Haydn Wood: Paris Suite (1937)

Haydn Wood (1882-1959) was an English composer, renowned for his contributions to both light and classical music. Born in Slaithwaite, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, he moved to the Isle of Man at an early age. This beautiful island often inspired his music. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London, where he excelled in violin and composition under the guidance of Charles Villiers Stanford and Enrique Fernández Arbós.

Wood’s career was marked by his versatility and prolific output. He wrote over two hundred ballad-style songs, including the famous Roses of Picardy, which became extremely popular during the First World War. His orchestral works, characterized by their lyrical melodies and rich harmonies, include suites, rhapsodies, and concertos.

In addition to his compositional achievements, Wood was a celebrated violinist and conductor, often performing his own music. 

Best recalled for his evocation of London with suites such as Snapshots of London, London Cameo, and Landmarks of London, he was also inspired by places further away. There was the Suite: Cities of Romance (1937), where Budapest, Venice and Seville were evoked, and an Egyptian Suite (1927) with movements dedicated to the Valley of the Kings, the Court of Pharoah, and a Slave Dance. In 1935 he turned his sights on Gay Paris, with a redolent portrayal of Parisians sights and characters.

The Paris Suite opens with a Waltz subtitled Apache Life. The Paris Apaches were a notorious subculture of violent criminals, hooligans, and street gangs that emerged in early 20th century Paris during the Belle Époque era. Known for their brutal muggings, inter-gang warfare, and general hooliganism, they became a symbol of urban menace and lawlessness. Their notoriety was amplified by the media, which often exaggerated their exploits, creating a lasting image of the Apaches as a significant threat to public safety. Haydn Wood has presented a sanitised picture of these unsavoury characters and has given a largely romantic view of their exploits. The Waltz opens with a typically ballroom strain before embracing little bit of “knockabout pseudo-violence” thereby balancing “the tender and the frenetic.”

The second movement is Meditation: In the Tuileries Garden. This popular spot, over half a mile long, is located on the banks of the Seine, between the Louvre Museum and the busy Place de la Concorde. They were established in 1564 by Catherine de’ Medici as a private garden for the Tuileries Palace. This edifice was set on fire during the Commune in 1871 and was demolished in 1883. The gardens were reimagined in the 17^th century by the French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France, André Le Nôtre (1613-1700) becoming a public park in 1667. Today, it features beautiful landscapes, sculptures, fountains, and walking paths, offering a peaceful retreat in the heart of the bustling city. Haydn Wood has created a sympathetic evocation of this magical spot. He gives the music romance with just a touch of sentimentality present in the “big tune.” It is really an Englishman- Abroad’s take on these famous gardens.

When I first went to Paris back in 1979, I was keen to visit Montmartre. It was a place associated with artists and authors whom I had been studying and reading. I guess everyone at that time was obsessed with Gustav Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, and Andre Gide, as well as Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, and Van Gogh. Montmartre, located in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, is an historic and picturesque quarter known for its artistic heritage and bohemian charm. Once a village outside the city, it became part of Paris in 1860. It is famous for its cobbled streets, the stunning Sacré-Cœur Basilica, and its vibrant nightlife, including the iconic Moulin Rouge. The “lively and spirited” March: Montmartre does not echo the military parade ground. Rather, it reflects on the vibrant social atmosphere of this district as a playground, with its theatres, cafes, and other entertainments.

Haydn Wood’s Paris Suite can be heard on Marco Polo CD 8.223605 issued in 1993. It is played by Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) under Ernest Tomlinson.

Haydn Wood (1882-1959): British Rhapsody for orchestra (1945)

The Yorkshire-born composer Haydn (pronounced Hay-den) Wood clearly enjoyed composing Rhapsodies. Topographical examples include two featuring tributes to the Isle of Man, an American one and a Southern Rhapsody, subtitled ‘Virginia’. Others include a notable Stanford Rhapsody showcasing music from the grand old man’s Songs of the Sea and one for the Seafarer’s. All have been recorded.

Haydn Wood’s remarkable British Rhapsody was composed in 1945, towards the end of the Second World War. The score is headed with the following note: 'Though the themes of this are original, the composer has endeavoured to imbue them with the folk tunes of the British Isles.’

