Sir Charles Mackerras!

Greetings!:

Yet again, in the name of the House of Old-School, I extend further best wishes and congratulations on a birthday, this one being of my favourite conductor
as regular visitors to this house already know, Sir Charles Mackerras, this being his 81st!

Believe it or not, this conductor, usually associated with England nowadays though he is widely travelled, was actually born in Schenectady, New York, on
this date in 1925 of Australian parents.  If I am not mistaken, he returned to Australia at an early age, and I do know that his early musical studies
were in Sydney and later, _MOST_ importantly, in Prague, where his lifelong love of Czech music began.  He came to England in either the late 1940's or
early 1950's, and there, as the Website of his Managers, Askonas Holt (please see my favourite links for their Web address), tells us, a production of
the early-20th-Century Moravian/Czech composer, Leos Janacek's, opera, _Katya_ _Kavanova_, which the future Sir Charles conducted at what was then called
Sadlers Wells Opera (later English National Opera), won critical acclaim.  I recall hearing an interview on the Web with Sir Charles in which he told us
that he participated in productions of the comic operas of that famous English team of Gilbert and Sullivan during his school days, and one of the earliest
manifestations of him also loving those operas was a ballet which he arranged from the music of these, _Pineapple_ _Poll_, which was premiered also in
the early '50's.  His first recording of it was also the first commercial recording he ever made, and, fortunately for those of us who admire his work,
he has been making recordings ever since to use an avowedly-unoriginal phrase!  According to a review of some orchestral music from Verdi's operas which
a man on Amazon, with whom I have recently begun corresponding, wrote, as well as one of a collection of early recordings of ballet music released to honour
Sir Charles's 80th birthday last year, this latter on the _Gramophone_ _Magazine_'s Website (
www.gramophone.co.uk), he
would sometimes be asked to step in for conductors who were indisposed for whatever reason, and this helped build up his reputation for the future.  He
would go on to become Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera in the late 1960's (he was there when I started corresponding with him in 1969, and this
correspondence would continue for much of the next 35 years), but, before that, he would start on another famous aspect of his career, the performance
and recording of Baroque (the period in music history from roughly 1600 to 1750), and later Classical (as I wrote in an earlier post, this latter period
goes roughly from 1750 to the early years of the next Century), music in a style as close as could be determined to that in which this music was first
performed.  In 1959, he made a famous late-night recording of Handel's _Music_ _For_ _The_ _Royal_ _Fireworks_ with a band of wind, brass and percussion
players from various London orchestras.  This is the scoring in which Handel wrote this work and which he apparently preferred, though there is still some
question as to whether it was performed thus in the composer's lifetime.  Then, in 1966, he made one of three landmark recordings of Handel's _Messiah_
which were made around that time, the other two having been conducted by the then-future Sir Colin Davis and the now-late Dr. Robert Shaw.  Of those three,
the then-future Sir Charles's probably came closest to what was then believed to have been Handel's manner of performing his oratorios, though one could
perhaps question the amount of vocal and instrumental ornamentation which was added in that version, and further discoveries pertaining to Handelian practice
have been made since then.  Yet, despite this and perhaps some speeds being slower in it than one expects nowadays, and though I admittedly no longer play
it (I played it last for the 80th birthday), there is still some vital music-making in this recording, notably from the chorus, the Ambrosian Singers,
and particularly from the higher-voiced soloists, the now-late Miss Elizabeth Harwood (soprano), the then-future Dame Janet Baker (mezzo soprano), and
counter-tenor Mr. Paul Esswood.  In that same year he also recorded Purcell's (an English composer who lived in the later part of the century before Handel
came to England from Germany via Italy) music for Dryden's _The_ _Indian_ _Queen_, and though this too may now be somewhat outdated, I still like to play
it on his birthday, and hope to do so again during a break from this writing.  While in Hamburg, he made another Purcell recording which I still also like,
of that composer's famous opera, _Dido_ _And_ _Aeneas_ (has its female title role ever been sung more movingly than by the now-late Miss Troyanos, perhaps
even more so than on a subsequent recording she made of this opera under another conductor?).  And, with some of the same forces he used on his _Messiah_
recording, he later recorded Purcell's 1692 _Ode_ _On_ _St._ _Cecilia's_ _Day_ (the Patron Saint of Music whose day is 22 November).  Upon returning to
England in, if memory serves, 1969, he took up appointment as Music Director of what again would soon become English National Opera, and it would be there
that I met him in person during my first visit to England in 1977 at productions of Puccini's beloved _La_ _Boheme_ and French composer Massenet's opera,
_Werther_.  My third meeting with him was also during that same visit, at a concert he gave for the BBC of Haydn's _Nelson_ _Mass_ and Stravinsky's ballet,
_Appolon_ _Musagette_.  I recall that the members of the ENO Orchestra were in some sort of dispute with the Company at that time, and one of our conversations
was interrupted by someone he described as a "recalcitrant cellist."  His long-time wife, Lady Judy Mackerras, was quite vivacious in those days, but was
somewhat more subdued during conversations I had with her a few years ago.  She seems _MOST_ capable at helping to manage his affairs!  By the bye, I now
have, thanks to the Chandos Opera-In-English Series, a recording of that production of _Werther_ as recorded at the Coliseum, ENO's home, but with a different
tenor than the one I heard when I was there.  Dame Janet Baker sang the female lead in this opera, Charlotte, in both performances.  Sir Charles would
later become Music Director of Welsh National Opera, and presumably, while there, he first worked with a then-young Welsh bass-baritone called Mr. Bryn
Terfel!  He also, with the WNO orchestra and sometimes the chorus, made some _SUPERB_, in my opinion, recordings of works by four English composers, notably
a series of works by a composer Sir Charles seemed to particularly be championing in those days, Delius.  I have already mentioned his disc of Elgar's
youth-oriented music, featuring Mr. Terfel, in my 31-August post.  Suffice it to say that, in addition to Mr. Terfel's contributions in the Suite from
_The_ _Starlight_ _Express_, I especially enjoy Sir Charles's accounts of the two _Dream_ _Children_, and in particular the first of these!  There were
also recordings of five Gilbert-and-Sullivan operas, though, apart from _Trial_ _By_ _Jury_ which is all sung, these omitted Gilbert's spoken dialogue.
 Yet most of the musical performances are _EXCELLENT_, notably the recording of their most famous opera, _The_ _Mikado_!  Sir Charles made other Elgar
recordings with the London orchestras, his account of that composer's _Second_ _Symphony_ being a particular personal favourite!  He made two recordings
of Elgar's best-known large-scale orchestral work, the _"Enigma"_ _Variations_, and I personally prefer the first of these which he made on the EMI Label.
 It is coupled with the composer's Symphonic Study based on Shakespeare's accounts of the historical Falstaff, and, though it is now deleted, you _MIGHT_
be able to find it on Amazon since a copy of it was on offer there the last time I checked.  There was also that recording of Britten's _Gloriana_ mentioned
in that 31-August post.  But Sir Charles did not exclusively confine his performances and recordings to England and the UK!  In Vienna he made a series
of recordings of his beloved Janacek's (pronounced yanachek) operas, and these garnered much just critical acclaim (one of these was of that composer's
next-to-last opera, _The_ _Makropoulos_ _Case_, but a new recording of this, from ENO and in Sir Charles's new performing edition of that opera's score,
is due for release next year again as part of Chandos OIE, he having recorded Janacek's earlier opera, _Jenufa_, for that series a few years ago, etc.).
 In the late '80's and into the '90's, Sir Charles would record much Mozart, though he had recorded a little of his work previously.  There would be all
of his Symphonies with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, some of the Piano Concerti performed by an Irish pianist, Mr. John O'Connor, with the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra, and most of his important operas with that same orchestra, all of these recordings being for the American Telarc Label, as were his Gilbert-and-Sullivan
series.  He also made a fine recording of Handel's _Water_ _Music_ and some _SUPERB_, again in my view, accounts of some of Haydn's best-known Symphonies
with the New-York-based Orchestra of St. Luke's, though not the most famous of them, the "Surprise."  There would also be more Handel orchestral music
with the English Chamber Orchestra, with which he had made that landmark _Messiah_ and three other Handel oratorios, though these latter are also now somewhat
outdated as per performance practice.  Yet I still have and play his account of _Judas_ _Maccabaeus_ since it is still probably the best version of that
popular oratorio we currently have.  In the late '80's he also began to work and record with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a London-based
orchestra playing on instruments of the late-18th and early-19th Centuries, notably Schubert's last two symphonies, the famous _8th_, the "Unfinished,"
having been completed for another conductor by an English Schubert scholar called Mr. Brian Newbold (spelling hopefully correct).  In the '90's Sir Charles
was Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and made some _MARVELLOUS_ recordings with them, particularly a disc of Richard Strauss
tone poems, two Mahler (a late-19th/early-20th-Century Austrian composer and near-contemporary of the German Strauss) symphonies and a straightforward
set of all of the Beethoven symphonies relying on the scholarship of a current Beethoven authority, Mr. Jonathan Del Mar, as well as a Telarc recording
of that composer's only opera, _Fidelio_, the _Violin_ _Concerto_ on EMI with Miss Monica Huggett and the OAE and a disc for the Hyperion Label of Beethoven's
ballet, _The_ _Creatures_ _Of_ _Prometheus_.  And we must not overlook another set I particularly like, a landmark series of the Brahms symphonies, again
for Telarc, which offers them with the approximate size of orchestra Brahms preferred, just under 50 players, and incorporating information left by his
pupils as to how he wanted these works to be played.  He continued to conduct and record Czech music, with several recordings of music by one of its most
popular representatives, Dvorak (it would be difficult to accurately write how that should be pronounced, but hopefully at least some of you know it anyway
and can thus assist those who do not).  Besides that forthcoming recording of _The_ _Makropoulos_ _Case_, one of his most recent recordings of Czech music
has also been previously mentioned, Miss Susan Gritton's favourite among her recordings as of earlier this year, an English-language version, again for
OIE, of Smetana's comic opera, _The_ _Bartered_ _Bride_!  His Mozart disc with Mr. Terfel, _Tutto_ _Mozart_, has also been recently released, and he is
to record this month, if he has not yet done so, yet another OIE contribution, of Humperdinck's (not the popular singer of some years ago, but his German
namesake) ever-popular opera, _Hansel_ _And_ _Grettel_.

