I reported the other day about this
tantalising work that I discovered in the programme books of the Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra. As I surmised, there is little 'paper trail' of this work in
the ‘archives.’ However Eugene Goossens in his fascinating autobiography Overture & Beginners (Methuen, London 1951) gives a very brief account of the work’s première at the Goossens Chamber Concerts at the Aeolian Hall, London. He writes:- 'The programme of the fourth concert
was chiefly conspicuous for the first performance of a suite for chamber
orchestra entitled Captions, being Five Glimpses of an Anonymous Theme.
[Herbert] Bedford perpetuated the theme, and the ‘glimpses’ in the form of
variations were as follows:-
Arthur Bliss: ‘Twone, the House
of Felicity’
Herbert Bedford: ‘The Lonely
Dancer of Gedar’
Eugene Goossens: ‘The Strange
Case of Mr. X’
Felix White ‘Lament for a
Long-Cherished Illusion
Gerrard Williams ‘Valsette
Ignoble’
...and a finale to which, I think
we all contributed anonymously. My own variation, which parodied every (up till
then) known jazz device, was dedicated to Ernest Newman [1], who loathed jazz,
and pretended to see its influence on the contemporary trend of the group. The
rest [of the variations] including my own, were all too, too clever, and would
probably be repudiated by their composers today.’
Finally I found a review in The
Musical Times 1 June 1925. The reviewer, reviewing the Fourth Bournemouth
Musical Festival noted that ‘the work called Captions, which was played on
April 23, is amusing. It is described as five 'glimpses' of an anonymous
theme-in other words, five variations of a simple theme, which are by Arthur
Bliss, Herbert Bedford, Eugene Goossens, Felix White, and Gerrard Williams.
Arthur Bliss is, as usual, very cheerful, Eugene Goossens brilliantly clever,
and Felix White is cryptic and melancholy.’
[1] Ernest Newman (30 November 1868 – 7 July 1959) was an English
music critic and musicologist.
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