After a short ‘Highland’ introduction, the work begins with a beautiful tune that could have been composed by George Butterworth 30 years previously. It certainly nods to his Shropshire Lad Rhapsody. Rob Barnett (MusicWeb International 5 October 2005) has suggested that Balfour Gardiner’s Shepherd Fennel’s Dance as a model for another tune. The ‘bounce’ of Percy Grainger is never too far away either. Wood introduces a vaguely Scottish melody with a lovely oboe solo, which is my favourite moment in this score – I wish it went on longer! Here and there we hear a hornpipe and an Irish Reel. I am not sure where the Welsh connection is introduced. The conclusion of the piece looks to Ireland with a splendid tune that brings a tear to a glass eye and acknowledges the Londonderry Air. The entire Rhapsody is well written and competently orchestrated. One interesting thing is that Wood has not introduced any ‘pomp and circumstance’ into the score. This is a celebration of the diverse landscapes and peoples of the British Isles rather than an exercise in tub-thumping. Clearly, there is a place for the latter, but it is not here.

The British Rhapsody was premiered on the BBC Forces Programme on Friday 25 May 1945. The composer conducted the BBC Theatre Orchestra in a concert of his own music. The other works included a ‘Miniature Overture: The City’ from London Cameos, A Manx Pastoral Scene, the ‘Concert Waltz: A State Ball at Buckingham Palace’ (London Cameos), the lovely ‘Andante Sostenuto’ from the Violin Concerto  (soloist Alfred Barker), ‘Fairy Revels’ from A Day in Fairyland and finally A Southern Rhapsody: Virginia.

Reviewing this CD for MusicWeb International, Rob Barnett sums up his thoughts about the British Rhapsody by noting that  ‘at the time this must have seemed very much out of date: now its charms are easy to accept and it has none of the lapses into tawdry to which Coates was occasionally prone.’ Gerald S. Fox writing in the American Record Guide (September/October 2005) writes that ‘Haydn Wood's British Rhapsody is slightly more serious than the other works [on this CD], but still very melodic and high spirited.’  And Paul Snook (Fanfare, March 2006) suggests quite simply that Haydn Wood's British Rhapsody is fraught with stirring melodies that sound traditional…’

Haydn Wood’s British Rhapsody can be heard on Dutton Epoch CDLX 7151 (2004) British Light Music Premieres Volume 2. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Gavin Sutherland. It has been uploaded to YouTube.

Haydn Wood’s A May-Day Overture (1918)

Haydn Wood’s A May-Day Overture was published 1918 by Hawkes and Son, London. This certainly suggests that it was a ‘wartime’ work. Wood, who was born in 1882 would have been 32 years old when the First World War commenced, so it is unlikely he would have been able to volunteer or called up. In 1909, Haydn Wood had married Savoyard soprano Dorothy Court, a student he had met whilst studying at the Royal College of Music. From 1913 until 1925 they toured British music halls. There they presented a series of concerts featuring songs, ballads, piano pieces and violin works. During this period, Haydn Wood composed much music, however A May-Day Overture was the first orchestral piece with which the composer was totally satisfied. Certainly, it displays the characteristic features of the composer’s mature style: melody, charm and sheer delight.  Other important works written prior to this Overture included the excellent Piano Concerto in D minor (1912), a lost Symphony (1909) and the Fantasy-Concerto for string orchestra dating from 1908. There is also the fugitive Adagio from the B minor Violin Concerto. This is one of most beautiful movements in the literature.

A May-Day Overture is a delightful little tone-poem that depicts all the magic of springtime, awakening of nature and the promise of a glorious summer. May-Day is often associated with dancing around the maypole on the village green, baskets of flowers, washing one’s face in the dew and the May Queen Procession. In more ancient days, the Feast of Beltane was celebrated, marking the halfway point between Spring and Summer. Since 1886, May Day has become entwined with International Workers’ Day. Wood has chosen to balance the sentimental attraction of this holiday with the more vibrant excesses of pagan days. It is certainly music that harks back to the lost Edwardian summers prior to the Great War. 

Haydn Wood’s overture opens with a misty passage on the French horn representing the dawn of the day. This is answered by ‘bird-calls’ in the woodwind. Then a romantic string tune emerges which surely has more to do with lovers walking hand in hand than pagan or medieval traditions. Slowly, the tempo of the music increases, as the sun emerges in its glory. The becomes more and more abandoned, with just a touch of pagan here and there. Not quite Rite of Spring, but something a little more reserved. The work builds up to a sparkling coda, with barely a reminiscence of the misty start. I often wonder of the inspiration of this music is the Isle of Man or some secluded nook in the Home Counties? I plump for the latter, as the music is just that little bit too urbane for Manannán’s Isle.

A May-Day Overture may be classified as ‘light’ music, but this often-misused term does not detract from Haydn Wood’s skilful development of his material, the sensuous portrayal of the dawn and the sheer magical quality of the orchestration. It was dedicated Haydn Wood’s brother Harry, who was a well-respected musician on the Isle of Man for many years. He was often billed as Manxland’s King of Music.