There is _MUCH_ else I could cover, including a _WONDERFUL_ disc of excerpts from Wagner's _Gotterdammerung_ (Twilight of the Gods) from the '70's, etc.,
but I hope I have managed to represent what this conductor's artistry has meant to me since the late '60's.  If I recall anything else I should have covered,
I will try to add it as a comment to this post.  Hopefully Sir Charles had a fine, though presumably not as elaborate as his 80th, 81st birthday!

Gratefully and joyfully submitted,

J. V.

Happy Belated Birthday, US Marine Corps, etc.!

Greetings!:

In the name of the House of Old-School, I extend my heartiest belated congratulations and best wishes to the United States Marine Corps on its 231st birthday!
 I would have written this sooner, but was busy attending events related to this over the just-concluded weekend, including the dedication of the new National
Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia, of which hopefully more later.

As I wrote in my post saluting the Navy's birthday, the Continental Congress initially established a navy when General Washington arranged for the acquisition
of a few ships.  Further, on 10 November, 1775, they authorized the establishment of two battalions of Marines.  During the Revolution, these Marines supported
naval operations as well as fought on land.  As had been done with the Continental Navy, these battalions were disbanded after the Revolutionary War ended
in 1783.  Then, on 11 July, 1798, the same day on which the Marine Band, discussed in my post of that day in this year, was established, the US Congress
established the United States Marine Corps!  During the years prior to the War of 1812, Marines served in several places, notably against the Barbary Pirates
along the "shores of Tripoli" later to be immortalized in the "Marines' Hymn."  During that second war with England begun in 1812, Marines continued to
assist in Naval operations, one notable land engagement being assisting in the defense of our then-rather-new Nation's Capital by engaging at nearby Bladensburg,
Maryland.  They further notably fought with General Jackson in the famous Battle of New Orleans.  The Corps would see further action between then and the
War Between theStates, that other reference in the "Marines' Hymn" being from the Mexican War, in which Marines fought into Mexico City where were "the
halls of Montezuma."  Marines continued to work with the Navy during the Civil War, but used their infantry skills in a number of land battles as well.
 Throughout the remainder of the 19th Century and up to the First World War, the Corps was called upon to serve in various foreign locales, notably those
near seacoasts as one might expect.  Then, near the end of what was supposed to have been "the war to end all wars," Marines showed particular bravery
in a battle of which I did not yet know or had forgotten about, Belleau Wood, along with certain others throughout 1918 prior to the Armistice.  Marine
Aviation began initially in 1912, and the amphibious capabilities for which the Corps is now so well known were developed between the two World Wars.
As is also well known, Marines fought prominently in the Pacific Theatre during World War II, their two most famous engagements probably being Guadalcanal
and, of course, Iwo Jima, where a contingent of Marines raised American flags on Mt. Seribachi.  The raising of the second, larger flag was famously photographed,
and this, at least one of the widest-circulated photographs in history, formed the basis of the design of both the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington,
Virginia, where a ceremony takes place each Marine Corps Birthday and which I have attended numerous times, and the afore-mentioned new National Museum
of the Marine Corps, which opened to the public on 13 November, 2006, the day on which I am now writing.  By the bye, the photographer who took that photograph,
one Mr. Joseph Rosenthal, made an Honourary Marine some years ago, died just recently.  Something which interested me when I read it was that the Corps'
strength jumped from between 100,000 and 200,000 to just under 500,000 at the peak of the War.  I was told today that it is currently at about 181,000,
though it would probably be at least desirable to increase it to around 200,000.  Following World War II, the Corps began to develop another capability
for which it is justly famous, the use of helicopters.  Marines would again figure prominently in the next two wars, Korea and Vietnam.  Both had their
frustrations, especially the latter, though Marines would fight valiantly as per their tough nature.  The last Marine ground forces were pulled out of
Vietnam in 1971, though other Marines would help embassy personnel and others to leave Saigon and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 1975.  A major activity in the
late 1970's was development of the Rapid Deployment Force, a multi-service unit designed to help do just that, _MOST_ important, it would seem, in our
time!  It further seems that there is now more inter-service co-operation than at any previous point in our history.  The 20th Century, for the Corps and
other service branches, would close with engagements such as in Beirut, Grenada and, of course, the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Shield and certainly
one of the swiftest wars in our history, Operation Desert Storm.  Humanitarian aid was also offered at home, the latest major manifestation of this being
from last year's two major hurricanes.  9-11-2001 brought the beginning of the current Global War On Terror, and while there is much controversy surrounding
the present war in Iraq, and while our tactical approach _MAY_ require some re-assessment, I for one hope that we will _NOT_ leave there in humiliation!

As has been my custom over recent service birthday posts, I would like to offer a birthday message for the Marine Corps, belated on two accounts.  The first
of these, as already related, is that the birthday itself, 10 November, was this past Friday, and I was out attending events related to it and Veterans
Day over the weekend (I was home yesterday, but doing other things).  But the latter is that the man who wrote the below, General Michael W. Hagee, passed
command of the Corps to its new Commandant, General James T. Conway, in a ceremony held on the parade deck at Marine Barracks Washington at mid-day to-day,
a ceremony which I was also privileged to attend.  So here is one of outgoing Commandant Hagee's last acts in that position:

Daily Media Report

10 NOVEMBER 2006

A MESSAGE FROM THE COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS

On November 10th, 1775, our Corps was born as the Continental Congress raised the “first and second battalions of American Marines.” Each year as we celebrate
our birthday, we pause to reflect on the Marines of yesteryear who fought in our touchstone battles and forged the modern Marine Corps with their courage,
integrity, and undying commitment to their fellow Marines. Each of our storied battles is a link in the long chain that binds all Marines together – from
the Continental Marines at Bunker Hill to the Teufelhunden crossing the wheat fields of Belleau Wood. This chain binds us to the Marines on the crest of
Mount Suribachi; it passes through the ice and snow of the Chosin Reservoir and the steaming jungles of Vietnam, and it anchors firmly today in the desert
sands of Iraq.

This year’s celebration again finds many from ranks serving with distinction in harm’s way. As we have for the past 231 years, our Corps is answering the
Nation’s call. I can report first hand that our Marines fighting on the front lines of the Long War on Terror are performing brilliantly, acquitting themselves
with honor, dedication, and dignity in difficult and dangerous environments.

