.)  appears  in  the  orchestra,  and  then  the  transience 
theme  ;  and  then  follows  a  section,  stanzas  4,  5,  and  6, 
given  to  the  poet,  a  notable  feature  of  which  is  the  pass- 
age The  nightingale  cries  to  the  rose  (18,  B.  and  H.). 

The  next  two  stanzas  (7  and  8)  are  given  to  chorus, 
and  preach  the  Horatian  doctrine  carpe  diem.  The 
Beloved  then  carries  on  the  thought  of  the  transience 
of  things  (stanza  9) — even  conquerors  like  Jamshyd  and 
Kaikobad  pass  :  but  the  chorus  break  in  impatiently 
in  twelve  parts,  (10)  "  What  have  we  to  do  with  Kaiko- 
bad !  "  After  this  mass  of  sound  comes  a  charming 
contrast  at  the  opening  of  the  next  section  (11-15),  the 
chief  feature  of  which  is  the  lovely  duet  between  the 
Poet  and  the  Beloved,  A  Book  of  Verses  underneath  the 
bough — one  set  of  strings  being  muted,  the  other  not. 
The  chorus  break  in  upon  this  with  the  quatrain  (13) 
containing  one  of  Fitzgerald's  most  deplorable  lines — • 
"  Ah,  take  the  cash  and  let  the  credit  go,"  and  an  anticipa- 
tion of  the  music  of  stanza  17.  I  am  inclined  to  think 
Bantock  has  here  been  misled  by  his  penchant  for  pic- 
torialism.  At  "  the  rumble  of  a  distant  drum,"  he  breaks 
away  with  an  agitated  passage  in  the  strings  and  drums, 
which  interferes,  to  my  mind,  with  the  general  tone 
of  this  part  of  the  work. 

The  next  portion  begins  at  stanza  16,  but  quickly 
reaches  the  picturesque  chorus  (17),  Think,  in  this  bat- 
tered caravanserai,  set  to  the  motif  called  the  glories  of  this 
world  pass  (8,  B.  and  H.).  The  Poet  and  the  Beloved 
now  take  up  the  tale  again,  still  bewailing  regretfully 
the  transience  of  love  and  life,  and  the  chorus  chime  in 
with  the  same  burden  (19-24).  So  far  the  meditations 


BIRMINGHAM  97 

on  the  text,  vanitas  vanitatum,  omnia  vanitas,  have  been 
carried  on  by  the  Poet  and  the  Beloved,  in  a  mood  of 
poetic  pessimism  :  now  a  slightly  different,  a  bitterer 
and  more  ironical  tone  appears,  with  the  intervention 
of  the  Philosopher.  The  Muezzin  from  the  Tower  of 
Darkness  crying,  Fools,  your  reward  is  neither  here  nor 
there  ;  the  saints  and  sages  whose  mouths  are  stopped 
with  dust  ;  the  futility  of  the  "  obstinate  questionings" 
about  the  nature  of  things  ;  and  other  similar  images, 
are  insisted  upon  with  heart-broken  emphasis,  but  with 
never-failing  beauty  of  utterance  (25-47).  A  notable 
point  occurs  in  quatrain  43  : 

So  when  that  angel  of  the  darker  drink 
At  last  shall  find  you  by  the  river-brink, 
And,  offering  his  cup,  invite  your  soul 
Forth  to  your  lips  to  quaff — you  shall  not  shrink. 

The  words  are  sung  by  the  Beloved,  at  first  with  trem- 
bling agitation,  but  the  last  four  with  bitter  emphasis  ; 
and  the  Master  theme  (26,  B.  and  H.)  is  immediately 
thundered  out  by  all  the  strings,  wood  and  brass.  The 
climax  of  this  portion  of  the  work  is  not  a  great  chorus, 
but  a  wonderfully  beautiful  and  intensely  mournful  duet 
for  the  Poet  and  the  Beloved — When  you  and,  I  behind 
the  veil  are  past — one  of  the  loveliest  themes  in  the 
work,  the  one  perhaps  that  remains  in  the  memory  as 
most  typical  of  the  whole,  and  worked  out  with  beautiful 
elaboration  and  impressiveness. 

Now  comes  one  of  the  most  striking  episodes  in  the 
whole  work — the  figure  of  Life  as  a  blind  Caravan  (10-12, 
B.  and  H.),  stumbling  through  the  Desert,  no  one 
knows  whence  or  whither.  To  have  heard  it  seems  an 
unforgettable  experience.  The  composer,  who  some- 
times gives  us  surface-painting  from  the  outside,  seems 
here  to  have  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  the  idea,  and 


98  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

calls  up  the  image  with  magical  vividness,  so  that  one 
seems  actually  to  see  the  arid  waste  of  sand  beneath  a 
burning  sun  and  sky,  the  bleached  bones  of  former 
travellers,  and  the  camels  lurching  blindly  on  as  the 
phantom  caravan  passes  from  nowhere  to  nowhere.  It  is 
a  bitterly  pessimistic  image,  but  a  miracle  of  art.  The 
scene  is  conjured  up  by  ninety-eight  bars  of  orchestra,  the 
chorus  humming  part  of  the  time  ;  and  these  last  then 
break  in  with  quatrain  48.  The  Philosopher  next  pro- 
ceeds with  his  musings  (49-53).  And  here  we  find  one 
of  the  cases  in  which  Omar,  Fitzgerald,  and  Bantock 
alike  are  mastered  by  their  sub-conscious  selves.  In 
the  midst  of  this  blankly  sceptical  meditation  comes  the 
thought  that  perhaps  after  all  The  Master  (50)  is  nearer 
to  us  than  we  know ;  and  the  motif  so-called  is  given 
out  gravely  and  impressively  by  brass  and  wood. 
Part  I  closes  with  a  great  climax  in  the  form  of  a  chorus 
in  eight  parts  to  quatrain  54  : 

Waste  not  your  hour,  nor  in  the  vain  pursuit 
Of  this  and  that  endeavour  and  dispute ; 

Better  be  jocund  with  the  fruitful  grape 
Than  sadden  after  none,  or  bitter,  fruit. 

Here  we  have  again  the  bitter  philosophy  of  this  melan- 
choly school  of  thought ;  but  Bantock  characteristically 
gives  it  a  twist  that  the  text  does  not  really  suggest. 
His  Western  vigour  is  too  much  for  his  theory,  and  he 
closes  the  whole  by  giving  out  with  insistent  emphasis  the 
words,  Waste  not  your  hour,  in  such  a  way  as  to  suggest, 
not  the  actual  context,  but  the  passage  in  Ecclesiastes, 
which  he  has  set  later,  "  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to 
do,  do  it  with  thy  might :  for  there  is  no  work,  nor  device, 
nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave  whither  thou  goest." 
Part  II  includes  quatrains  55-81.  It  opens  with  an 
Interlude  representing  the  revels  of  which  the  Philo- 


BIRMINGHAM  99 

sopher  speaks  in  his  opening  song  (55-58).  He  still 
preaches  the  grape  as  the  sovereign  remedy  for  all  ills, 
and  the  chorus  chime  in  at  stanza  59  with  the  same  senti- 
ment. This  last  utterance  is  a  fine  piece  of  picturesque 
writing  in  sixteen  parts,  portraying  the  "  two-and- 
seventy  jarring  sects  "  with  their  religious  arguments. 
A  strikingly  vigorous  picture  follows  (quatrain  60),  the 
chorus  being  now  reduced  to  six  parts,  of  "  The  mighty 
Mahmoud,  Allah-breathing  Lord,"  scattering  the  black 
horde  of  fears  and  sorrows  that  infest  the  soul  before  him 
with  whirlwind  sword.  An  orchestral  interlude  follows 
in  which  there  is  a  complex  interweaving  of  ideas  by 
means  of  several  representative  motifs.  An  analysis, 
with  music-type,  is  given  in  Newman's  programme 
notes  (B.  and  H.).  After  this  the  Philosopher  resumes 
his  meditations  (61-62).  One  small  point  may  be  men- 
tioned as  a  matter  of  curiosity.  When  he  speaks  of 
being  "  lured  with  hope  of  some  diviner  drink,"  the 
figure  in  the  orchestra  is  the  inverse  movement  of  that 
for  the  "  black  horde  of  doubts  and  fears  "  just  men- 
tioned. Quatrains  63-65  are  chorus,  still  preaching  with 
great  variety  of  resource  on  the  same  theme — "  Not  one 
returns  to  tell  us  of  the  road." 

At  stanza  66  the  Poet  lifts  the  idea  on  to  a  higher 
and  subtler  plane.  The  mysterious  motif  (29,  B.  and 
H.)  called  The  Invisible,  speaking  of 

That  undiscovered  country  from  whose  bourne 
No  traveller  returns, 

is  whispered  out  by  muted  strings,  and  the  Poet  begins — 
"  I  sent  my  soul  through  the  Invisible."  This  is  fol- 
lowed by  forty-five  bars  of  orchestra,  representing  the 
groping  of  his  soul  in  the  darkness.  The  chorus  take 
up  his  last  words,  and  go  on  without  break  into  the  next 


ioo  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

quatrain  (67)  a  persistent  figure,  based  upon  The  In- 
visible theme,  keeping  up  an  iteration  suggestive  of 
mysterious  destiny. 

Now  comes  one  of  the  most  striking  portions  of  this 
Part  II  (68-70),  preparing  for,  and  leading  up  to,  the 
defiant  climax  at  the  close.  We  have  had  Isaiah's 
image  of  the  Potter,  and  this  is  to  receive  fuller  treat- 
ment yet.  At  present  one  or  two  bitterly  fatalistic 
figures  give  the  composer  a  great  opportunity  of  which 
he  makes  the  most.  Life  is  conceived,  first  as  shadow- 
shapes  thrown  by  the  lantern  of  the  Master  of  the 
Show :  then  we  are  will-less,  helpless  pawns  in  His 
chess  game  :  then  the  ball  from  His  hand  comes  striking 
at  random.  But  even  here  the  sub-conscious  spirit 
already  mentioned  forces  itself  up  : 

He  knows  about  it  all — HE  knows — HE  knows. 

Very  picturesque  is  the  treatment  of  this  portion.  The 
vivid  representation  of  the  shadow-dance  (13,  B.  &  H.), 
and  of  the  ball  flying  about  (14,  B.  and  H.),  once  heard, 
are  almost  unforgettable ;  as  also  is  the  meditative 
solemnity  of  the  line  just  quoted,  which  is  followed  by 
the  Master-theme  (26,  B.  and  H.).  In  stanza  71  the 
Beloved  carries  on  the  same  idea  ;  and  the  pictorial 
treatment  of  the  writing  of  Fate's  finger  is  again  very 
vivid  (15,  B.  and  H.).  In  stanza  72  the  Poet  joins  in, 
and  the  two  together  cry  in  passionate  impotence  against 
the  nature  of  things — IT — the  inverted  bowl  under 
which  we  crawl  and  die.  The  Philosopher  joins  in ;  and 
all  these  fatalistic  figures  lead  up  to  the  great  defiant 
outburst  of  all,  chorus  included,  at  the  end  (80-81 

O  Thou,  who  didst  with  pitfall  and  with  gin 
Beset  the  road  I  was  to  wander  in, 

.  .  .  Man's  forgiveness  give — and  take. 


BIRMINGHAM  101 

This  last  is  not  in  Omar,  but  is  added — or  concentrated 
from  various  scattered  hints — by  Fitzgerald.  Ban- 
tock  seizes  upon  it  and  thunders  out  the  passionate  cry 
with  full  orchestra  and  chorus  on  a  chord  of  Dfr,  the 
trumpets  blaring  out  a  C  in  defiant  protest.  A  number 
of  motifs  are  here  combined,  which  are  analysed  with 
music-type  in  Newman's  notes.  It  is  not  merely  a 
matter  of  curiosity,  but  is  intended  to  suggest  the 
various  ideas  for  which  the  motifs  stand. 

Part  III  is  in  some  ways  the  finest.  It  seems  a  sort 
of  quintessence  of  the  whole,  so  that  having  heard  that, 
you  have  heard  all ;  except  that  one  would  not  wish 
to  miss  such  things  as  The  Caravan  or  The  Shadow- 
dance.  After  the  Prelude,  stanzas  82-90  are  occupied 
with  a  humorous  but  ironical  scene  between  the  pots — 
an  extension  of  Isaiah's  figure — in  which  the  old  fatalism 
is  again  paramount. 

After  a  short  orchestral  interlude,  the  Philosopher 
cries  out  again  for  the  Grape,  and  oblivion  (91-95). 
And  after  that,  we  come  to  the  beginning  of  the  real 
climax  of  the  whole  work — a  climax  reached,  not  by 
piling  Pelion  upon  Ossa  in  the  matter  of  sound-masses, 
but  in  the  subtle,  essential  quality  of  music.  A  deeply 
touching  theme  (Regret,  16,  B.  and  H.) — perhaps  the 
most  touching  of  all — is  given  out  by  the  orchestra,  a 
theme  which  appears  for  the  first  time  in  the  Introduc- 
tion to  this  Part.  The  Poet  and  the  Beloved  then,  to 
these  deeply  pathetic  strains,  sing  the  lamentation 
(96-99)  of  love  and  beauty  in  the  grip  of  inexorable 
death  and  nothingness ;  the  beautiful  theme  (18, 
B.  and  H.)  appearing  at  the  reference  to  the  nightingale 
singing  in  the  branches.  Like  passionate  children,  they 
wish  to  shatter  the  universe  to  bits,  in  the  self-confidence 
of  children  that  they  could  re-make  it  better  themselves. 


102  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

It  is  a  generous,  though  a  foolish,  thought ;  and  the 
music,  with  some  of  the  other  themes  woven  upon  the 
main  warp  of  the  Regret  motif,  is  loveliness  itself.  This 
leads  into  the  final  section  for  the  three  soloists  and 
chorus  (100-101)  in  which  the  transience  of  all  things 
is  again  dwelt  upon  with  heart-breaking  poignancy. 

The  moon  will  rise  and  wane,  but  we !     The  chorus 

sigh  out  their  last  words  pp,  and  the  orchestra  con- 
tinues for  a  few  bars,  the  Regret  theme  being  the  most 
prominent,  though  others  are  again  interwoven,  of  which 
an  account  is  given  as  before,  in  Newman's  notes.  Just 
before  the  end  the  lovely  strains  of  No.  9  (B.  and  H.)  : 

When  you  and  I  behind  the  veil  are  past — 

are  heard  on  muted  horns,  and  the  whole  ends  with  the 
most  intense  pathos,  ppp. 

If  a  work  of  genius,  as  distinguished  from  one  of  talent, 
be  written  in  a  state  analogous  to  that  of  clairvoyance, 
so  that  the  writer's  deeper  self  does  things  which  his 
ordinary  self  could  never  do,  then  this  is  emphatically 
a  work  of  genius.  Its  impressiveness  and  beauty  are  at 
times  quite  indescribable  :  and  its  pathos  is  intensified 
by  those  views  of  life  hovering  for  an  instant  in  the  jaws 
of  oblivion  with  which  all  thinking  men  are  familiar. 
The  question  has  been  sometimes  raised  whether  Omar 
really  gains  by  being  underlined  in  this  way,  and  having 
its  images  and  thoughts  enlarged  and  emphasised  as  by 
a  magnify  ing-glass.  Is  it  not  more  impressive  when 
spoken  by  the  "  still  small  voice  of  the  printed  page  "  ? 
In  some  ways  it  is.  Many  subtleties  seem  to  suffer : 
many  passing  thoughts,  which  have  their  own  truth 
taken  as  fugitive  images  and  speculations,  seem  to  lose 
their  fineness  and  to  be  distorted  into  untruth  when 
subjected  to  this  magnifying  process.  The  beauty  of 


BIRMINGHAM  103 

the  verbal  music,  too,  is  of  course  largely  lost.  The 
question,  however,  is,  after  all,  an  unfair  cavilling.  The 
quiet  page  remains  for  whoso  may  prefer  it.  We  have 
here  something  different  which  appeals  to  large  num- 
bers who  would  never  read  the  poem  otherwise  :  and 
to  such,  verbal  beauty  does  not  appeal,  though  they 
are  sensitive  to  the  musical  beauty  with  which  Bantock 
overlays  the  poem.  The  treatment  is  broad,  sincere, 
and  full  of  impressiveness  ;  and  on  the  whole  abun- 
dantly justifies  itself. 