Haydn Wood’s A May-Day Overture can be heard on Marco Polo 8.223605. It has been uploaded to YouTube.

Haydn Wood: Snapshots of London (1948)

Eric Coates is well-known for his musical pictures of London. Think only of the ‘Knightsbridge March’ from the ever-popular London Suite. He continued this success with the London Again Suite as well as several standalone pieces such as the ‘Holborn March’, the ‘London Bridge March’ and the ‘London Calling March’. The composer Haydn Wood also exploited the ‘sights and sounds’ of the Capital. Despite being born in Slaithwaite, West Riding and an early move to the Isle of Man, Wood spent most of his working life in London. However, during the war years he ‘evacuated’ to Devon. It was at this time that he penned his three London Suites: London Landmarks (1942), London Cameos (1945) and the present Snapshots of London (1948).

Like many orchestral suites from this era, Snapshots of London has three contrasting movements. The first, ‘Sadler’s Wells (At the Ballet)’ is a highly charged romantic waltz, with an obviously happy memory of many performances at this great institution. Despite the overall optimism of this piece, there is just an occasional touch of wistfulness. Exactly as it should be. The liner notes (CDLX 7357) point out that this movement became famous during the early years of post-war TV. It was one of the tunes used in the well-known ‘Potter’s Wheel’ fill-in. Nowadays, all we get are adverts - either for products or even better future programmes.

Since first discovering them in the early 1970s, I have loved the beautiful Queen Mary’s Gardens in Regents Park. This intimate garden was named after King George V’s wife. They opened to the public in 1932. Two years later, the first rose was planted. It is now London’s largest rose garden with more than 85 varieties and 12,000 individual roses.  I understand that these gardens were only short stroll from Haydn Wood’s flat. The composer has created a deeply-personal and often downright moving score, with a lovely heart-felt tune running throughout. Clearly it reflects many happy hours spent relaxing in this beautiful garden.

The mood changes dramatically with the third movement’s portrayal of the ‘Wellington Barracks’. Quite naturally, this is a wonderful quick march tune that sometimes seems to out-Coates, Coates. It is not hard to imagine soldiers from the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards and the Scots Guards who form the garrison here today. These barracks are located on Birdcage Walk near to the beautiful St James’ Park.

All in all, this is a lovely suite that will entertain any enthusiast for London. Especially the lovely Queen Mary’s Garden is guaranteed to bring a tear to the most cynical eye.

Up until the release of the recent Dutton Epoch survey of Haydn Wood’s Orchestra Suites (CDLX 7357) the only other recording of Snapshots of London was played by The Queen's Hall Light Orchestra - Volume 2 (Vocalion CDEA 6061).

Haydn Wood: Manx Countryside Sketches

In 2011 I posted a short essay entitled ‘Haydn Wood: the Isle of Man Works’. In this note I listed Wood’s music inspired by this lovely island. At that time, three of these works had not been recorded. So, it was with great delight that I discovered the beautiful Manx Country Sketches (1943) on the recent Dutton Epoch CD of the composer’s Orchestral Suites.

It will be recalled that although Wood was born in Slaithwaite (not pronounced as it is spelt) in the West Riding of Yorkshire, he moved to the Isle of Man with his parents when still a schoolboy. He was later to work there for several years as musical director of the Palace & Derby Castle Company.

Marjorie Cullerne and Tony Clayden explain in the CD liner notes that the young Haydn Wood matured musically in the 1880s and 90s in Douglas, where a large number of holidaymakers, mainly from the north of England, were having a huge impact on musical taste on the Island. Wood was to understand the ‘popular’ aspirations of these visitors. On the other hand, he had a huge respect for the then-dying traditional Manx songs. At the same time the language was also disappearing (fortunately now being revived). In Wood’s day several songs had been collected and published. He was keen to use these ‘traditional tunes’ in his Manx-inspired music.

I have only been to the Isle of Man on a couple of occasions. Yet this present work strikes a chord with me. I recall walking on Spanish Head in the south of the island one summer’s night. It was nearly dark, and we could see all Six Kingdoms – Blackpool Tower and the Pleasure Beach (England), the Mull of Galloway lighthouse in Scotland, the glow of Larne in Ulster, the beacon light off Anglesey (Wales) and the Isle of Man itself. But then there was the sixth – the Kingdom of Heaven! – Not to mention anything about the realm of the fairies or folklore and ancient traditions. All this magic, I am sure, was in the thoughts of the composer as he wrote this lovely work.

