The Younger English Composers: Walter Leigh by Roger Wimbush (Part I)

Posted below is the first major essay about the English composer Walter Leigh written in 1938. For a brief overview of his live and achievement, see my earlier post Introducing Walter Leigh. Roger Wimbush (1909-77) was a music critic who wrote for a wide range of journals including the Musical Times, The Gramophone and the Monthly Musical Record.

The essay was published in The Monthly Musical Record (June 1938 p.138-142)

The essay was published in The Monthly Musical Record (Jun3 1938 p.138-142). I have provided a few notes. 

IN AN AGE WHEN WRITING is becoming almost a heavy industry and artists' fees are coming more and more out of the pockets of manufacturers it is not surprising that composers are beginning to think in terms of supply and demand. After all there is nothing immoral or even inartistic in being business-like, and few would dispute that only when art is in service will it produce its proper quota of good works. Because music is the most intangible of all the arts it is not easy for the composer to adjust himself to this attitude. This is not always the composer's fault, for a prospective patron of music often realizes the difficulty of manifesting his munificence to an appreciative public. The man who buys or commissions paintings can hang them on his walls; but, as Mr. Constant Lambert [1] once pointed out, unless a patron chooses to stand outside a concert-hall informing the public that he has 'paid for the whole show', his material pride remains unsatisfied. Perhaps then it is for the best that big business is June 1938 taking the place of private patronage. No man can be an artist until he is first a craftsman, and consequently the greater the incentive to keep the wheels turning, the better for the expectant public. Journalism, for instance, is the finest training for literature largely because the journalist never stops writing, and by the law of averages he is bound to turn a good phrase during the week. If Walter Leigh's name is not often on the programme at Queen's Hall, the reason is probably because he is a busy man - busy writing music that is wanted elsewhere. A working man cannot afford to wait on inspiration, and Mr. Leigh long ago made up his mind to make a living out of music. That he has achieved this, stands to his credit, when financially music is mostly all top and bottom and no middle.

He was born in I905, and his first teacher was his mother. At the age of eight he came under the influence of Dr Harold Darke, [2] with whom he worked until he was seventeen. Meanwhile, the humanities were being looked after at University College School, and later at Christ's College, Cambridge. While at the University he was a pupil of Professor Dent. [3] The next step was Berlin, where for two years he studied with Paul-Hindemith at the Hochschule fur Musik. At this time, he was an ardent 'modernist', as the term was understood in 1927, and it is probable that the last thing that entered his head was to write for the public. Incidentally, one of the reasons why composers usually develop late in life is that it takes considerable time to assimilate the theories of their teachers, and still more to adjust them to their own ideas. But Hindemith has always believed in the practical value of music, and Mr. Leigh confesses that it was his contact with Hindemith that brought a sense of discipline into his work. A lot of nonsense has been talked about ' Gebrauchsmusik', [4] a term that has clung to Hindemith like the ivy to the wall and has done him considerable disservice. Hindemith's real philosophy is perfectly reasonable; it is simply that all music should serve some purpose, and whatever the purpose, the music should be well written. We are only too aware of the processes of Tin Pan Alley, [5] where it may take as many as six men to concoct a rather obvious melody and a seventh to fit it with saccharine drivel. That kind of procedure never produced a Strauss waltz or even a Sousa march. In our own day and in our own country we have seen the success of a man like Eric Coates, whose popular orchestral suites usually take some three months to score alone, just because Mr. Coates is a musician who believes in doing a job well.

Leigh was with Hindemith for two years, during which time he wrote a string quartet and three pieces for amateur orchestra which were later published by Hug & Co. of Zurich and played at the Baden-Baden Festival in 1929. These pieces were the first of a long succession of works expressly written for amateurs. In this respect Hindemith was something of a pioneer, and as a result of his teaching Leigh is one of the few composers of our time who is giving the amateur of average accomplishment new music that he can play. Here is another aspect of art in service, and it is an aspect that deserves every encouragement. In 1930, Leigh found himself in England again without work. He rejected a teaching post and made up his mind to earn his living as a composer. Consequently, he must write music that people wanted to hear - music that people were willing to pay for. It is the impresario’s plaint that there is no music written since the War that will bring half-crowns out of people's pockets, but concert promoters are not the only people who want music, and Leigh began to look about him, paying particular attention to light music. He met V. C. Clinton-Baddeley, [6] and together they wrote 'Aladdin' for the Festival Theatre at Cambridge. This superb pantomime - the first of the famous 'Baddeleigh' entertainments - was later given a London production at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, where it was sponsored by the late Sir Nigel Playfair. [7] What was more important, it took Leigh back to Cambridge as Musical Director of the Festival Theatre.

Notes:

[1] Constant Lambert (1905-50) was a composer, writer, conductor and music critic. Much of his career was spent a musical director of the Sadler’s Wells ballet company. His provocative book Music Ho! (1934), subtitled ‘A Study of Music in Decline’, was “enthusiastically acclaimed in its day and remains a classic of its period.”.

[2] Harold Darke (1888-1976) was an English organist, composer, conductor and teacher. Best recalled today for his setting of A Bleak Mid-Winter. He composed many anthems, liturgical works and organ music. His Fantasy No.2 in E major, op 39 for string orchestra is often played on Classic fM.

[3] Edward Joseph Dent (1876-1957) was an English scholar, teacher, author and occasional composer.

[4] “Gebrauchsmusik” is “Utility music”. The term applied in the 1920s “to works by Hindemith, Weill, Krenek, and others …which were directed to some social or educational purpose instead of being ‘art for art's sake”. (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, online)

[5] “Tin Pan Alley” in a British context was a nickname given to Denmark Street in London. For many years it was the hub of the British music industry.  The sobriquet Tin Pan Alley originally referred to West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Flower District of New York. Several music publishers and songwriters in the late 19th century and early 20th century were located here.

[6] V. C. Clinton-Baddeley (1900-70) was a playwright, actor, and author.

[7] Nigel Playfair (1874-1934) was an actor and theatre manager.  “In 1918 he formed a syndicate to purchase a long lease on the Lyric, Hammersmith, where he presented Restoration comedies and contemporary satires.”

To be continued...