Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst - "Heirs and Rebels"
The_Muted_Grimaud Send a noteboard - 09/04/2011 07:25:26 PM
Letter XXXII
Vaughan Williams to Holst
Vaughan William's 'Job' was performed on 5 and 6 July 1931 at the Cambridge Theatre by the Camargo Society.
The White Gates
Westcott Road,
Dorking. [July 1931]
Dear Gustav
I never wrote to thank you for holding my hand all those days—it made all the difference. All went very well in the end.
. . . I don't think you know Duncan (percussion)—I know him because he plays timps for me at Dorking. After rehearsal he came up and begged me to put back one of the cymbal smashes which he thought it had been a great mistake of me to leave out. I was so much touched that I said yes—regardless of the result.
Glad I. [Imogen] got such good notices.
Yrs RVW
Vaughan Williams to Holst
Vaughan William's 'Job' was performed on 5 and 6 July 1931 at the Cambridge Theatre by the Camargo Society.
The White Gates
Westcott Road,
Dorking. [July 1931]
Dear Gustav
I never wrote to thank you for holding my hand all those days—it made all the difference. All went very well in the end.
. . . I don't think you know Duncan (percussion)—I know him because he plays timps for me at Dorking. After rehearsal he came up and begged me to put back one of the cymbal smashes which he thought it had been a great mistake of me to leave out. I was so much touched that I said yes—regardless of the result.
Glad I. [Imogen] got such good notices.
Yrs RVW
This short book, Heirs and Rebels, is a collection of letters to each other and some essays/notes of two of England's finest composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. Edited by Holst's daughter Imogen and Vaughan William's widow Ursula, the 100 pages contain a trove of personal letters and writings about music that is a valuable read for any musician or anyone interested in the process of composing or the lives of these two composers.
The book is divided into 10 parts, 4 concerning the letters themselves, and 6 parts containing essays, lectures notes, and actual transcribed lectures of either Holst or Vaughan Williams. Of the lecture groups, Probably the best of these latter parts for me was Vaughan Williams essay "Good Taste", which appeared in 'The Vocalist of May 1902', and Holst's lecture "On the Teaching of Art", given at Yale in 1929.
From Good Tatse:
Good taste is, without doubt, the stumbling block in the path of the 'Young English school of composers.' These 'rising young musicians' lack neither good teachers nor good models, nor good concerts, nor good opportunities of bringing their works to a hearing; nevertheless, all their promise seems to be nipped in the bud by the blighting influence of 'good taste.'
What is good taste? Is it a quality ever ascribed to a really great artist? Do we ever say of Beethoven or Mozart that their music is in good taste? And why is this? Because good taste is a purely artificial restriction which a composer imposes on himself when he imagines—rightly or wrongly—that his inspiration is not enough to guide him.
What is good taste? Is it a quality ever ascribed to a really great artist? Do we ever say of Beethoven or Mozart that their music is in good taste? And why is this? Because good taste is a purely artificial restriction which a composer imposes on himself when he imagines—rightly or wrongly—that his inspiration is not enough to guide him.
From Holst's Lecture at Yale
... We must remember the last words in Gilbert Murray's dictum:
'Every man who counts is a child of tradition and a rebel from it.'
The civilized world is crowded with buildings, pictures, poems, novels and musical compositions produced by children of various traditions who never grew to be rebels who, therefore, do not 'count'.
If we, as teachers, force the characters of our pupils into a mould or allow them to drift there, we are not artists but experts in standardized mass-production.
I have been told that standardized mass-production is excellent for motor-cars: it is sometimes fairly effective for detective-stories. But it is iniquitous for human beings and impossible for art.
'Every man who counts is a child of tradition and a rebel from it.'
The civilized world is crowded with buildings, pictures, poems, novels and musical compositions produced by children of various traditions who never grew to be rebels who, therefore, do not 'count'.
If we, as teachers, force the characters of our pupils into a mould or allow them to drift there, we are not artists but experts in standardized mass-production.
I have been told that standardized mass-production is excellent for motor-cars: it is sometimes fairly effective for detective-stories. But it is iniquitous for human beings and impossible for art.
While some of the lectures do come across a bit dry and are troublesome to slog through, they do provide an interesting insight into the composer's thoughts on a particular issue or his opinion of various musical periods. Included were articles on Tudor composers (English composers from the turn of the 17th century, such as Thomas Weelkes or William Byrd); Haydn; Bach and Schumann; and Charles Stanford and Hubert Parry (English composers and teachers of Holst and Vaughan Williams).