All Marines are making a difference. Regardless of where you are serving, you are adding new chapters to the legacy that was earned with sweat and blood
on old battlefields. Just as previous generations of Marines shaped today’s Marine Corps, your deeds are molding the Corps of tomorrow. Our Corps has never
been stronger, and all Americans are extremely proud of your magnificent performance and unwavering commitment to serve our Corps and country. With high
caliber Marines like you, our future has never been brighter.

Another irreplaceable element of our success as Marines is the terrific support we receive from our families. Through the long hours, the exercises, and
the combat deployments, their support is unconditional and firm. They give us love and devotion, providing us with the strength to drive on when duty calls.
Today we should all acknowledge our loved ones for their patient, steadfast service.

To all who have earned the title Marine, to the superb Sailors who serve with us in every clime and place, and to our precious families – I wish each of
you a heartfelt Happy 231st Birthday.

I _VERY_ much thank Captain Manuel Delarosa of the Marine Corps Public Affairs Office for providing me with the above birthday greeting from Former Commandant
Hagee, and am additionally _MOST_ indebted to the Website of the Marine Corps History and Museums Division, hqinet001.hqmc.usmc.mil/HD/Home_Page.htm, for
the historical information given prior to that message.  As you saw, only highlights were sketchily given, so my visitors are _STRONGLY_ recommended, if
this subject interests them, to visit that Site where, among numerous other things, they may read the birthday message of the legendary Commandant, General
Lejeune, which established the current custom of observing 10 November as the Corps' official birthday, as well as about customs related to the observance
thereof over the years.  I further thank the Department of Defense Website,
www.dod.mil,
for admittedly refreshing me on the new Commandant's name and another name to follow soon.

That other name is of the late Corporal Jason Dunham, who lost his life in Iraq recently as the result of falling on a grenade to save the lives of his
fellow-Marines.  At the dedication of the Museum this past Friday, the President informed us that Corporal Dunham would be the second Medal of Honour winner
to come out of the current Iraq War, _EMINENTLY_ deserved as far as I am concerned!!!  Another highlight for me from that ceremony was the speech given
by Dr. Jim Lehrer from PBS and a Former Marine.  He told us that, at his first drill session, the Drill Instructor mispronounced his name.  Recruit Lehrer
impulsively, yet seemingly respectfully, corrected him, whereupon the Instructor came, got in his face, and told him that if he said that his name was
Little Bo Peep, then Little Bo Peep was his name!  He _NEVER_ forgot it, and, in the tradition of the Corps, "once a Marine, always a Marine," he has been
a loyal Marine ever since, bringing this fact into his equally-_SUPERB_, again in my opinion, address he gave at Harvard's Commencement/Alumni Meeting
this past June!  As for the Museum itself, which I was privileged to tour the following day, much of it is visual, and thus I cannot comment as fully as
I would wish.  Yet I _CAN_ tell you that at least two of its exhibits are simulators, the first being a booth in which one simulates being yelled at by,
yes, a Drill Instructor, the other being landing under fire in a Vietnam-Era helicopter and then quickly deploying onto rough terrain to serve in what
I recall being a sort of suicide mission.  Those who _CAN_ see the structure tell me that it is _INDEED_ beautiful/impressive!  After the 3:00 p.m. Museum
tour, we went outside to what is called Semper Fidelis Memorial Park (as many of you hopefully know, the Corps' motto is "semper Fidelis," Latin for "always
Faithful") for its initial dedication.  When fully developed, it will be more fully landscaped, and one of its features will be a hill representing the
hill which a Marine Recruit must climb in order to, at its top, receive the Eagle, Globe and Anchor of a United States Marine.  If I am not mistaken, a
chapel is planned for the top of that hill.  There are, or again eventually will be if all goes well, memorial bricks for which the Marine Corps Heritage
Foundation, which operates the Museum and Park, raised private funds.  I would like to eventually return to Quantico to visit the Marine Corps University,
etc.  Despite much requiring vision, these events, along with the annual ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial and today's Passing-Of-Command Ceremony,
were _MOST_ meaningful for me!  By the bye, having mentioned that, of course, Naval and other Officers have served as astronauts, it was good that one
of their pioneers and a Former Marine, Senator John Glenn, was at least in attendance at the Museum Dedication!

The man who conducted me on the tour of the Museum, one Sergeant Jones, told me that new amphibious landing craft are being developed for the Corps, and
he showed me a new tractor-like vehicle which can take men and materials unloaded from a ship somewhat farther inland than previous amphibious landing
craft might have allowed.  These, along with presumably other technological advances, should keep the Corps in good stead in the coming days and years
along with hopefully the best men and women that can be mustered!

Once again I extend my best wishes and congratulations to the Corps on yet another meaningful birthday, and conclude this series of birthday tributes to
all five branches of our Armed Forces by thanking _ALL_ our Veterans, both past and present, for the loyal and dedicated service they have provided, this
past Saturday having been, as we all know, Veterans Day.  _SEMPER_ _FI_, Marines, and the _VERY_ best to the rest!!!