Part  I  was  produced  at  the  Birmingham  Festival  of 
1906 ;  Part  II  at  the  Cardiff  Festival  of  1907  ;  and 
Part  III  at  the  Birmingham  Festival  of  1909.  The  three 
parts  have  been  performed  together  on  two  or  three 
occasions — among  others  by  Arthur  Fagge  at  Queen's 
Hall ;  and  many  performances  of  single  parts  have  been 
given,  notably  one  in  February,  1912,  at  Vienna,  whither 
Bantock  went  for  the  occasion,  and  where  he  met  with 
a  great  reception. 


CHAPTER    VII 

BIRMINGHAM  (PART  II)  UNIVERSITY  WORK,  BIRMINGHAM 
PHILHARMONIC  SOCIETY,  COMPETITION  FESTIVAL 
WORK,  ADJUDICATING,  ETC.  UNACCOMPANIED 
CHORAL  MUSIC,  PART-SONGS,  ATALANTA,  VANITY 
OF  VANITIES.  INSTRUMENTAL  WORK  —  STRING 

ORCHESTRAS,    DANTE  &*  BEATRICE,  FIFINE,  ETC.,    THE 
GREAT  GOD  PAN 

IN  the  year  1904  the  Richard  Peyton  Chair  of  Music 
was  founded  at  the  University  of  Birmingham.  Its 
first  occupant  was  Sir  Edward  Elgar  ;  and  he  delivered 
an  address  which  caused  some  little  stir  at  the  time. 
He  found,  however,  that  the  duties  it  involved  were  too 
much  of  a  tax  upon  him  in  addition  to  his  artistic  work  ; 
and  in  1908  he  resigned.  The  Chair  was  then  offered 
to  Bantock,  who  accepted  it  in  November,  1908,  thus 
for  the  second  time  succeeding  Elgar  in  an  artistic 
appointment.  This  addition  to  his  duties  (for  he  re- 
tained his  position  at  the  Midland  Institute  School  of 
Music)  was  a  heavy  one,  and  caused  considerable  in- 
roads upon  the  time  available  for  composition  :  and  the 
energy  with  which  he  has  fulfilled  these  multifarious 
duties — increased  still  further,  as  we  shall  see  shortly, 
by  outside  calls  of  a  serious  nature — is  remarkable. 
One  of  the  operative  reasons  for  his  acceptance  was 
the  hope  that  he  might  be  of  service  in  bringing  a 
breath  of  life  from  the  actual  world  into  university 
musical  teaching,  which  has  sometimes  shown  a  ten- 

104 


(iKANVH.I.E    I'.AXTOCK 
ABOUT   THK   YEAK    1904 
riu'le.  hy  y.  Knsstll  &•  Soiu 


BIRMINGHAM  105 

dency  to  subside  into  academicism.  In  accordance 
with  this  idea  he  drew  up  his  plan  for  the  lectures, 
classes,  and  degree  work — a  plan  which  is  broad  in  out- 
look, and  covers  the  whole  field,  but  which  is  calculated, 
on  the  whole,  to  foster  a  living  modern  spirit.  He 
desires  to  equip  his  students  for,  and  fix  their  thoughts 
upon,  the  future  ;  though  he  recognises  that  they  must 
know  and  understand  the  past.  The  Elizabethan 
madrigal  writers  are  well  represented  in  his  scheme,  and 
Bantock  became  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Byrd,  as 
well  as  of  Bull,  whose  pioneer  nature  appealed  strongly 
to  his  sympathies.  In  addition  to  the  orthodox  list  of 
composers  we  find  in  the  requirements  for  the  Birming- 
ham degree  a  knowledge  of  such  men  as  Strauss,  Debussy, 
Rimsky-Korsakov,  Elgar,  and  Sibelius,  whose  work  is 
subjected  to  searching  analysis  in  his  lectures  ;  and 
the  typical  Mus.Doc.  style  of  composition  in  their 
degree  exercises  counts  rather  against  than  for  candi- 
dates, those  who  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  such  things 
as  canons  and  fugues  doing  so  at  the  imminent  risk  of 
being  ploughed.  It  is  imperative,  according  to  Univer- 
sity regulations,  that  a  professor  should  have  a  recognised 
scholastic  status  ;  and  Bantock  therefore  accepted  the 
honorary  degree  of  M.A.,  in  order  to  comply  with  this 
condition.  His  classes  have  been  very  successful  and 
have  turned  out  some  promising  graduates. 

I  spoke  just  now  of  other  outside  work  which  made 
serious  calls  upon  Bantock's  time,  and  this  we  will  now 
proceed  to  consider.  The  musical  world  of  Birmingham 
had  for  many  years  been  divided  into  two  or  three  camps, 
and  each  of  these  to  some  extent  neutralised  the  others, 
so  that  the  interests  of  the  city  at  large  suffered.  In 
these  circumstances  it  was  at  last  felt  that  a  rapproche- 
ment was  necessary,  and  the  two  chief  parties  agreed  to 


io6  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

combine.  This  union  was  aided  by  Bantock's  influ- 
ence, and  the  Birmingham  Philharmonic  Society  was 
formed,  and  included  representatives  from  all  quarters 
of  Birmingham  musical  life,  the  Secretary  being  Mr.  G.  J. 
Bowker.  In  the  first  season,  1910-11,  eight  concerts 
were  given  under  various  distinguished  conductors, 
Wood,  Safonoff,  and  Beecham  being  among  the  num- 
ber. There  was  a  Wagner  night  and  a  Beethoven  night ; 
and  the  programmes  were  eclectic,  including  Mozart, 
Schubert,  Elgar,  von  Hoist,  Dukas,  Brahms,  Cesar 
Franck,  Moussorgsky,  etc.  Beecham's  night  was  a 
memorable  one,  the  programme  comprising  Heldenleben, 
and  the  Finale  from  Electra,  of  Strauss  ;  Debussy's 
L'Apres-Midi  d'un  Faune;  and  Delius's  Paris.  For  the 
second  season  Beecham  was  engaged  on  terms  which  were 
very  generous  on  his  part.  Among  the  works  given  were 
Dr.  Ethel  Smyth's  Overture  to  the  Wreckers,  Rimsky- 
Korsakov's  Antar,  Strauss's  Til  Eulenspiegel,  Salome's 
Dance,  and  the  Final  Scene  from  Salome  ;  Wagner's 
Good  Friday  Music  and  Ride  of  the  Valkyries  ;  Schu- 
bert's Unfinished  Symphony  ;  Delius's  Romeo  and  Juliet 
Entr'acte  ;  and  Elgar's  Second  Symphony  /  besides  other 
works  of  similar  character.  The  following  year  was  the 
time  for  the  Triennial  Festival ;  and  to  avoid  clashing 
it  was  decided  to  omit  part  of  the  season  and  to  give 
four  concerts  only,  two  before  Christmas  and  two  after. 
Balling,  Beecham,  Safonoff,  and  Ronald  were  the  con- 
ductors, and  the  programmes  were  of  the  same  character 
as  in  previous  years.  The  Society,  though  very  successful 
in  an  artistic  sense,  did  not  receive  sufficient  support 
from  the  public  ;  and  the  result  was  a  considerable 
call  upon  the  guarantors  each  season.  This  lack  of 
enthusiasm  gradually  tired  out  the  energies  of  the 
organisers,  who  had  to  work  very  hard  for  little  apparent 


BIRMINGHAM  107 

result ;  and  in  the  fourth  year  the  Society  was  given 
up.  Bantock  had  throughout  been  an  energetic  member 
of  the  Committee  and  the  work  had  involved  a  serious 
addition  to  his  labours. 

Another  organisation  with  which  Bantock  became 
connected,  and  which  he  was  largely  instrumental  in 
founding,  was  the  Birmingham  and  Midland  Musical 
Competition  Festival,  whose  first  meetings  were  held 
in  May,  1912.  This  also  was  fortunate  in  getting  Mr. 
Bowker  as  Hon.  Secretary,  an  office  in  which  his  partner, 
Mr.  Stevens,  became  his  colleague  ;  and  to  their  inde- 
fatigable labours  the  success  of  the  organisation  is  largely 
due.  It  immediately  established  a  record  in  the  num- 
ber of  entries  ;  its  artistic  standard  was  correspondingly 
high  ;  and  this  Midland  Festival  has,  in  its  three  years 
of  existence,  taken  a  foremost,  if  not  the  foremost,  rank. 
Bantock  had  for  some  years  been  connected  with  the 
movement  outside  Birmingham  as  adjudicator  in  various 
towns  of  England,  Wales,  and  Scotland.  He  had  formed 
close  friendships  with  Dr.  McNaught,  Harry  Evans 
(whose  recent  loss  was  a  great  blow  to  him), 
Walford  Davies,  and  other  men  engaged  in  the  same 
work ;  and  when  the  time  seemed  ripe  for  focusing 
the  musical  work  of  the  Midlands  in  this  way  they  all 
co-operated  with  a  will,  the  result  being  a  striking 
success  in  every  way.  The  educational  value  of  the 
movement  is  very  great ;  and  Bantock  has  been  in 
sympathy  with  it  from  the  first.  It  appealed  to  his 
democratic  instincts,  for  one  thing.  It  was  a  movement 
by  the  people  for  the  people,  and  was  free  from  the 
tinge  of  snobbery  which  sometimes  makes  itself  felt 
in  society  concerts.  Miners,  artisans,  work-girls, 
teachers,  school-children,  society  ladies,  students,  and 
university  men — all  classes,  in  fact,  mingled  in  friendly 


io8  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

emulation  and  on  equal  terms  ;  and  the  beauty  of 
music  and  poetry  was  brought  into  the  homes  and 
hearts  of  the  humblest,  to  brighten  and  inspire  their 
lives.  Besides  all  this,  Bantock  had  seen  how  these 
contests  had  improved  the  technique  of  choral  singing — 
a  point  to  which  we  shall  return  in  a  moment.  In  the 
first  year,  Dr.  McNaught,  Harry  Evans,  and  Dr.  Terry 
were  among  the  adjudicators,  and  the  entries  were  close 
upon  7000.  In  the  second  year,  Walford  Davies  and 
Dan  Godfrey  took  part  as  judges,  and  the  entries 
approached  8000.  In  the  third  year  (1914)  the  number 
was  7900 — all  three  being  records — and  the  standard 
has  steadily  risen.  Throughout,  Bantock  has  been  an 
active  member  of  the  organisation,  which  has  made 
heavy  calls  upon  his  time  and  attention.  All  who 
know  will  agree  that  his  share  in  the  success  of  the 
festivals  is  no  inconsiderable  one. 

The  improved  technique  in  choral  singing,  of  which  I 
spoke  a  moment  ago  as  arising  from  this  movement,  has 
exercised  an  important  influence  upon  Bantock's 
artistic  development  as  well  as  upon  his  external  life. 
The  original  impulse  came  from  outside  when  Miss 
Wakefield  inaugurated  her  choral  contests  in  the  Lake 
District.  But  it  could  not  have  gone  on  long  as  a  mere 
matter  of  technique  among  choirs.  The  old  style  of 
music — that  of  the  ordinary  part-song,  or  the  Handel 
or  Mendelssohn  chorus — was  too  limited,  and  offered 
no  field  for  further  attainment :  and  if  the  work  of  the 
choirs  had  not  reacted  on  composers,  and  their  fresh 
work  again  on  choirs,  no  real  artistic  gain  would  have 
resulted.  Technique  would  have  become  an  end  in 
itself ;  and  mere  virtuosity  spells  decadence.  And 
in  fact  even  as  things  are  we  have  sometimes  to  deplore 
virulent  attacks  of  "  Festivalitis."  Composers,  how- 


BIRMINGHAM  109 

ever,  were  not  slow  in  seeing  their  opportunity  :  few 
at  first,  it  is  true,  but  others  soon  followed.  Among  the 
pioneers  in  this  matter  were  Elgar  and  Bantock  ;  and 
this  development  of  unaccompanied  choral  music  has 
become  one  of  the  most  remarkable  artistic  phenomena 
of  our  time.  A  subtlety,  delicacy,  and  force  have  been 
achieved  which  differentiate  this  music  strongly  from 
all  that  has  gone  before.  No  one  who  has  heard  Elgar's 
Reveille  can  very  well  forget  the  thrill  that  he  experienced 
— a  peculiar  sensation  that  can  be  produced  only  by  the 
means  here  employed,  the  combination  of  striking  words, 
male  voices  with  their  peculiar  tone-quality,  and  essen- 
tial musical  clairvoyance.  Such  work  was  impossible 
to  the  older  writers  :  the  necessary  choral  conditions 
and  choral  technique  did  not  exist :  and  in  fact  it  is 
significant  that  this  music  has  arisen  in  England  which 
has  always  been  the  home  of  choral  music.  Bantock 
was  so  smitten  with  this  new  enthusiasm  that  he  went 
about  proclaiming  orchestral  music  to  be  no  good,  that 
it  was  played  out,  and  that  we  must  all  henceforth  write 
unaccompanied  part-songs  only — immediately  upon 
which  we  find  him  engaged  upon  such  trifles  as  Dante 
and  Beatrice  and  Fifine  ;  this  being  another  instance  of 
the  way  in  which  his  subliminal  consciousness  snapped 
its  fingers  at  his  surface  opinions. 

I.  The  part-songs  which  he  wrote  under  this  stimulus 
are  a  study  in  themselves.  We  will  take  the  pieces  for 
male  choir  first.  Among  the  earliest  were  Three  Cavalier 
Tunes,  settings  of  Browning's  lyrics  of  the  same  name. 
These,  and  especially  the  second  and  third,  Give  a  Rouse, 
and  Boot  and  Saddle,  are  spirited  pieces  of  work.  The 
War-Song  from  Blake,  too,  with  its  insistent  cry,  Pre- 
pare, prepare,  prepare  !  (for  death)  is  fine.  The  arrange- 
ments of  Scottish  songs,  such  as  The  Laird  o'  Cockpen, 


no  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

and  The  Piper  o'  Dundee,  are  picturesque  and  happy,  a 
particularly  striking  specimen  being  The  Pibroch  of 
Donuil  Dhu.  To  have  heard  the  Glasgow  Orpheus  Choir 
sing  this  piece  with  all  their  native  gusto  is  a  memorable 
experience.  A  glance  at  the  list  of  part-songs  at  the 
end  of  the  book  will  show  the  reader  that  to  discuss 
them  in  detail  is  impossible  :  I  can  only  select  a  few  of 
the  most  striking  examples.  Allied  to  the  pieces  last- 
mentioned  is  a  setting  of  Burns's  Address  to  the  De'il, 
though  this  is  of  course  not  folk-song  arranged,  but 
original.  Personally  I  think  this  is  one  of  those  poems 
that  are  best  left  in  their  first  form,  and  not  enlarged 
as  in  a  magic-lantern  ;  but  the  part-song  is  a  clever 
piece  of  work  and  full  of  vivid  touches.  The  satire  of 
the  hymn-tunes  at  the  words  :  "  And  let  poor  damned 
bodies  be  " — and,  "  Great  is  thy  power  and  great  thy 
fame  "  ;  the  lurid  passage  at,  "  Wha  in  yon  cavern 
grim  and  sootie  "  ;  the  eerie  drone  at  the  reference  to 
ghosts  on  the  moors  ;  the  imitation  of  the  Walkurenritt 
at  the  witches'  revels  ;  the  suave  passage  at  the  reference 
to  Eden  ;  and  the  humour  throughout — all  these  com- 
bine to  make  a  highly  coloured  piece.  But  sarcasm  and 
satire  are  weapons  of  the  boomerang  order ;  and  the 
use  of  the  last  line  of  "  Scots  wha  hae  "  at  the  end,  to 
the  words,  "  even  for  your  sake,"  suggests  that  Scotland 
is  the  very  devil,  and  that  Bannockburn  was  an  infernal 
business.  Another  fine  specimen,  and  a  complete  con- 
trast to  the  last,  is  a  setting  of  Shirley's  "  The  Glories  of 
our  Blood  and  State."  It  is  grave  and  elevated  in  style, 
and  is  a  really  impressive  piece. 

