Re: George Butterworth And Oscar Hammerstein II

Greetings!: 

To begin personally, I had a largely-_GHASTLY_ week last week due to ill health.  Further, I think most people who practice dignity, decency and
deference would presumably add industriousness to those three virtues.  Yet I must admit that I am often lazy, so my ill health and tendency to procrastinate
combined to make this entry now a week late (the last day's delay due to technical problems).  Yet I here offer it, hoping that the familiar "better late than never" can apply on this occasion. 

12 July marked the birthday anniversaries of two vastly different contributors to music.  George Butterworth, an Englishman, was born on that
date in 1885, and died, rather bravely it is reported, during the First World War in 1916.  Apparently being rather self-critical, as others, notably Brahms,
were, he destroyed much before he left for France.  We thus have rather little from him, the best-known of it being a song cycle setting poems from A.
E. Housman's famous book from that period, _A_ _Shropshire_ _Lad_, three little orchestral gems in my view in which he arranges certain English
folksongs, these being the _Two_ _English_ _Idylls_ and _The_ _Banks_ _Of_ _Green_ _Willow_, and an original orchestral work also bearing the title of
that Housman collection in which he quotes from one of his own settings, the first of his _Six_ _Songs_ _From_ _A_ _Shropshire_ _Lad_ called "Loveliest
Of Trees."  This is a powerful work in my opinion, and has been recorded several times, though I do not know how often it appears in concert programmes,
particularly in the UK.  _The_ _Banks_ _Of_ _Green_ _Willow_ begins congenially in A Major with a clarinet quoting that folksong, music which
can hopefully cool one down on a _TORRID_, humid day such as we had here yesterday!  After this has run its course, including a shift to C Major,
there is a quiet passage for horns interrupted by a passionate passage which soon holds sway, leading, through key changes, etc., eventually to A Minor
where the music starts to calm and we begin to hear what I feel is a quintessential English tune, "Green Bushes," which Vaughan Williams included in the
Second Movement of his famous _English_ _Folksong_ _Suite_ and on which Percy Grainger also made variations.  The _Two_ _English_ _Idylls_ each include
a song which Vaughan Williams would also arrange for chorus as part of his _Five_ _English_ _Folksongs_, "Just As The Tide Was Flowing" in the first and
"The Dark-Eyed Sailor" dominating the second.  This is also congenial music, but it has its passionate moments as well.  I like his orchestration in all
of these, especially what I feel is his effective use of the oboe.  And his string writing is also effective!  Butterworth's wonderful setting of "Loveliest
Of Trees" is through-composed, that is not broken up into musical verses, but some of his other settings are strophic, divided into musical verses coinciding
with the verses of the poems, and thus, particularly in the case of "Is My Team Plowing," require a strong contribution from a sensitive singer.  In that
poem, the spirit of a dead man is talking to a friend he has left behind, and the voice of the dead man is often sung white, that is without (or with
little) vibrato and also soft, while the living man is sung out.  Yet this dead man would have done well to remain where he was since he is told at the
end that his friend cheers a dead man's sweetheart, "never ask me whose."  Vaughan Williams also effectively set this poem, minus one verse which much
annoyed Housman, in his Housman cycle of 1909, _On_ _Wenlock_ _Edge_, but, again if a fine singer (such as Mr. Bryn Terfel or Sir Thomas Allen to
mention only two) gets hold of the Butterworth setting, I feel it cannot be beaten!  In addition to these _Six_ _Songs_ _From_ _A_ _Shropshire_ _Lad_ from
which the settings just discussed come, Butterworth also set six other poems from that book, naming it after the first of these, "Bredon Hill."
 Here we have another comparison with _On_ _Wenlock_ _Edge_, but here, though it could be due to greater familiarity, I feel VW's non-strophic setting
(and the twangy strings depicting the one tolling bell) wins out, though I must further assess Butterworth's quasi-strophic version, the verses usually
starting the same while the rest changes, thus making both settings through-composed.  The second set of six also includes two of Housman's most famous
poems so far as I personally know, "When The Lad For Longing Sighs" and "With Rue My Heart Is Laden (the latter seeming particularly English to me in that
wonderful Butterworth manner)," and further includes a powerful setting of "On The Idle Hill Of Summer," the poet expressing his feelings about the futility
of war.  It also must not be forgotten that Butterworth was an avid collector of folksongs along with the likes of Cecil Sharpe, VW, Grainger, etc., travelling
throughout the English countryside and asking older people who knew them to sing them so they could be noted down, and his friendship with VW led to him
telling the older composer that he should write a symphony, this eventually resulting in VW's Second and personal favourite (it probably remains mine as
well), _A_ _London_ _Symphony_!  So now we are faced with that inevitable and unanswerable question which particularly lovers of English music
have been asking ever since Butterworth was killed--what might he further have given us had he lived?  At least some feel he would have gone on to challenge
the likes of VW, etc., for the pre-eminent position in the English music of his day.  Perhaps he might, but, whether or not he would have, we can be grateful
for what he _DID_ leave us, even though it admittedly did not equal, either in quantity or depth, the contributions of another composer who died aged 31,
one Franz Schubert.  One wonders even more what might have happened had _HE_ lived longer! 

