Klarinet Archive - Posting 001111.txt from 1999/05
From: "Michael Bryant" <michael@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Finzi's 5 Bagatelles and Concerto
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 06:34:12 -0400
I am sorry there is no answer to this question
which is a bit like asking why lieder is small scale
and symphonies are large.
As it happens the Five Bagatelles were written for Pauline Juler
who stopped playing when she married
and the Concerto was written with the
technical help of a school boy, Stephen Trier,
who happened to played the clarinet and lived
in the next village to Finzi's.
You get a completer picture of Finzi in
Stephen Barnfield's biography (Faber 1997)
Gerald Finzi, (London 1901-1956 Oxford),
was naturally introspective with a great interest in literature.
The seriousness with which he devoted himself to music
should be viewed in the context of the death of his father,
his three brothers and his music teacher, Ernest Farrar
during his early years. In 1922 he moved to the Arcadian
peace and tranquillity of the village of Painswick in
Gloucestershire. In 1925 he settled in London.
After his marriage to the artist Joyce (Joy) Black,
they moved to Wiltshire and then, in 1937,
to Ashmansworth in Hampshire, where he took
at great interest in collecting rare species of apple trees.
In 1939 he founded and conducted the Newbury String Players,
but never allowed them to play his music.
Compared to his other works the Five Bagatelles
and Clarinet Concerto were outstanding successes
and have taken their rightful places in the standard repertoire.
The Five Bagatelles Opus 23 were written over a period of several years.
First to be completed were probable the Carol and Romance,
followed by the Forlana during the spring and summer of 1941,
while Finzi was working for the Ministry of War Transport.
The first movement was composed, on leave, at the New Year in 1942.
The first four, (without the Fughetta), were first played at the
National Gallery, London in January 1943 by Pauline Juler and
Howard Ferguson. The Fughetta, completed with difficulty
during the summer of 1943, is more adventurous that the
preceding movement and the only one to explore
the full range of the instrument. They were published
by Boosey and Hawkes (1945). At first Boosey and Hawkes
wanted to publish them separately but Finzi would not agree to this.
In the event they were an immediate success and sold out within a year.
Finzi noted, with regret, that they had become more popular
than some of his more substantial works.
He had been commissioned to write a work for
string orchestra for the three Choirs Festival.
Instead he offered the Concerto for clarinet and strings (1948-1949),
now arguably his best know work. It was eventually accepted,
with some reluctance. At the start, Finzi wanted Pauline Juler
to play the work, but she was just about to marry and gave up playing.
As work progressed with its composition, he asked Stephen Trier,
[later a professional player and teacher, now retired]
then still at school and living not far from Finzi's home
at Ashmansworth, for help in exploring the practical aspects of the solo
part.
Frederick Thurston first played the work at Hereford
on the morning of 9 September 1949 with the London Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by the composer.
Mike Bryant
Fujimoto San wrote:
Subject: [kl] Finzi's 5 Bagatelles and Concerto
> Gerald Finzi composed for the clarinet
>Five Bagatelles op.23 (1938-43) and Concerto
>op.31 (1948-49).
>
> I find Five Bagatelles rather simple, while
>Concerto most complicated.
>
> Does anyone know the reasons for such
>difference?
>
>-----------------------------------
> fujimoto takushi
>-----------------------------------
Michael Bryant, Michael@-----.uk
61 Oak Hill, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6DY, England
Tel & Fax: +44 (0) 181 390 3236
Rosewood Publications urls:
http://www.nettaxi.com/citizens/mikeb14 and
http://www.bryant14.demon.co.uk
>
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