One  of  Bantock's  most  remarkable  efforts  in  this  line 
is  Lucifer  in  Starlight  (six  parts).  Meredith's  sonnet 
would  not,  at  first  sight,  seem  to  lend  itself  very  readily 
to  musical  treatment ;  but  Bantock's  instinct  has  served 


BIRMINGHAM  in 

him  well,  and  the  portion  where  Satan  gazes  at  the  stars 
and  sees  them  wheeling  rank  on  rank — "  The  army  of 
unalterable  law " — is  profoundly  impressive.  Dr. 
McNaught  spoke  of  it  at  a  recent  Competition  Festival 
as  follows :  "  How  anyone  could  set  these  words  to 
music,  and  how  anyone  could  realise  them,  is  most 
marvellous.  It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  pieces  Ban- 
tock  has  ever  composed.  ...  It  is  a  great  piece  because 
it  is  a  big  conception." 

Of  The  Lost  Leader  it  is  not  necessary  to  say  much. 
It  has  been  heard  so  often  at  festivals,  superbly  sung  by 
the  best  choirs,  such  as  the  Manchester  Orpheus,  Nelson 
Arion,  and  Stourbridge  Institute,  that  many  words 
now  would  be  foolish.  I  shall  not  quickly  forget  the 
thrilling  performances  of  these  three  choirs  at  the 
Midland  Competition  Festival  of  1912.  The  style  is 
rather  harmonic,  the  melodic  parts  being  mostly  on 
a  background  of  harmonic  masses,  not  on  quickly 
changing  and  only  half-suggested  harmonic  effects. 
Sometimes  one  feels  this  rather  strongly  in  Bantock's 
work :  and  in  fact  it  is  sometimes  charged  against 
him  as  a  fault :  but  it  seems  to  be  due  to  his  recogni- 
tion of  one  of  the  limiting  conditions  of  unaccompanied 
choral  writing.  We  are  often  told  that  choirs  can  now 
do  anything,  and  are  all  sometimes  tempted  in  conse- 
quence to  write  as  freely  as  for  instruments.  The 
limitation  of  the  voice,  however,  remains.  The  singer 
has  to  imagine  the  note  before  he  can  find  it :  he  cannot 
get  it  mechanically  as  a  player  can,  and  if  the  harmonic 
structure  be  too  elusive  choirs  cannot  imagine  their 
notes,  and  uncertainty  of  performance  is  the  result. 
Bantock's  realisation  of  this  fact  seems  to  be  the  reason 
why  Vanity  of  Vanities  produces  so  much  more  certain 
an  effect  in  performance  than  Atalanta. 


112  GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

This  seems  to  be  the  drawback  in  the  case  of  Kubla 
Khan,  which,  as  absolute  music,  is  one  of  the  finest  and 
subtlest  specimens.  That  kind  of  harmonic  subtlety, 
however  beautiful  and  suitable  to  the  words,  is  not 
suitable  to  choral  work.  Bantock  has  here  approached 
the  extreme  limits  of  practicability ;  and  the  con- 
sequence is  that  there  has  never  been  a  good 
performance,  though  the  work  is  a  delight  to  read — 
full  of  poetry  and  suggestiveness,  and  wonderfully  suc- 
cessful in  realising  the  atmosphere  of  Coleridge's 
dream-poem. 

II.  The  pieces  for  female  choir  are  altogether  slighter. 
It  is  evident  that  this  medium,  with  its  paler  colouring 
and  smaller  range  of  effects,  does  not  appeal  to  Bantock 
very  strongly.  His  instinct  is  for  the  stronger  flavours 
and  colouring  of  full-blooded  male  life.  There  are 
settings  of  three  poems  by  Blake — all  effective — of 
which  I  think  To  the  Muses  is  the  most  interesting.  A 
fourth,  Young  Love,  the  words  again  by  Blake,  has  piano 
accompaniment,  and  is  a  pleasant  little  piece.  There 
are  three  specimens  to  words  by  Mrs.  Bantock.  The 
first  is  Soul-Star,  unaccompanied,  a  soprano  melody  with 
mezzos  and  contraltos  winding  about  in  thirds  and 
sixths.  It  is  a  small  part-song  (or  trio)  but  excellent 
in  its  kind.  The  next,  Love-Song,  is  more  elaborate. 
It  is  in  three  parts  with  accompaniments  for  harp,  solo 
violin,  and  solo  'cello — or,  in  their  place,  piano.  This, 
too,  is  well  written  and  of  course  well  scored,  and  would 
prove  very  effective  in  performance.  The  third,  The 
Happy  Isle,  is  perhaps  the  finest  of  the  female  choir 
pieces.  It  is  in  seven  parts,  divided  into  two  groups, 
the  first  consisting  of  sopranos,  mezzos,  and  contraltos, 
and  the  other  of  first  and  second  sopranos  and  first  and 
second  contraltos.  The  tropical  luxuriance  of  the 


BIRMINGHAM  113 

southern  isle,  seen  through  the  glorifying  medium  of  love 
and  longing,  has  touched  the  composer's  imagination 
to  good  purpose.  I  said  that  this  is  perhaps  the  best 
of  this  group,  but  a  setting  of  Shelley — Elfin  Music, 
three  parts,  accompanied — runs  it  close  and  is  a  very 
charming  and  delicate  piece  of  work.  There  are  also 
a  set  of  arrangements  of  three  English  airs  for  female 
vocal  trio,  unaccompanied  ;  and  a  set  of  six  Scottish 
airs,  unaccompanied.  Bantock  has  done  a  good  deal 
of  such  work  and  is  always  happy  in  his  handling  of  this 
kind  of  material. 

III.  There  are  ten  songs  for  children  to  words  by 
Mrs.  Bantock,  two  to  words  by  Blake,  and  a  set  of  three 
unpublished.  The  China  Mandarin  is  a  characteristic 
little  piece  with  a  touch  of  bizarrerie  suggestive  of  the 
nodding  figures  on  our  mantelpieces.  The  Japanese 
Dwarf -tree  is  pretty,  but  less  distinctive.  Night-time — 
when  the  birds  are  asleep  and  the  bats  come  out,  when 
the  owlets  cry  and  the  elves  dance  before  Oberon  and 
Titania — is  a  charming  little  song,  as  also  is  Once  upon 
a  Time.  Another  pretty  one  is  Elfin-town  : 

Now  who  will  go  to  Elfin-town, 
Now  who  will  go  with  me  ? 

Child-voices  is  a  charming  piece  of  music  ;  but  better, 
I  think,  are  The  wild  brown  Bee,  and  Robin,  sweet  Robin, 
which  seem  to  reflect  Bantock 's  real  love  of  birds  and 
animals.  Riding  to  Fairy-land  is  very  happy,  and  is 
perhaps  the  most  childlike  of  all.  It  seems  to  me,  how- 
ever, that  in  these  songs  the  honours  rest  with  Mrs. 
Bantock.  There  is  more  of  the  essential  spirit  of  child- 
hood in  her  share  of  the  work :  one  is  always  wanting 
to  quote  the  verses.  She  has  a  close  instinctive  sympathy 
with  children,  and  has  forgotten  neither  their  ways  and 


H4  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

thoughts  nor  her  own  childhood  ;  and  the  charm  of  her 
poems  is  here  a  very  strong  element  in  our  pleasure. 
Of  the  two  Blake  songs,  one — The  Fly — is  very  pretty 
and  suitable.  The  other — The  Birds — is  more.  It  would 
suit  a  couple  of  older  singers  with  pure  young  voices  ; 
and  rises  to  a  real  rapture,  so  as  to  call  up  the  delight  of 
the  bird-chorus  at  sunset  (I  will  not  say  sunrise,  for  it  is 
doubtful  if  Bantock  ever  heard  that).  His  love  for  ani- 
mals of  all  kinds  has  here  found  voice  in  a  real  ecstasy 
of  bird-song. 

IV.  Among  the  part-songs  for  mixed  choirs  we  find 
a  striking  group  of  Scottish  pieces  which  show  Bantock's 
later  preoccupation  with  the  Celtic  spirit.  Apart  from 
arrangements  of  Scottish  airs,  such  as  Scotland  yet,  and 
Scots  who,  hae,  there  are  two  or  three  Gaelic  and  Hebri- 
dean  folk-songs  which  are  really  remarkable  for  their 
atmospheric  and  psychological  truth.  Some  impression 
of  their  quality  may  be  gained  by  referring  to  the 
quotation  given  in  speaking  of  the  Celtic  Poem  for  'cello. 
Bantock  has  Scottish  blood  in  his  veins,  and  here  the 
racial  spirit  seems  to  speak.  A  Raasay  Lament,  and 
Cradle-song,  are  both  arresting :  but  The  Death-Croon, 
and  The  Seal-Woman's  Croon,  are  specially  interesting 
technically  as  well  as  spiritually,  inasmuch  as  we  have 
here  a  treatment  of  a  solo  voice  which  I  have  desired 
for  some  time.  Instead  of  the  piano  with  its  percussive 
tone,  the  background  is  given  by  chorus  singing  without 
words,  the  first  song  being  for  contralto  with  five-part 
accompaniment,  and  the  second  for  contralto  with 
eight-part  chorus.  Mrs.  Kennedy-Fraser's  piano  accom- 
paniments for  the  Hebridean  Songs  are  wonderfully 
suggestive,  but  the  subtlety  of  this  treatment  is  beyond 
all  comparison. 

The  Irish  songs  cannot  compete  with  the  Scottish, 


BIRMINGHAM  115 

though  The  Leprehaun,  Emer's  Lament  for  Cuchulain, 
and  The  Song  of  Finnuola,  are  good  in  their  several 
ways. 

There  are  also  some  good  arrangements  of  English 
songs,  and  a  Finnish  Rune-song  ;  but  we  will  pass  on 
to  the  original  English  work.  There  are  seven  settings 
of  poems  by  his  friend,  Mr.  Hayes,  the  two  best,  I  think, 
being  Awake,  awake !  with  its  breezy  freshness,  and 
Nocturne,  in  which  the  allusion  to  the  nightingale  seems 
as  usual  to  have  made  a  special  appeal  to  Bantock. 
His  sympathy  for  Bohemians  of  all  classes,  and  his  aver- 
sion for  "  Holy  Willies,"  misled  him  somewhat,  I  think, 
when  it  prompted  him  to  set  that  brilliant  scallawag 
Villon's  Ballade.  The  music  is  a  clever  piece  of  work, 
and  contains  many  touches,  such  as  that  of  the  corpses 
swinging  in  the  wind,  of  a  gruesome  and  realistic  vivid- 
ness ;  but  it  does  not  appear  to  me  suitable  for  setting, 
and  the  hymn-tune  seems  to  lack  sincerity,  though 
Villon  probably  intended  the  prayer  to  be  sincere,  at 
the  time.  The  Pageant  of  Human  Nature  is  a  setting  of 
a  short  cycle  of  poems  by  Sir  Thomas  More.  The 
manner  is  somewhat  that  of  Everyman,  and  the  choral 
suite  is  very  suitably  dedicated  to  Walford  Davies. 
It  is  not  a  subject,  however,  that  suits  Bantock's  type 
of  mind,  and  the  work  is  certainly  not  in  his  happiest 
vein.  The  workmanship  is  good,  and  the  style  is  right, 
but  the  essential  spirit  has  proved  elusive.  It  is  a  plea- 
sure to  turn  from  this  to  a  really  magnificent  piece  of 
work.  Blake  often  seems  to  touch  a  responsive  chord 
in  Bantock,  and  The  Tyger,  one  of  Blake's  most 
striking  pieces,  has  given  Bantock  one  of  his  most 
arresting  conceptions.  Those  who  have  heard  a  good 
choir  sing  this  piece  (eight  parts)  with  real  dramatic 
force  must  have  felt  the  music  overwhelming  in  places, 


n6  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

and  fully  worthy  of  the  poem — and  what  can  one  say 

more  ? 

Tyger,  tyger,  burning  bright 

In  the  forests  of  the  night, 
What  immortal  hand  or  eye 

Could  frame  thy  fearful  symmetry  ? — 

The  tyger  seems  clothed  in  the  haunting  terror  of  an 
opium- vision  in  verse  and  music  alike.  There  is  a  setting 
of  Wordsworth's  sonnet,  The  World  is  too  much  with  us, 
to  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  again  :  and  there 
are  four  settings  of  Shelley  who  always  seems  to  stir 
Bantock,  and  whom  we  have  seen  really  kindle  him 
with  The  Witch  of  Atlas.  It  is  not  surprising  therefore 
that  two  out  of  the  four  call  for  remark.  Spirit  of  Night 
(eight  parts)  is  in  the  harmonic  style  of  which  I  have 
spoken.  It  is  full  of  happy  effects,  antiphonal  and 
other  ;  and  it  has  evidently  formed  a  preparation,  if 
not  a  preparatory  study,  for  Atalanta.  The  other,  On 
Himalay,  is  simpler,  and  owes  its  importance  entirely 
to  its  own  intrinsic  charm.  If  The  Tyger  is  terrific,  this 
is  equally  striking  in  its  way.  It  has  a  wonderfully 
subtle  magic  :  one  seems  actually  to  see  the  sunny 
slopes  of  the  Himalayas  stretching  away  into  infinite 
distance,  with  the  happy  shepherd-boy  singing  and 
feeding  his  flocks.  It  is  a  remarkable  piece  of  clairvoy- 
ance, full  of  loveliness,  and  comparable  for  sureness  of 
insight  with  the  Caravan  in  Omar. 

The  climax  in  this  type  of  work  is  reached  in  Atalanta 
in  Calydon  and  Vanity  of  Vanities.  The  first  is  a  setting 
for  unaccompanied  choir  of  the  choral  odes  in  Swin- 
burne's drama,  and  is  most  interesting  both  in  the  matter 
of  technique  and  as  a  daring  experiment.  An  un- 
accompanied work  that  takes  forty  or  fifty  minutes  to 
perform  needs  great  variety  of  treatment ;  and  Ban- 


BIRMINGHAM  117 

tock's  scheme  is  ingenious.  The  first  ode  is  given  to 
male  choir  ;  the  second  to  full  choir  ;  the  third  to 
female  choir  ;  and  the  fourth  to  full  choir.  In  No.  I 
the  choir  is  divided  into  four  groups — four  parts,  three 
parts,  three  parts,  and  four  parts — fourteen  parts  in  all. 
By  this  arrangement  it  becomes  possible  (and  still  more 
is  this  the  case  in  the  full-choir  portions)  to  pick  out 
single  parts  by  doubling,  to  pile  up  masses  of  sound, 
and  to  get  responsive  effects  and  different  tone-colours, 
just  as  in  orchestral  writing.  And  in  this  respect  the 
title  "  choral-symphony  "  is  apt,  though  it  is  misleading 
otherwise,  since  it  suggests  a  particular  architectural 
plan.  The  opening  is  breezy  : 

When  the  hounds  of  Spring  are  on  Winter's  traces  : 

but  we  soon  come  to  a  place  that  appeals  to  Bantock 
more  at  the  reference  to  "  the  brown  nightingale,"  and 
he  responds  instantly.  There  is  remarkable  variety  and 
much  pictorial  effect,  not  least  of  which  occurs  at  "  the 
fawn  that  flies,"  at  the  close. 

No.  2  is  still  more  elaborate,  and  has,  of  course,  a 
wider  range  of  tone-colour.  The  choir  is  divided  into 
five  groups — three  parts,  female  choir  ;  three  parts,  male 
choir ;  four  parts,  female  choir  ;  four  parts,  male  choir ; 
and  six  parts,  mixed  choir  ;  or  twenty  parts  in  all.  It 
is  very  striking  both  musically  and  poetically.  The 
variety  of  effect  obtained  is  very  great,  and  the  way 
these  complicated  forces  are  handled  is  masterly. 

