I was delighted to read in the
2019 Proms Brochure that Elizabeth
Maconchy’s prize winning Overture: Proud
Thames is to feature in the second-half of the Last Night Concert. Apart
from the usual suspects, other music will include a selection of short pieces,
including Manuel de Falla’s Three-Cornered
Hat Suite No.2, Edward Elgar’s heart-breaking Sospiri, and Jacques Offenbach’s Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld. Alas, there is no major work
old or new to get one’s musical teeth into.
I was first introduced to Elizabeth
Maconchy’s music by her fascinating, if brief, description of London’s river.
This was on an original Lyrita vinyl LP issued around 1972 which included music
by Lennox Berkeley, Geoffrey Bush and William Alwyn. More about this recording
in a subsequent posting.
The Daily Telegraph (29 July 1953) headlined rather patronisingly
‘Woman Awarded £150 L.C.C. Prize.’ This was the result of a composers’
competition organised by the London County Council (L.C.C.) to feature as part
of the Coronation Celebrations. One can hardly imagine a contest such as this
occurring under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of London of whatever political
persuasion.
Published history does not relate
how many entries there were for this competition. The adjudicators were Sir
Adrian Boult, Dr Edmund Rubbra and Gerald Finzi. The short note reminds the
reader that Maconchy had previously won the Daily
Telegraph Chamber Music Prize in 1933 with her Oboe Quintet (1932).
Elizabeth Maconchy has written (quoted,
record sleeve SRCS 57) that ‘The inspiration for the Overture is the river
itself. The music is intended to suggest its rapid growth from small beginnings
to a great river of sound -from its trickling source among green fields to
London, where the full tide of the life of the capital centres on its river.’
Hugo Cole (sleeve notes SRCS 57) notes the initial
trumpet call featuring the first notes of the D major scales (D, E, & F#).
This is followed by ‘hesitant meanderings’ on the flutes and the clarinets
which suggests gurgling streams and springs. Out of these arabesques there
emerges a more forceful tune, which then develops towards the overture’s climax.
There is considerable dialogue between this new melody and the trumpet motive. From a musically descriptive point of view it
is hard to know what location the score is alluding too. We seem to pass
Marlow, Maidenhead, Richmond, Battersea and Hammersmith with great rapidity. I
am not sure that there is anything much ‘sung’ about the central London
locations either. In the climax it seems that the listener has reached the
river estuary. The work concludes with a powerful coda. Harmonically, there is
nothing to frighten the listener, although there are some dissonances which are
piquant rather than harsh. Proud Thames
has an intangible ‘English’ feel that is neither pastoral nor bombastic
ceremonial style.
As several reviewers note,
Maconchy’s work is too short. I tend to imagine this Overture as a pendant to
Smetana’s ‘Vlatva’ (The Moldau) from his epic series of tone-poems Ma Vlast. Smetana’s river essay lasts
for twice as long as Maconchy’s allowing him time to develop his ideas in some
detail. It can be argued that the Thames is only 215 miles in length whereas
the Vlatva is the longest river in the Czech Republic, coming in at 270 miles. On
the other hand, both rivers are immensely important in economic and cultural
terms. Perhaps the L.C.C stipulated the length of the work.
Proud Thames is one of those works that should be in the
repertoire, along with Malcolm Arnold’s The
Smoke and John Ireland’s London
Overture.
Other music written by Elizabeth Maconchy
at this time includes the Bassoon Concertino (1952) and the Symphony for Double
String Orchestra (1952-3).
An examination of the overture’s
premiere performance will follow in the next post.
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