Gratefully and joyfully submitted,

J. V.

Continued From Previous

Continuing with what I was writing reference Vaughan Williams and Howells, one of the former's most famous works appeared in 1934, but the _Fantasia_ _On_
_Greensleeves_ was not arranged by VW himself (though the last part of it, where that famous tune returns, is taken directly from the music between the
two scenes of Act IV of the composer's previously-mentioned opera, _Sir_ _John_ _In_ _Love_, and the first occurrence of this, at its beginning, sounds
to me virtually identical to the accompaniment it receives when Mistress Ford sings it in Act III of that opera, though without the flute introduction
heard in this fantasia, the flute introduction to the reprise however also being right out of the opera), but by one Mr. Ralph Greaves, he having added,
whether at VW's suggestion or on his own, another English folksong called "Lovely Joan."  This song is also sung in the opera, by Mistress Quickly in Act
II, but the arrangement in the fantasia is somewhat different and more elaborate than that.  VW must have at least approved of this fantasia since
he conducted its first performance, and listeners have been loving it ever since along with the earlier and previously mentioned _Tallis_ _Fantasia_ for
string quartet and string orchestra!  In the late 1930's VW gave us two beautiful works, particularly the _Serenade_ _To_ _Music_, setting lines from Shakespeare's
_The_ _Merchant_ _Of_ _Venice_ for 16 solo voices and orchestra (an alternative version involving chorus), this having been written to salute Sir Henry
Wood, a prominent English conductor of the time, on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee Concert in 1938.  This is one of the composer's most lyrical works in my, and presumably many others', opinions,
and I feel that musically it has much in common with the best lyrical passages in _The_ _Pilgrim's_ _Progress_!  The following year VW gave the New York
World's Fair an homage to an English folksong which initially had a strong effect upon him in 1893, "Dives And Lazarus," this new work, for strings and
harp, being _Five_ _Variants_ _Of_ _Dives_ _And_ _Lazarus_.  The big variant at its end is the version of the tune which VW himself collected during his
song collecting days previously mentioned, the others being reminiscences of other versions.  Sir Adrian Boult conducted the first performance of this
very English work in Carnegie Hall!  There was also a _Te_ _Deum_ based on traditional tunes written for King George Vi's coronation in 1937.  VW, though now getting
further on in years, nonetheless contributed some non-combat service to the Second World War as well, but also continued writing music.  He began to write
film music in the 1940's, most of it as yet unfamiliar to me personally.  Yet one of his scores, for _Scott_ _Of_ _The_ _Antarctic_, would provide the
basis for his _Sinfonia_ _Antarctica_, his _Seventh_ _Symphony_, first played in 1953.  His _Fifth_ and _Sixth_ _Symphonies_ also came out of the '40's.
 He had been working on _The_ _Pilgrim's_ _Progress_ from time to time throughout the '20's and '30's, but had, in the late part of the latter, come to
think that this morality might never reach the stage, and thus he began writing his _Fifth_ _Symphony_, using some of his material for the opera in it.
 At the beginning of its "Romanza," Third Movement, he originally wrote a quotation from the Bunyan book which concludes, "He hath given me rest by His
sorrow, and life by His death," and the English-horn solo after its opening chords presents the theme to which Pilgrim sings those words in the morality,
though it first occurs as an English-horn solo there as well.  The second theme of its First Movement is heard, in various versions, during the opening
scene of the morality, it first appearing when Evangelist tells Pilgrim that, when he knocks at the gate, "it shall be told thee what thou shalt do."
Agitated passages in the middle of the symphony's "Romanza" are associated, in the morality, with Pilgrim's burden, and the theme of its Finale, a passacaglia
(that being variations on a continually-repeated theme, that theme often first appearing in the bass), is heard during the second scene of the morality's
First Act, the scene in the House Beautiful.  The symphony was first played in 1943.  The early '40's also brought a motet for unaccompanied chorus setting
Mr. Valiant for Truth's speech from Part II of the Bunyan allegory, and then the BBC asked this composer for incidental music for a dramatization of that
great book.  This also contains music which would later appear in the morality, notably the Anglican hymn tune called "York," which I gather came from
Bunyan's time, and extensive use of the theme on which the _Tallis_ _Fantasia_ is based.  This latter would, in the morality, be shortened to just a rising-and-falling
passage which would recur at several points associated with the Celestial City.  The _Sixth_ _Symphony_, as already suggested, was _QUITE_ a different
matter!  The _Fifth_ had largely returned to a more tranquil style often associated with this composer in the public's mind.  And yet here came the _Sixth_,
returning to the brutality and harshness of the _Fourth_, though the two works are quite different from each other.  There is a folklike theme in its opening
movement which returns quite simply near its end, only to be succeeded by a return of the violent opening of the symphony.  Repeated groups of three B-flats
on brass and percussion menace the end of the Second Movement, and the middle of the Third presents a somewhat-jazzy saxophone solo.  And then comes its
strange, often _ULTRA_-soft, Finale, with what the composer describes as "whiffs of theme," causing some to wonder if he was there depicting the world
as it might be after nuclear destruction.  Yet, in a letter to Mr. Kennedy which is cited in both his musical biography of the composer referenced in the
first installment of this post and his notes for Sir Adrian Boult's EMI recording of this symphony, he says that a possible clue to the meaning of this
could be found in a passage from Prospero's farewell in Shakespeare's _The_ _Tempest_, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is
rounded with a sleep."  Re-reading the notes for that recording just minutes ago, I was surprised to discover or re-discover that, while Mr. Kennedy has
no authority for this, he conjectures that this work could conceivably be a memorial to VW's closest musical friend, Gustav Holst, who had died in 1934,
ten years before the composition of this symphony was begun (I am now ashamed that I did not write a post about Holst around the time of his birthday,
21 September, so must try to make up for that some time in future).  Sir Adrian first conducted this symphony in 1948.  While the war was still going on,
VW wrote a work to be broadcast on the BBC once victory was declared in Europe.  It was even pre-recorded.  _Thanksgiving_ _For_ _Victory_, the title later
changed to _A_ _Song_ _Of_ _Thanksgiving_, is rather a favourite of mine, its text being from the _Bible_, Shakespeare and Kipling (the latter's "Land
Of Our Birth").  It is scored for a speaker, a soprano soloist (VW wanted a powerful, dramatic voice for this with no vibrato, but, so far as I know, has
yet to get the latter, not even on the original broadcast, though he suggests a small group of boys as an alternative), chorus, children's chorus (which
begin's "Land Of Our Birth" near the end of the work) and large orchestra including a prominent organ part.  Another work for speaker, chorus and orchestra
from later in this Decade is more delicate, _An_ _Oxford_ _Elegy_, setting a combination of excerpts from two poems by the 19th-Century English poet Matthew
Arnold.  I feel this is a particularly beautiful work.  As for the previously-cited _Prayer_ _To_ _The_ _Father_ _Of_ _Heaven_, also written for Oxford,
I personally find the Skelton text which VW sets for this one of the finest pieces of Theology outside the _Bible_ itself, another such being Elgar's short
Christmas work, for unaccompanied chorus as this is, _I_ _Sing_ _The_ _Birth_, setting words attributed to Ben Johnson!  The 1950 Gloucester Festival,
which, as already related, brought the premiere of Howells' _Hymnus_ _Paradisi_, also brought an unusual work from VW, his _Fantasia_ _On_ _The_ _Old_
_104th_ _Psalm_ _Tune_ for piano solo, chorus and orchestra.  The tune is attributed to one Ravenscroft, the text being a rhymed paraphrase of the Psalm.
 When the chorus and orchestra are silent, at least Sir Adrian Boult's EMI recording of this makes it hard to believe that they are there at all, their
three appearances thus coming as somewhat of a surprise.  The second of these, where two verses of the Psalm are sung, brings the work's most advanced
harmonies.  Thereafter VW embarked on the last nearly 8 years of his life, _MOST_ productive for one who then approached and surpassed 80!  In addition
to the already-much-discussed _Pilgrim_, there would be music for the present Queen of England's coronation in 1953, including a short motet to be sung
while the Royal Couple was receiving Communion late in the Service, _O_ _Taste_ _And_ _See_, setting Psalm 34:8, and a _ROUSING_ setting of the "Old Hundredth,"
to the tune most familiar nowadays as the one to which the Doxology is usually sung, though here in its original meter instead of the uneven meter most
often sung.  VW proposed to the then-Archbishop of Canterbury that the congregation should be allowed to sing during part of this, something which had
never happened in any coronation prior to that, and this indeed happened, the congregation joining the chorus, organ and orchestra as well as the trumpeters
from the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall!  VW had made at least one other setting of this text, even including something like his setting
of the last verse here, when he set the entire Psalm, with the added final verse as in 1953, in 1930.  The 1953 version again sets a versified paraphrase.
 He may have whimsically regarded this as making "a mess-up of the "old Hundredth"," but what a _GLORIOUS_ "mess-up?" it is!  Then, the following year,
he made one of two other homages to Christmas which would come from that Decade, _Hodie_ (This Day), a cantata for three soloists, boys chorus with
organ, large mixed chorus and orchestra, telling the Christmas Story from the traditional Biblical passages as well as a passage from the Latin Christmas
Vespers along with settings of English poetry, including one by a modern-day poet, Thomas Hardy.  This also includes two unaccompanied chorales, the second
verse of the second of these, as well as the movement related to the Three Kings, offering poetry by the composer's second wife and now widow, Mrs. Ursula
Vaughan Williams.  Once again, at least in my opinion, we have one of those great pieces of Theology in the form of the Scottish poet William Drummond's
"Bright Portals Of The Sky," set for the tenor soloist just before the section related to the Three Kings.  There are also several lyrical movements, two
of these being the Hardy setting, "The Oxen," and a pastoral movement to a text by George Herbert, whose poetry VW had previously set in those beautiful
_Five_ _Mystical_ _Songs from 43 years earlier.  Checking some details from Mr. Kennedy's article for Sir David Willcocks' recording of this cantata brought
relevant information, that it is dedicated to one Herbert Howells!  Throughout his composing career, VW had been writing concertos, including one for violin,
one for piano (also in a version for two pianos), and another for oboe.  Then, in the 1950's, he wrote two more concerted works for solo instruments with
orchestra.  The first of these, a short _Romance_, was for, of all instruments, harmonica!  There is a rather-amusing story connected with it related in,
among presumably other places, Mr. Kennedy's book.  VW told the man for whom he wrote it, the American Larry Adler, that he would alter it if Mr. Adler
was not pleased with it, then do so again if he was still not pleased, and then, if he _STILL_ was displeased, he would re-write it for bass tuba!  As
things turned out, Mr. Adler _WAS_ pleased, but VW went ahead and wrote his _Tuba_ _Concerto_ anyway, and that work has become at least somewhat popular.
 It has wit as one might expect in a work for that instrument, but it also has a characteristically-lyrical slow movement.  There were also more songs
throughout this composer's long life, and two final groups of these appeared in the Late '50's, most notably his _Ten_ _Blake_ _Songs_ for tenor and solo
oboe.  These songs are quite attractive as far as I am concerned.  He also, as Richard Strauss had done, wrote _Four_ _Last_ _Songs_, these being, if I
am not mistaken, to words by his wife, but I confess to not being certain as to how much, if at all, Strauss and VW had to do with their last songs being
so designated.  He further wrote _Three_ _Shakespeare_ _Songs_ for unaccompanied chorus, the second of these setting the passage from _The_ _Tempest_ which
contained the words VW felt best described the meaning of his _Sixth_ _Symphony_'s Finale.  There would also be two more symphonies, his _Eighth_ and _Ninth_.
 Yet it should probably be here noted that his previously-cited _Seventh_, _Sinfonia_ _Antarctica_, also includes a soprano soloist, women's chorus and
a wind machine.  Each of its five movements is prefaced in the score by a literary superscription related, in the composer's mind, to Captain Scott's expedition
and VW's reaction to it and the Antarctic landscape as he understood it.  The _Eighth_ is probably the most jocular and shortest.  One of its distinguishing
features is that its middle movements are entirely for separate groups of instruments, the Second for winds and brass only and the Third, another "Romanza"
if I am not mistaken, for strings only.  The Finale includes all manner of percussion instruments, particularly bells and the like, these having increasingly
interested him later in his life, especially in the Finale of _Hodie_.  Yet there are also bells near the end of _Dona_ _Nobis_ _Pacem_ from some years
earlier.  The _Ninth_ is a rather-darker affair, and Mr. Kennedy, along with possibly others, see it as the beginning of a new direction in the composer's
output.  I personally have yet to discern this, hearing in a repeated passage in its Finale a fond farewell, but am by _NO_ means closed to the idea that
this could be something new if someone will show it to me.  Its Second Movement has a theme for solo flugel horn which closely resembles a passage early
in _A_ _Sea_ _Symphony_ at the words, "and on its limitless heaving breast," and its Scherzo (Third Movement) has a section for a quartet of saxophones.
 The work on which VW was working when he died in 1958 was yet another Christmas one, _The_ _First_ _Nowel_, a pageant which musically was largely based
on carols, etc.  "The First Nowel" itself was one of VW's personal favourites, and the work closes with it, though his assistant during his later years,
Mr. Roy Douglas, had to complete his arrangement of this along with having to complete, arrange, or even perhaps write, some movements in this work.  The
concert version of this has just received its latest recording, on the Chandos Label, conducted by one of today's greatest VW champions, Mr. Richard Hickox,
whose recording of _The_ _Pilgrim's_ _Progress_ is mentioned in my 11-June post in this blog about that work.  The disc also includes the world-premiere
recording of his 1920's masque, _On_ _Christmas_ _Night_, loosely based on Dickens' _A_ _Christmas_ _Carol_.  Another VW work which received its first
recording this year was one which I feel is particularly affecting, the final version of his _Willow_ _Wood_, a setting from Rosetti's _The_ _House_ _Of_
_Life_, from which poems the composer had also fashioned a song cycle which includes one of his most famous songs, "Silent Noon."  This version, for baritone
solo, chorus and orchestra, comes from around the time of _On_ _Wenlock_ _Edge_ and _A_ _Sea_ _Symphony_, etc., and I feel a passage in it looks straight
ahead to the _Serenade_ _To_ _Music_ of some 20 years later!  In addition to editing the _English_ _Hymnal_, VW also figured in at least two other books
of hymns and the like during his life, _Songs_ _Of_ _Praise_ and the famous _Oxford_ _Book_ _Of_ _Carols_.  He also arranged many folksongs for various
vocal and instrumental forces, etc.

