Arnold Bax: Sonata for flute and harp (1928)

Arnold Bax’s Sonata for flute and harp balances a Gallic charm with a Celtic melancholy. There are some definite nods towards Irish folk song, but this is tempered by classical form. On other hand, the magic of faery is never far from this piece, especially in the slow movement. 

The Sonata (sometimes referred to as a Sonatina) was commissioned by the Russian harpist Maria Korchinska and her husband, the Count Benckendorff. He was a Russian naval officer, a keen amateur flautist, and the son of the last Czarist Ambassador to the United Kingdom.  Although the Sonata was given several performances by the husband-and-wife duo, it never entered the repertoire and quickly fell out of view.

The Sonata is written in three complementary movements. The opening Allegro moderato nods to folksong: occasionally, a jig-like theme emerges. Lewis Foreman has identified allusions to the popular Down by the Sally Gardens in the second subject. This tune is never quoted in full or developed. The Cavatina (lento) is an Elegy. There is no indication as to what was on the composer’s mind. Foreman has proposed that Bax is looking back to events from the past. Maybe this was the failed Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916, where he lost several friends. This Cavatina has been played standalone with the violin replacing the flute, most famously at Myra Hess’s legendary wartime National Gallery Concerts.  The finale, Moderato giocoso looks to folksong for inspiration. Typically, this is a dancing, happy conclusion to a deeply personal Sonata. After a few moments of melancholy, the Sonata comes to an end on an optimistic note. It has been suggested that this finale is the nearest that Bax came to neo-classicism.

Interestingly, Arnold Bax rescored the Sonata in 1936 as the Concerto for seven instruments (flute, oboe, harp and string quartet). Bax scholar Graham Parlett noted that apart from some additional melodic lines [for the oboe etc.], there were no alterations to the piece, except for the final two bars.

The Sonata for flute and harp was not published until 1990. It has been recorded several times since. Listeners may be surprised that it is not securely popular with both Bax enthusiasts and harp and flute aficionados.

Arnold Bax's Sonata for flute and harp can be heard on YouTube. It is performed by Philippe Pierlot (fl.), Isabelle Perrin (hp.) on the Arion CD: ARN 68423.

With thanks to the English Music Festival where this note was first published.