Before  the  beginning  of  years 

There  came  to  the  making  of  man 
Time,  with  a  gift  of  tears, 

Grief,  with  a  glass  that  ran  : 
Pleasure,  with  pain  for  leaven, 

Summer,  with  flowers  that  fell, 
Remembrance,  fallen  from  heaven, 

And  madness,  risen  from  hell. 


n8  GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

The  essential  quality  of  the  musical  conception,  the 
antiphonal  effects,  and  the  changing  colours  are  remark- 
able. One  might  go  on  noticing  special  points  all  through, 
for  the  interest  never  flags.  The  close  : 

He  weaves,  and  is  clothed  with  derision  ; 

Sows,  and  he  shall  not  reap  ; 
His  life  is  a  watch  or  a  vision 

Between  a  sleep  and  a  sleep — 

is  touched,  as  are  all  the  odes  in  fact,  with  the  philo- 
sophy we  have  already  found  in  Omar ;  and  Bantock 
is  at  once  aroused,  so  that  the  irony  is  driven  home. 
The  end  is  a  peaceful  fading  away. 

No.  3,  for  female  choir,  is  less  than  half  the  length 
of  the  others,  but  forms  a  good  contrast — "  We  have 
seen  thee,  O  Love  ;  thou  art  fair."  But  the  terror  is 
always  near.  Two  figures  accompany  Love,  and 

.  .  .  Fate  is  the  name  of  her, 
And  his  name  is  Death. 

This  chorus  is  in  twelve  parts,  four  groups  of  three  each, 
and  is  full  of  brightness  and  happy  sunshine  until  this 
grave  close  is  reached. 

In  No.  4  the  choir  is  divided  as  in  No.  2.  It  is  a 
wonderful  piece  of  work,  and  is  full  of  that  passionate 
protest  against  the  very  nature  of  things  which  is 
characteristic  of  Swinburne  as  of  Omar.  God  covers 
us  with  hate  and  makes  us  transitory  and  slight :  He 
has  fed  one  rose  with  the  dust  of  many  men  :  He  is 
against  us,  He  strong,  we  feeble  :  therefore 

All  we  are  against  Thee,  O  God  most  High  ! — 

which  is  thundered  out  defiantly  in  responsive  masses  of 
sound,  all  uniting  for  the  phrase,  0  God  most  high.  The 
musical  treatment  throughout  is  very  fine  and  impres- 


BIRMINGHAM  119 

sive,  and  the  work  as  a  whole  is  a  remarkable  artistic 
achievement.  It  was  produced  by  the  Halle  Society, 
at  Manchester,  in  January,  1912. 

The  same  spirit  is  apparent  in  the  companion  work, 
Vanity  of  Vanities,  but  the  technique  is  in  some  ways 
different.  The  writing  is  more  harmonic,  the  divisions 
of  the  choir  less  elaborate,  and  the  result  is  a  gain  in 
certainty  and  in  actual  effect  in  performance,  though 
for  quiet  reading  Atalanta  is  perhaps  the  finer  of  the 
two.  The  work  is  in  twelve  parts,  and  opens  with  a 
motto-phrase  to  the  words  of  the  pessimistic  refrain, 
"  Vanity  of  vanities — all  is  vanity."  This  refrain  and 
motto-phrase  frequently  recur  during  the  work,  which 
is  the  outpouring  of  a  heart  overburdened  with  satiety 
and  disillusion.  The  treatment  is  broad,  a  fine  instance 
in  the  first  section  being  the  passage  : 

One  generation  passeth  away, 
And  another  generation  cometh, 
But  the  earth  endureth  for  ever — 

where  the  broken  passages  of  the  flying  generations 
contrast  well  with  the  massive  grandeur  at  the  last  line. 
Other  pictorial  passages  are,  The  wind  whirleth  about 
continually,  and  All  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea.  A  very 
characteristic  passage  occurs  at  the  Animando,  to  the 
words,  "  There  is  no  remembrance."  The  section  closes 
with  a  reference  to  the  motto-phrase,  and  fades  away 
into  a  melancholy  dreaming. 

Section  2  is  very  striking.  After  the  words,  /  said  in 
my  heart  I  will  prove  thee  with  mirth  and  enjoy  pleasure, 
an  Eastern  dance  is  sung  with  closed  lips,  and  suggests 
the  men-singers,  the  wromen-singers,  and  the  harem  of 
an  Eastern  court.  The  languor  of  satiety  succeeds  at 

I  made  me  great  works, 
I  builded  me  houses. 


120  GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

A  gayer  dance,  but  still  with  the  underlying  melancholy 
of  the  East,  follows — a  passage  of  major  thirds  on  a 
whole-tone  scale,  above  an  augmented  fourth  drone — 
but  is  broken  by  the  exclamation,  "  And  behold  all  was 
vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,"  to  the  motto-phrase. 
Then,  after  a  broad  and  impressive  passage  at  And  there 
was  no  profit  under  the  sun,  the  music  dies  away  with 
a  reference  to  the  dance. 

The  third  section,  "  Then  I  saw  that  wisdom  exceedeth 
folly,"  is  powerful,  and  has  a  recurring  cadence  on  a 
chord  of  F  minor  that  is  rather  striking.  A  great  horror 
and  revulsion  of  feeling  are  thundered  out  at  "  Therefore 
I  hated  life,"  with  a  strong  discord  and  the  sopranos  and 
mezzos  on  the  top  B  and  A  ;  and  the  section  closes  pp 
with  "  this  also  is  vanity." 

The  fourth  part, 

To  everything  there  is  a  season : 
A  time  to  be  born 
And  a  time  to  die,  etc., 

is  cast  in  antiphonal  phrases  and  cadences.  It  is  a 
simple  but  striking  conception.  It  is  a  little  risky, 
however,  and  might  easily  fail  of  its  effect  in  unskilful 
hands.  Under  Harry  Evans,  at  the  production,  the 
choir  had  all  the  necessary  flexibility  and  rubato,  and 
the  result  was  good. 

Section  5,  "  /  returned  and  saw  that  the  race  is  not  to 
the  swift,"  contains  one  of  the  most  poetically  imagined 
passages  in  the  work  at  the  words,  "  As  he  came  forth  of 
his  mother's  womb  naked  shall  he  return,"  etc. 

The  sixth  part  opens  with  a  more  cheery  tone — "  Eat 
thy  bread  with  joy."  But  the  old  melancholy  soon  re- 
turns, for  the  gaiety  hovers  but  for  a  moment  above  the 
abyss  of  nothingness.  Bantock's  vigorous  Western 
nature  again  asserts  itself  however,  and  there  follows 


BIRMINGHAM  121 

a  very  impressive  and  quite  personal  and  characteristic 
passage  at  the  words  referred  to  more  than  once  already, 
"  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,"  etc.  A  happier 
and  also  characteristic  vein  appears  at,  "  Truly  the  light 
is  sweet,"  but  the  old  obsession  recurs  ;  and  the  passage 
in  fifths  at,  "  Yet  let  him  remember  the  days  of  darkness," 
leads  to  the  motto-phrase,  All  is  vanity,  at  the  close. 

The  last  section  opens  exultantly  with  "  Rejoice,  0 
young  man  in  thy  youth  "  ;  but  the  refrain  of  Vanity 
soon  returns.  A  striking  passage  follows  : 

Remember  now  thy  Creator, 
In  the  days  of  thy  youth. 

And  then  comes  the  marvellous  passage,  too  long  to 
quote  (Eccles.  xii.  1-8),  which  refers  to  the  silver  cord 
being  broken,  etc.  It  would  be  too  much  to  expect  that 
anything  should  be  added  to  the  extraordinary  magic 
of  this  passage,  but  at  least  one  feels  no  shock  :  and  this 
leads  to  an  enlargement  of  the  motto-phrase,  Vanity  of 
vanities,  which  brings  the  whole  to  an  impressive  con- 
clusion. The  work  was  produced  at  Liverpool,  by  the 
Welsh  Choral  Union,  under  Harry  Evans,  on  February 
I4th,  1914. 

The  last  choral  work  of  which  we  have  to  speak  is  of 
the  simplest  possible  kind.  In  the  autumn  of  1913  Mr. 
Keir  Hardie  asked  Bantock  if  he  would  write  a  song  for 
the  Coming  of  Age  Conference  of  the  I.L.P.  The  idea 
appealed  to  Bantock's  democratic  feelings  ;  and  the 
result  was  a  Labour  Song  which  bids  fair  to  become  a 
sort  of  Marseillaise  of  Democracy.  The  words  are  taken 
from  Mrs.  Bantock's  Song  of  Liberty,  and  are  really  fine 
and  stirring.  The  song  is  an  easily  caught  melody  with 
a  swinging  rhythm  allied  to  that  of  Ca  ira.  A  Festival 
March,  or  Labour  March,  was  written  to  precede,  and 


122  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

lead  up  to,  the  song,  and  was  given  by  massed  brass 
bands.  This,  too,  is  largely  built  upon  the  figure  allied 
to  that  of  Ca  ira,  and  has  a  fine  rousing  effect.  The 
march  and  song  were  performed  at  the  Labour  Con- 
ference at  Bradford,  in  April,  1914,  and  aroused  great 
enthusiasm. 

Coming  now  to  the  purely  instrumental  work,  we  find 
first  a  piece  that  is  akin  to  the  editions  of  Elizabethan 
authors  already  mentioned — the  Old  English  Suite. 
This  consists  of  five  pieces  arranged  for  small  orchestra, 
without  antiquarian  accuracy,  and  forms  a  very  effec- 
tive concert  suite.  The  pieces  are,  the  Fantasia,  by 
Orlando  Gibbons,  from  Parthenia ;  Dowland's  Lac- 
rimae ;  Bull's  The  King's  Hunt ;  Quodling's  Delight, 
by  Giles  Farnaby,  the  scoring  of  which  is  specially 
striking,  only  oboe,  two  clarinets,  and  bassoon  being 
employed ;  and  Sellenger's  Round,  by  Byrd,  which 
makes  a  brilliant  and  jolly  finish. 

Allied  to  this  are  the  piano  albums  of  pieces  of  the 
same  period.  Bantock  has  a  fellow-feeling  for  Bull 
who  was  of  a  pioneer  nature  ;  and  his  editing  of  his 
work  was  done  con  amove.  Byrd,  too,  is  one  of  his  later 
enthusiasms  ;  and  for  Farnaby  he  took  quite  a  fancy. 
The  whole  preoccupation  with  these  Elizabethan  writers 
formed  a  distinct  phase  in  his  own  mental  expansion. 

We  come  next  to  two  works  for  string  orchestra — 
In  the  Far  West  and  Scenes  from  the  Scottish  Highlands. 
The  first  is  a  picturesque  and  racy  piece  woven  upon 
nigger-tunes  and  folk-songs.  The  basis  of  the  first 
movement  is  a  figure  with  an  augmented  second,  allied 
to  a  scrap  of  nigger-song.  No.  2  is  a  beautiful  and  ex- 
pressive presentation  of  'Way  down  Swannee  Ribber. 
No.  3  consists  of  a  scherzo  and  trio.  And  No.  4  is  a 
symphonic  working  of  Yankee-doodle  with  its  pendant, 


BIRMINGHAM  123 

Johnny  get  your  Gun,  in  regular  form,  save  that  at  the 
return  the  subject  is  modified  and  a  beautiful  reference 
to  No.  2  is  introduced.  The  part-writing  is  full  of  re- 
source and  variety,  and  the  Serenade  makes  an  effective 
concert-piece.  It  was  produced  at  the  Hereford  Festi- 
val, October,  1912. 

Scenes  from  the  Scottish  Highlands  contains  five 
movements — a  Strathspey  on  the  air,  The  Braes  o'  Tully- 
met  ;  a  Dirge  on  the  tune,  The  Isle  oj  Mull  ;  a  Quickstep 
(Inverness  Gathering]  ;  Gaelic  Melody  (Baloo,  baloo)  ; 
and  a  Reel  (The  De'il  among  the  Tailors).  The  pieces 
are  full  of  colour  and  life.  Baloo,  baloo  is  specially  at- 
tractive ;  but  all  are  charged  with  the  Gaelic  spirit,  and 
the  final  reel  makes  one's  feet  itch.  The  work  is  emi- 
nently suitable  for  the  string  bands  which  are  now 
springing  up  so  widely.  It  was  produced  at  Sheffield 
in  November,  1913,  under  Bantock's  direction. 

Another  fruit  of  Bantock's  later  enthusiasm  for  all 
things  Scottish  is  the  Scottish  Rhapsody,  for  full  orchestra, 
which  is  not  yet  published.  A  good  deal  of  it  was  written 
during  various  visits  to  Scotland  in  1913.  It  is  a  spirited 
and  racy  piece  that  smacks  of  the  heather  and  the  peat- 
smoke  ;  and  the  clash  of  discrepant  harmonies  at  times, 
when  the  various  tunes  are  going  against  each  other, 
adds  a  piquant  touch  of  the  barbarism  of  the  natural 
man.  It  is  written  for  ordinary  orchestra  ;  and  we  have 
first  Tullochgorum  ;  then  The  Birks  of  Aberfeldy  ;  then 
Wi'  a  hundred  Pipers,  an'  a',  an'  a',  which  will  make 
those  who  have  felt  the  magic  of  "  Caledonia  stern  and 
wild  "  feel  as  if  on  springs,  while  they  see  the  vision  of 
the  pipers,  with  their  peculiar  swinging  gait,  marching 
gaily  along  a  mountain  glen.  The  slow  movement  is 
represented  by  a  Gaelic  tune,  Mairi  Bhoideach,  which  has 
all  the  latent  tenderness  of  the  Gael.  A  clarinet  cadenza 


124  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

then  ushers  in  the  sound  of  "  the  pipes  "  with  The  Reel 
o'  Tulloch,  and  the  fun  grows  fast  and  furious.  This 
tune  is  then  combined  with  Cuttymari  and,  Treladle,  the 
speed  and  the  excitement  increasing,  till  Scots  wha 
hae  is  thundered  out  ff,  in  a  maddening  coda.  The 
piece  would  stir  the  blood  of  even  the  average  polite 
audience  :  to  those  who  have  worn  the  kilt  among 
the  heather  of  the  highland  lochs  and  glens  it  is  like 
champagne. 

Our  grouping  of  the  Scottish  works  has  led  to  the 
temporary  omission  of  an  earlier  orchestral  piece — 
Lalla  Rookh — which  was  finished  at  Northfield  in 
August,  1903.  It  belongs  to  Bantock's  more  youthful, 
oriental  phase — that  of  The  Fire-Worshippers — in  spirit 
and  conception,  though  it  is  more  mature  in  technique. 
It  may  be  remembered  that  Moore's  scheme  is  as  follows  : 
Lalla  Rookh,  the  daughter  of  Aurungzebe  (1658-1707), 
and  the  Prince  of  Bucharia,  are  betrothed  by  their 
respective  fathers,  upon  which  the  bridal  procession 
sets  out  for  Cashmir,  where  it  is  to  be  met  by  the  lover 
and  the  nuptials  performed.  The  way  is  beguiled  by 
the  poetical  tales  of  a  young  minstrel,  Feramorz,  who 
joins  the  train,  his  stories  being  The  Veiled  Prophet, 
Paradise  and  the  Peri,  The  Fire-Worshippers,  and  The 
Light  of  the  Harem.  Lalla  Rookh's  heart  is  touched  by 
the  handsome  poet,  and  she  is  accordingly  uneasy  at 
her  approaching  marriage.  To  her  great  joy,  however, 
she  recognises  in  the  young  king  the  minstrel  of  the 
journey,  who  has  taken  this  way  of  wooing  her  unknown. 
Bantock's  composition  is  perhaps  the  climax  of  his 
work  in  this  vein  of  orientalism.  Eastern  scales  and 
sumptuous  colouring  are  freely  used,  and  the  usual 
festival  orchestra  is  employed,  with  three  of  each  wind 
timbre  :  an  unusual  point,  however,  is  that  the  violins, 


BIRMINGHAM  125 

for  a  considerable  part  of  the  time,  are  in  unison.  The 
work  opens  with  an  expressive  phrase  for  strings,  which 
stands  for  Lalla  Rookh  herself  ;  and  this  is  enlarged 
upon  in  various  tender  phrases  of  much  beauty.  The 
second  section  represents  the  bridal  caravan,  and  has 
some  very  charming  imitative  phrases  for  wind  against 
an  inverted  A  pedal  for  violins  and  violas.  Next,  the 
caravan  halts,  and  we  hear  the  languorous  Lalla  Rookh 
theme ;  after  which  the  minstrel-lover,  Feramorz, 
appears  with  a  characteristic  oriental  figure.  A  beauti- 
ful horn-phrase  tells  of  the  nascent  feeling  of  the  two 
lovers,  and  then  comes  the  first  tale.  These  tales  are 
not  iDustrated,  but  merely  symbolised  by  cadenzas  for 
flute,  oboe,  clarinet,  and  bassoon,  which  foreshadow  the 
similar  and  greater  clarinet  cadenza  in  Fifine.  As  inter- 
ludes, separating  the  cadenzas,  the  tender  horn-phrase 
just  mentioned  is  used.  Following  upon  this  comes  a 
picturesque  oriental  dance  ;  then  the  growing  excite- 
ment as  the  end  of  the  journey  approaches  ;  and  finally 
the  climax  when  Lalla  Rookh,  in  an  agony  of  joy, 
recognises  the  minstrel  in  the  throned  king  with  an 
ecstatic  cry.  The  piece  is  a  very  effective  one  of  its 
kind,  though  not  on  the  intellectual  level  of  the  works 
which  followed. 