The only problem with Manx Country Sketches is that it is too short. The opening piece, ‘A Manx Pastoral Scene’ lasts for a mere three and a half minutes. Yet the style and mood are that of a small but brilliantly crafted tone-poem that perfectly imagines the beautiful Manx countryside. The orchestration of this piece is a masterclass in creating a mood: ‘shimmering’ and ‘translucent.’ I do not know if this piece is based on an original folk tune. This idyll was inspired when the composer went on long, solitary walks.

The second of the two pieces, ‘A Manx Country Dance’ is based on the tune ‘Hunt the Wren.’ We will draw a veil over the less-than-environmentally correct origins of this tune and how it used to be used in celebrations. This pre-Christian, Pagan tradition, which occurs on Boxing Day (St Stephen’s Day) is now guaranteed not to harm any living creature! Haydn Wood has used the ‘energetic’ jig tune throughout the piece. The liner notes point out the ‘allegro moderato’ tempo of the music and suggests that the composer was ‘envisioning it for traditional circle dancing.’ It is a neatly orchestrated piece that is full of vibrancy and subtle humour.

From my reckoning, the only Isle of Man works now needed to complete the set are King Orry (1939) and A Pageant of the Isle of Man (1951). Fingers crossed!

Haydn Wood: Manx Countryside Sketches are recorded on Dutton Epoch CDLX 7357. The CD includes the Festival March, the Snapshots of London Suite, the Cities of Romance Suite and the Royal Castles Suite.

Haydn Wood: Listings of Music Recorded on the Guild Light Music Series.

Recently I posted a listing of music by Eric Coates available on the Guild Light Music Series. I decided to do the same exercise for Haydn Wood. Luckily for the collector or enthusiast, many of the numbers listed below appear on one CD which Guild dedicated to the music of Haydn wood (GLCD 5121). The other major sources of works by this composer are the two Marco Polo CDs (8. 223605 & 223402), The Violin Concerto has been released on Dutton Epoch CDLX7245 and the fine Piano Concerto on Hyperion CDA67127

There are a number of works listed below which are not easily available on any other disc. I guess that this includes the Cities of Romance Suite: Seville, the Stanford Rhapsody and the two movements from the Moods Suite.

I have not included links to these Guild Cds however further information can be found at the company’s website.

Bird of Love Divine - London Palladium Orchestra / Richard Crean (GLCD 5121)

Brown Bird Singing - Eric Jupp & The Melodi Strings (GLCD 5172)

Cities of Romance Suite: Seville - BBC Variety Orchestra / Charles Shadwell + Reginald Foort (Organ) (GLCD 5121)

Dance of a Whimsical Elf – BB|C Theatre Orchestra / Harold Lowe (GLCD 5139)

Frescoes Suite: Bandstand - New Concert Orchestra / Serge Krish (GLCD 5101)

Frescoes Suite: Vienna - New Concert Orchestra / Serge Krish (GLCD 5121)

Harvest Time Suite: Harvesters' Dance, Interlude, Harvest Home - Regent Concert Orchestra / William Hodgson  (GLCD 5203)

Homage March - Light Symphony Orchestra / Haydn Wood (GLCD 5121)

Horse Guards - Whitehall - Orchestra Raymonde / Robert Preston (GLCD 5121)

Joyousness - Light Symphony Orchestra / Haydn Wood (GLCD 5121)

Laughing Cavalier - New Concert Orchestra / Nat Nyll [Actually Dolf Van Der Linden] (GLCD 5121)

London Landmarks Suite: Nelson's Column - Queen's Hall Light Orchestra / Charles Williams (GLCD 5121)

London Landmarks Suite: Tower Hill - Queen's Hall Light Orchestra / Charles Williams (GLCD 5121)

Longing - London Palladium Orchestra / Richard Crean (GLCD 5121)

Love Song, A - Queen's Hall Light Orchestra / Charles Williams (GLCD 5164)

Mannin Veen (Dear Isle Of Man) - Light Symphony Orchestra / Haydn Wood (GLCD 5121)

Manx Rhapsody - Queen's Hall Light Orchestra / Charles Williams (GLCD 5107)

May Day Overture - Light Symphony Orchestra / Haydn Wood (GLCD 5106)

Moods Suite : Caprice - Queen's Hall Light Orchestra / Charles Williams (GLCD 5121)

Moods Suite: Prelude - Queen's Hall Light Orchestra / Charles Williams (GLCD 5195)

Paris Suite: Montmartre - Debroy Somers Band (5121)

Roses of Picardy: - Freddy Gardner (Saxophone) With Peter Yorke & His Concert Orchestra (5121)

