Out Deliused…by C.W. Orr’s A Cotswold Hill Tune (1937) Part I

Introduction: C.W. Orr’s A Cotswold Hill Tune is a fine tribute to Frederick Delius, as well as being a superb example of string writing in the so-called ‘pastoral’ mood. This essay will give a brief overview of the composer, a few of his stylistic mannerisms, an introduction to the work, and some reviews of the only available recording.

Some Notes about the Composer: Charles Wilfred Leslie Orr was born in Cheltenham on 31 July 1893. In his early years he studied the piano privately. He attended Cheltenham College; however, the First World War interrupted his plans for a formal musical education. In 1915, he joined the Artists’ Rifles Officers Training Corps. Subsequently, Orr enlisted in the Coldstream Guards, based at Windsor, but was soon discharged due to ill health. At the end of the war, he entered the Guildhall School of Music, then located in John Carpenter Street. Whilst there he studied composition under the composer and musicologist Orlando Morgan (1865-1956).

A fascination with Frederick Delius’s music led to the unusual expedient of Orr following the elder composer and his wife, Jelka, into a restaurant in Oxford Street. The young man approached the couple at the table, said “Excuse me, but are you Mr Delius?” On receiving an affirmative reply, he stated, “Oh, then, I wanted to tell you how much I love your music”. (Wilson, 1989, p.20). Anecdotally, Orr received a free meal that day. The two men became friends and Orr continued to correspond with Delius for some years.

A meeting with Peter Warlock/Philip Heseltine led to Orr’s early songs (1921) ‘Silent Noon’ and ‘Plucking the Rushes’ being published on the continent. Warlock had kindly copied them out and sent them to Austria, where they were engraved by Waldheim-Eberle, and subsequently published by J & W Chester Ltd.

C.W. Orr’s oeuvre is hardly large. There are some 36 songs listed in the catalogue. Out of these, there are 24 settings of Housman. Other poets include Helen Waddell, D.G Rossetti, James Joyce, and Robert Bridges. There are three rarely heard choral works, the Midsummer Dance for cello and piano, and A Cotswold Hill Tune for string orchestra.

Virtually all Orr’s music was written before the Second World War. A few songs were composed in the 1940s and 50s, with the final example being written in 1957. He was to live for a further 19 years.

Orr was bitter at the lack of recognition he had received. In 1974, he wrote that ‘… I have always been more or less completely ignored by the BBC during the last 40 years or so, and it is nothing new…to be regarded as not worth while performing, but all the same it is a bit disheartening to be cold-shouldered in one’s own country …’ (Letter C W Orr to M J Wilson, 25 April 1974, Wilson, 1989, p.47).

Charles Wilfred Orr and his wife, Helen (née Tomblin), had moved to Painswick in Gloucestershire in 1930 and remained there until his death on 24 February 1976.

Orr’s Musical Aesthetic: There are three key influences on Orr’s music. Firstly, German lieder. In his younger days, he had studied and enjoyed the songs of Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms. (Rawlins, 1972, p.8). But it was Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) who had the greatest impact. Trevor Hold (2002, p.315) states this comprehensively: [Orr] admired Wolf not only for his discriminating choice of text and immaculate word-setting, but also for the unity of his conception of vocal-line and accompaniment, in which the two elements are intertwined and interdependent - equal partners as in an instrumental duo sonata’.  Joseph Thomas Rawlins (1972, p.15) cites a letter from the composer to the author (29 December 1971): [Wolf’s] impact was ‘mainly . . . because the piano parts consist of a single figure running throughout, very much in Wolf's manner.’

Typically, Orr’s piano accompaniments and postludes are an integral part of each song, providing more than bare harmony and support for the singer.

The second major influence was the poetry of A.E. Housman. Orr was introduced to the poet’s work by ‘a chance hearing of Graham Peel’s (1877-1937) setting of ‘Summertime on Bredon.’

And finally, the music of Frederick Delius. The included, ‘the Delian insignia - a weft of lush chromatic discords woven to a hypnotically seductive barcarolle-like 6/8’, (Palmer 1973, p.691), which are a characteristic of A Cotswold Hill Tune. Like Delius ‘the harmonic element in Orr’s music takes precedence over everything else, flowering in continuous chromaticism from fundamentally diatonic roots...’  (Hold, 2002, p.315).

One important influence that is virtually absent from Orr’s music is folksong. To be sure, the listener may be aware of some modality in the songs’ melodies, but this is incidental rather than structural. Orr has avoided the ‘‘olde English’ style i.e., lyricism and simplicity within the ballad type of writing.’ (Rawlins, 1972, p.13).

Yet, as one unattributed critic stated, Orr was ‘no slavish imitator of any man’s work.’ (The Chesterian, December 1924 p.62).  Each poem that he chose to set, created a mood in the composer’s mind that allowed him to create a perfect partnership between words and music. There is a huge difference in style and effect between the lyrical beauty of Rossetti’s ‘Silent Noon’ and, the dramatic, almost violent, sound of Housman’s ‘The Carpenter’s Song’. 

Genesis of A Cotswold Hill Tune: The composer and conductor Eugene Goossens wrote to Orr on 23 January 1935. He requested that he orchestrate four songs from his Cycle of Seven Songs from ‘A Shropshire Lad.’  He did not oblige, but instead wrote a short work for string orchestra – A Cotswold Hill Tune. He dedicated it to Goossens and sent him a copy of the holograph in 1938. Jane Wilson (1989, p.39) quotes Goossens reply from Cincinnati (25 April 1938):

‘I can’t tell you how completely delighted and touched I am at receiving the beautiful ‘Cotswold’ piece. I am playing it here next season (alas it was too late to programme it before my departure, which takes place this afternoon on the Statendam) and I know the public will love it…’ In concluding his letter, Goossens said that he ‘look[ed] forward to seeing you and your nice wife.’  The Goossens arrived at Plymouth on 4 May 1938. Wilson (1989, p.39) records that the couple stayed with the Orr’s at Painswick during the summer. It was the last time they would meet.

For interest, the SS Statendam was a ship of the Holland-America Line, laid down in 1924 at the Harland and Wolff yard in Belfast. It was destroyed during the Second World War in 1940. 

It would appear the Eugene Goossens never did perform Orr’s only orchestral work.

With thanks to the Delius Society Journal, Spring 2021, where this essay was first published.

To be continued…