Of  the  Suite  of  five  Dramatic  Dances  I  have  little 
space  to  speak.  They  are  picturesque,  but  not  in 
Bantock's  more  mature  manner.  Nos.  la  and  ib  are 
for  Cleopatra  ;  No.  2  for  Sappho  ;  and  Nos.  3a  and  3b 
for  a  harem-favourite.  They  were  produced  at  the 
York  Festival  of  1910. 

On  the  Overture  to  a  Greek  Tragedy,  similarly,  con- 
siderations of  space  forbid  me  to  enlarge.  The  work 
is  really  written  for  Sophocles's  (Edipus  at  Colonos,  but 
it  is  modern  music,  not  written  in  the  style  of  the  music 


126  GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

to  the  Greek  plays  already  discussed.  The  striking  5/4 
subject  at  the  opening,  with  its  response  in  the  horns, 
leads  to  a  figure  in  the  basses  which  forms  one  of  the 
chief  features  of  the  development  •  and  the  working  of 
the  Fate  element  throughout  is  very  finely  suggested. 
The  second  subject  is  a  beautiful  passage  for  four  horns 
with  solo  violin,  representing  Antigone  ;  and  the  ele- 
vated close  refers  to  (Edipus's  mysterious  disappearance 
and  subsequent  apotheosis.  The  work  was  produced 
at  the  Worcester  Festival,  September,  1911,  Bantock 
conducting. 

Of  the  other  orchestral  works,  we  take  first  The 
Pierrot  of  a  Minute,  a  fantastic  piece  founded  upon 
Ernest  Dowson's  poem.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
the  Pierrot  falls  asleep  in  the  Pare  du  Petit  Trianon,  be- 
side a  statue  of  Cupid.  He  dreams  that  he  is  visited  by 
a  Moon-maiden  with  whom  he  falls  rapturously  in  love. 
She  warns  him  of  the  fatal  sweetness  of  the  kisses  of  the 
moon  ;  but  he  persists  in  his  passion  which  she  then 
allows.  At  last  dawn  approaches  and  she  must  leave 
him.  So  the  poem  ends  ;  but  Bantock  continues  the 
piece  to  his  awaking  from  the  long  dream  which — like 
that  in  the  Arabian  tale — has  really  lasted  but  a  minute. 
The  strings  are  divided  throughout  into  ten  parts,  and 
at  the  opening  the  violins  enter  one  after  another  with 
tambourine  and  crisp  harp-notes.  The  gambolling 
pizzicato  figure  that  follows  at  the  Allegro  Vivo  stands 
especially  for  the  Pierrot,  whose  love  is  kept  well  in 
character  throughout,  there  being  always  an  element  of 
the  fantastic — the  gambolling  scherzando — even  in  the 
passionate  portions.  At  bar  160  the  strings  are  muted 
as  he  falls  asleep ;  and  his  figure,  given  to  the  horn,  tells 
of  his  amorous  state.  The  Moon-maiden  appears,  coy 
and  capricious.  Muted  strings,  as  at  the  opening,  but 


BIRMINGHAM  127 

with  an  added  viola  solo,  describe  her  coquetry  with  him. 
She  then  grows  more  tender,  and  the  passionate  mood 
becomes  more  enthralling,  till  it  reaches  its  climax  in 
a  beautiful  section,  Molto  lento  cantabile  (bars  423-506), 
the  fantastic  element,  however,  being  never  lost  sight 
of.  During  the  last  portion  she  has  left  him  (to  the  music 
of  the  opening) ,  and  his  awaking  is  now  touched  upon  in 
a  brief  codetta.  The  piece  is  delicate  in  imagination, 
workmanship,  and  scoring,  and  very  effective  in  per- 
formance ;  but  it  needs  a  well  equipped  and  capable 
orchestra,  or  its  daintiness  is  lost.  It  was  produced 
at  the  Worcester  Festival,  September,  1908,  and  has  had 
many  performances  since ;  among  them  three  in 
America,  and  one  each  at  Paris,  Nancy,  Cologne,  Mos- 
cow, St.  Petersburg,  and  Shanghai. 

In  the  case  of  Dante  and  Beatrice  there  is  no  attempt 
to  illustrate  a  story.  The  work  is  a  psychological  study, 
rather,  dealing  with  the  influence  of  an  uplifting  ideal 
in  the  life  of  a  man.  Broadly  speaking,  the  opening 
stands  for  Dante  himself  and  his  condition  before  his 
marvellous  love  for  Beatrice  shone  forth  in  all  its  splen- 
dour. Into  the  middle  of  this  agitated  music,  however, 
there  enters  forcefully  (on  'cellos,  trombones,  bassoons, 
and  cor  anglais,  ff),  as  the  overpowering  love  really 
struck  Dante,  a  theme  which,  later,  is  enrayed  in  loveli- 
ness, and  which  represents  Beatrice.  Dante's  theme 
does  not  remain  unchanged,  but  undergoes  several 
modifications,  and  appears,  now  in  an  agitated,  now  in 
a  poetical  and  exalted  mood,  this  last  more  particularly 
at  bar  92  and  onwards.  It  is  worked  up  to  a  climax  at 
bars  110-120,  after  which  there  comes  a  silence,  and  the 
beautiful  Beatrice  theme,  heralded  by  a  harp  passage,  is 
given  by  solo  violin,  accompanied  by  violins  at  first, 
but,  after  one  bar,  alone,  in  a  lovely  cadenza.  This  treat- 


128  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

ment  is  then  thrice  repeated.  The  effect  is  most  happy, 
and  stands  out  in  the  memory  after  a  single  hearing. 
The  working  of  these  two  themes  is  carried  on  with  great 
resource  and  beauty  through  various  moods  of  tender- 
ness, passion,  and  exaltation,  till,  after  a  great  climax, 
Dante  hears  of  Beatrice's  death.  Her  theme  now  ap- 
pears with  poignant  grief  (Lentamente)  in  the  basses,  the 
upper  parts  being  added  one  after  another.  Dante's 
desolation,  and  his  thoughts  of  her  in  the  idealised  state 
as  almost  divine,  are  then  expressed  in  the  last  portion 
beginning  Sostenuto  cantabile,  with  great  elevation  and 
beauty ;  and  the  interweaving  of  themes  is  carried  on 
with  much  skill,  but  is  always  subservient  to  the  poetic 
intention.  At  the  very  end,  Molto  lento,  the  two  themes 
are  united,  and  bring  the  piece  to  a  noble  and  elevated 
close.  The  work  is  scored  for  festival  orchestra,  and 
was  produced  at  the  London  Musical  Festival  at  Queen's 
Hall,  May,  1911. 

The  sub-title  of  Fifine  at  the  Fair — A  Defence  of  In- 
constancy— is  only  Bantock's  fun.  He  is  not  a  specially 
giddy,  fickle,  or  inconstant  butterfly  ;  but  he  has  a 
passion  for  a  striking  phrase,  even  though  it  be  a  flash 
one.  Fifine  is  vigorous,  full-blooded,  and  before  all 
things  human.  The  subject  has  seemed  to  some  an  im- 
possible one  for  music  ;  and,  of  course,  the  intellectual 
finessing  of  Browning's  poem  is  so.  Bantock  simply 
takes  the  broad  human  situation  and  treats  that.  Neither 
poem  nor  music  is  "  a  defence  of  inconstancy,"  but 
merely  a  defence  of  those  normal  intellectual  and 
spiritual  relations  which  men  and  women  alike  need  with 
their  peers — the  same  sort  of  freedom  of  intercourse  as 
the  friendship  between  Carlyle  and  Lady  Ashburton, 
which  so  offended  Mrs.  Carlyle.  In  the  case  before  us 
Don  Juan  goes  wrong,  and  suffers  accordingly  :  but 


BIRMINGHAM  129 

the  shutting  off  of  healthy  outside  influences  turns  the 
married  state  into  a  stagnant  pool. 

The  Prologue  is  for  strings  only  (twenty-one  parts), 
and  shows  the  Ocean  of  Life  with  the  butterfly  hovering 
above  it,  and  the  man  swimming  in  it  :  and  here  Ban- 
tock  diverges  from  Browning  in  making  the  butterfly 
the  type,  not  of  the  soul,  but  of  Fifine,  and  that  womanly 
element  which  is  found  in  her  and  in  all  women.  The 
soul  of  the  man  reaches  up  towards  the  beautiful  crea- 
ture with  yearning.  Yearning  merges  into  questioning. 
Out  of  the  mood  of  inquiry  grows  a  further  mood  of 
aspiration,  the  theme  of  which  is  afterwards  associated 
with  Elvire.  This  prologue  is  a  most  effective  piece  of 
writing,  with  its  hints  of  human  passion,  yearning  and 
aspiration.  Then,  with  a  crash,  follows  the  bustle  and 
tawdry  glitter  of  the  fair,  amid  which  a  modification  of 
The  Carnival  of  Venice  is  thundered  out  by  the  strings 
and  brass  against  a  flaring  shake  of  the  wood-wind. 
Then  we  hear  a  man  thwacking  the  big  drum  outside 
one  of  the  booths,  to  call  the  people  together ;  an  old 
fiddler  scrapes  away  (in  the  first  position  only),  and  after 
a  few  bars  a  boy  joins  in  with  the  penny  whistle.  The 
hubbub  returns  ;  and  the  poet  even  in  the  midst  of  all 
the  gaiety  is  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  essential 
tragedy  of  things.  At  last  Fifine  comes  on  (just  before 
the  Allegretto  grazioso  e  capriccioso)  with  her  seductive 
charm  and  fascination.  She  dances  and  captivates  the 
poet,  her  witchery  reaching  its  fullest  expression  in  a 
long  and  beautiful  cadenza  for  clarinet  alone,  after 
which  Elvire's  larger  and  nobler  presence  appears 
(strings,  horns,  and  clarinets,  Molto  lento  sostenulo). 
The  struggle  of  desire,  the  strife  in  the  man's  soul  between 
these  two  ideals  of  womanhood,  is  well  shown,  and  is  the 
subject  of  the  rest  of  the  work.  Sometimes  Elvire's 


130  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

influence  grows,  sometimes  Fifine's  ;  and  the  mere- 
tricious charms  of  the  Fair  (or  the  ordinary  world)  often 
captivate  the  man's  senses.  Finally  he  is  unfaithful 
to  Elvire,  who  leaves  him.  The  Epilogue  opens  at  Lento 
con  malinconia,  and  shows  the  man's  lonely  musings : 

When,  in  a  moment,  just  a  knock,  call,  cry, 

and  the  two  are  united  again,  while  the  memory  of 
Fifine  and  the  fair  fade  together.  The  reunion  is  brought 
about,  in  Browning,  by  death  ;  and  he  ends  :  "  Love 
is  all,  and  death  is  nought."  To  Bantock  this  is  alien, 
and  in  his  view  the  wife  simply  returns  to  the  man  bring- 
ing forgiveness.  Each  view  has  its  merits  :  and  Bantock's 
work  as  a  whole  is  remarkably  fine — perhaps  the  most 
effective  piece  of  purely  orchestral  English  music. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  climax  of  this  second 
portion  of  the  Birmingham  period.  The  Great  God  Pan 
weaves  together  the  two  strands  of  choral  and  orchestral 
development  which  we  have  been  tracing  into  a  single 
web.  The  work  raises  some  interesting  questions. 
It  embodies  a  sort  of  artistic  neo-paganism  which  is  a 
real  expression  of  Bantock's  later  personality.  The 
conception  as  a  whole  is  his,  though  the  fine  execution 
of  it  on  the  literary  side  is  due  to  Mrs.  Bantock.  The 
style,  musically,  is  different  in  many  ways  from  that 
of  Omar.  Contemporary  veins  of  thought,  and  especially 
those  of  the  French  and  the  Russian  Schools,  have  influ- 
enced Bantock's  mind,  and  we  see  evidences  of  the  fact 
here.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  to  be  up  to  date  is  to  be 
quickly  out  of  date  :  but  in  this  case  there  is  no  effort 
to  be  up  to  date.  Those  who  know  Bantock  know  how 
his  mind  has  been  working  in  sympathy  with  these 
developments  :  and  if  his  work  showed  no  traces  of  this 
enthusiasm  it  would  not  truly  express  him.  His  admira- 


BIRMINGHAM  131 

tion  for  Strauss  is  a  continuation  of  his  earlier  German 
proclivities.  It  is  these  other  types  of  thought  which 
are  more  especially  characteristic  of  his  later  years : 
and  of  these  we  find  evidences  everywhere  in  this  work — 
in  the  harmonic  scheme,  the  strange  discords,  the  elusive 
tonality,  and  in  the  atmospheric  treatment  generally. 

The  work  is  in  two  parts,  Pan  in  Arcady,  which  was 
to  have  been  produced  at  Sheffield  on  November  I2th, 
(1914)*  ;  and  The  Festival  of  Pan,  which  is  at  present  in- 
complete. The  sub-title,  A  Choral  Ballet,  indicates  the 
fusion  of  the  two  elements  of  which  I  have  spoken.  The 
orchestral  ballet  occupies  some  fifty  or  sixty  pages  of 
piano  score,  and  the  whole  is  quite  suitable  for  per- 
formance on  the  stage.  The  first  part  is  fanciful 
and  idyllic  ;  the  second  part  contains,  towards  the 
close,  ideas  that  are  graver  and  more  philosophical. 
Pan  is  not,  as  some  have  thought,  an  embodiment 
of  nature  as  a  whole — is  not  connected  with  TO  Trav, 
the  all,  nor  does  he  really  express  a  vast  philosophy 
of  the  sum  of  things.  The  word  is  connected  with  the 
root  Trot  in  Trareo/xcu,  to  feed ;  and  he  is  really  a 
shepherd's  god — a  god  of  flocks  and  herds  and  forests, 
and  the  wilder  aspects  of  rural  nature.  But  Bantock 
chooses  to  use  him,  as  some  of  the  later  classical  poets 
used  him,  for  an  expression  of  the  neo-paganism  with 
which  he  identifies  himself,  both  in  its  Arcadian  aspects 
(Part  I),  and  in  its  larger  views  of  life  (Part  II). 

The  work  opens  with  an  Invocation  to  Pan  in  the 
shape  of  an  unaccompanied  Choral  Prelude  for  double 
choir  (twelve  parts).  This  is  full  of  vivid  pictorial 
touches,  such  as  the  passage  at  The  sweet  waters  are 
wetting ;  and  the  technical  workmanship  is  obviously 

*  The  production  had  to  be  postponed  owing  to  the  war ;  and 
no  fresh  date  has  yet  been  fixed. 


