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- Herbert Howells
Penguinski (1933)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Choreographed by Daphne Fox and Katherine Craster
Programme Note
PROGRAMME NOTE
Howells wrote Penguinski for a visit made to the Royal College of Music on 10 May 1933 by the Prince of Wales, the President of the conservatory. The occasion was used as a showcase for works by a number of contemporary composers including Arthur Benjamin, Lord Berners, Armstrong Gibbs, Gordon Jacob and Constant Lambert. Malcolm Sargent, who was to have conducted Penguinski, was indisposed on the day, his place taken by Lambert. At its first (and probably only) performance it was fully choreographed by Daphne Fox and Katherine Craster and was the second item in the concert. It also featured the solo dancing of Penelope Spencer who, according to The Times critic "was [also] responsible for the arrangement of the dances, for which the music had been composed by various professors and members of the College".
Howells's score pays light and affectionate tribute to the huge and popularity of Stravinsky in London from the teens of the twentieth century. London audiences had been completely seduced by Diaghilev's Russian Ballet performances at the Alhambra Theatre and Howells was as great a devotee as any. The influence on him was profound, not so much in terms of writing strings of pieces with pseudo-Russian titles, but in his orchestration.
He had written music with Russian influence before. In 1919 he set a Russian folk tune, Luchinushka, for violin and piano. He had also written an orchestral work called Procession, which began as a work for piano solo in 1917 and was orchestrated in 1922 for that year's Proms. It is a powerful and colourful work despite its brief duration but is closer in spirit with the revolutionary events of 1917 than with the fairytale escapism of Petrushka or The Firebird.
In the case of Penguinski we have an even shorter work lasting only four or five minutes, but in that small time span, Howells demonstrates his assimilation of the colour and energy of the Russian style as had become so popular through these great ballets. A sizeable percussion section including piano (which is so often a feature of Howells's scores) contributes to the exotic quality of sound Howells was looking to create and which is the hallmark of not only Stravinsky's ballet scores, but also of the French school, especially as represented by Ravel. It was all part of the escape route for English composers of the time from the dominance of the German symphonic tradition.
In Penguinski Howells creates a knockabout piece which shadowboxes Petrushka. The four-square energetic theme, with its almost musical-box metricality which is then thrown off course by the odd bar of irregular metre, has an air of the slapstick which is the hallmark of the puppet world. The almost concertante part given to the piano further underlines the playful nature of the piece, and the introduction of a big 'tune' (figure 7), which is then promptly discarded, has almost the effect of a child mimicking the pomposity of the adult in front who is completely unaware. The best clue that we have as to the subject matter of the piece is provided by the critic from the Daily Telegraph who wrote "Herbert Howells's Penguinski showed us the most dignified of feathered fowls [the penguin] robbed of their wonted dignity by dancing naiads". Apart from this we have no record of the scenario or whether the composer provided a libretto for the ballet.
Whilst slight of stature, Penguinski further underlines Howells's versatility, gives a colourful insight into the prevailing influences of the time and is an intriguing example of how Stravinsky must have sounded to his English contemporaries.
© Paul Spicer
Lichfield
August 2000
EDITORIAL NOTE
Following its première, Penguinski remained unheard until recorded simultaneously for Chandos Records and BBC Radio 3 for broadcast, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Richard Hickox at the Watford Colosseum on 22nd May 2000.
The original score had been lost but reconstruction was possible as the parts, now held at the Royal College of Music survived from the 1933 performance. An incomplete score in Howells's hand writing also exists at the RCM but differs substantially from the, presumably, final version of the score from which the parts were extracted. There is therefore no reliable way of checking the accuracy of the copyist of the orchestral material in a work of quirky harmonies and deliberate "wrong" notes.
Certain adjustments have had to be made to the harp part, Howells sharing with other British composers of that time, including Vaughan Williams (and by extension, their editors) a vagueness about the capabilities of that instrument. For help with producing the part as it appears here, I am grateful to Sioned Williams, harpist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the first recording.