Roving Fancies - The Regent Classic Orchestra (GLCD 5102)

Seafarer, The (A Nautical Rhapsody) - Charles Williams & His Concert Orchestra (GLCD 5121)

Sketch of a Dandy - Louis Voss & His Orchestra (GLCD 5115) 

Soliloquy - Queen's Hall Light Orchestra / Robert Farnon (GLCD 5121)

Stanford Rhapsody (Based on Charles Villiers Stanford's "Songs of the Sea") - Debroy Somers Band (GLCD 5121)

Torch of Freedom - Grand March - New Concert Orchestra / Jack Leon (GLCD GLCD 5121)

Virginia - A Southern Rhapsody - Queen's Hall Light Orchestra / Charles Williams (GLCD 5107)

Haydn Wood: Fantasy Concerto for Strings

Most people who know the music of Haydn Wood will do so because they have purchased the excellent Marco Polo recordings of his 'light' music. (Marco Polo 8.223402 & 8.223605.) A previous generation was enthralled by the melody of 'Roses of Picardy' written when the Great War was at its height. Many people remember the theme from the BBC programme Down your Way - the March: Horseguards, Whitehall.

However, before the success of the ‘Rose’ Haydn Wood had been marked out as a ‘serious’ composer. He studied with Charles Villiers Stanford at the RCM. His catalogue includes an excellent Piano Concerto in D minor (Hyperion 67127) that was published in 1947 and a Concerto for Violin from 1933. There was an early set of Variations on an Original Theme which appeared in 1903. Quite obviously Elgar was the ‘model’.

The Fantasy–Concerto started life as a chamber work. Originally produced for the Cobbett Chamber Music Competition as Phantasie in F minor. It was written in 1905. He was successful in winning third prize in the very first of these prodigious competitions. How many works have been composed for this annual event? Fortunately many have survived into the current repertoire. Vaughan Williams, Bridge and Britten to name three.

The original work was composed for string quartet and was dusted down by the composer in 1949. It was recast into a shorter time frame – 14 minutes as opposed to the original 23 minutes.

It is a wonderful piece. Technically involved – demanding a fine string technique from all the players. There is a touch of Elgar here - one is reminded of the Introduction and Allegro; there are harmonic constructions worthy of Delius. I am left wishing that Haydn Wood had written more music in the 'classical' vein - and let it be hastily added that I am a great fan of his 'light' music. For me he is generally on a par with Eric Coates -if slightly more 'old-fashioned'.

Haydn Wood: Fantasy Concerto for Strings can be heard on Naxos 8.555068 It also features on YouTube

Haydn Wood: Violinist & Composer

This short article from the Musical Standard September 1912 is well worth printing. It is one a precious few texts dealing Haydn Wood. It is also interesting for the long digression the unnamed author makes about the problems facing 'today's composers. I guess not too much has changed in the past 100 years.

Mr. Haydn Wood was born in the year 1882 of musical parents, at Slaithwaite, near Huddersfield. When he was three years of age his parents moved to Douglas, Isle of Man, where he studied the violin under the supervision of his brother Mr. Harry Wood, who holds a prominent position as a conductor there.

Our young musician studied well, an in 1897; at the age of fifteen he gained an open three years’ violin scholarship at the Royal College of Music. At the end of these three years he was awarded the Morley scholarship, which entitled him to three years’ additional study – six years in all. During this period he studied the violin under Senor Arbos [1], and musical composition under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, winning many prizes during his college career. Amongst these prizes were the Dove and Hill prizes for violin playing and the Arthur Sullivan prize for composition.

In 1903 Mr. Wood left the Royal College, and, journeying to Brussels, continued his violin studies under Professor Cesar Thomson [2] the famous Belgian violinist, with whom he remained a year. On his return to London he was immediately engaged by Mme. Albani [3] for her tours, and for the last eight years he has been here violinist at all her concerts, which have consisted of tours in the British Isles, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India. He rendered the same assistance at her recent farewell tour and concert at the Albert Hall. [4]

Mr. Wood has appeared very successfully at the Harrison Concerts, the Royal Albert Hall Sunday Concerts, the London Ballad Concerts and other functions.

As a composer Mr. Wood has a just claim to our sympathetic attention. His serious compositions show marked ability and considerable resource, both in invention and the treatment of ideas. He won a prize for a fantasy for string quartet [5] in the first of the Cobbett competitions. In the same competition the late W.Y. Hurlstone [6] won the first prize but died before the result was announced. The three best works, were published by Messrs. Novello and Co. Mr Wood’s other compositions include Lochinvar, a ballad for chorus and orchestra, which was given its performance last March by the Edward Mason Choir at the Queen’s Hall, a Pianoforte Concerto in D minor, which was first produced at a Patron’s Fund concert, and an orchestral suite, which was also first performed at a Patron’s Fund concert.