I admit to not knowing as much about Howells as I have sought to do about VW, but I gather that his early career mainly focused on instrumental music whereas
his later at least largely centered on vocal/choral music.  Among other works, he wrote settings of the Anglican Morning and Evening Canticles and Communion
Service, of which settings the ones he made for King's College, Cambridge, called _Collegium_ _Regale_, are presumably the best known.  Some of these are
in Howells' more advanced harmonic language while others are more "traditional" in that area.  One setting where both of these could possibly be said to
come into play is in the Communion Service from the _Collegium_ _Regale_, the "Kyrie" ("Lord have mercy upon us, etc." in English).  This is among the
_MOST_-beautiful and moving half-minutes-or-so of music of which I am currently aware, Howells, in my opinion, perfectly capturing the meaning of this
penetential text, with anguished harmonies penetrating into the beauty, especially at "Christ have mercy upon us."  Other movements from this Service,
such as the "Gloria," are more straightforward, notably at their openings.  One of Howells' best-known works is a little Christmas gem called _A_ _Spotless_
_Rose_, often sung at services such as the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols held each Christmas Eve at King's College.  In addition to the _Hymnus_
_Paradisi_ previously mentioned, there are two other major choral works which an article I read on the Chandos Records Website (
www.chandos.net)
suggests make, with it, a "Holy Trinity" of works.  The _Missa_ _Sabrinensis_ (Mass of the Severn), from what I read, was apparently considered unperformable
for some years after having been premiered at the same Worcester Three Choirs Festival in 1954 at which VW's _Hodie_ was premiered (thus making the latter's
dedication of his Christmas Cantata to Howells even more significant it would seem).  Yet a recording of it was made on that Chandos Label, and has received
favourable reviews on amazon.com, though one reviewer cautioned that at least some of Howells' detailed dynamic markings are ignored in that performance.
 He further set the famous Medieval poem about the Virgin Mary's reaction to her Son's Crucifixion, the _Stabat_ _Mater_, in 1965, and that article on
the Chandos Site tells us that his setting was influenced by world events of the time, including a 1961 Soviet nuclear test, the harrowing Cuban missile
crisis of 1962, President Kennedy's assassination in 1963 (in response to which he wrote an unaccompanied motet for chorus on an early-Medieval text, part
of which, in the original Latin, heads the score of the _Hymnus_, though the motet sets an English translation of this beginning "Take him, earth, for
cherishing") and Sir Winston Churchill's death and funeral in 1965.  I gather that all three of these works are quite emotional, and this is _DEFINITELY_
true of the _Hymnus_, the only one of the three I really know to any degree!  Howells obviously _FELT_ the loss of his son, though he brought much technical
skill to his work as well, thus, as it were, offering a fine Bunyanesque combination of head and heart!  It seems plausible that the opening of its Prelude, for violas
and clarinets if I am hearing correctly, is an homage to Elgar's _The_ _Dream_ _Of_ _Gerontius_ which, as related in the first section of this post, Howells had come to hear at
Gloucester in 1910 where he first met the _Tallis_ _Fantasia_ and VW.  Not long thereafter, there is a climax for strings, but then, after an oboe solo
on a theme which is later associated with the 23rd Psalm, there is an even bigger one where the brass, including some stratispheric horn writing, is followed
by sweeping harp arpeggios (broken up-and-down chords).  At the end of this Prelude, a C on trumpet leads into the chorus's first entry with the opening
words of the Latin Requiem, "Requiem eternam dona eis" (I for one wonder why he omits the word "Domine" which usually appears in this passage since he
does refer to the Lord and to Christ later in the work).  The text for the _Hymnus_ is actually a mixture of Latin and English, a combination which Benjamin
Britten would use even more fully in his _War_ _Requiem_ in the early 1960's.  After these Latin words are treated extensively by both chorus and eventually
the entering soprano soloist, an orchestral interlude leads into a setting of the 23rd Psalm as it appears in the Anglican _Book _ _Of_ _Common_ _Prayer_,
the translation there beginning, "The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing."  The soprano begins this beautifully and tranquilly, but, as
the text suggests, a sinister element enters at "Yea, though I walk through the valley, etc.," though the promise of a full cup restores the tranquil mood,
leading to a return to the soprano's opening music at "But Thy lovingkindness and mercy, etc."  The chorus's repetition of this text leads to a climax
on "and I will dwell, etc.," and then comes a magical chromatic chord on "forever," the first of at least two instances in this work where Howells treats
that word in a particularly-magical way.  The next movement combines the "Sanctus" from the Latin Mass ("Holy, Holy, Holy, etc.") with the 121st Psalm,
"I will lift up mine eyes, etc."  This is a particularly powerful, impassioned movement, the choral womens' repeated Sanctuses being answered by the soprano
and tenor soloists beginning the Psalm.  Then, after the "Sanctus" has gained sway, the key of C major is reached, and, with a heavy orchestral thud as
of a foot being planted firmly down, the chorus then informs us that "He will not sufffer thy foot to be moved, etc.," and then, after several more verses
of the Psalm, the "Sanctus" returns at a big climax on E major, including some _WONDERFUL_ high B's and C-sharps from the first violins.  This gradually
subsides into E minor and then, with an English-horn solo with orchestra as interlude, an unaccompanied semi-chorus of boys voices reiterates the opening
of the "Sanctus" after which the womens' "Dominus, Deus Sabaoth" returns us to the opening music of the movement where the two soloists bring the Psalm
to a close, the words "for evermore" bringing yet another magical treatment from Howells.  The text for the next movement comes from the _Book_ _Of_ _The_
_Revelation_ and the Anglican Burial Office, beginning "I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, from henceforth blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord, etc.," and Howells has the tenor soloist begin this with viola accompaniment, after which, with two clarinets magically entering, the semi-chorus
gives us that part of the text which St. John was bidden to write.  This is calm of a sort before the final movement, the text for which, beginning "Holy
is the true light," comes from the _Salisbury_ _Diurnal_ with Alleluias added by Howells.  The composer tells us, in notes reproduced in the booklet accompanying
Sir David Willcocks's _SPLENDID_, at least in my opinion, EMI recording of this work, that light is an important aspect of it, and this is obviously found
particularly in this last movement where that light lends "radiance to them that endured in the heat of the conflict."  As the music approaches its final
climax in E-flat major, where both chorus and orchestra reach for the heights, including more _WONDERFUL_ stratispheric, Elgar-like writing for the violins,
we are told of that home of unfading splendour which the redeemed inherit "wherein they rejoice with gladness evermore."  Yet it would seem obvious that
this passion, besides depicting the light, shows that this composer is _FEELING_ his loss and thus expressing it.  After the music and the soloists' Alleluias
subside, the opening text of the work returns to bring it to a peaceful, restful conclusion.

