Gerald Finzi

Gerald Finzi’s Elegy for Orchestra, “The Fall of the Leaf”: An English Landscape

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Gerald Finzi’s Elegy for Orchestra, Op. 20, The Fall of the Leaf, is music of the English landscape. It evokes the timelessness of serene pastures and meandering hedgerows. Beyond its lush beauty exists a lingering melancholy and nostalgia. Unsettling twilight shadows pervade this music. We encounter something similar in much of the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who shared friendship and frequent correspondence with Finzi (1901-1956), and throughout the works of Edward Elgar. …

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Shakespeare Turns 453

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Sunday marks the 453rd anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth. In a previous post, we listened to a small sampling of the many pieces inspired by Shakespeare’s works. This year, let’s hear two excerpts from English tenor Ian Bostridge’s 2016 album, Shakespeare Songs. The recording won a Grammy this year in the category, “Best Solo Vocal Album.” Here is English Renaissance composer Thomas Morley’s setting of It Was a Lover and His Lass from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Morley (1557-1602) …

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With Watch Magazine, Music Meets Marketing

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There was a time when major networks, such as CBS and NBC, employed their own orchestras (watch this clip of Arturo Toscanini leading the NBC Symphony) and television shows included a full minute of credits, accompanied by theme music. Revisit the opening of Cheers, compare it to the fast pace of today’s media and consider what we’ve lost. TV theme music allowed for reflection (even if it wasn’t deep reflection) and established the atmosphere of the …

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In Terra Pax

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Take a break from the holiday hubbub and spend a few minutes listening to In Terra Pax (“And on earth, peace”), the beautiful Christmas cantata by English composer Gerald Finzi (1901-1956). You might be reminded of the lush, layered string writing of Ralph Vaughan Williams. There are also moments in the piece which may have influenced John Rutter. Get a detailed introduction of the piece here and here. Written in 1954, this was one …

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