Exploring Ruth Gipps’s Cringlemire Gardens, Impression for string orchestra, op.39 (1952)

Cringlemire Gardens Summerhouse

A recent discovery for me was Ruth Gipps’s (1921-99) short Cringlemire Gardens, Impression for string orchestra, op.39 (1952). It is written in a pastoral idiom, with considerable depth and a surprising power of evoking a particular landscape. This short essay attempts to put the work in context, report on its premiere, and give a paradigm for listening.

Ruth Gipps had not been overly busy from a compositional perspective in the early 1950s. The present piece was one of two offerings made during 1952. The other was Virgin Mountain, ballet music for orchestra, op.38. The previous year saw only The Song of Narcissus, (from 1001 Nights) for soprano and piano, op.37, which remained unperformed until 1986. To be sure, the recent oratorio The Prophet, op.35 setting texts by Kahil Gibran and others, dating from 1950, was a massive opus, lasting for an hour. This had been commissioned for the BBC Third Programme but was never performed there, and no payment was received. More successful was Gipps’s Conversation for two pianos, op.36, which was first heard at the Wigmore Hall on 3 January 1951, played by Hélène Gipps (Ruth’s mother) and Mary Mollison. Two years later, (1953) Gipps completed Goblin Market for two sopranos, women’s voices and orchestra, op.40. It is a setting of Christina Rossetti’s well-loved poem. This had to wait three years before being premiered in Newcastle-under-Lyme on 9 February 1956. Another work dating from 1953 was the Coronation Procession, op.41. It was first given in Melbourne, Australia on 27 September 1954, more than a year after the event. (Halstead, 2006, p.170f).

Where are Cringlemire Gardens? They are located about one mile west of Langdale Chase near Troutbeck, in the Lake District. Cringlemire was built during the 1890s for Henry Martin by the architect Dan Gibson. The Old Cumbria Gazetteer notes that “The gardens were consciously designed as an arboriculture museum by Thomas H Mawson, Robert Mawson and Dan Gibson, and were sheltered by conifers; Mr Martin was a noted plant collector.” The summer house (shown above) was illustrated in The Art and Craft of Garden Making written by Thomas Mawson. (Batsford, 1926, p.151).

Cringlemire Garden is a short work, lasting about six minutes. It is subtitled an “Impression for string orchestra.” Despite its diminutive duration, this is a full-blown tone-poem. It evokes the thoughts of someone sitting in the garden surrounded by the romantic landscape of the Lake District. Further research is needed on Ruth Gipps’s travels to Cumbria. Typically, the inspiration for many of Gipps’s compositions was the south-east of England. (Halstead, 2006, p.105). Examples cited include the Sea-Shore Suite, op.3b for oboe and piano (1939) and the Wealden Suite, op.76 for four clarinets (1991) both of which cry out for rediscovery. Halstead further states that Gipps’s had a “passion for a simpler way of life, close to nature…[her] inspiration came from the small and mundane details of her environment.” In her music, “landscapes are miniaturized and tamed, resulting in a large number of evocative pieces based on the everyday, often un-regarded aspects of the English landscape.” (Halstead, op.cit.). Examples include Rowan for flute and piano, op.12a (1940), the Sea-Weed Song for cor anglais and piano, op.12c (1940), The Pony Cart for flute, horn and piano, op.75 (1990) and Cool Running Water for bass flute and piano, op.77 (1991).

The progress of Cringlemire Gardens is in two sections. The first, an Andante, opens thoughtfully, with several string solos “musing” on an English folk song, which would seem to be The Raggle Taggle Gypsies. (Foreman 2021). This is written in the relatively unusual time-signature of 5/4. It is reflective music, with just the hint of passion. Suddenly, at the halfway point the mood and pace of the music changes. Not necessarily light-hearted, but certainly becoming more animated. This sense of movement is underpinned by the 7/8 time-signature. Rich and intense string chords lead towards a reprise of the opening theme. Here the solo cello and muted viola restore a sense of calm and repose. There is a little pizzicato on the cello, and then a quiet chord played by the strings, bringing this Impression to a peaceful conclusion.

It is no surprise that the arboretum at Cringlemire appealed to her: sitting in the summer house must have been a magical treat. It would be fascinating to find out if she were a guest here, or simply a visitor.

Jill Halstead (2006, p.171) in the “list of works,” details the premiere performance of Cringlemire Gardens at the Birmingham Town Hall on 20 February 1952. The composer conducted the New Midland Orchestra.

John Thorpe (Birmingham Gazette, 14 January 1952, p.4) advertising the concert, reported that a “work which helped to make Dr Ruth Gipps of Birmingham, one of Britain’s youngest doctors of music, is to be heard in its entirety for the first time.” This refers to The Cat, op.32 which was finished in 1947. It is scored for contralto and baritone soli, double chorus and orchestra. The piece is a setting of texts drawn from the apocryphal The Gospel of the Holy Twelve, Algeron Charles Swinburne, Michael Joseph and Christopher Smart. The Cat was accepted by Durham University, and she was awarded D.Mus. The Overture of this work had been performed on 14 October 1948 at the Birmingham Town Hall, by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under George Weldon.

The Stage (6 March 1952, p.12) reports that “all but two of the items played at the [20^th February] concert were unfamiliar.” Further “it was thoughtful of Dr Gipps to arrange her programme so that the listener could trace her development from her early twenties, with such items as the symphonic sketch Death on the Pale Horse [op.25 (1943)] and her Violin Concerto [in B flat, op.24 (1943)] through to the full-scale choral work The Cat.” The critic thought that her earlier works “lack a rhythmic vitality and are not melodically memorable,” however there is considerable development of these qualities in The Cat and “in the more recent Cringlemire Garden, an ‘impression’ for strings, a free ternary form is used to produce effective melodic and rhythmic contrast.”

Unfortunately, the reviewer of the concert at the Birmingham Gazette (21 February 1952, p.4) did not mention Gipps’s Cringlemire Gardens. However, an overall impression of the concert was given. R.R. wrote that the “progress” of Gipps’s compositions “shows a marked firmness in the handling of orchestral writing which is always lucid and informed by authority.”  On the other hand where, “Dr Gipps fails the listener most is in melodic invention” and “too many of her ideas lack that memorable quality by which new music imprints itself on the mind.”  The playing was successful and was performed with “sincerity and artistry,” but the New Midland Orchestra suffered by “being underweight in strings.”

Ruth Gipps’s Cringlemire Garden was issued on the CPO label (555457-2) on the third volume of British Music for Strings. Douglas Bostock conducts the West German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim. Other music on this remarkable CD includes Ethel Smyth’s Suite for strings, op.1a (1883/1890), Susan Spain-Dunk’s Suite for string orchestra (1920) and her Lament (1934), and Constance Warren’s Heather Hill (c.1930). So far, (05/01/2022) there are no reviews of this disc in the music media. Cringlemire Gardens has been uploaded to YouTube.

Bibliography:
Foreman, Lewis, Liner Notes CPO (555457-2), 2021.
Halstead, Jill, Ruth Gipps: Anti-Modernism, Nationalism and Difference in English Music. (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006)
Files of The Stage, Birmingham Gazette etc.