Introducing Charles Hubert Hastings Parry

Sadly, most “music lovers” know only a single work by Parry – Jerusalem. This is sung at the Last Night of the Proms (often in Elgar’s arrangement) and is often heard at various sporting events and national occasions. It is the unofficial English national anthem. And churchgoers will know the hymn tune Repton, sung to the words Dear Lord and Father of Mankind. There is also the anthem I was glad, performed at Coronations since Edward VII.

Yet this is an unfair estimation of a great musician who was a composer, teacher, administrator, and historian. Along with Charles Villiers Stanford and Alexander Mackenzie, he played a significant role in the English Musical Renaissance towards the end of the long 19^th century.

Another side of Parry’s career was his dedication to teaching. The list of his pupils is impressive and reads like a roll call of late Victorian/early 20^th century music: Hamish McCunn, Arthur Somervell, Walford Davies, William Hurlstone, Samuel Colridge Taylor, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frank Bridge and John Ireland.

Parry was also a practiced author with sundry important books to his credit. These included The Evolution of the Art of Music (1896), J.S. Bach: The Story of the Development of a Great Personality (1909), Style in Musical Art (1911) as well as articles for Grove’s Dictionary.

Brief Biography

• Charles Hubert Hastings Parry was born at 2 Richmond Terrace, Bournemouth on 27 February 1848.
• Attended preparatory school in Malvern between 1856 and 1858.
• In 1861 he went up to Eton College.
• Studied law and history at Exeter College, Oxford from 1867.
• From 1870-1877 Parry was an underwriter at Lloyds in London.
• Further studies with William Sterndale Bennett and Edward Dannreuther in London and Henry Hugo Pierson in Stuttgart
• Breakthrough with his Piano Concerto in F sharp (1878-79) and his Scenes from Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound" for contralto, tenor, bass, chorus & orchestra (1880)
• Moved to Knightscroft House, Sea Lane, Rustington in 1881.
• Appointed choragus (festival director) during 1883.
• During 1883, Parry began to teach at the Royal College of Music (RCM).
• Appointed director of the RCM in 1895, holding the post until his death.
• Succeeded John Stainer as Professor of Music at Oxford University in 1900.
• Wrote his best-known piece, Jerusalem in 1916.
• Hubert Parry died at his home, in Rustington on 7 October 1918.

Twelve Selected Works

Parry composed across a wide variety of genres. This includes the opera Guinevere, five symphonies, a piano concerto, orchestral pieces, and incidental music, and was prolific in vocal music with cantatas, oratorios, anthems, and song. He wrote effective chamber music for diverse ensembles and various instrumental combinations. Stylistically, it may be an oversimplification to suggest that his main influences were Brahms and Wagner, but it gives a good rule of thumb in approaching his catalogue.

1. Sonata in A major for cello and piano (pub. 1883)
2. Trio in G major for violin, cello & pianoforte c. 1884–90
3. Overture to an Unwritten Tragedy (c.1893)
4. Lady Radnor’s Suite for strings (c.1894, pub.1902)
5. Symphony No.4 in E minor (c.1899)
6. Anthem "I was glad" (c.1902, pub 1903)
7. Ode on the Nativity for Soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra (1912)
8. Symphony Fantasy (Symphony No. 5) in B minor (c.1912, pub. 1922)
9. Shulbrede Tunes for piano, (pub.1914)
10. Six Motets: Songs of Farewell (1916-18)
11. Toccata and Fugue in G major and E minor, "The Wanderer" (posthumous) (pub. 1921)
12. An English Suite for strings (posthumous), (pub. 1921)

Further Reading

The most important ‘recent’ volume is the fine biography by Jeremy Dibble – C. Hubert H. Parry: His Life and Music (1992). This is the main reference point for anyone wishing to explore his achievement. More than twenty-five years ago, Ashgate published Bernard Benoliel’s study Parry before Jerusalem (1997). This is part monograph and part a collection of writings by the composer. There is an interesting study of the Parry family in Anthony Boden’s The Parry’s of Golden Vale: Background to Genius (1998).

More recent volumes include Parry’s Creative Process by Michael Allis (2010), and Hubert Parry - A Life in Photographs by Michael Trott (2018).

A previous generation produced two important texts - J Fuller Maitland’s short The Music of Parry and Stanford: An Essay in Comparative Criticism (1934) and Charles L. Graves’ hagiographical Hubert Parry (1926) in two volumes. Apart from articles in the musical press, a diverse collection of reviews and the odd hard to obtain thesis or dissertation that is about it.

If you can only hear one CD…
Much of Hubert Parry’s music has been recorded. This includes most of the orchestral works including all the symphonies, the complete organ music, ongoing cycles of the piano works and solo song. There are several CDs devoted to the chamber music, including the Cello Sonata, the Piano Trios, and String Quartet. The vocal music has not been ignored, with recordings of Blest Pair of Sirens and a recent production of Scenes from Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound." Although not a conventional Christian, Parry wrote much music suitable for “quires and places where they sing.” A great deal of this is available on CD.

An excellent introduction to Parry’s music is Sir Adrian Boult’s account of the Symphony No.5, Blest Pair of Sirens, the Symphonic Variations, and an Elegy for Brahms released by EMI on CDM 5 65107 2. Blest Pair of Sirens is one of the enduring masterpieces from the late nineteenth-century. It was premiered in London on 17 May 1887, to considerable acclaim. It sets words from John Milton’s At a Solemn Musick.

Rob Barnett (MusicWeb International, 7 September 2007) that “Parry's overture-length Elegy for Brahms in fact had to wait until 1918 for its premiere. At that stage it had been revised by Stanford who conducted it at the Parry Memorial Concert at the RCM on 8 November 1918. Boult makes this Elegy shine in a golden aureole which celebrates Brahms rather than laments him.”

Finally, the wonderful Symphonic Variations (1897) are worth exploring. It is based on a simple, but virile folksong-like theme that Parry masterfully weaves through a series of Brahmsian inventions. This is not an academic set of variations, but a resourceful composition with echoes of Brahms, Dvorak, and Elgar. It should be in the orchestral repertoire.

If you can only listen to one work…

This must Charles Hubert Hastings Parry’s Fifth Symphony which was written for the centenary of the Royal Philharmonic Society and was duly heard at the Queen’s Hall on 5 December 1912 with the composer conducting. Along with From Death to Life, it is his most mature orchestral work.

The original title was Symphony in four linked movements in B minor, 1912. However, at the second performance it was called the ‘Fifth Symphony’ and finally, the printed score is entitled Symphonic Fantasia in B minor “1912” with ‘Symphony’ as a subtitle. 

It is presented in four interconnected movements, each with titles: Stress, Love, Play and Now. The Symphony is still satisfying if these designations are ignored. The work is cyclic with the opening material appearing in various guises throughout.

The musicologist Michael Pope (Liner Notes CDM 5 65107 2) has advocated that “the first movement Stress indicates revolt against the tragedy of life. The slow movement suggests that in human love, calling and answering, lies the true hope of healing. The Scherzo represents inextinguishable instinct of humanity for fun and humour. The Finale is particularly notable for the beautiful first subject representing hopefulness. This is later extinguished by tragedy, which is then transformed into the major key, and, in the light of love, becomes a token of healing.”

The entire work consists of an emotional journey, and benefits from the composer’s mastery of orchestration.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra under Matthias Bamert’s account of Charles Hubert Hastings Parry's Symphony No.5 in B minor can be heard on YouTube