132  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

that  of  the  same  hand  that  wrought  Atalanta.  Pan  is 
invoked  as  God  of  forests,  god  of  liberty  ;  and  the  central 
portion,  a  tenfold  cry  of  Pan,  with  discordant  semi- 
tones and  augmented  fourths,  followed  by  the  words, 
God  of  the  unfettered  mind,  is  very  striking.  The  follow- 
ing section,  come,  piping  loud  and  wild,  is  highly  pic- 
turesque, as  also  is  the  analogous  passage  : 

The  sweet  singer,  the  light  dancer,  the  wild  piper  clear  and 

shrill- 
where  the  choral  technique  is  very  free  and  suggestive 
of  the  idea.     The  Prelude  ends  with  a  great  shout, 
Pan,  great  Pan,  all  hail !  in  massive  harmonies  by  the 
combined  choirs. 

The  scene  of  Part  I  is  supposed  to  be  a  woodland 
glade  with  mountains  beyond  ;  and  the  characters  are 
Pan  (bass),  a  shepherd  (tenor),  Echo  (soprano),  and  the 
Moon  (contralto),  with  choruses  of  nymphs,  dryads, 
fauns,  satyrs,  maenads,  earth-spirits,  and  hunters.  These 
represent  that  purely  natural  sylvan  life,  and  that 
mythical  golden  age,  which  poets  have  imagined — 
always  in  the  past.  And  there  are  seasons  when  one 
does  long  for  a  return  to  the  youth  of  the  world,  as  one 
looks  back  with  longing,  sometimes,  upon  one's  own 
youth.  We  see  such  a  moment  of  heart-hunger  in 
Wordsworth's  sonnet,  The  world  is  too  much  with  us — 
which,  as  we  have  noted,  Bantock  has  set — in  the  ex- 
clamation at  the  end : 

.  .  .  Great  God  !   I'd  rather  be 

A  pagan,  suckled  in  a  creed  outworn, 

So  might  I,  standing  on  this  pleasant  lea, 
Have  glimpses  that  would  make  me  less  forlorn  ; 

Have  sight  of  Proteus  rising  from  the  sea, 
Or  hear  old  Triton  blow  his  wreathed  horn. 

These  lines  have  evidently  appealed  to  Bantock,  and 
might  stand  for  a  motto  for  this  work — even  to  the 


BIRMINGHAM  133 

creed  outworn,  in  which  Wordsworth  indicates  that  such 
return  is  for  ever  impossible.  Bantock,  too,  knows  that 
the  bar  is  inexorable  :  that  the  flaming  sword  forbids 
the  return  to  the  past,  save  in  the  universal  present  of 
mind  and  thought. 

The  arrangement  of  the  orchestra  is  less  elaborate 
than  in  Omar.  The  strings  are  divided  into  two  each : 
the  wind  consists  of  the  usual  festival  brass  and  wood : 
and  there  are  percussion,  harp,  and  celesta. 

The  orchestra  opens  with  122  bars  of  prelude,  with  which 
the  chorus  of  nymphs  and  dryads  who  are  sporting  in  the 
forests  and  pools,  mingle  two  short  bursts  of  song  (four- 
teen bars  and  three  bars)  in  their  naive  delight,  merely  to 
the  exclamation,  Eia  !  This  prelude  is  very  attractive. 
A  chorus  of  hunters  (six  parts)  now  crosses  the  scene : 

O  awake  !   O  awake  !   Dian's  wings  are  unfurled, 
Maiden  swift.  Maiden  sweet  as  the  rose  of  the  world  ! 

The  music  is  for  male  chorus  with  hunting-horns,  and  is 
mostly  tonic  and  dominant,  the  voices  moving  in  pro- 
gressions of  fifths,  and  the  effect  being  picturesquely 
bucolic.  Pan  now  enters  laughing,  the  figure 

Twy-horned,  goat-footed,  wild  with  shaggy  hair, 

of  the  ancient  statues.  The  nymphs  and  dryads  fly  in 
dismay  and  hide  in  the  thickets.  He,  however,  espies 
them,  and  after  a  few  moments  they  are  reassured : 
he  chases  them  :  they,  laughing,  elude  him,  and  at  last 
slip  away,  leaving  him  alone.  The  music  of  his  song  has 
that  touch  of  bizarrerie  which  suits  the  uncouth  savagery 
of  his  nature  in  its  present  aspect.  He  exults  in  his 
primal  energy  and  force  : 

Hearken,  O  world  ! 
To  thy  heart  I  blow : 
And  I  twist  it,  and  take  it 
In  strong  hands,  and  break  it. 


134  GRANVILLE    BANTOCK 

Yet,  though  powerful,  he  has  not  really  this  supreme 
control :  he  is  torn  by  passion  and  woe,  and  rushes  off 
with  wild  laughter.  Mist  and  darkness  overspread 
the  scene  in  sympathetic  accord  ;  and  there  is  an  orches- 
tral interlude  of  fifty-eight  bars  during  the  latter  part 
of  which  the  light  returns  and  the  nymphs  and  dryads 
re-enter.  We  now  have  a  chorus  (six  parts)  for 
these  wood-sprites  and  water-sprites — non-human,  elfish 
nature — largely  in  progressions  of  fifths,  and  with 
accompaniments  which,  while  at  times  freakish,  have 
yet,  at  times,  a  certain  suavity.  Between  the  strophe 
and  antistrophe  Pan  is  heard  piping  without.  They 
resume  their  song,  with  which  Pan's  piping  presently 
mingles  ;  and  when  they  have  finished  there  follows  the 
episode  of  Pan  and  Echo,  of  whom  he  is  enamoured,  but 
who  eludes  him. 

A  great  rock  slowly  glows  with  an  internal  light,  and, 
becoming  transparent,  shows  Echo  in  its  heart.  She 
sings  an  attractive  song  of  an  elemental  tinge,  though 
not  without  a  touch  of  the  passion  that  the  gods  of 
Hellas  are  represented  as  feeling.  A  line  or  two  from 
stanza  3  will  give  the  general  tone : 

Old  Pan  is  sighing  : 

His  soul  is  sad, 
Through  the  reed-pipes  crying 

For  joy  he  had. 

The  light  fades ;  Echo  becomes  invisible ;  Pan  re- 
enters,  playing  the  syrinx;  and  asks  the  nymphs  and 
dryads  in  melancholy  strains  whither  Echo  is  flown. 
The  music,  both  of  his  playing  and  of  his  singing,  reveals 
here  a  certain  melancholy  tenderness  which  is  hidden 
beneath  his  rough  exterior.  He  then  fancies  he  sees 
an  apparition  of  Echo,  and  in  great  excitement  springs 
after  it.  Hereupon  follows  a  conceit  that  was  a  favourite 


BIRMINGHAM  135 

in  literature  about  the  time  of  Herrick  and  Herbert 
(circ.  1620),  and  which  is  used  here  with  happy  effect. 
Pan  keeps  calling  upon  Echo  ;  and  the  nymphs  and 
dryads,  now  invisible,  echo  the  last  words  of  each  line, 
the  ethereal  delicacy  of  the  female  choir  contrasting 
finely  with  Pan's  rough  bass.  Pan  now  exclaims,  in 
wrath  at  losing  Echo,  "  Away  with  dreams,  away  with 
shadows  !  " — and  goes  on  in  beautiful  cantilena : 

I  will  seek  the  light  divine, 

And  attain  the  splendour : 

Fold  beauty  to  the  soul. 

Clasp  the  whole  world's  completeness, 

And,  filled  with  hope's  immortal  ecstasy, 

Drain  to  the  full  the  cup  of  love's  desire. 

Come,  sing  of  joy  ! — 

upon  which,  in  uncouth  phrases,  he  summons  his  fauns 
and  satyrs.  It  appears  that  Pan  is  not  a  Platonist,  not 
a  god  in  the  sense  of  being,  but  is  in  process  of  becoming, 
as  men  are.  The  fauns  and  satyrs  appear  with  grotesque 
cries.  There  is  some  further  dialogue  between  them  and 
Pan,  in  which  he  urges  them  to  wild  revelry,  and  then 
the  dances  begin.  First  comes  the  Revelry  of  Pan  and  the 
Fauns  (i),  with  wild,  streaming  phrases  in  the  music 
which,  curiously  enough,  is  full  of  imitations.  The 
Dance  of  Pan  and  the  Satyrs  follows  (2)  with  great  leaps 
in  the  music,  where  the  gambolling  earth-creatures 
frolic  in  wild  excitement.  In  the  music  of  the  third 
dance,  the  Revelry  of  Fauns  and  Satyrs  (3),  there  are 
references  to  that  of  the  first.  The  fun  becomes  faster 
and  more  furious,  then  slackens,  dies  down,  and  the 
touching  episode  of  The  wounded  Faun  (4)  begins,  still 
in  dumb  show.  He  has  been  hit  by  hunters,  and  drags 
himself  in  slowly  and  painfully,  while  the  rest  leave  their 
dancing  and  crowd  around  him.  The  music  here  becomes 
halting  and  expressive.  He  makes  light  of  the  matter 


136  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

and  tries  to  join  in  the  dance,  which  becomes  wilder  ; 
but  his  strength  fails  and  he  sinks  to  the  ground.  A 
tender  passage  follows  as  his  thoughts  dwell  upon  all  the 
beauty  and  joy  of  the  earth-life  which  is  being  torn  from 
him.  He  takes  a  pipe  and  blows  a  few  notes :  tries  to 
rise  :  sinks  back  exhausted  :  and  is  borne  out,  to  sorrow- 
ful strains  which  die  away  pp.  Then  follows  the  last 
of  the  dances,  and  the  close  of  the  orgy.  A  band  of 
maenads  (5)  rush  in  with  wild  hair  and  garments,  waving 
their  thyrsi ;  and  fauns,  satyrs,  and  maenads  whirl 
together  in  the  very  delirium  of  transport.  The  music 
is  a  frantic  torrent  of  riot  in  6/8  time,  constructed 
entirely  on  a  whole-tone  scale  ;  and  rises  to  a  frenzied 
climax,  after  which  the  dancers  gradually  vanish  into 
the  woods  and  leave  Pan  alone. 

He  sinks  down  exhausted,  and  a  pleasant  contrast  after 
all  the  delirium  is  afforded  by  the  simple  pastoral  strains  of 
a  shepherd's  song  as  he  crosses  with  his  flock,  going  to  fold. 

We  now  reach  the  final  scene.  The  Moon  rises  in 
serene  splendour,  singing.  Very  beautiful  is  the  passage : 

Let  me  descend,  and  bare 
Amid  your  roses, 
To  Night  my  breast ; 

and  very  characteristic  the  chorus  of  earth-spirits  (6-12 
parts,  without  words)  in  response.  She  descends  and 
finds  Pan  sleeping,  and  is  horrified  by  his  monstrous 
form,  which  the  music  illustrates  with  uncouth  passages 
and  harmonies.  Pan  awakes,  and  she,  in  terror,  tries  to 
fly.  Pan  urges  his  passion  :  she  resists  :  then,  at  length, 
breaks  away,  and  rises  heavenward.  A  point  in  the 
music,  noticeable  for  its  pictorial  suggestiveness,  occurs 
at  the  lines : 

I  am  held  in  the  net  of  the  wild  one's  hair  : 
I  fly  to  heaven — can  he  follow  me  there  ? 


BIRMINGHAM  137 

Pan  now  summons  the  rain-  and  dew-spirits,  changes 
himself  into  a  cloud,  and  envelops  the  Moon.  This 
also  is  vividly  portrayed  by  the  orchestra,  an  extra- 
ordinary chord  being  held  for  twenty-four  bars  by 
bass-instruments,  while  wood-wind,  harps,  and  celesta 
have  sestuplet-passages  of  semiquavers.  This  embrace 
of  the  Moon — the  radiance — by  Pan  in  the  form  of  a 
cloud,  is  the  attainment  of  his  desire  and  the  culmination 
of  Part  I.  The  Moon's  shrinking  terror  is  changed  into 
rapture  ;  the  earth-creatures — fauns,  satyrs,  dryads, 
and  nymphs — join  in  with  sympathetic  gladness  (twelve- 
part  chorus  and  two  soli)  ;  this  last  portion  being  full 
of  passion,  tenderness,  and  beauty. 

In  Part  II,  The  Festival  of  Pan,  which  is  as  yet  only  in 
the  rough,  Bantock  develops  his  conception  to  its  ulti- 
mate issue.  The  scene  is  at  Rome  in  the  time  of  Elagaba- 
lus  (A.D.  218-222)  in  a  portico  of  the  imperial  palace. 
The  emperor  is  giving  a  banquet  in  Pan's  honour  ;  and 
bands  of  revellers  and  dancers  pass  and  repass.  In  an 
alcove  is  a  statue  of  the  Youthful  Pan  (a  beautiful  piece 
of  work  now  in  the  British  Museum) .  The  chief  characters 
are  a  Syrian  damsel  (soprano),  a  lute-player  (mezzo), 
Elagabalus  (tenor),  Gregory,  a  monk  (baritone),  and  the 
Youthful  Pan  (tenor)  ;  and  the  chorus  consists  of 
bacchanalians,  soldiers,  monks,  dancers,  buffoons,  and 
female  slaves. 

The  work  opens  with  a  prelude  which  leads  into  one 
of  those  saturnalia  for  which  the  Court  of  Elagabalus 
was  notorious.  The  chorus  utter  frenzied  cries  of  lo 
Pan  !  Evoe,  Evoe  ! — and  the  whole  is  worked  up  to  a 
wild  pitch  of  bacchanalian  frenzy.  A  song  for  the  lute- 
player  follows  ;  and  then  a  seductive  chorus  for  female 
voices  only,  interspersed  with  fragments  of  song  for  the 
Syrian  damsel,  on  whom  the  emperor's  desires  are  at 


138  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

present  centred.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Elagabalus 
— perhaps  the  most  degraded  of  the  Roman  emperors — 
had  been  high  priest  of  the  Sun  in  Syria,  and  brought 
all  the  debauchery  of  the  East  to  Rome.  This  Syrian 
element  gives  Bantock  an  opportunity  for  the  use  of 
that  Oriental  colouring  to  which,  as  we  have  seen,  he 
has  always  been  so  partial.  Elagabalus  himself  speaks 
next ;  then  comes  a  dance  of  Circassian  slaves  ;  then 
the  emperor  resumes,  and  orders  the  Buffoons'  dance, 
which  accordingly  follows.  This  leads  into  a  renewal 
of  the  opening  orgy.  And  now  comes  a  tremendous 
contrast,  and  the  sharp  antithesis  of  two  ideas  of  life  ; 
for  amid  all  this  riot,  the  sound  of  a  distant  procession 
of  monks  is  heard  chanting  the  Miserere.  The  chant 
grows  louder  ;  and  at  last  Gregory,  the  monk,  bursts 
in  with  the  prophetic  fervour  of  a  St.  John  the  Baptist 
and  fiercely  denounces  the  lasciviousness  of  the  imperial 
Court.  At  the  climax  of  his  invective  Bantock  makes 
use  of  the  mediaeval  legend  which  says  that  at  the  birth 
of  Christ  a  mighty  voice  was  heard  re-echoing  over  land 
and  sea  with  the  cry,  Great  Pan  is  dead.  So  here  Gregory, 
adopting  the  words,  cries,  Great  Pan  is  dead,  and  strikes 
the  image  so  that  it  totters,  falls,  and  is  shattered, 
amid  the  consternation  of  the  revellers — a  consternation 
which  is  increased  by  a  mysterious  darkness  which 
swiftly  envelops  all.  In  this  darkness  a  curtain  is  drawn 
over  the  alcove,  and  behind  it  is  seen  a  red  light  which 
slowly  increases  to  an  intense  radiance.  The  curtain 
then  falls  ;  and  in  place  of  the  statue  is  seen  the  living 
figure  of  the  Youthful  Pan,  who  then  proceeds  to  speak. 
His  Monologue  is  a  protest  against  the  monastic  view 
of  life,  and  an  exposition  of  that  of  the  calmer  seeker 
after  beauty  and  truth.  He  protests  against  the  wor- 
ship of  a  God  of  Pain,  and  denounces  as  slaves  those  who 