Among his lighter works are many pieces for the violin and for the pianoforte. He also composed many songs, a considerable number of which were published. Some of these are becoming very popular, for example Three Sea Songs, Twelve Little Songs of the Year, Bird of Love Divine. This last was sung for the first time by Miss Felice Lyne at one of the last season’s London Ballad Concerts.

The difficulties which bar the way to the publication of a work in any of the larger forms being almost deadly apathy of the music-buying public, which turns pale at the sight of a British name upon a piece of music, a composer of serious music is almost entirely dependent upon the public performances which a fickle fate doles out to him at the dictates of what appears to be sheer caprice. For this injustice the public is to blame. It will damn or praise a work without much apparent reference to its musical qualities, which on the other hand are often very difficult to judge at all fairly at a first hearing. If at such a performance the attitude of the audience is lukewarm, the chances of a second performance in front of the same audience are almost microscopic, and the best that can be hoped for is that a second performance may be given somewhere in the provinces with more success. This system is a bad one, for under it a work is always a novelty, and therefore subject to that undeserved neglect which ignorance so ungrudgingly awards to merit.

In view of this fact the second performance of any considerable work has a serious moral claim upon all true lovers of music. It is not to be expected, nor to be desired that they should praise indiscriminately, for such praise is actually harmful; but it is most decidedly expected that they should support such a performance by their sympathetic and careful attention, in order that they may detect real merit and give it unanimous and vigorous support, for without such support art can scarcely live.

Of such a nature is the forthcoming performance in the autumn of Mr Haydn Wood’s above-mentioned Pianoforte Concerto in D minor, the soloist being Miss Tina Lerner and the orchestra, the London Symphony. The question as to whether the concerto is good or bad is neither here nor there – what is demanded of music-lovers is that they should go and hear it and strive to arrive at a fair estimate of its value as an art-work. In the meantime the best that we wish its composer is that he should meet with just treatment at the hands of a discriminating audience.

The Musical Standard September 7 1912. p.34 [with minor edits]

[1] Enrique Fernández Arbós (1863-1939 was a Spanish violinist, composer and conductor. He divided his career between working in Spain and in London.

[2] César Thomson (1857-1931) was a Belgian violinist, teacher and composer.

[3] Dame Emma Albani DBE (1847-1930) was a leading soprano of the 19th century and early 20th century, and the first Canadian singer to become an international star. Her repertoire focused on the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Wagner. She performed across Europe and North America. (Wikipedia)

[4] On Saturday 14 October 1911, Mme. Albani gave her farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Artist included Adelina Patti, Muriel foster, Ada Crossley, Gervase Elwes, Plunket Greene and Sir Charles Santley. Also present were Sarah Bernhardt, Adela Verne and Haydn Wood. The concert was conducted by Landon Ronald.

[5] Phantasy for String Quartet was later score for string and renamed a Fantasy Concerto.

[6] William Yeates Hurlstone (1876-1906) was an English composer who studied piano and composition at the Royal College of Music, after gaining a scholarship. His piano professors were Algernon Ashton and Edward Dannreuther. His composition teacher, Charles Villiers Stanford, considered Hurlstone, among the many brilliant students whom he taught, to have been his most talented. In 1906, he returned to the college as Professor of Counterpoint, but died later that year of bronchial asthma. He is buried in Croydon Cemetery with members of his family. (Wikipedia)

Haydn Wood: Frescoes for orchestra.

The unfortunate thing about this short suite is that you need to have two CDs to hear the entire work! The suite is in three well-balanced movements, however it does not appear to have been recorded as a complete entity – at least it has not been released as such. The first movement is on a Guild Light Music CD and is played by the New Concert Orchestra conducted by Serge Krish and the second and third are part of the Marco Polo Haydn Wood retrospective Volume 2, played by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ernest Tomlinson. [Haydn Wood: Volume 2 Marco Polo 8.223605 & Joyousness-The Music of Haydn Wood Guild GLCD 5121]

Frescoes were composed around 1936, when the composer was in his mid-fifties. According to Ernest Tomlinson, the music was inspired by the ‘mural decorations by Miss Anna Zinkeisen which graced a famous music publishing house.’ In fact it was Boosey and Hawkes at 295 Regent Street. Unfortunately, the murals were destroyed by fire in October 1990. I wonder if anyone has any photographs? (Apart from one obscure shot in Tempo)

Out of interest, Miss Zinkeisen was a Scottish artist, born in 1901. She and her sister Doris was employed by John Brown & Son of Clydebank, Glasgow to paint murals for the Queen Mary’s Verandah Grill and ballroom. During the war, Anna was a war artist working with the Red Cross and the Order of St John.

