Gerald Finzi (1901-56) Prelude, op.25 for string orchestra (late 1920s.)

The Prelude, op. 25 for string orchestra was originally the first movement of a projected chamber symphony with the rustic title of The Bud, The Blossom and the Berry. This was to have been, in effect, Finzi’s Seasons. These movements were written after the composer had moved to London and had come under the aegis of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The work was never completed, although the composer did revisit the score in later years.

The piece was recovered from Finzi’s sketches after his death. The other surviving movement from this abandoned project is The Fall of the Leaf.  

The Prelude begins quietly, followed by a solo violin adding its thoughts, before the music builds up to a restrained climax, where, for a short while the predominant sadness suddenly reflects the warmth of spring. However, even this short-lived rapture is tinged with melancholy.  The harmonic structure of the work is largely straightforward, but here and there some mild dissonances add to the music’s introspection.

Finzi scholar Diana McVeagh has remarked that the temper of the Prelude is ‘gloomy’ and hardly presents the mood of ‘spring’, which was its original intention. Listeners must recall that much of Finzi’s music meditates on the transience of life. This melancholy temperament may have been encouraged by the profound impact of his father’s death in 1909: nine years later, Finzi’s music teacher Ernest Farrar was killed at Cambrai in the last months of the Great War.

Gerald Finzi’s Prelude was given its premiere posthumously at St John’s Church, Stockcross, Berkshire on 27 April 1957. The Newbury String Players, which Finzi founded in 1940 and had a long and deep association, were conducted by the composer’s son, Christopher. The work was published by Boosey & Hawkes the following year.

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