BIRMINGHAM  139 

lie  prostrate  before  altars  where  death  is  crowned  king, 
to  whom  is  offered  the  oblation  of  sighs  for  songs.  He 
then  proceeds  to  exhortation  :  "Go  forth  and  meet  the 
eye  of  heaven.  Solitude  shall  weigh  thee  :  silence  win- 
now thee  within.  Lift  the  bright  cup  of  life  to  thy 
thirsting  lips,  brimming  with  the  draught  mingled  of  joy 
and  pain.  Then,  like  to  gods,  filled  with  that  draught 
divine,  scorn  the  low  valleys  :  climb  ever,  to  where,  on 
the  heights  of  truth,  dwells  Liberty.  I,  Pan,  am  the 
embodied  mystery  of  the  world.  Hearken,  O  men  ! 
Attune  your  ears  to  me.  Lo  !  I  am  Pan  !  "  And  upon 
this  a  choral  paean  brings  the  work  to  a  close. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  scheme  provides  some  highly 
picturesque  scenes  and  tremendous  contrasts.  It  will 
also  be  noted  that  this  Pan  has  travelled  a  long  way  from 
the  Pan  of  Pan  in  Arcady.  Although  he  denounces  a 
religion  of  pain,  he  accepts  pain  as  part  of  the  draught 
of  life  and  liberty  which  he  himself  offers.  It  is  unfortu- 
nate that  the  situation  suggests  his  defence  of  the  ways 
of  Elagabalus  and  his  like,  which  his  speech  implicitly 
condemns.  The  revellers  are  not  at  all  representative 
of  the  noblest  paganism,  such  as  that  of  Plato,  or  Marcus 
Aurelius,  or  Epictetus  :  neither  are  the  monks  truly 
representative  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  These  two,  there- 
fore, may  be  considered  as  cancelling  out :  and  this 
leaves  us  with  Pan  as  the  exponent  of  Bantock's  present 
view  of  life — a  view  which  is  very  interesting,  and  one 
with  which  we  can  all  agree  to  a  large  extent.  The 
work  should  prove  highly  effective  ;  and  we  look  for- 
ward to  its  production  with  keen  anticipation. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

PERSONAL   MATTERS   AND  TRAITS 

UNLESS  I  have  altogether  failed  hitherto  in  my  present- 
ment of  Bantock,  the  reader  will  have  received  by  this 
time  a  very  fair  impression  of  the  man  and  his  work. 
A  few  more  details,  however,  may  be  welcome,  and 
may  serve  to  deepen  the  lines  and  make  the  portrait 
stand  out  more  clearly  in  the  mind. 

On  coming  to  Birmingham  the  family  lived  first  at 
Strathfield,  King's  Norton,  about  five  miles  from  town. 
Here  Bantock  performed  a  characteristic  action.  Josef 
Holbrooke  was  at  this  time  quite  a  young  man,  and  in 
family  difficulties.  Bantock  invited  him  to  live  with 
him  for  a  time,  and  gave  him  a  room  in  which  he  could 
write  at  leisure.  Holbrooke  was  even  then  very  uncon- 
ventional, and  Mrs.  Bantock  had  some  amusing  diplo- 
matic fencing-matches  with  him  to  get  him  to  wear  a 
collar  when  going  to  some  important  concert.  Bantock 
himself,  like  many  of  us,  rebels  against  the  insatiable 
demands  of  etiquette,  and  avoids  a  black  coat — and, 
a  fortiori,  evening-dress — like  the  plague.  The  only 
dress  he  really  does  fancy  himself  in  is  Oriental — such 
as  that  of  an  Arab  sheikh,  in  which  he  appeared  at  a 
fancy-dress  ball,  and  in  the  newspapers  (by  photo)  next 
day.  It  is  recorded  of  Morris  that,  once,  being  on  a 
Board  of  Directors,  he  kept  a  top-hat  to  attend  the 
meetings,  as  a  sacrifice  to  Mrs.  Grundy :  and  that,  on 

140 


PERSONAL   MATTERS   AND   TRAITS     141 

resigning,  he  went  straight  home,  got  out  the  hat,  and 
solemnly  sat  upon  it.  Bantock's  instincts  are  much  the 
same  ;  and  for  some  time  he  went  about  in  a  suit  of 
golden-brown  velveteens  of  a  texture  that  called  forth 
the  remark  in  the  papers  that  he  was  the  first  man  who 
ever  attended  a  University  Faculty  Meeting  in  corduroys. 
After  King's  Norton,  the  next  home  was  at  The 
Jungle  (note  the  Orientalism),  Northfield,  only  a  mile 
or  two  away.  This  was  a  tiny  old-fashioned  house  close 
upon  the  churchyard,  but  with  a  charming  garden.  The 
churchyard,  however,  got  upon  Mrs.  Bantock's  nerves, 
and  a  move  was  soon  made  to  Moseley,  closer  in  to  town, 
where  there  was  a  pleasant  garden  and  a  house  that  now 
began  to  overflow  with  books.  When  the  lease  ran  out 
in  1907  and  they  were  looking  about  for  new  quarters, 
they  were  lucky  enough  to  see  a  fine  old  manor  house 
called  Broad  Meadow,  near  King's  Norton.  It  had  been 
an  old  farmhouse,  and  the  place  is  mentioned  in  Dooms- 
day. It  stands  on  a  part  of  the  old  British  trackway, 
called  the  Rycknield  Street,  which,  further  on  towards 
Alcester,  becomes  very  lovely.  There  was  a  fine  walled 
garden,  an  orchard,  and  some  shrubberies  with  beauti- 
ful old  trees  and  a  rookery.  Here  the  home  was  kept 
for  six  years,  and  this  is  the  most  loved  of  all  the  homes. 
A  photo  of  the  house  is  given.  The  country  southwards 
is  pure  and  unadulterated,  and  was  a  delight  to  Mrs. 
Bantock  ;  while  the  children  grew  and  throve  in  the 
country  air  and  life.  Here,  latterly,  I  hermitised  near 
them  in  a  small  cottage  on  the  estate,  which  Bantock  in- 
sisted on  calling  The  Kennel,  or  The  Pig-stye.  In  March, 
1913,  for  considerations  of  professional  work  and  the 
children's  education,  it  was  found  necessary  to  come  closer 
to  town  again,  and  the  present  house  at  Edgbaston  was 
taken.  The  children  of  whom  I  have  spoken  are  Julian 


142  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

(1898),  named  after  the  Roman  emperor  usually  called 
The  Apostate.  It  is  an  unjust  label ;  for,  considering 
the  character  of  the  so-called  Christianity  in  which  he 
was  brought  up,  it  was  to  his  honour  that  he  rejected 
it.  The  name,  however,  aroused  Bantock's  sympathy, 
which  he  thus  expressed.  Raymond  arrived  in  1900  ; 
the  third,  also  a  boy,  Hamilton,  in  1904.  His  advent 
occurred  during  Bantock's  Japanese  craze,  and  he  was 
consequently  dubbed  Kintoki,  which  is  now  with  much 
labour  being  dropped.  Fourth  and  last  came  a  girl 
(1905),  of  whose  names,  Hermione  Myrrha  Shereen,  the 
last  is  specially  due  to  her  father's  enthusiasm  for  all 
things  Persian. 

The  Japanese  craze  which  I  have  just  mentioned 
lasted  a  long  time  and  was  a  virulent  attack.  The  house 
was  filled  with  Japanese  prints,  and  Broad  Meadow 
became  a  sort  of  Oriental  museum.  Shrines,  gods, 
prints,  drums,  carvings,  and  curios  were  everywhere ; 
and  some  horrible  crapulous  Japanese  ghosts  leered  at 
you  as  you  left  the  study  so  that  you  were  glad  to  escape. 
One  room,  however,  was  reserved  for  another  and 
different  hobby — Napoleon.  All  Mrs.  Bantock's  Gains- 
boroughs  and  modern  pictures  were  ignominiously 
turned  out,  and  the  room  filled  with  portraits  and  relics 
of  le  petit  caporal,  of  whose  career  Bantock  has  quite  a 
library.  It  is  a  marvel  that  he  ever  consented  to  live 
in  a  house  called  Strathfield,  a  name  so  closely  allied  to 
Strathfieldsaye,  the  place  of  Nap's  bete  noire,  "  ce  Vilain- 
ton." 

I  have  spoken  of  Bantock's  way  of  "  discovering  " 
perfectly  well-known  men,  and  slanging  his  friends  who 
admired  them  temperately,  for  not  caring  for  them. 
An  amusing  instance  occurred  recently.  He  saw  some 
pigs  by  Morland,  and  was  quite  captivated  by  them. 


PERSONAL   MATTERS   AND   TRAITS     143 

He  began  to  study  Morland :  bought  books  upon  him. 
The  disease  increased,  and  his  temperature  rose  to 
212  degrees.  He  is  at  present  a  melancholy  martyr  to 
Morlanditis,  and  buys  pictures  which  a  year  ago  he  would 
have  thrown  into  the  dustbin.  This  capacity  for  new 
enthusiasms  stands  him  in  good  stead,  however,  and  keeps 
him  always  singularly  alive.  Byrd,  Bull,  and  Farnaby 
inoculated  him  with  mild  doses  of  their  respective 
viruses,  and  corresponding  attacks  followed.  At  another 
time  it  was  geology  that  absorbed  him  ;  he  got  up  the 
subject  with  remarkable  rapidity,  and  visited  many 
interesting  deposits  with  his  friend  Mr.  Hayes. 

He  is  of  a  generous,  lovable  nature,  very  free  from 
artistic  jealousy,  and  wonderfully  ready  to  hold  out  a 
helping  hand  to  others.  There  is  a  sort  of  tropical  pro- 
fusion in  his  nature.  Just  as  he  plans  out  Kehama  in 
twenty-four  symphonic  poems,  and  sketches  six  Egyp- 
tian dramas,  so,  on  going  to  a  new  place,  he  buys,  not 
half  a  dozen  picture  post-cards,  but  fifty  to  start  with. 
Many  people  like  to  have  a  tortoise  in  the  garden,  but 
he  sees  some  on  a  barrow  and  arrives  home  with  ten. 
They  become  a  regular  nuisance  and  have  to  have  a 
garden  frame  devoted  entirely  to  them.  He  must  have 
living  things  round  him,  and  delights  to  see  them  all 
enjoying  themselves  eating.  He  insists  on  feeding  the 
fowls,  pigeons,  geese,  etc.,  though  he  knows  that  over- 
feeding will  stop  the  egg-supply :  he  must  at  all  costs 
have  them  all  round  him,  gobbling  away.  At  Moseley,  he 
had  two  Great  Dane  pups  which  grew  quite  unmanage- 
able and  had  to  be  got  rid  of.  At  Broad  Meadow  there 
was  a  tank  in  one  of  the  conservatories  in  which  he 
decided  to  have  goldfish.  He  spent  £2  or  £3  on  fish, 
and  stocked  the  place  with  rocks  and  weeds  ;  but  as  the 
tank  had  a  dark  bottom  no  fish  were  ever  seen,  and  he 


144  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

might  as  well  have  thrown  the  money  into  the 
gutter.  At  Edgbaston  there  were  four  dogs  in  an 
ordinary  suburban  house,  and  the  garden  had  to  be  all 
latticed  and  gated  to  keep  them  moderately  within 
bounds. 

With  books  the  case  is  the  same.  He  buys  reck- 
lessly, and  has  to  clear  out  periodically  for  want  of  room. 
He  is  often  fortunate,  however.  He  buys  mostly  good 
editions,  and  when  he  sells  often  gets  good  prices,  in 
some  instances  actually  making  a  profit.  His  taste  in 
literature,  as  in  music,  is  all  for  the  moderns.  Just  as 
pioneers  feel  a  certain  impatience  at,  and  intolerance  of, 
the  well-known  and  trodden  ways  of  life,  and  yearn  to  be 
out  in  the  open,  so  Bantock  is  apt  to  be  intolerant  of  even 
good  writers  till  they  are  far  enough  off,  or  sufficiently 
forgotten,  to  be  almost  in  need  of  re-discovery.  I  once 
said  to  him  :  "  You  care  for  no  music  written  earlier 
than  the  day  before  yesterday."  He  retorted  :  "I  care 
for  none  written  earlier  than  the  day  after  to-morrow." 
The  cases,  therefore,  run  parallel.  In  music,  Strauss, 
Sibelius,  etc.  ;  in  literature,  Shaw,  Conrad,  Loti,  etc. 
Artistic  rationalism,  and  revolt  against  the  established,  is 
almost  a  formula  for  him.  Akin  to  this  phase  of  his  mind 
is  his  love  of  books  of  travel ;  and  we  have  made  many 
pleasant  fireside  excursions  together,  among  them  one 
with  Sven  Hedin  through  Tibet  and  Central  Asia  to 
Peking.  The  Time-Machine,  too,  has  worked  its  miracle 
for  us,  and  we  have  watched  the  slow  procession  of  the 
centuries  unroll  themselves,  in  Gibbon's  pages,  before 
us.  Another  book  which  we  have  read  together, 
and  one  interesting  him  more  particularly  on  account 
of  his  devotion  to  Napoleon,  is  Tolstoy's  War  and 
Peace. 

He  has  a  fine  sense  of  orchestral  colour  and  balance, 


PERSONAL   MATTERS    AND   TRAITS      145 

and  a  sure  knowledge  of  effect ;  and  he  once  remarked 
to  me  that  Omar  is  a  sort  of  amber  colour.  Many  of  us 
have  a  feeling  for  this  sort  of  correspondence  between 
colour  and  sound.  Brahms,  for  instance,  and  especially 
in  the  case  of  the  Gesang  der  Parzen,  seems  a  sort  of 
fateful  grey  :  and  Wagner's  prevailing  tone  is  often  red. 
But  it  is  interesting  to  learn  a  writer's  impression  of  his 
own  work  in  this  respect.  In  all  kinds  of  work  he  craves 
strong  flavours  and  largeness  of  scale.  Jane  Austen 
spells  tedium  to  him.  Thackeray  and  Dickens  are  an 
abomination :  he  is  weary  to  bear  them.  Morris's 
Earthly  Paradise  contains  only  one  tolerable  poem — 
Gudrun.  And  yet  he  is  like  Morris  in  many  ways,  with 
a  similar  stormy,  yet  affectionate  nature.  In  bodily 
appearance,  too,  there  are  frequent  resemblances  between 
the  two  ;  while  Morris's  pathetic  remark :  "  Oh,  how 
I  long  to  keep  the  world  from  narrowing  me,  and  to 
look  at  things  bigly  and  kindly,"  might  almost  have 
been  uttered  by  Bantock,  except  that  he  would  never 
have  uttered  it,  but  would  have  turned  off  the  mood 
with  a  remark  humorously  insulting  to  some  one. 

Jahn  tells  us  of  Mozart  that  in  conversation  he  would 
often  seem  to  be  absent,  and  to  be  carrying  on  a  deeper 
train  of  thought.  This,  as  is  often  the  case  with  creative 
artists,  is  frequently  true  of  Bantock,  especially  when  he 
has  any  big  work  on  hand.  At  such  times  one  may  get 
answers  which  he  will  afterwards  be  quite  unconscious 
of  having  given.  His  favourite  recreation  is  chess.  One 
night  he  was  playing  late  with  a  friend,  and  had  occa- 
sion to  go  upstairs  for  a  book.  While  finding  it  he  forgot 
all  about  the  game,  and  went  to  bed ;  and  his  friend 
waited  downstairs  in  growing  bewilderment,  tilTat  last, 
finding  everything  silent,  he  was  obliged  to  let  himself 
out  at  i  a.m.  and  go  home. 


146  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

Bantock  has  many  such  traits — some  at  times  a 
little  exasperating  ;  but  they  are  only  skin-deep.  His 
is  essentially  an  affectionate,  generous,  and  large  nature  ; 
and,  taking  him  for  all  in  all,  he  is  a  real  artist  of 
great  attainments,  a  picturesque  personality,  and  a  true 
friend. 


