In
1916 Herbert Howells had been diagnosed with Graves’s disease and was given
only a short time to live. Radium
injections, which were then an advanced medical procedure, were largely
successful in providing a cure; however it left the composer in a weakened
state. His first major appointment as sub-organist at Salisbury Cathedral was
cut-short due to the stress of travel and this treatment. During his long
convalescence between 1917 and 1920, Howells was employed by the Carnegie Trust
as an editor of Tudor manuscripts, assisting R.R. Terry of Westminster
Cathedral. During this period he
composed a considerable corpus of orchestral and chamber music. These include Puck’s Minuet, Merry Eye
and the Elegy, Op.15, for viola, string quartet and string orchestra. In 1918 he
composed the second and third Rhapsodies
for organ. The two Violin Sonatas also
date from this time. Howells also wrote three important
choral works during these years: the cantata Sir Patrick Spens for baritone, chorus and orchestra, the Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis in G major
and the Three Carol-Anthems.
The
first carol-anthem was ‘Here is the Little Door’ (1918) to a text by Francis
Chesterton, the wife of the poet and writer G.K. Chesterton. In 1919 Howells
composed ‘A Spotless Rose’ to words from an anonymous 14th century
carol. The present ‘Sing Lullaby’ was
set to words by F.W. Harvey during 1920.
We
are lucky to possess a short note by the composer about ‘Sing Lullaby’: they
were written for the Argo record sleeve notes (RG507 Herbert Howells Church
Music) - ‘This was the third in the set. Here too a poet found the verses for
me. FW Harvey, the Gloucestershire poet, friend of Ivor Gurney had written and
published the poem only a short time before this setting was made.’ (Palmer,
1992)
Frederick
William Harvey was born in Hartpury in Gloucestershire in 1888. He was educated
at the King’s School in Gloucester and then at Rossall School on the Lancashire
coast. During this period he formed close friendships with the composer/poet
Ivor Gurney and with Herbert Howells.
Prior to the Great War, Harvey began training for the legal profession.
However, in 1914 he volunteered for the Gloucestershire Regiment. He served in
France, was promoted to Lance-Corporal and was awarded the DCM. After officer
training, he was again posted to France where he was captured whilst operating
behind the German lines. Harvey was held in a prisoner-of-war camp until after
the Armistice.
After
the war he returned to the legal practice where he worked largely as a defence
solicitor. However, this was not financially secure and he sold the practice in
the 1930s. The remainder of his life was spent in a Bohemian manner and he was
much involved in the promotion of his beloved Forest of Dean and
Gloucestershire. He died whilst living at Yorkley in 1957. Harvey wrote a
considerable quantity of poetry which was mainly published between 1916 and
1926. His most famous poem is ‘Ducks’ (From troubles of the world/I turn to
ducks). Some of the poet’s work was set by Ivor Gurney, Herbert Brewer and Herbert
Howells.
Sing lullaby, sing lullaby,
While snow doth softly [gently] fall,
Sing lullaby to Jesus
Born in an oxen-stall.
Sing lullaby to Jesus,
Born now in Bethlehem,
The naked blackthorn’s growing
To weave His diadem.
Sing lullaby, sing lullaby
While thickly snow doth fall,
Sing lullaby to Jesus
The Saviour of all.
F.W. Harvey
(1888-1957)
‘Sing
Lullaby’ was first published in Harvey’s volume Farewell in 1921. Interestingly,
it is not included in the Collected Poems
of F.W Harvey (1983) or in Anthony Boden’s F.W Harvey Soldier, Poet (1988, 1999). There is a significant textual variation in
the first stanza: Howells has set the line, ‘While snow doth gently
fall’ whereas the published text is While snow doth softly fall.’ Both words are equally effective as the idea
is to counterpoise this ‘gentle’ image with that of ‘thickly falling’ in the
final verse. It is possible that Howells’ ‘setting’ reflects the poet’s
original thought and that it was revised by Harvey for publication in the book.
The
carol was dedicated to Harry Stevens-Davis. Davis was a City of London banker
who became a pupil of Herbert Howells. He was one-time organist of Beaconsfield
Parish Church. In 1920, the carol was published by Stainer & Bell in the Church Choir Library series No.228.
‘Sing
Lullaby’ is a four-part ‘a cappella’ setting for mixed chorus. The key
structure is largely modal, with the prevailing tonality being F Dorian.