As far as the letters, it is explained in the preface that the large majority of the correspondences between them were lost. The book contains forty one letters in total, stretching from 1895 to 1934 (the year of Holst's death). The letters contained are numbered 1-41, often with long gaps between dates.
The result is a very fragmented view of a friendship that started at the Royal College of Music in 1894 and grew to the strongest bond by the time of Holst's death. While it is unfortunate that their are rarely more than two in any sequence of letters, the contents of the existing letters do provide a glimpse into the personalities and concerns of each composer.
As we read the letters, it becomes apparent that Vaughan Williams is the more calm and collected of the two, his letters short, to the point, and well written. Holst's letters amble for awhile, breaching several subjects, sometimes bouncing from subject to another, with a mere "but anyway", or other interjection.
We also see how often they commented on each other's music, indeed criticizing when they believed the other was in the wrong, and complimenting the best parts.
Letter V
Vaughan Williams to Holst
Undated: no address. [1901?]
My dear V.
You'll think me a very 'destructive' critic—as I have scratched out most of your lines.
I think the whole scheme of the verses is bad:*
(1)I should like it to be sung by the girl herself not let that old heavy father give tongue again—would not this be very effective if she sang it softly as if to herself—then stopping where the song breaks off and asking her father ...
Vaughan Williams to Holst
Undated: no address. [1901?]
My dear V.
You'll think me a very 'destructive' critic—as I have scratched out most of your lines.
I think the whole scheme of the verses is bad:*
(1)I should like it to be sung by the girl herself not let that old heavy father give tongue again—would not this be very effective if she sang it softly as if to herself—then stopping where the song breaks off and asking her father ...
Letter IX
Holst to Vaughan Williams
Undated: no address, incomplete: first four pages missing. [Berlin, 1903]
((a section in the middle regarding composition, this letter is one of several LARGE letters written by Holst))
... ... Your last letter was the result of thinking matters over—this is a poor return as it is the result of waking up too early in the morning and trying to go to sleep unsuccessfully! So you must excuse if I write more than my usual allowance of rot.
Of course the matter is made rather worse for me owing to lack of cash and I feel more and more that my mode of living is very unsatisfactory. It is not so bad in London say during the 'French Milliner' when I did a fair amount of writing everyday but the Worm* is a wicked and loathsome waste of time. Yet the only alternative I know of is stick wagging for one of George Edwardes' touring companies. People who are victims of the 'getting on' theory always advise this but if one does it at all one must do it properly and then good bye to music!
There is also the theory that one should get rich first and then compose.
When I was a child my father told me that Sterndale Bennett worked out that theory during his life very satisfactorily. When I was older I heard Sterndale Bennett's music . . .
[*Stanislas Wurm, a conductor who Holst worked for as trombonist.]
Holst to Vaughan Williams
Undated: no address, incomplete: first four pages missing. [Berlin, 1903]
((a section in the middle regarding composition, this letter is one of several LARGE letters written by Holst))
... ... Your last letter was the result of thinking matters over—this is a poor return as it is the result of waking up too early in the morning and trying to go to sleep unsuccessfully! So you must excuse if I write more than my usual allowance of rot.
Of course the matter is made rather worse for me owing to lack of cash and I feel more and more that my mode of living is very unsatisfactory. It is not so bad in London say during the 'French Milliner' when I did a fair amount of writing everyday but the Worm* is a wicked and loathsome waste of time. Yet the only alternative I know of is stick wagging for one of George Edwardes' touring companies. People who are victims of the 'getting on' theory always advise this but if one does it at all one must do it properly and then good bye to music!
There is also the theory that one should get rich first and then compose.
When I was a child my father told me that Sterndale Bennett worked out that theory during his life very satisfactorily. When I was older I heard Sterndale Bennett's music . . .
[*Stanislas Wurm, a conductor who Holst worked for as trombonist.]
I'll finish this review with my favorite quote from the entire book.
I have been trying to make up my mind as to what is the best way of settling down to compose. On the whole I think the chief ingredients are:
(1) Hard work. (But not this alone as I have always thought until now—as you say, one cannot be always composing.)
(2) Having just the very best art of all kinds.
(3) Complete change from music. To be divided into
(a) other work or exercise, and (this is more important)
(b) absolute laziness.
(1) Hard work. (But not this alone as I have always thought until now—as you say, one cannot be always composing.)
(2) Having just the very best art of all kinds.
(3) Complete change from music. To be divided into
(a) other work or exercise, and (this is more important)
(b) absolute laziness.
A very good read.
Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst - "Heirs and Rebels"
- 09/04/2011 07:25:26 PM
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