The first movement of Frescoes convincingly portrays a ballroom somewhere in Vienna, complete with a Hollywood-inspired realisation of the waltzes and the flowing dresses. It is one of the most delicious little waltzes that Haydn Wood or any other Englishman has composed.

The listener will instantly recognise the two main tunes used on the second movement Sea Shanties. The music opens quietly with a dream-like calm. It develops into a reflective mediations on ‘Shenandoah’, before suddenly moving onto ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor?’ with its lovely muted brass melody. However, the serious side of this music reasserts itself and the movement ends as it began with ‘Shenandoah’ played with Delius-like slippery harmonies.

The March: The Bandstand in Hyde Park, based on another fresco, is depicted in the last movement and is well portrayed with a fast-paced march tune. This is no concert march like Elgar or Walton would have produced, but is an everyday, popular tune that would have been enjoyed by countless holidaymakers and day trippers at bandstands around the country. The march’s trio is a good tune, without going over the top. But what impresses me most is the superb orchestration: it is masterly in its use of colour, especially in the brass section.

Frescoes deserves to have a modern recording as a complete suite. It is a well written work that is typical of the composer’s output.

Haydn Wood: the Isle of Man Works

I was looking over the Irish Sea the other day from North Wales, and could clearly see the Isle of Man. It is a place that I love, but have not been as often as I would like to. I did think about the works that the Yorkshire-born Haydn Wood wrote whilst living and working on that great Isle.
When I got back home to London, I listened to the four works that have been recorded. Each of them is a worthy tone-poem, that in spite of using local ‘folk tines’ never becomes parochial. They are pieces that deserve recognition and study. It is a task that I will try to consider over the coming months.
According to HaydnWoodMusic.com there are another three works that have not yet been recorded. I have linked to the CD pages where the work is currently available.
A Manx Rhapsody (1931). 
Mannin Veen, Dear Isle of Man, A Manx Tone Poem (1933).

A Manx Overture, The Isle of Mountains and Glens (1937).

'King Orry' (1939).

'Manx Countryside Sketches' (1943).

'Mylecharane, Rhapsody' (1946)

'A Pageant of the Isle of Man' (1951).

As a taster I provide a link to a YouTube recording of 'A Manx Rhapsody'.

Haydn Wood: March-The Horse Guards: Whitehall

I am delighted to see that Classic FM seems to have picked up on the Yorkshire-born composer Haydn Wood (1882-1959). Twice during the last four weeks they have played the classic march from the London Landmarks Suite. People of a certain age will know this ‘march’ as the signature tune to the long-running BBC radio programme, Down your Way, which ran between 1946 and 1992.
Ernest Tomlinson, in his programme notes to the Marco Polo recording of this work, has set the scene – ‘Whitehall, in the city of Westminster, runs amid a host of government buildings from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square. As we pass the Cenotaph and proceed towards the Admiralty we see two resplendent Guardsmen on their immobile horses standing sentry outside the arch which leads through to the Horse Guards Parade, the scene of the annual Trooping of the Colour...’
Originally The Horse Guards: Whitehall was the last of a three-movement suite called London Landmarks. The first is a musical portrayal of Nelson’s Column, Trafalgar Square with its nautical nods to the great admiral on his plinth. The second was a much more sober consideration of Tower Hill with its echoes of the whole panoply of British history. Much of this movement is cast as a funeral march and certainly causes the listener to reflect on the numerous executions and more recently the dedication of the War Memorial to the Merchant Seamen from the First and Second World Wars. This music is far deeper and more profound than much ‘light music’ and could be used to good effect at a Remembrance Parade. It is with some relief when the last movement begins.
The march will remind the listener more of Eric Coates than Edward Elgar or William Walton. For this is not really a military march as such, but a flamboyant, highly spirited evocation of the atmosphere surrounding ceremonial events in Whitehall. This is pure concert music. Ernest Tomlinson reminds the reader that when this march (and suite) was composed, in 1946, the sombre war-time khaki of the guards had once again returned to the traditional scarlet tunics and high plumed hats so well known to this day.

Finally, for the curious, the story goes that the composer received his illustrious name because his father had just attended a performance of Haydn’s Creation at the time of his son’s birth!
A good performance of this work can be heard on YouTube. There are at least five good recordings of this work currently available on CD.