Both VW and Howells could write congenial, accessible music, but, as already related, they both could also write music of complexity and, yes, harshness
at times.  A reasonable amount of the music in _Hymnus_ _Paradisi_ could not exactly be called pleasant by conventional standards, and yet, if one can
let it, it indeed can move, as can a harsh, yet apt to its situation, opera such as VW's _Riders_ _To_ _The_ _Sea_.  Perhaps I have, as Skelton says he
did regarding Eleanor Rumming in the first of the _Five_ _Tudor_ _Portraits_, written too much over this two-part post, but hopefully my visitors can realize
from this that the subject means _MUCH_ to me, and thus, if necessary, can forgive the verbosity.  I can only hope that what has been written here can
somehow win new friends for these two composers and confirm the love of those already initiated!

Hoping this finds my visitors well and ready for some good music,

J. V.

An Additional Honour

Greetings!:

As owner of The House of Old-School, I hereby confer the designated honour upon the below-named individual for reasons set forth in the following citation:

For long _AND_ _PATIENT_ service when taking care of me for many years from my late childhood through early adulthood, for, as part of that patience, putting
up with my quirky and, yes, sometimes-cranky, ways, for being an excellent opponent in the two Vaughan-Thomas Tournaments we had in 1963 and 1965 respectively,
for making flags, awards, and other props associated with them and other often-ceremonial functions during her years with me, and, though she was also
folksy, for living out the basic premise of this blog, the late Miss Mary E. Thomas is hereby created Honourary Co-Patroness of The House of Old-School.
 Mrs. Mary Cupid, the other Honourary Co-Patroness of this blog, being the only person I currently know who had significant association with her, has accepted
this appointment on her behalf.

Gratefully, respectfully and joyfully submitted,

J. V.
Owner
The House Of Old-School

The Birthdays Of Two Great English Composers

Greetings!:

This post is a bit late for various reasons, notably the computer problem I was having and mentioned in my last post and, yes, more procrastination.  Yet
today, the anniversary of when I first met Mr. John Noble, who sang Pilgrim in Sir Adrian Boult's recording of Vaughan Williams's _The_ _Pilgrim's_ _Progress_,
about which work you may read in my 11-June post devoted to it, seemed a good day on which to write this, and thus here it is for what it is worth.

October saw the birth of two great English composers, Vaughan Williams on the 12th in 1872 and Herbert Howells on the 17th in 1882.  Both of them came from
Gloucestershire, and they became friends when they met in Gloucester Cathedral in September, 1910, just after VW had conducted the world-premiere performance
of his now-famous _Fantasia_ _On_ _A_ _Theme_ _Of_ _Thomas_ _Tallis_ at the Three Choirs Festival.  Howells was most impressed with it, and I just learned
today that, after VW left the rostrum, he sat down next to Howells, and the two of them looked at the same score during the subsequent performance of Elgar's
_The_ _Dream_ _Of_ _Gerontius_.  Howells had actually come to hear this latter, but his lasting impression was of the _Fantasia_.  The two of them would
subsequently teach at the Royal College of Music at the same time, and, to our lasting benefit, VW would later suggest that Howells release his _Hymnus_
_Paradisi_, which he had written as a memorial to his son who had died in infancy, for public performance after it had been held in private for 12 years.
 Howells first conducted it, also at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, in 1950, and it is now numbered among the greatest of English choral works,
at least those written in the 20th Century.  I think I have at least somewhat liked it ever since I first came to know it in the 1980's, but have become
increasingly moved by it in recent years.