The name of Oscar Hammerstein II is much more familiar to Americans, especially those who love the American Musical Theater, and he did not just work with Rodgers!  In fact he also worked early on with American operetta composers such as Friml and Romberg, and with
Kern on that landmark of the genre, _Show_ _Boat_!  As those of you who have been visiting this house regularly may know by now, I am one who
likes to observe anniversaries, and, since Kern's birthday coincides with Mozart's, I have decided from now on, if all goes well, to combine Kern and Hammerstein's
birthdays on 12 July, Hammerstein's, by playing that _MARVELOUS_ EMI recording of _Show_ _Boat_ conducted by that great advocate for musicals, Mr. John
McGlinn!  In fact it was an E-Mail exchange with our Honourary Patroness which prompted me to check into this recording of which I had only previously
heard without hearing any of it.  I bought it, and once again here comes that tattered cliche used here earlier, "Better late than never!"  As is
very well known, Hammerstein, in this musical, explores certain social issues, particularly those having to do with race, thus adding more substance to
an evening which would usually be lighter in nature, sentimentality being particularly prized in those days (not that this is lacking in _Show_ _Boat_,
"You Are Love" sounding as if it could have come right out of a Lehar operetta, though still extremely effective for me and presumably many others!).
 At the risk of raising a proverbial "hornet's nest," I agree with the decision made by the producers of this recording to retain what we now often call
the "N word" where Hammerstein originally used it since it adds a further touch of realism (as I feel it also does in _Porgy_ _And_ _Bess_), and, as was
pointed out in the book accompanying this recording, Hammerstein was not here showing himself as a racist since later, when working with Rodgers on
_South_ _Pacific_, he included that number, "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught."  We are further told that this classic has been subjected to much revision
since it first appeared in 1927 (its first preview was actually given right here in Washington!), and thus much of its "cutting-edge" side has
been watered down in most, if not all, modern productions.  Yet here we have much of it in this EMI recording, including some of the spoken dialogue!
From what I read, the part of Ravenal was eventually changed from a tenor to a baritone, thus necessitating the transposition of at least some of his music
down from its higher keys.  Yet, having first heard Mr. Alan Jones sing "Make Believe" in its original D Major in the 1936 film, I still think it works
best starting in that key, and apparently this was how it was in 1927, beginning in D and then moving up to E-Flat when Ravenal's future wife joins to
lead to the duet.  On the other hand, though one cannot deny the contribution Mr. Robeson made to this musical in and before the 1936 film, "Ol' Man River" works better in keys higher than his B-Flat (A-Flat in at least one later recital) in my opinion.  Again in my opinion, the original 1927 Bennett
orchestrations are _MARVELOUS_!  Yet I have a "pet peeve" about this and _MANY_ other recordings involving works including both music and spoken dialogue.
 Producers, etc., have this idea that listeners do not want the dialogue included in recordings (though they obviously must tolerate at least some of it
in the theater, hopefully all of it in a broadway musical), and regretably some customer reviews on a site such as Amazon would tend to bolster this view.
 Yes, attempting to include nearly all the music Kern composed for this work while he was yet alive amply fills three CD's along with the dialogue they
chose to include, and yet, while including as much of the music as possible is important, should not this great work be regarded as a whole, and should
not the work of Hammerstein, certainly one of the greatest of all American musical lyricists, stand on equal terms with Kern's?  I personally would just
as soon be without all those appendices and instead be given a _COMPLETE_ performance of this 1927 version, allowing for decisions as to what pre-Broadway
cuts would be re-opened and which would not!  I think an English company called Jay Records has given us some uncut musicals, and, if and when copyright
may allow, I hope we might have _MANY_ more!  And while we are about it, could we _PLEASE_ have more _COMPLETE_ recordings of operas and operettas which
include spoken sections, even if the librettists are not on a par with the composers?  And if they are in foreign languages, simply, if possible, engage
either native speakers/singers or those fluent enough in the languages of these works to make them effective dramatically in the spoken sections as well
as in the musical ones!  Let us put these theories about CD listeners not wanting the dialogue to the test, with convincing delivery thereof, and _THEN_
find out _FOR_ _SURE_ if their theories are right!

Hoping this finds you well,

J. V.