Haydn Wood: The Dance of a Whimsical Elf

Ever since the days of Felix Mendelssohn’s music to A Midsummer’s Night Dream, composers have had a fascination with the ‘little folk’ One need only consider the large number of piano pieces with titles like Forest Fairies, Fairy Footsteps and The Sad Troll. And that is ignoring the subtler efforts of Tchaikovsky and the Sugar Plum Fairy. I guess that a thesis could, and may well have been written on this topic.
Yet one work I have always enjoyed is The Dance of a Whimsical Elf. It is part of a suite called A Day in Fairyland, Suite de Ballet are:
The suite has four movements that each relates to a time of day: -

1.Invocation (Dawn)

2. Dance of a Whimsical Elf (Noon)

3. A Dream Fairy (Sunset)

4. Fairy Revels (Night)

The Oxford English Dictionary describes ‘whimsical’ as being “characterised by a whim or whims; actuated by a whim or caprice.” There is a subsidiary adjectival meaning determined by “mere caprice, fantastic, fanciful, freakish odd or comical”. Of course the word ‘elf’ carries with it a large number of meanings. However I believe that Haydn Wood is simply using it in its basic form as a synonym of ‘fairy’. For interest an elf was originally masculine and an elven feminine, however in modern usage an ‘elf’ is really a ‘male fairy.’
At time of the first performance, the second movement was called Dance of a Lone Elf. Listening to this attractive miniature today, it would be difficult to consider the character portrayed as a ‘lone’ or even ‘lonely’ unless it is in the sense of a fairy who is a bit of a loner, by choice. There is no real way of telling is Haydn Wood imagined this elf to be a good fairy or a mischievous one: it is more to do with mood and suggestion. The orchestration of this piece is superb. A variety of techniques are used to create an air of ‘whimsicality’ or caprice. Look out for the muted brass, the xylophone and the intricate woodwind. But perhaps the greatest surprise is the use of five beats in the bar – this really does make the little fellow seem quite capricious.

The piece is quite short being just over two and half minutes long, no doubt designed to fit onto one side of a 78-rpm record.
This is another one of these pieces that makes me wonder just where the divide is between ‘light’ and ‘art’ music. I guess that it must be more to do with subject matter, for this piece is a great example of craftsmanship and formal design. If it was by Elgar, and was part of say a Third Wand of Youth Suite it would be a regular on Classic FM and in the recording studios.
The work was first performed in November 1933 during a broadcast by the BBC Orchestra Section C, conducted by Joseph Lewis.

Unfortunately there is not a recording of the entire Suite, the only movement on CD being the Dance. However there are at least two versions of this on Marco Polo and Guild.

Haydn Wood: Soliloquy

It is possible to distinguish between Haydn Wood as a light music composer and as a 'serious composer. For example the "Dance of a Whimsical Elf" is quite manifestly light, as is the March: The Horseguards, Whitehall which was use in the programme Down Your Way. On the other side of the coin the excellent Piano Concerto is quite definitely serious in design and execution: it is one of the finest of the late romantic British essays in this form. And of course there is the rumour of a 'lost' symphony. In 1905 Wood had taken a prize in the first Cobbett chamber music competition.
However Wood's Soliloquy is a piece that seems to straddle the genres. It is most certainly not of ‘the Potter’s Wheel’ type of tone poem, yet neither does it explore any new musical direction. This is quite simply a moving piece that almost seems to be a retrospective. It was composed when Wood was in his late sixties -in 1948. Wood had been born in 1882 and had witnessed two World War- he had lost a number of friends and relations. He, like all his generation had witnessed huge changes in society –the advent of air travel and broadcasting for example.

The Soliloquy is a work that is at once approachable yet touching deep thoughts and moods. There is nothing difficult about it, but neither does its conservative musical language repel the listener. Even the briefest of hearings reveals more than a touch of Fred. Delius and perhaps even Edward Elgar.

The piece achieved its first performance on the BBC's light programme on 6th January 1948. It was played by the John Blore Orchestra. Ernest Tomlinson quotes a programme note saying "Soliloquy gives the atmosphere of a lazy summer afternoon, with the humming of the bees and the smell of flowers and new mown hay." Yet this is not trifle: Haydn Wood seems to be reflecting on a life of music and looking back over the years. This is not valedictory music - he still had some ten years to live - but it is a million miles away from some of his pot boilers. It reveals a thoughtful and introspective composer who was perhaps writing a work for his own purposes rather than satisfying audience demand.

British Light Music Haydn Wood on Marco Polo