Five Flower Songs | |
---|---|
Part songs by Benjamin Britten | |
Opus | 47 |
Text | poems |
Language | English |
Dedication | 25th wedding anniversary of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst |
Performed | 23 July 1950 : |
Scoring | four-part choir ( SATB) |
Benjamin Britten's Five Flower Songs, Op. 47, is a set of five part songs to poems in English by four authors which mention flowers, composed for four voices ( SATB) in 1950 as a gift for the 25th wedding anniversary of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst. It was first performed in the open air at the couple's estate Dartington Hall, with Imogen Holst conducting a student choir. The set has been frequently recorded by English and foreign chamber choirs and ensembles, including Polyphony, Cambridge Singers and the RIAS Kammerchor.
Britten composed the music as a contribution to commemorate the 25th wedding anniversary of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst, who were both botanists, philanthropists, and fond of flowers. [1] [2] [3]: 90–91 Leonard Elmhirst was an agronomist who developed depressed rural regions such as in India and Devon county. Dorothy Elmhirst was a wealthy American, supporting education and women's rights. They had gardens at their estate, Dartington Hall. [1]
Britten wrote the part songs in the tradition of Edward Elgar, Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford. [4] He scored the works for a four-part unaccompanied choir. [2] He took into account that a student choir would perform the premiere on 23 July 1950 in the open air. The first performance was conducted at Dartington Hall by Imogen Holst. [1] [3]: 90–91 [5] It was published by Boosey & Hawkes. [4]
The music is based on five poems by four different authors, all related to flowers: [2] [6]
The music is in five movements, which Britten designed to be in that order, with mood-changes in mind. [2] It has been named a song cycle. [6] The duration is given as around 11 minutes. [4]
To Daffodils is marked Allegro impetuoso. [2] The text by Robert Herrick is a metaphor of life passing. [4] [1] In The Succession of the Four Sweet Months, also by Herrick, each month is assigned a voice part to begin a fugal setting. [1] Marsh Flowers is a setting of a poem by George Crabbe who had also written the poems on which Britten's opera Peter Grimes was based. [1] Britten created "a slightly menacing atmosphere", [2] giving individual identity to flowers described as "slimy", "faded" or with "sickly scent". [1] Evening Primrose, on a poem by John Clare, serves as the set's slow movement, [2] depicting a nightscape, [1] with the music turning to slumber. [7] The anonymous The Ballad of Green Broom has been described as "a tour-de-force of humour", [2] with a gradual accelerando, as an exciting closing movement. [2] The tempo at the beginning is Cominciando esitando ("Beginning hesitantly"), the tenors begin as a ballad singer, while the other voices imitate guitar sounds, introducing a young lazy flower-cutter. The voices take turns telling the story, with increasing tempo, up to a final wedding to a rich woman, marked Vivace, with the first "guitar" chords as joyous and sonorous wedding bells. [1]
Five Flower Songs was recorded by the Elizabethan Singers conducted by Louis Halsey in 1965. [8] It became part of the composer's complete recordings. [9] Paul Spicer conducted the Finzi Singers in a 1997 recording of Five Flower Songs as vol. 3 of the series Britten / The Choral Edition for the Chandos label. [10] [11] The cycle was recorded in 2000 by Polyphony, conducted by Stephen Layton, together with other choral music by Britten. [12] [13] The Cambridge Singers, conducted by John Rutter, recorded the songs as the conclusion of a collection There is sweet music of English part songs, by Stanford, Frederick Delius, Elgar, Gustav Holst and Percy Grainger, among others. [14] The RIAS Kammerchor, conducted by Justin Doyle, recorded the cycle, along with other Britten works. [15] [16] [7]
Five Flower Songs | |
---|---|
Part songs by Benjamin Britten | |
Opus | 47 |
Text | poems |
Language | English |
Dedication | 25th wedding anniversary of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst |
Performed | 23 July 1950 : |
Scoring | four-part choir ( SATB) |
Benjamin Britten's Five Flower Songs, Op. 47, is a set of five part songs to poems in English by four authors which mention flowers, composed for four voices ( SATB) in 1950 as a gift for the 25th wedding anniversary of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst. It was first performed in the open air at the couple's estate Dartington Hall, with Imogen Holst conducting a student choir. The set has been frequently recorded by English and foreign chamber choirs and ensembles, including Polyphony, Cambridge Singers and the RIAS Kammerchor.
Britten composed the music as a contribution to commemorate the 25th wedding anniversary of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst, who were both botanists, philanthropists, and fond of flowers. [1] [2] [3]: 90–91 Leonard Elmhirst was an agronomist who developed depressed rural regions such as in India and Devon county. Dorothy Elmhirst was a wealthy American, supporting education and women's rights. They had gardens at their estate, Dartington Hall. [1]
Britten wrote the part songs in the tradition of Edward Elgar, Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford. [4] He scored the works for a four-part unaccompanied choir. [2] He took into account that a student choir would perform the premiere on 23 July 1950 in the open air. The first performance was conducted at Dartington Hall by Imogen Holst. [1] [3]: 90–91 [5] It was published by Boosey & Hawkes. [4]
The music is based on five poems by four different authors, all related to flowers: [2] [6]
The music is in five movements, which Britten designed to be in that order, with mood-changes in mind. [2] It has been named a song cycle. [6] The duration is given as around 11 minutes. [4]
To Daffodils is marked Allegro impetuoso. [2] The text by Robert Herrick is a metaphor of life passing. [4] [1] In The Succession of the Four Sweet Months, also by Herrick, each month is assigned a voice part to begin a fugal setting. [1] Marsh Flowers is a setting of a poem by George Crabbe who had also written the poems on which Britten's opera Peter Grimes was based. [1] Britten created "a slightly menacing atmosphere", [2] giving individual identity to flowers described as "slimy", "faded" or with "sickly scent". [1] Evening Primrose, on a poem by John Clare, serves as the set's slow movement, [2] depicting a nightscape, [1] with the music turning to slumber. [7] The anonymous The Ballad of Green Broom has been described as "a tour-de-force of humour", [2] with a gradual accelerando, as an exciting closing movement. [2] The tempo at the beginning is Cominciando esitando ("Beginning hesitantly"), the tenors begin as a ballad singer, while the other voices imitate guitar sounds, introducing a young lazy flower-cutter. The voices take turns telling the story, with increasing tempo, up to a final wedding to a rich woman, marked Vivace, with the first "guitar" chords as joyous and sonorous wedding bells. [1]
Five Flower Songs was recorded by the Elizabethan Singers conducted by Louis Halsey in 1965. [8] It became part of the composer's complete recordings. [9] Paul Spicer conducted the Finzi Singers in a 1997 recording of Five Flower Songs as vol. 3 of the series Britten / The Choral Edition for the Chandos label. [10] [11] The cycle was recorded in 2000 by Polyphony, conducted by Stephen Layton, together with other choral music by Britten. [12] [13] The Cambridge Singers, conducted by John Rutter, recorded the songs as the conclusion of a collection There is sweet music of English part songs, by Stanford, Frederick Delius, Elgar, Gustav Holst and Percy Grainger, among others. [14] The RIAS Kammerchor, conducted by Justin Doyle, recorded the cycle, along with other Britten works. [15] [16] [7]