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- Herbert Howells
Suite for String Orchestra (1942)
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Programme Note
Herbert Howells: Suite for String Orchestra (1942)
September 6th 1910 proved to be a watershed in the life of Herbert Howells. Still not yet eighteen, he was then articled pupil to Herbert Brewer at Gloucester Cathedral, where he had developed a keen interest in Tudor music, Gregorian chant and modality. On that fateful day he went with his friend Ivor Gurney to a performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, given as part of the Three Choirs Festival. Neither of them was prepared for the effect of the first work in the programme, a commissioned piece receiving its first performance, and entitled Fantasy on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. Howells was thunderstruck, and has described how he got no sleep that night but paced the streets of Gloucester with Gurney discussing the revelation of a piece that had smitten him. That moment marked not only the start of a lifelong friendship between Vaughan Williams and Howells, but awakened in the younger man an awareness of the expressive possibilities of the string orchestra.
The manuscript of this work carries the title "First Suite for String Orchestra": it is in fact nothing of the sort. The first product of Howells' abiding interest in the medium dates from 1917 and is also entitled Suite - a three movement work of great maturity and charm to which he turned for material in at least two other pieces: its second movement was revised as the Elegy for Viola, String Quartet and String Orchestra, and the prelude was reworked and extended into the first movement of his greatest orchestral work, the Concerto for Strings of 1938.
This piece is one of two works written in 1942, (both entitled Suite for Strings) and is dated April of that year. It is dedicated to Reginald Jacques and the Jacques String Orchestra, who gave the first performance at Wigmore Hall on May 19th 1943.
It was left unperformed for the next 40 years, which is a great shame, as it turns out to be a fresh and inventive score, full of delightful felicities. Intended to charm and divert - which it does splendidly - it attempts nothing of the depth, range or complexity of the Concerto. The material is relatively simple, but in terms of sheer craftsmanship it is an object lesson in skilful and effective string writing. The movements are: Allegro deciso - the most extended of the four, vigorous and based on driving 5/4 rhythm. Next Siciliano elegiaco, a wistful and rather sad piece, tender and delicate with more than a glimpse of the deeper Howells: this is followed by Alla menuetto, a movement of poise and refinement, making considerable use of pizzicato and containing an expressive middle section. The final Rondo is marked Allegro assai; brioso, fast and athletically written to bring this light-hearted work to a suitably brilliant conclusion.
This Suite and its companion (which has disappeared apart from a very incomplete manuscript in the Royal College of Music) are the last original orchestral works Howells ever wrote, and therefore it holds a particular interest for anyone concerned with British Music of this century.
© Giles Easterbrook
September 6th 1910 proved to be a watershed in the life of Herbert Howells. Still not yet eighteen, he was then articled pupil to Herbert Brewer at Gloucester Cathedral, where he had developed a keen interest in Tudor music, Gregorian chant and modality. On that fateful day he went with his friend Ivor Gurney to a performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, given as part of the Three Choirs Festival. Neither of them was prepared for the effect of the first work in the programme, a commissioned piece receiving its first performance, and entitled Fantasy on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. Howells was thunderstruck, and has described how he got no sleep that night but paced the streets of Gloucester with Gurney discussing the revelation of a piece that had smitten him. That moment marked not only the start of a lifelong friendship between Vaughan Williams and Howells, but awakened in the younger man an awareness of the expressive possibilities of the string orchestra.
The manuscript of this work carries the title "First Suite for String Orchestra": it is in fact nothing of the sort. The first product of Howells' abiding interest in the medium dates from 1917 and is also entitled Suite - a three movement work of great maturity and charm to which he turned for material in at least two other pieces: its second movement was revised as the Elegy for Viola, String Quartet and String Orchestra, and the prelude was reworked and extended into the first movement of his greatest orchestral work, the Concerto for Strings of 1938.
This piece is one of two works written in 1942, (both entitled Suite for Strings) and is dated April of that year. It is dedicated to Reginald Jacques and the Jacques String Orchestra, who gave the first performance at Wigmore Hall on May 19th 1943.
It was left unperformed for the next 40 years, which is a great shame, as it turns out to be a fresh and inventive score, full of delightful felicities. Intended to charm and divert - which it does splendidly - it attempts nothing of the depth, range or complexity of the Concerto. The material is relatively simple, but in terms of sheer craftsmanship it is an object lesson in skilful and effective string writing. The movements are: Allegro deciso - the most extended of the four, vigorous and based on driving 5/4 rhythm. Next Siciliano elegiaco, a wistful and rather sad piece, tender and delicate with more than a glimpse of the deeper Howells: this is followed by Alla menuetto, a movement of poise and refinement, making considerable use of pizzicato and containing an expressive middle section. The final Rondo is marked Allegro assai; brioso, fast and athletically written to bring this light-hearted work to a suitably brilliant conclusion.
This Suite and its companion (which has disappeared apart from a very incomplete manuscript in the Royal College of Music) are the last original orchestral works Howells ever wrote, and therefore it holds a particular interest for anyone concerned with British Music of this century.
© Giles Easterbrook