Vaughan Williams produced a large body of work during his long life, and much of this was rooted in the style of English folksong and/or the works of the
English Tudor composers.  VW and others went throughout the English Countryside during the first years of the 20th Century to collect folksongs, asking
the older people to sing these so that they might be written down, etc.  A man called Cecil Sharp was largely responsible for this movement to restore
the people's music, and other composers such as Gustav Holst, George Butterworth (if you wish, you may read my post about him and Oscar Hammerstein II
earlier in this blog) and Percy Grainger also joined in.  Then, in 1904, VW was asked to take up editorship of the proposed new _English_ _Hymnal_, and
this too was a valuable influence on him.  In addition to discovering many previous tunes, he wrote some himself, of which "Sine Nomine (Latin for "Without
A Name")," for the text "For All The Saints," and "Down Ampney (the name of the town where he was born), for the text "Come Down, O Love Divine," are probably
the best known.  By the bye, for those not acquainted with the Anglican Communion, it is customary there to give hymn tunes names apart from the names
of the poems set to them, and thus one finds some seemingly-unusual ones alongside those more straightforward.  I am assuming that VW's decision to call
the tune for "For All The Saints" "Sine Nomine" came from his playful sense of humour.  Meanwhile he began to compose original works, several early examples
being solo songs.  His first published work is probably his most famous song, "Linden Lea."  There is further a beautiful and rather-famous song cycle
from the first decade of the Century, _Songs_ _Of_ _Travel_, to texts by Stevenson, the author of _Treasure_ _Island_.  This was further the period of
A. E. Housman's book of poems, _A_ _Shropshire_ _Lad_, and VW was one of several English composers to set some of these, his best-known settings being
a song cycle named after one of its poems, _On_ Wenlock_ _Edge_, originally composed for tenor soloist, string quartet and piano, but later orchestrated.
 More is said about Housman in my Butterworth/Hammerstein post.  And then there was the famous American poet, Walt Whitman, to whose work 20th-Century
English composers were also drawn.  VW's earliest familiar choral work is a Whitman setting, _Toward_ _The_ _Unknown_ _Region_, and, in 1910, there was
the first performance of a work on which he had been occupied for several years, _A_ _Sea_ _Symphony_, the first of nine symphonies he would write and
his only choral one, he beginning his symphonic career with such while Beethoven ended so.  As related in my earlier cited post, it was Butterworth who
would spur this composer on to his Second, _A_ _London_ _Symphony_, his personal favourite and mine as well.  After his two big 1910 successes, the next
decade would prove quite fruitful for him, some highlights, besides the _Second_ _Symphony_, being his George Herbert settings, _Five_ _Mystical_ _Songs_,
the _Fantasia_ _On_ _Christmas_ _Carols_, his first opera, _Hugh_ _The_ _Drover_, and a popular work for violin solo and small orchestra called _The_ _Lark_
_Ascending_.  During the First World War he drove an ambulance in France, and while there he heard both a bugler playing his calls with a flattened seventh
as well as a woman singing while washing.  Reminiscences of these found their way into his next symphony, _A_ _Pastoral_ _Symphony_, from 1922 if I have
the year right.  Though his earlier works had at least some dissonance in them, this symphony really began to explore some new harmonic territory for him,
though his music never went as far with that as the 12-tone composers such as Schoenberg, Berg and Webern and other progressivists.  As of when I last
heard, Mr. Michael Kennedy, VW's musical biographer, regarded this symphony as his greatest, though in his book, _The_ _Works_ _Of_ _Ralph_ _Vaughan_ _Williams_
(Oxford University Press, 1964-80), he gives that distinction to the _Fifth_.  Some musical highlights for this composer from the 1920's include his much-loved
_Mass_ _In_ _G_ _Minor_ for soloists and unaccompanied chorus, his second full-length opera, _Sir_ _John_ _In_ _Love_, based on Shakespeare's _The_ _Merry_
_Wives_ _Of_ _Windsor_, his relatively-short but large-scale oratorio based on the later part of the _Book_ _Of_ _The_ _Revelation_ called _Sancta_ _Civitas_
(The Holy City in Latin), and what the composer called an "exotic suite" for viola solo, wordless chorus and small orchestra called _Flos_ _Campi_ (Lily
of the Valley if I recall correctly), based on the _Song_ _Of_ _Solomon_.  And then there was a pastoral episode, _The_ _Shepherds_ _Of_ _The_ _Delectable_
_Mountains_, based on an episode in Bunyan's _The_ _Pilgrim's_ _Progress_.  VW had first set music for a dramatization of that book in 1906, and this later
1920's episode would set him more fully thinking about writing a complete opera on the subject of that famous allegory, the fruit of which would be his
morality, discussed more fully in my 11-June post, which he would complete in 1949 and first see staged at Covent Garden in 1951.  1930 would bring his
most famous work for dance, _Job_, a masque for dancing based on William Blake's illustrations of the _Book_ _Of_ _Job_.  There would be two more operas
during the '30's, _Riders_ _To_ _The_ _Sea_, a rather-short but highly-dramatic as well as musically-dissonant work giving an almost-complete setting of
a play by the Irish playwrite John Millington Singe about the misfortunes of an Irish seacoast family, which at least some, Mr. Kennedy among them, regard
as his most-successful stage work (and, despite my partiality toward the _Pilgrim_, they may well be right), and a lighter one, _The_ _Poisoned_ _Kiss_,
concerned with a pair of lovers, one of whom has been brought up on poisons and the other on antidotes to these and that which results from this.  It only
received its first recording a few years ago.  There were also the _Five_ _Tudor_ _Portraits_, settings of the Tudor poet John Skelton, whose poetry would
further be set in an _ENTIRELY_-different work later and a special favourite of mine, _Prayer_ _To_ _The_ _Father_ _Of_ _Heaven_, in 1948.  Yet the fourth
of these portraits, depicting the funeral of a pet sparrow in a convent killed by a cat, is also a religious work full of compassion whereas the third
is a celebration of the death of an unpopular deacon in a mixture of Latin and English (as is also that 4th portrait).  And, with World War II coming nearer,
there was _Dona_ _Nobis_ _Pacem_, that title perhaps familiar as the closing words of the Ordinary of the Latin Mass, this VW cantata also returning to
Whitman, including a setting of his _Derge_ _For_ _Two_ _Veterans_ from the first Decade of the Century, the decade of those early Whitman settings.  Yet
this work ends as I personally feel it should, with God being the ultimate bringer of peace after the humanistic pleadings of Whitman and a quotation from
a speech given on the floor of the House of Commons.  But arguably the most significant work of that decade was the _Fourth_ _Symphony_.  As written above,
VW explored dissonant harmonies in his _Third_, but this, perhaps because it begins so loudly, caused consternation at first, this often-pastoral composer
now writing something brutally harsh.  People also tried to attach this work to the current world situation, as they would later do with his _Sixth_, but
VW was having _NONE_ of it, insisting that these two works were just pieces of music, though he did concede that the last movement of the _Sixth_ might
have had a Shakespearean association, of which perhaps more later.  The _Fourth_, unlike the _Sixth_, does not overly appeal to me personally, but its
importance cannot be denied.

I am going to take a so-far unprecedented step for this blog here.  Since this post has so far grown to a length which perhaps even I did not first consider,
I think, given that I have dinner and the last two acts of the _Pilgrim_ for this anniversary to which to get, that I will soon publish what I have here
written, leaving the rest for a separate post either tomorrow or soon thereafter.
Until then, as usual, I hope this finds my visitors well.

J. V.

Microsoft And Deference

Greetings!: 

For a blog "dedicated to the basic proposition that dignity, decency and deference need not die," I have been doing a _JOLLY_-poor job of bringing up those
"core values" since my first two posts.  I am here going to rectify that somewhat, yet would that what is currently going on in our society might not render
such necessary! 

I had a computer problem which was hopefully solved yesterday (I may possibly go into detail as to what that was some other time), and, in process of trying
to wrap up the solution to this, it was necessary for me to telephone Microsoft.  When I gave my identifying information to the first person with whom
I spoke, that individual immediately started addressing me by my first name.  When I expressed displeasure/reservation about that, she informed me that
this was what she was trained to do, and, when I ended up with another, I was merely asked for said first name.  I gave that latter person only my last.
 I have not re-read my initial post for quite some time, but in it I feel confident that I asked if it would not be better, in a business situation such
as this, to begin by addressing the customer/client by his or her title and last name, the caller obviously then having the option to ask the representative
to use the first name should one wish it so.  If not, I have now done so here.  I obviously wish we were a larger number, but there are still at least
a few of us who like some old-fashioned _DEFERENCE_, thus this being part of that basic proposition to which this blog is dedicated!  I am _VERY_ tempted
to say something cynical here, but I will forebear in the name of hopeful dignity and decency. 

Hoping this finds my visitors well, 

J. V.

A Strange Error In The Next Post

In the post following this one, the one saluting the Navy on its anniversary, a strange error occurred, one which I cannot correct by editing since my screen-reader
software seems not to support that function.  In the Secretary of the Navy's message, he once speaks of "this nation's" with an apostrophe-s, and yet,
on two submissions, it published as "this nation?s" with a question mark.  I assure you that that question mark was _NOT_ the Secretary's doing, nor mine!!!
 J. V.

Happy Birthday, US Navy!

Greetings!:

Begging the indulgence of those who might find two military-birthday posts back-to-back "overkill," here cometh yet another such! 

In the name of the House of Old-School, I extend my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to the United States Navy on the occasion of its 231st anniversary! 

As a most-interesting article on the Naval Historical Center's Website,
www.history.navy.mil,
informs/reminds us, the Continental Congress established a navy on this date in 1775.  This was somewhat controversial prior to that date, some Members
preferring to see if issues could be worked out with the Mother Country before escalating hostilities.  Yet General Washington, as it were, was a step
ahead.  He brought in one or more ships, and notified the Congress of these in early October of that year.  There thus seemed no longer any need of delaying
the establishment of such a navy, and so it was established on this date.  This would be disbanded after the Revolutionary War, but, the new Constitution
of the United States providing for the establishment of a navy, a new one was established in 1798.  Yet the Navy, as do the Army and Marine Corps, prefers
to recognize the establishment dates of their Continental predecessors as their official birthdays. 

The US Navy, along with those of various other countries, has certainly come quite a way from the impressive tall-masted sailing vessels of earlier history
to the mechanized, and even nuclear, ships of modern navys, but hopefully the men and women who sail and serve on them, while they may be individually
flawed as we all are, are highly principled, qualified and brave at their core, thus providing this Nation with the sea, amphibious and, yes, air support
it requires in these troublesome times of ours.  One also assumes, whether rightly or wrongly, that increased mechanization might require less manpower
than before, but, whether or not it does, those who serve must be the best equipped and qualified personnel we can find!  One obviously hears much about
aircraft carriers, but a brief checking of the Navy's official Website,
www.navy.mil,
shows that there still are several other types of ships in use, including some amphibious craft, some World-War-II-types of which I once visited several
years ago.  Those wishing more details than I can give here, both for spacial and admittedly lack-of-full-knowledge reasons, are STRONGLY_ recommended
to seek such details there!  And yes, the Navy also has missiles in its arsenal, and several Naval Officers, along with their other Service counterparts,
have served valuably as astronauts. 

