Recently, I was in the Oxfam Bookshop
based on Penny Street in the fascinating City of Lancaster. They had a
reasonably good selection of classical vinyl LPs and a small stack of sheet
music. In one of the browsers, I found a second-hand copy of Anthems for Choirs: Volume 4. It was
priced at £1.99. Looking through this collection of ‘Twenty-Six Anthems for Mixed
Voices by Twentieth Century Composers,’ I discovered a very short piece by Sir
Arnold Bax (1883-1953): it was the anthem ‘Lord, Thou hast told us.’
Despite my being a Bax
enthusiast, I have never heard of this work. I must have missed it on my
several trawls through Graham Parlett’s essential Catalogue (1999)
The first port of call was YouTube
on the off-chance someone had uploaded a recording of the piece. Sure enough,
there were two lovely videos of this piece, one featuring a short film of the
Scottish landscape between Perth
and Aberdeen, performers not cited, and the other was sung by Saint Clements’ Choir,
Philadelphia. First impressions were of a beautiful miniature.
The basic information about this
piece is straightforward. Arnold Bax composed it in 1930 for inclusion in the
new enlarged edition of Songs of Praise
which was published the following year. The original had been issued in 1925:
it was edited by Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
This time was a busy one for the
composer. He was living at 155 Fellows Road in Swiss Cottage. Beginning in
1928, Bax spent much time at the Station Hotel (now, Morar Hotel) in Morar,
Inverness-shire. The previous year (1929) had seen his Third Symphony written
in London and in the Scottish Western Highlands. Major works from 1930 include
the now-rarely heard Nonet for flute, clarinet, oboe, harp, 2 violins, viola,
cello and double bass, the large-scale Winter
Legends for piano and orchestra, and the Overture to a Picaresque Comedy for orchestra. The Symphony No.4
was begun in Morar during the Summer of 1930.
Graham Parlett (1999) points out
that the manuscript of ‘Lord, thou hast told us’ has disappeared, so there is
no notion as to its exact date of completion.
‘Lord, thou hast told us’ is not
really an anthem as such, but a hymn tune. This tune is entitled ‘Wonder.’ The four-verse text is by the Reverend Dr.
Thomas Washbourne (1606-87). Washbourne was a 17th century clergyman
and poet. He was born in Wichenford Court in Worcestershire which is a small parish
some six miles to the north west of Worcester. After education at Balliol
College, Oxford he held livings as Vicar of Loddington, Northamptonshire and at
Dumbleton in Gloucestershire and latterly as a Prebendary (honorary Canon) at
Gloucester Cathedral. He was an ‘ardent’ monarchist who was appalled at
the execution of Charles I. Thomas Washbourne is recalled for his volume Divine Poems published in 1654. Some of
his poems approach John Donne and George Herbert in their depth and theological
wisdom and spirituality.
Lord! thou hast told
us that there be
Two dwellings which
belong to Thee;
And those two —
that's the wonder —
Are far asunder.
The one the highest
heaven is,
The mansions of
eternal bliss;
The other's the
contrite
And humble sprite.
Though heaven be
high, the gate is low,
And he that comes in
there must bow;
The lofty looks shall
ne'er
Have entrance there.
O God! since Thou
delight'st to rest
Within the humble,
contrite breast,
First make me so to
be;
Then dwell with me.
Thomas Washbourne
(1606-87)
The book Songs of Praise Discussed (London 1933) suggests that ‘Wonder’ ‘…is
clearly founded on the style of the early psalm-tunes but has some individual
touches in rhythm and expression.’ However, there is no suggestion that Bax has
based his hymn in a pre-existing tune. The music is printed on a single page
and consists of 10 bars.
The hymn/anthem is in simple
strophic form, with the same harmonisation used for each verse although there
are slight differences to allow for the textual metre. The tonal centre is
typically F minor (4 flats), but there are modal inflections to this music. The
final chord for each verse is a ‘tierce de picardie’, in other words the minor
third raised to a major third.
The formal structure of the hymn
is straightforward – A B B’A. It opens
in the tonic F minor followed by the dominant chord with E natural. This relative
simplicity of harmonic style continues to the end. Bax makes use of parallel thirds,
especially between the tenor and bass part.
The interpretative challenge for
this piece is managing the dynamics and tempo. I suggest that it is sung slightly
faster than the ‘moderately slow’ signed in the Anthem Book. Each verse should have a dynamic of about ‘mezzo
forte.’ It is possible for a soprano/treble solo to sing the words of the third
verse with a ‘hummed’ accompaniment.
The only contemporary review on
this work that I found was in a Programme
Note (Cantate Choir, 7 June 2006): ‘…this ‘hymn setting [is] of such perfect simplicity and beauty that
it is hard to believe it is from the same pen. It reminds us that many of our
best-loved hymn tunes were written by first-rate English composers.’
The first performance of this anthem/hymn has been impossible
to establish, however Graham Parlett (1999) states that the earliest
performance traced was broadcast from Carlisle Cathedral on ‘Choral Evensong’
on Radio 3, 30 December 1983. It served as the Introit. The afternoon event was
dominated by Bax, with his rarely heard Canticles (Magnificat and Nunc
Dimittis) and the part-song, ‘I sing of a maiden.’ Other music included Psalms
149 & 150 to chants by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), the Responses by
Richard Ayleward (1626-69), John Rutter’s (b.1945) Gaelic Blessing and the
concluding organ voluntary was the powerful and often scary ‘L'Ange a la
trompette’ by French composer Jacques Charpentier (1933-2017). The performers
were The Abbey Singers conducted by Andrew Seivewright.
Since 1999, Graham Parlett has discovered two earlier
performances during 1983. The first was on 25 February on AR Melbourne,
Australia. The earliest UK performance so far traced was during Sung Eucharist
at Hampton Court Palace on 6 November 1983. It was performed by the Choir of
the Chapel Royal.
Bibliography:
Parlett, Graham, A
Catalogue of the Works of Sir Arnold Bax, (Oxford University Press, 1999)
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