LIST   OF   WORKS 

IN   THE    ORDER   IN   WHICH   THEY   ARE    DISCUSSED 

(Those  marked  t  are  not  published.) 

fFive  Heine  Songs 

f  Grand  Galop  for  Piano 

f  Allegro  in  G  minor  for  Piano 

fSong,  Sweet  Maid 

f  Polonaise  for  Piano 

|Two   Meditations   for  Violin   and 

Piano 
f  Scherzo  and  Trio  from  Symphony 

in  C 
f  Requiem  Mass  in  C  for  Voices  and 

Piano 

fTwo  Heine  Songs 
f  Three  Monologues  of  Satan,  from 

Paradise  Lost 
Thorvenda's    Dream.      Recitation 

Music 
fThe  Blessed  Damozel.     Recitation 

Music 

Piano  Album  (Rhapsody,  Medita- 
tion, Fantasie) 
Set  of  Twelve  Piano  Pieces 
Melody  in  E|?  for  Piano 
Two  Albums  for  Piano  (Silhouettes, 

and  Miniatures) 
Two  Piano  Pieces  (Reverie  in  Eft, 

Barcarolle  in  F  minor) 
The   Curse   of    Kehama,    for   Or- 
chestra (two  parts,  Processional, 
and  Jaga-Naut) 
f  Ballet,  "  ^EGYPT  "  (Orchestra) 


Forsyth  &  Co. 

London  Music  Pub- 
lishing Co. 
Forsyth  &  Co. 
Jos.  Williams 

Bosworth 
Ashdown 

Breitkopf  &  Haertel 


148 


GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 


The  Fire- Worshippers  (Cantata  for 

Choir  and  Orchestra) 
The  Pearl  of  Iran  (Opera) 
Caedmar  (Opera) 

Ballet-Music  to  "  Rameses  II  " 
fOverture  to  "  Eugene  Aram  " 

Songs  of  the  East  (six  Albums  of 
six  Songs  each  :  India,  China, 
Japan,  Persia,  Egypt,  Arabia) 

Russian  Scenes,  for  Orchestra 

English         ,,  ,, 

Helena  Variations,  for  Orchestra 

Saul  (Tone-Poem  for  Orchestra) 
fChristus  (Oratorio  for  Chorus  and 
Orchestra) 

Thalaba  the  Destroyer  (Tone-Poem 
for  Orchestra) 

The  Witch  of  Atlas  (Tone-Poem  for 
Orchestra) 

Elegiac  Poem  for  'Cello  and  Or- 
chestra 


Novello 

Breitkopf  &  Haertel 
London  Music  Pub- 
lishing Co. 
Breitkopf  &  Haertel 


Breitkopf  &  Haertel 
Bosworth 

Breitkopf  &  Haertel 


Novello" 
Jos.  Williams 


SONGS 

Songs  of  the  Seraglio  (four) 
Six  Jester  Songs 
Ghazals  of  Hafiz  (five) 
If  that  Angel  of  Shiraz 
Ferishtah's  Fancies  (thirteen) 
Sappho  Songs  (nine)  (full  score  and 

parts  also) 
Song  of  the  Genie 
As    I    ride    (Browning's    Through 

Metidja  to  Abd-el-Kadr) 
Two  Songs  (Eastern  Love-Song  and 

Winter) 
Three  Blake  Songs   (In  a   Myrtle 

Shade,  The  Wild  Flower's  Song, 

and  Love's  Secret) 
A  Lover's  Kiss 


Oliver  Ditson 
Breitkopf  &  Haertel 

Oliver  Ditson 
Breitkopf  &  Haertel 


Boosey 


Novello 


LIST   OF   WORKS  149 

Two  Chinese  Songs  (The  Moo-Lee 

Flower,  and  Mistress  Wang)  Breitkopf  &  Haertel 

fSword  and  Blossom  Poems  (six) 

100  Folk  Songs  of  all  Nations  Oliver  Ditson  Co. 

60  National  and  Patriotic  Songs  „  ,, 

100  Songs  of  England  „  „ 

'CELLO  PIECES 

Sapphic  Poem  for  'Cello  and  Or- 
chestra (Piano  score  and  full 
score)  Novello 

fCeltic  Poem  for  'Cello  and  Orchestra 

GREEK  PLAYS 

|The  Hippolytus  of  Euripides  (Murray) 
The  Electro,  of  Sophocles  (Greek  and 

English)  Breitkopf  &  Haertel 

fThe  Bacchce  of  Euripides  (Murray) 

CHORAL  WORK 

jMass  in  B[?  for  Male  Choir 
The  Time  Spirit,  for  Chorus  and 

Orchestra  Breitkopf  &  Haertel 

The  Sea- Wanderers,  for  Chorus  and 

Orchestra  „  „ 

Christ  in  the  Wilderness  „  „ 

Gethsemane  ,,  „ 

Omar   Khayyam,  for   Chorus   and 

Orchestra  (Parts  I,  II,  III) 

PART-SONGS  FOR  MALE  VOICES 

Three  Cavalier  Tunes  : 

(1)  Marching  Along  (Browning)  Novello 

(2)  Give  a  Rouse  ,,  ,, 

(3)  Boot  and  Saddle 
Two  Part-Songs  : 

(i)  Hymn  to  the  Sun  (Bailey  & 

(a)  There  was  a  Fairy  (Ferguson 


GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 


War  Song  (Blake)  /Breitkopf 

The  Inch-Cape  Rock  \&  Haertel 

The  Piper  o'  Dundee  Novello 

The  Pibroch  of  Donuil  Dhu 

The  Laird  o'  Cockpen  ,, 

Festival  Song,  for  the  Na- 
tional Union  of  Teachers  (Anderton)  /Breitkopf 

The  Lost  Leader  (Browning)         \&  Haertel 

The  Glories  of  our  Blood  and 

State  (Shirley)  Novello 

Lucifer  in  Star-light  (Meredith)  „ 

My  Luve's  like  a  red  red  Rose  (Burns)  Curwen 

Two  Odes  from  Sophocles' 
CEdipus  in  Colonos  : 

(1)  Stranger,  thou  art  standing  now  /Breitkopf 

(2)  Now  a  brighter  Boast  than  all  l&  Haertel 
Zeus,  Lord  of  Heaven !              (^Eschylus)  „ 
Wilt  thou  be  my  dearie  ?           (Burns)                  Curwen 
Bonnie  wee  Thing                            ,, 

Down  among  the  dead  Men 

Kubla  Khan  (Coleridge) 

The    Charge    of    the    Light 

Brigade  (Tennyson) 

Rune-Song  (Finnish) 

Hunting  Song  (Collier) 

Address  to  the  De'il  (Burns) 

(1)  The  King's  Messenger    \ 

(2)  The  Pear-Tree 

(3)  Through  Easter  Gates        from 

(4)  Good  King  Wu  •  The  Shih  King 
t(s)  The  City  of  Chow  (Chinese) 

f(6)  Princely  Visitors 
f(7)  The  Lady  of  the  Lagoon- 
Ballade  (Villon)  Novello 


PART-SONGS  (OR  TRIOS)  FOR  FEMALE  VOICES 

Three  Blake  Poems  : 

(1)  To  Morning  Curwen 

(2)  To  the  Evening  Star 

(3)  To  the  Muses  „ 


LIST    OF    WORKS  151 

The  Happy  Isle  (H.  F.  Bantock)  Curwen 

Soul  Star 

Cradle-Song  (Mo  Chubrachan,  Gaelic)  ,', 

Elfin  Music  (Shelley)  Breitkopf  &  Haertel 

Love  Song  (H.  F.  Bantock)  Novello 

Young  Love  (Blake)  „ 


ENGLISH  AIRS,  UNACCOMPANIED 

(1)  Under  the  Greenwood  Tree  (Shakespeare)       Curwen 

(2)  Where  the  Bee  sucks  „  ,, 

(3)  A-hunting  we  will  go  „  „ 

SCOTTISH  AIRS,  UNACCOMPANIED 

(1)  Flowers  of  the  Forest  Joseph  Williams 

(2)  Ye  Banks  an'  Braes  ,,  ,, 

(3)  Highland  Laddie  „  „ 

(4)  The  Campbells  are  Coming  „  ,. 

(5)  Auld  Robin  Gray  „  „ 

(6)  Bonnie  Dundee  „  „ 

TWO-PART  SONGS  FOR  CHILDREN  (ACCOMPANIED) 

(1)  Once  upon  a  Time  (H.  F.  Bantock)  Curwen 

(2)  Song  of  the  Japanese 

Dwarf-tree 

(3)  The  China  Mandarin 

(4)  Night-time 

(5)  The  Fairies  are  dancing 

(6)  The  wild  brown  Bee 

(1)  Robin,  sweet  Robin 

(2)  Riding  to  Fairy-land  Novello 

(3)  Elfin-town 

(4)  Child-voices 

(5)  The  Birds  (Blake) 

(6)  The  Fly 

Bringing  in  the  Hay  (unison)  -» 

The  Owl  (duet)  I   Published  in  America 

The  lost  Land  (trio)  J 


152 


GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 


PART-SONGS  FOR  MIXED  VOICES  (ORIGINAL) 


The  silken  Thread 
Awake,  awake  (4  parts) 
Evening  has  lost  her  Throne 

(4  parts) 
Oh,  what  a  lovely  Magic 

(4  parts) 

Nocturne  (6  parts) 
Out  of  the  Darkness  (8  parts) 
In  the  silent  West  (8  parts) 
The  Moon  has  risen      „ 
The  Tyger 
On  Himalay 
Wake  the  Serpent  not 
Spirit  of  Night 
One  with  Eyes  the  fairest 
Music,  when  soft  Voices  die 
Spring  Enchantment 
Coronach 
They  that  go  down  to  the  Sea 

in  Ships 
The    World    is    too    much 

with  us 

My  Luve's  like  a  red  red  Rose 
Be  of  good  Cheer 

(Old  English) 

O  Mistress  mine 
Full  Fathom  five 
Willow  Willow 
Sumer  is  icumen  in 
The  three  Ravens 
Ah,  the  Sighs  that  come  fro' 
my  Heart 

(Scottish) 

Scotland  yet 

O  saw  ye  bonnie  Lesley  ? 

Ca'  the  Yowes 

Scots  wha  hae 


(Hood)     Bayley  &  Ferguson 
(Hayes)  Novello 


(Blake) 
(Shelley) 


( Breitkopf 
{&  Haertel 
Novello 


,,  Curwen 

(H.  F.  Bantock)  Novello 
(Scott)  Curwen 

(Ps.  107)  „ 


(Wordsworth) 

(Burns) 

(Omar) 


(Shakespeare) 
(Traditional) 


Novello 
Curwen 
Breitkopf 
&  Haertel 


(Riddell) 
(Burns) 


Curwen 


LIST    OF  WORKS                        153 

The  Death-Croon  Curwen 

The  Seal-woman's  Croon  ,, 
A  Raasay  Lament 

Lullaby,  O  can  ye  sew  Cushions  Novello 

March  of  the  Cameron  Men  „ 

Dumbarton's  Drums  Curwen 

Ettrick  Banks  ,, 
Annie  Laurie 


(Irish) 

The  Leprehaun 

Arranmore 

The  Song  of  Finnuola 

Emer's  Lament  for  Cuchulain 

The  Wearing  of  the  Green 

The  Cruiskeen  Lawn 


(Joyce)  Novello 

(Moore)     Breitkopf  &  Haertel 

Novello 
(H.  F.  Bantock) 

Breitkopf  &  Haertel 
(H.  F.  Bantock)  Novello 


Atalanta  in  Calydon  (un-\ 
accompanied)  / 

Vanity  of  Vanities 
God  save  the  King,  for 

Chorus  and  Orchestra 
Rule  Britannia,  for  Chorus 

and  Orchestra 
Song  of  Liberty,  Festival 
March  and  Chorus,  with 
Brass  Band 
Chorus 
Brass  Band 
Piano  solo 
Organ     „ 


(Swinburne) 
(Ecclesiastes) 


(H.  F.  Bantock) 
R. 


CHURCH  Music 

Anthem  :   God   in   the  great 

Assembly  stands  (Ps.  cxxxii.)     (Milton) 
Hymns  (in  the  New  Hymnal)  : 

(1)  Bone  Fide  (5)  Julian 

(2)  Concord  (6)  Mecca 

(3)  Hamilton  (7)  Moseley 

(4)  Ispahan  (8)  Northfield 


/  Breitkopf 
\&  Haertel 
Curwen 
Breitkopf 
&  Haertel 


Curwen 

Smith  &  Co. 

Novello 


Willcocks 
Novello 


154  GRANVILLE   BANTOCK 

(9)  Raymond  (12)  Temple 

(10)  St.  Wulstan  (13)  Greater  Britain 

(i  i)  Strathfield 
Twelve  Anthems  (edited)  :  Curwen 

(1)  I  will  exalt  Thee  (Tye) 

(2)  I  call  and  cry  (Tallys) 

(3)  Call  to  Remembrance  (Farrant) 

(4)  Sing  joyfully  (Byrd) 

(5)  O  Lord  my  God  (Bull) 

(6)  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David  (Gibbons) 

(7)  Hear  my  Prayer  (Batten) 

(8)  My  God,  my  God  (Blow) 

(9)  I  will  arise  (Creyghton) 
(10)  Out  of  the  Deep  (Aldrich) 
(n)  O  Lord  God  of  Hosts  (Purcell) 
(12)  Put  me  not  to  Rebuke  (Croft) 

Anthem  (edited)  :  Bow  Thine 

Ear  (Byrd)  Curwen 

Madrigals     (edited) : 

I    thought    that    Love    had 

been  a  Boy  „  „ 

The  Nightingale  „  „ 

INSTRUMENTAL  WORKS 

Albums    of    selected    Pieces    for 

Piano :    (i)  Bull.     (2)  Farnaby. 

(3)  Byrd.    (4)  Three  Dances  (Byrd)         Novello 

Old  English  Suite  for  Orchestra  Novello 

f  Lalla  Rookh 
Dramatic  Dances  for  Orchestra  : 

(la)  Snake-dance         (ib)  Cymbal-dance        Novello 
(2)     Sapphic-dance     (3a)  Veil-dance  ,, 

(3b)  Dagger-dance  „ 

Overture  to  a  Greek  Tragedy  (for 

Orchestra)  Leuckart 

In  the  far  West  (for  String  Orchestra)     Breitkopf  &  Haerte  1 
Scenes  from  the  Scottish  Highlands 

(for  String  Orchestra)  „  „ 


LIST    OF   WORKS  155 

fScottish  Rhapsody  (for  Orchestra) 
Orchestral  arrangement  of 

Bach's     Choral     Variations, 

"  Wachet  auf"  Breitkopf  &  Haertel 

The  Pierrot  of  a  Minute  (for  Orchestra)  „ 

Dante  and  Beatrice  ,,         ,,  ,, 

Fifine  at  the  Fair  ,,         ,,  Novello 

The  Great  God  Pan  (for  Chorus 

and  Orchestra)  : 

Part  I.       Pan  in  Arcady  „ 

Part  II.     The  Festival  of  Pan 


WORKS    BY   THE   AUTHOR    OF 
THIS    VOLUME 


Baldur  (Lyrical  Drama) 

The  Song  of  Alfred  (Epic) 

Music 

The    Song    of    the    Morning    Star 

(Choral  Ode  for  Female  Choir) 
Three  Shakespeare  Songs  (Tenor) 
You  Spotted  Snakes  C   (Part-songs    ] 
Tell     me    where    is-j     for  Female 

Fancy  bred  I    Choir).  J 

Fear  no  more  the  Heat  o'  the  Sun 

(Part-song  for  mixed  Choir) 
Adagio  Cantabile  (Violin  and  Piano) 
Album-leaf  (Violin  and  Piano) 
The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd   (Boys' 

Voices) 

Twelve  Children's  Songs 
Ode  to  Autumn  (Keats)  (Part-song 

for  Mixed  Choir) 

The  Cheshire  Man  (Keats)  (Folk-song) 
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