Howard Friend
Howells wrote Penguinski for a visit made to the Royal College of Music on 10 May 1933 by the Prince of Wales, the President of the conservatory. The occasion was used as a showcase for works by a number of contemporary composers including Arthur Benjamin, Lord Berners, Armstrong Gibbs, Gordon Jacob and Constant Lambert. Malcolm Sargent, who was to have conducted Penguinski, was indisposed on the day, his place taken by Lambert. At its first (and probably only) performance it was fully choreographed by Daphne Fox and Katherine Craster and was the second item in the concert. It also featured the solo dancing of Penelope Spencer who, according to The Times critic "was [also] responsible for the arrangement of the dances, for which the music had been composed by various professors and members of the College".
Howells's score pays light and affectionate tribute to the huge and popularity of Stravinsky in London from the teens of the twentieth century. London audiences had been completely seduced by Diaghilev's Russian Ballet performances at the Alhambra Theatre and Howells was as great a devotee as any. The influence on him was profound, not so much in terms of writing strings of pieces with pseudo-Russian titles, but in his orchestration.
He had written music with Russian influence before. In 1919 he set a Russian folk tune, Luchinushka, for violin and piano. He had also written an orchestral work called Procession, which began as a work for piano solo in 1917 and was orchestrated in 1922 for that year's Proms. It is a powerful and colourful work despite its brief duration but is closer in spirit with the revolutionary events of 1917 than with the fairytale escapism of Petrushka or The Firebird.
In the case of Penguinski we have an even shorter work lasting only four or five minutes, but in that small time span, Howells demonstrates his assimilation of the colour and energy of the Russian style as had become so popular through these great ballets. A sizeable percussion section including piano (which is so often a feature of Howells's scores) contributes to the exotic quality of sound Howells was looking to create and which is the hallmark of not only Stravinsky's ballet scores, but also of the French school, especially as represented by Ravel. It was all part of the escape route for English composers of the time from the dominance of the German symphonic tradition.
In Penguinski Howells creates a knockabout piece which shadowboxes Petrushka. The four-square energetic theme, with its almost musical-box metricality which is then thrown off course by the odd bar of irregular metre, has an air of the slapstick which is the hallmark of the puppet world. The almost concertante part given to the piano further underlines the playful nature of the piece, and the introduction of a big 'tune' (figure 7), which is then promptly discarded, has almost the effect of a child mimicking the pomposity of the adult in front who is completely unaware. The best clue that we have as to the subject matter of the piece is provided by the critic from the Daily Telegraph who wrote "Herbert Howells's Penguinski showed us the most dignified of feathered fowls [the penguin] robbed of their wonted dignity by dancing naiads". Apart from this we have no record of the scenario or whether the composer provided a libretto for the ballet.
Whilst slight of stature, Penguinski further underlines Howells's versatility, gives a colourful insight into the prevailing influences of the time and is an intriguing example of how Stravinsky must have sounded to his English contemporaries.
© Paul Spicer
Lichfield
August 2000
EDITORIAL NOTE
Following its première, Penguinski remained unheard until recorded simultaneously for Chandos Records and BBC Radio 3 for broadcast, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Richard Hickox at the Watford Colosseum on 22nd May 2000.
The original score had been lost but reconstruction was possible as the parts, now held at the Royal College of Music survived from the 1933 performance. An incomplete score in Howells's hand writing also exists at the RCM but differs substantially from the, presumably, final version of the score from which the parts were extracted. There is therefore no reliable way of checking the accuracy of the copyist of the orchestral material in a work of quirky harmonies and deliberate "wrong" notes.
Certain adjustments have had to be made to the harp part, Howells sharing with other British composers of that time, including Vaughan Williams (and by extension, their editors) a vagueness about the capabilities of that instrument. For help with producing the part as it appears here, I am grateful to Sioned Williams, harpist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the first recording.
Howard Friend