Jeffrey Shawn Wilson (1996) has noted how the carol begins with ‘the soft
lulling of voices in a seamless flowing texture in which bar lines appear to be
unnecessary.’ It is a perfect musical
analogy to the text ‘Sing lullaby, /While snow doth gently fall.’ The effect is created by parallel second inversion
chords with the occasional root position triad for variety. When the bass part
enters it is independent of this flowing harmony and creates a good melodic
phrase. This tune is then taken up by the sopranos.
The
second stanza is treated very differently to the opening gentle lullaby. The
words of this section allude to the Crucifixion – ‘The naked blackthorn’s
growing/To weave His diadem’. This is presented in chordal harmony with little
in the way of passing notes. Howells has used some very complex modulations
which add to the unsettling feel of this part of the carol. However, the mood
of the opening pages returns with the third stanza. Once again the basses and
then the sopranos provide the tune whilst the other parts sing flowing
‘lullabies’’. Shawn Wilson (1996) notes that the ‘soporific snow’ which characterised
the opening verse and ‘symbolized the sleeping of a newborn baby’ now
represents ‘the completion of the acts
required for the salvation of the world, that is, the death and resurrection of
Christ.’
In
his thesis ‘The Music of Herbert Howells,’ Peter John Hodgson quotes the
musicologist and composer Marion Scott. Writing in The Music Bulletin in May
1924 she suggested that: - ‘The three carol anthems...are singularly lovely,
and afford examples of Howells’ command of flexible rhythm and sensitive beauty
of melodic line. In the simple, highly finished design of ‘A Spotless Rose’
there is something indeed difficult to describe in words, but which, when heard
or seen upon the pages of his score, raises insistent sense of kinship with the
designs of Celtic art during its great period hundreds of years ago.’ It is a
sentiment which equally applies to ‘Sing Lullaby’.
I
asked the musicologist Pamela Blevins what Scott meant by her reference to
‘Celtic art’. She referred me to her
book Ivor Gurney and Marion Scott
(2008). In her Introduction to Herbert
Howells (in manuscript) Scott had noted that Howells’ music was influenced
by both his Celtic heritage and the landscape of Gloucestershire - ‘He came
naturally by an inheritance of beauty, hill, sky, cloud, river ‘blossomy
plain.’ Scott continued by suggesting that
‘[A]ll these things are Gloucestershire and behind them one glimpses the
successions of centuries flowing down from the mists of Celtic times in an
almost unruffled and ever-widening intellectual tide. She further observed that Howells had an ‘extraordinary
affinity with the Latin, the Celtic type of design towards which he tends when
embellishing a passage, his innate sympathy with Folk Song, his strong natural
attachment to the countryside, particularly under its pastoral aspects, his
spontaneous intimacy with Tudor thought in music, all these can be related to
each other and to him as a son of Gloucester.’
Patrick Russill (liner notes CHAN 9458) has suggested that the
Carol-Anthems as a group were the first of Howells’ choral works to
‘consistently display the same level of aural imagination and technical
refinement as his chamber music and songs of the same period...’ It is
certainly the case that Howells has managed to create an almost ‘impressionistic’
mood in ‘Sing Lullaby’ that transcends and elaborates its Christian origins.
Bibliography
Blevins,
Pamela, Ivor Gurney & Marion Scott:
Song of Pain and Beauty (Woodbridge,
The Boydell Press, 2008)
Boden,
Anthony: F.W. Harvey – Soldier, Poet
(Stroud, Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, 1988, 1999)
F.W.
Harvey: Collected Poems (Coleford,
The Forest Bookshop, 1983)
F.W.
Harvey: Farewell (London, Sidgwick
& Jackson, LTD., 1921)
Hodgson,
Peter John: The Music of Herbert Howells
(Diss. University of Colorado, 1970)
Palmer,
Christopher: Herbert Howells – A
Centenary Celebration (London, Thames Publishing, 1992)
Scott,
Marion: Introduction: XVII Herbert Howells, The
Music Bulletin VI (May, 1924), 142
Spicer,
Paul: Herbert Howells (Bridgend,
Seren, 1998)
Wilson,
Jeffrey Shawn: The Anthems of Herbert Howells
1892-1983 (Diss. University of Illinois, 1996)
Selected
Discography
Herbert
Howells Choral Music Hyperion CDA67494
Adeste fideles Christmas Music
from Westminster Cathedral Hyperion CDA66668
Howells
Choral Works Chandos CHAN9458
A
Winter’s Light Naxos: 8573030
YouTube The Choir of the Church of Saint Mary the
Virgin, New York with James Kennerley, Organist and Music Director.
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