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| Copyright The Rawsthorne Trust |
Quite recently, I discovered Alan
Rawsthorne’s (1905-71) charming miniature Pierrette for violin and
piano. It has recently been released on the SOMM record label (see below for
details). Although this piece has been recorded before, I seem to have missed
out on hearing it. Some would argue that
Pierrette is a trivial piece, full of salon music clichés and lacking
depth and integrity. I disagree.
There is some debate as to the
circumstances of composition of Pierrette. One view is that it was a
wedding present for Rawsthorne’s first wife, Jessie Hinchcliffe (1908–1989) who
was an accomplished violinist (SOMM CD Liner Notes). She had been a fellow
student with Alan at the Royal Manchester College of Music and was then playing
in the BBC Symphony Orchestra. They were married on 14 July 1934 at St Martin-in-the-Fields
(Creel, Vol.8 no.2, 2016, p.45). The marriage was not to last, and they
were divorced in 1954. Another view is
that it was written for Alan and Jessie to play together (John Belcher, cited
Dressler, 2004, p.254) And finally, John McCabe (1999, p.37) wonders if the
piece was originally devised for the light music broadcasts of the Adolph
Hallis Quintet, and then rearranged for violin and piano. At that time,
Rawsthorne did many arrangements for this ensemble under the pseudonym of ‘Alan
Jess’.
I was unable to find details of
the work’s premiere in any reference books; however, it is possible that the Adolph
Hallis Quintet gave the first performance of an arrangement of Pierrette
on Tuesday 9 June 1936, on the BBC National Programme. A work of that title is
listed in the contemporary Radio Times (5 June 1936) as composed by ‘Jess’.
This would confirm McCabe’s suggestion
above. Pierrette was composed sometime between 1934 and the summer of
1936.
There are two ‘technical’
discussions of Alan Rawsthorne’s Pierrette in the literature. The
earliest was by Sebastian Forbes in his essay ‘The Chamber Music’ in Alan
Poulton’s Alan Rawsthorne: Essays on the Music (1986, p.7). He writes
that the ‘mood here is very light and suggests little of Pierrot’s rage…’ I
think that Forbes is misreading the work’s ethos and title if he was expecting
Pierrot’s anger to be reflected in the music.
The listener needs to understand that the designation is simply referring
to a female member of a company of Pierrots and not being descriptive of the emotions
and attitudes of that ‘typical’ character from French pantomime. At the time of
composition, many holiday resorts would have had troupes of Pierrots and
Pierrettes, who were usually musical entertainers with whitened faces and loose
white costumes. Forbes states that ‘the fluence and cleverness of the textures
point to [Rawsthorne’s] sparkling tarantellas of a few years later.’ As for the
‘tarantella’, I imagine that he is thinking of the finale of the Piano Concerto
No.1 (1939) or possibly the glittering second half of the Fantasy Overture: Cortèges
(1945).
As would be expected, John McCabe
(op.cit.) in his study of the composer has presented some thoughtful
information on this piece. He considers that ‘it is a delightful piece of light
music, a genre in which major British composers of preceding generations
excelled.’ McCabe adds that although it is ‘untypical in its straightforward
diatonic style, Pierrette does occasionally present the authentic Rawsthorne.’
This is most obvious in the use of ‘Prokofievian tonal sideslips’ and the odd
chord or texture that was characteristic of Rawsthorne. He further suggests that the aesthetic of Pierrette
may nod towards William Walton’s Siesta or ‘the more Mediterranean
numbers of Façade...’
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| Fig.1 |
As for the form of Pierrette, McCabe
sees that it is basically a tune repeated over with a straightforward
‘oom-pah-pah’ piano accompaniment (Fig.1). This is a little disingenuous.
Rawsthorne has introduced some subtle variations to the piano part, including
arpeggiated chords, a little arabesque, and even a scotch snap or two.
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| Fig.2 |
The violin part is quite varied as
well, with characteristic chromatic passages and some bewitching double
stopping (Fig.2). Finally, towards the conclusion of the piece, there is a brief
slower section (poco meno) which McCabe wonders if it might have been ‘a
delicate, even subconscious remembrance of the Italian organ-grinder who used
to entertain the Haslingden [Lancashire] populace in the Rawsthorne’s
childhood.’ I think this may be an
allusion too far.
Pierrette is a splendid
example of what can be achieved when a ‘serious’ composer decides to write a
little bit of pastiche: as suggested above, Walton’s Façade is a large-scale
example of this. Pierrette is elegant and delightful and was a stylish
tribute to his wife.
At present, there are two
recordings of Alan Rawsthorne’s Pierrette for violin and piano. The most
recent is Clare Howick and Simon Callaghan on the SOMM Label, SOMMCD 0610.
Major works on this remarkable album include William Walton’s Sonata, William
Alwyn’s Sonatina and Kenneth Leighton’s Sonata No.1, all for violin and
piano. Miniatures on this CD feature
Gordon Jacob’s Elegy, Caprice and Little Dancer as well as Lennox
Berkeley’s Elegy op.33, no.3 and his Toccata, op.33, no.3.
In the late 1990s Benedict
Holland (violin) and Alan Cuckston (piano) issued an album of Alan
Rawsthorne’s Music for violin and piano (Swinsty Records FEW121CD). The disc
included the Concertante and the Sonata, both for violin and piano as well as
the Four Bagatelles, Four Romantic Pieces, and the Ballade
for piano solo.
Pierrette as played by
Benedict Holland and Alan Cuckston has been uploaded to YouTube.
A facsimile of Rawsthorne’s
manuscript was published in the first edition of The Creel, the
Rawsthorne Society’s Journal (August 1989). Forsyth’s music publisher, based in
Manchester, has had this holograph of Pierrette ‘engraved’ and published
as part of the British Heritage Series: Jewels for violin highlighting
British composers of the modern era and ‘dedicated to increasing awareness of
the music of this period.’
Acknowledgement: Musical
excerpts from Alan Rawsthorne’s Pierrette
for violin and piano © Forsyth Brothers Ltd, 126 Deansgate
Manchester M3 2GR UK https://www.forsyths.co.uk/. Reproduced by permission.
Bibliography:
Dressler, John C. Alan Rawsthorne: A Bio-Bibliography
(Westport, Connecticut, Praeger Publishers, 2004)
McCabe, John, Alan Rawsthorne: Portrait of a composer
(Oxford University Press, 1999)
Poulton, Alan, ed, Alan Rawsthorne, Essays on the Music
(Hindhead, Bravura Publications 1986)
The files of The Creel, The
Gramophone, The Radio Times.
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