As I have done in two of my previous service-anniversary posts, I wish to share this time something from the Navy's Website, this being the Secretary of
the Navy's birthday greeting to the Fleet which now follows:

SECNAV Navy Birthday Message to the Fleet
Navy Newsstand
The Source for Navy News

www.news.navy.mil

Table with 2 columns and 4 rows

Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), the Honorable Dr. Donald C. Winter, speaks to local news reporters from the island of Oahu during a media availability onboard
Naval Station Pearl Harbor.

SECNAV Navy Birthday Message to the Fleet
Story Number: NNS061012-18
Release Date: 10/12/2006 6:20:00 PM
Top News Story - Editors should consider using these stories first in local publications.

Special message from Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- America is an amazing success story. From our humble origins we have grown, prospered, and offered freedom to generations of Americans.

We cherish our independence, our liberties, and our way of life, and like generations before, we unwaveringly defend these bedrocks from those who would
do us harm.

Since 1775, when the Continental Congress of the United States recognized the need for naval forces, the United States Navy has been vital in protecting
our national security. The heroism and courage of the Sailors that have fought our nation’s wars since the earliest days of the republic is alive today
in each and every one of you; as we once again confront an enemy that openly targets our freedom and our way of life. Your willingness to serve, your steadfastness
in the face of pressure, and your inspiring example of courage in confronting danger are what protect us from those who plot our destruction.

The fact that we live in an increasingly dangerous world is a sobering thought. We have faced great peril before, and we have prevailed. From those in Iraq
and Afghanistan, to those deployed at sea and ashore around the world, to those at home who are responsible for recruiting, training, supplying, and providing
intelligence to the warfighter, you are all engaged in a noble and worthy endeavor to preserve our way of life and keep America safe.

On this 231st Birthday of the United States Navy, take unique pride in knowing that your service and your sacrifice continue to do honor to a great nation.
Your nation, fellow Americans, and our friends and allies around the world respect and appreciate your commitment.

It is my honor and privilege to be your Secretary as we celebrate this birthday. May God bless you, your families, and the United States of America.

I join the Secretary in once again extending congratulations and best wishes to the US Navy on this special day for them!

Respectfully and joyfully submitted,

J. V.

Happy Belated Birthday, US Air Force!

Greetings!:

In the name of the House of Old-School, I extend my heartiest belated congratulations and best wishes to the United States Air Force on its 59th anniversary!
 I actually thought this anniversary might be today, the 27th, or yesterday, the 26th, but checking the Air Force's Website informs me that I was mistaken! 

As I expect many of us know, the Air Force as we currently know it did not become an independent branch of the Armed Forces until the late 1940's, 1947
to be precise, it having had various manifestations prior to that, perhaps the best-known of which being the Army Air Corps.  In fact, unless I am grossly
mistaken, the Air Force's famous song, which begins "Off we go into the wild blue yonder," used to close with the words, "Nothing can stop the Army Air
Corps," that song having been written in 1939 since 1964 marked its 25th anniversary (I have evidence of this latter on an old open-reel recording made
off the radio).  The Air Force's Website,
www.af.mil,
informs us that the separate Air Force, along with the present Department of Defense, resulted from, if I have the title right, the National Security Act
of 1947, which President Truman signed, creating both the Department of Defense and the three separate service departments.  Perhaps I should check into
this further, but I was of understanding that the Departments of the Army and Navy previously existed under the old War Department (the Navy Department
_CERTAINLY_ did, or at least the office of Secretary of the Navy, as reported during a broadcast of President Franklin Roosevelt's third inauguration in
1941 which I also have on reel-to-reel tape).  My late and favourite uncle, Mr. John Henry Davidson, Honourary Patron of this blog, served briefly in the
Army Air Service during World War I, and my father, unfortunately a rather unsavoury character, served in either that or the present Air Force around the
time he married my mother and I was born. 

Though I regretably must admit to not being as well informed about today's Air Force as I perhaps should be, I trust it is a matter of general knowledge
that modern warfare usually begins with air strikes, this, if I am not mistaken, even going back as far as World War II.  Operation Desert Storm _CERTAINLY_
began with them.  In my post about 9-11, I mentioned meeting two Air Forcemen who know a Major General I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting at last
year's Navy/Air Force football game in Annapolis.  He and a classmate of his at the Air Force Academy told me that the F16 fighter, along with other current
Air Force aircraft, are _MOST_ impressive in their capabilities, and thus it would appear that we can be assured of air superiority if and when we need
it (as we currently do in Iraqi Freedom and/or Enduring Freedom, etc.)!  And it goes without saying that those who fly combat aircraft and man their weaponry
must be as brave as their ground and sea counterparts since, when it unfortunately happens, it is obviously not pleasant being shot downout of the sky.
 Yet one hopes that, in the _VAST_ majority of cases, it is _WE_ who are doing the shooting-down, etc.! 

Again though it is late, I would here like to share a message from the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff which was written to
celebrate this recent birthday, this having come from the afore-mentioned Air Force Website. 

9/18/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The following is a message from Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael
Moseley on the Air Force's 59th birthday Sept. 18. 

"Over the course of the past 59 years, the United States Air Force has established itself as the dominant force in air, space and cyberspace. Our knowledge-enabled
Airmen have revolutionized the way our nation defends itself and its allies across the full spectrum of threats. 

"Before our inception as an independent service, the Air Force responded wherever and whenever needed, whether for disaster relief, humanitarian operations
or combat operations. We have only gotten better in time. 

"Our heritage is one of technological innovation, courage and dedication. As we build on that proud heritage and look toward new and unlimited horizons,
we will continue to deliver unmatched air, space and cyberspace dominance for the interdependent joint team and our nation. 

"Your tireless commitment, agility and professionalism are the foundation for our successes. Without you, and the support of your families, we could not
be the world-class team we are. America's Airmen exemplify our core values of Integrity First, Service Before Self and Excellence in All We Do. 

"As we lead into our diamond anniversary celebration, we count on our most valuable asset -- our Airmen -- to continue the magnificent work our forebears
began. We are confident you'll conquer tomorrow's challenges with the same courage, commitment and confidence that defined our first 59 years. 

"Thanks to our entire Air Force family across the globe: active duty, civilian, Guard, Reserve, retirees, veterans and all their families. Happy birthday,
Air Force!" 

In process of considering and preparing this post, it was my most-opportune pleasure to discover that there is going to be an Air Force Memorial, that it
is being completed, if it is not already, in Arlington, Virginia, across from the Pentagon, and that it is to be dedicated on Saturday, 14 October, at
1:30 p.m. Eastern time!  The most-visible element of this memorial will be three stainless-steel spires going 270 feet into the sky and forming an equalateral
triangle, though each spire will be of a different height, thus providing differing views from different angles.  These three spires will represent the
three core values of the Air Force which you read in the above message, "integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do."  Members of the general public who are able to
attend will be able to view the ceremony, presumably via closed-circuit television, from the Pentagon South Parking Lot, and there is to be an Air Force
open house throughout the day there where visitors may view various aircraft and helicopters, etc.  Following the ceremony there is to be a concert in
that lot by a country singer whose name I know but whose work I may not yet know, Miss Lee Ann Womack (yet it just occurs to me that, unless I am _GROSSLY_
mistaken, I am virtually certain that it was she who performed a _VERY_ popular song called "I Hope You Dance" which I _HAVE_ heard many times.  Though
I have yet to hear it, though it is not my focus here, and begging the pardon of any who might find this interpolation in poor taste amid this attempt
at an Air Force tribute, our Honourary Patroness recorded that song, and those wishing to hear her rendition may go to
www.suzann.com/music/songs.htm.).
The ceremony, among the expected speeches and music from the Air Force Ceremonial Brass, is to also feature, weather permitting one assumes, some fly-overs
by modern and, if I recall correctly, historic aircraft, including the famous Air Force Thunderbirds.  Further information about this Memorial may be had
by going to
www.airforcememorial.org,
and hopefully as many of my Washington-Area visitors as possible can join me for this special event if all goes well! 
Once again I belatedly salute the Air Force on this anniversary-next before their milestone 60th, and thank all Air Force personnel, both past and present, both living
and those who died in discharge of their duties, very much for the service they provided and continue to provide to this Nation! 

Respectfully and joyfully submitted, 

J. V.