Eric Coates: Springtime Suite (1937)

It is an established fact that during the 1930’s Eric Coates’s orchestral music displayed one of two contrasting styles. On the on hand, there was the up-tempo, syncopated ‘dance-band’ mood used in The Three Men and the London Again Suite. And on the other, there was the post-Edward German ‘pastoralism’ which came to the fore in The Meadow to Mayfair Suite and the present work. Over his career, Eric Coates composed some 13 orchestral suites: Springtime is the eleventh.

The Springtime Suite has three equally balanced movements: 1. Fresh Morning: Pastorale, 2. Noonday Song: Romance and 3. Dance in the Twilight: Valse which reflects the progress of a spring day.  Each is around the four-minute mark.  The work is scored for woodwind, brass, an array of percussion including bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, side drum, timpani and triangle as well as harp and strings.

Geoffrey Self writes that this work has been overshadowed, even in the composer’s own mind. It is not mentioned in his autobiography, Suite in Four Movements (1953). Self also notes that it has not ‘received direct attention from the press.’ The work has been unjustly neglected in comparison to several of his other Suites.

According to Payne, Coates was working on the Springtime Suite at the time he moved house from Baker Street to Berkeley Court. This music was thought out ‘despite the chaos of unpacking.’ In a letter to Harold Lowe (12 June 1936) Coates explained that ‘the work is quite unpretentious and on the lines of my old “Summer Days”, so please do not expect to hear anything out-of-the-ordinary.’

Springtime Suite: Fresh Morning. 

The opening movement, ‘Fresh Morning’, looks back to the Edwardian pre-Great War era, with its innocent pastoral mood and carefree 6/8 rhythm. This certainly nods to Edward German, but also reflects the style of music that Coates was writing in the immediate post-Great War years. Coates introduces three tunes, all of which relate to the opening theme. Toward the conclusion, there is a delicious modulation into a loose and short-lived Gb major (7 flats).  It is a perfect musical postcard of an English meadow, soaked in dew with the sun just peeping up from behind the hill.

This is contrasted by a thoughtful ‘Romance’ that reflects on the sadness of a lost age or lover despite its title being ‘Noonday Song.’ The movement opens with a wistful flute melody, before the main ‘yearning’ theme is announced on the solo violin. This tune is characterised by an upward leap of a minor 7^th (e.g. G to F). This leads to a highly-charged passage for full orchestra and harp culminating in a sweeping ‘allargando.’ The movement closes with a quiet reminiscence of the opening flute melody. Self writes that this movement alludes to some of the ideas included in the score Seven Dwarfs, later to be ‘recast’ as The Enchanted Garden.

The final movement, ‘Dance in the Twilight’, is a splendid example of Eric Coates’ waltzes. I guess the impetus and drive of this music suggests an evening ‘In Town’ rather that some rural retreat or village hall. There are four ‘themes’ in this piece that are all repeated with various endings. Its style may owe more to the ‘Scène du Bal’ from the Miniature Suite or ‘At the Dance’ (Summer Days Suite) than to the later ‘London’ based works such as From Meadow to Mayfair.   It is characterised by an optimism that seems to blow away the sadder reflections of the previous movements.

The Springtime Suite was published by Chappell in 1937.

The first performance of Springtime Suite was on 13 May 1937, played by Section C of the BBC Orchestra conducted by Eric Coates. Readers should recall that the Coronation of King George VI had taken place on the previous day.

This hour-long concert, mostly conducted by Joseph Lewis, began at 6pm with Benjamin Britten’s delightful movements on themes by Rossini, Soirees Musicales. This was followed by the ‘Waltz’ from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and thee aria ‘Lend me your aid’ from Charles Gounod’s opera Irene (an adaptation of his The Queen of Sheba). The soloist was Parry Jones. The second half of the concert included the Coates, Michael Balfe’s ‘Come into the Garden, Maud’ and Haydn Wood’s Fantasia: The British Empire. This last work was conducted by Wood.

For a modern view of Coates’s Springtime Suite, I quote a sentence from Rob Barnett’s review of Eric Coates conducts Eric Coates (Living Era Classics CD AJD201) He writes: The mid-1930s were a productive time for Coates as we can hear in the rather hackneyed-bland Springtime Suite although the final ‘Dance in the Twilight’ is good and kicks the trend rather well. (MusicWeb International, 7 Jan 2007). I disagree with contention that this Suite is either hackneyed or bland. However, I can see that Barnett has a problem with a stylistic appraisal of the final movement. As noted above, this waltz does seem to belong to the city rather than the country.

Eric Coates conducted the Light Symphony Orchestra in a recording of the Springtime Suite made on 24 September 1937. This was released on HMV C2926 & 2927. On the fourth side of these two 78rpm records ‘For Your Delight: Serenade’ (1937) was also included. Several subsequent recordings have been made.

There is a splendid recording of Eric Coates’s Springtime Suite on YouTube. It is played by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by John Wilson. It was uploaded from the now deleted CD ASV CD WHL 2112.