Speaking with Bayan Northcott uncovered a wealth of information about the WCSSs and the period in which they occurred. This post draws together some clips from the interview. The interview progressed with Northcott going through his diary.
Sunday, 15 August at 8 p.m.
BETHANY BEARDSLEE, soprano
EMMANUEL HURWITZ, violin
STEPHEN PRUSLIN, pianoforte
I. Five Songs . . Schubert
Ganymed (Goethe)
Auflösung (Mayrhofer)
Nachtviolen (Mayrhofer)
Auf dem Wasser zu singen (Stoliberg)
An Sylvia (Shakespeare)
II. Chansons de Bilitis (Pierre Louys) . . Debussy
III. Sonata No. 13 in B-flat major for piano and violin, K. 454 . . Mozart
INTERVAL – 25 MINUTES
IV. Two Songs . . Schoenberg
Ich darf nicht dankend (Stefan George)
In diesen Wintertagen (G. Henckel)
Three Songs, opus 25 (Hildegard Jone) . . Webern
Wie bin ich froh
Des Herzens Purpurvogel
Sterne, Ihr silbernen Bienen
V. Philomel for soprano, recorded soprano, and synthesized sound . . Milton Babbitt
To begin, Northcott made some general remarks about Bethany Beardslee, one of the featured performers of the 1965 WCSS:
(LS100049, 1:14’25”)
He then continued, with recollections of Philomel, the only item in the programme that had clearly remained with him:
(LS100049, 1:14’57”)
Monday, 16 August at 8 p.m.
BETHANY BEARDSLEE, soprano
Melos Ensemble
EMANUEL HURWITZ, violin
CECIL ARONOWITZ, viola
TERENCE WEIL, cello
COLIN CHAMBERS, flute and piccolo
GERVASE DE PEYER, clarinet
ALAN HACKER, bass clarinet
ERIC ROSEBERRY, piano
EDWARD DOWNES, director
I. Trio No. 1 in B-flat major for pianoforte, violin, and violoncello, opus 99 . . Schubert
INTERVAL – 25 MINUTES
II. Pierrot Lunaire, opus 21 . . Schoenberg
This was one of the most significant concerts of the 1965 summer school, and the impact of the Pierrot Lunaire here is deep and long lasting. Northcott suggests that this may well have been the genesis of the Pierrot Players. First, thought, he confirms some of Hugh Wood’s information about the lighting:
(LS100049, 1:16’17”)
Northcott then describes the performance, particularly striking for its information about Maxwell Davies:
(LS100049, 1:17’10”)
Tuesday, 17 August at 5 p.m.
RECITAL
by LEONARD STEIN, piano
Bagatelles . . Beethoven
Three Piano Pieces . . Alexander Goehr
Prelude for Piano and Tape . . Subotnick
(short pause)
Cocktail Music . . Salvatore Martirano
Piano Pieces OP. 23 . . Schoenberg
(LS100049, 1:18’57”)
NB there was no performance of Boulez’s Third Piano Sonata as one of the earlier flyers had indicated. Part of Northcott’s response to my question about Boulez was to mention that Bill Colleran has set up a shop in the hall for the summer school, selling, amongst other things, Boulez’s Third Piano Sonata.
(LS100049, 1:21’40”)
Wednesday, 18 August at 8 p.m.
Melos Ensemble:
EMANUEL HURWITZ, violin
KAY HURWITZ, viola
LEONARD FRIEDMAN, violin
CECIL ARONOWITZ, viola
TERENCE WEIL, cello
WILLIAM BENNETT, flute
ALAN HACKER, bass clarinet
ERIC ROSENBERRY, piano
STEPHEN PRUSLIN, piano
BARBARA ELSY, Soprano
PAULINE STEVENS, contralto
IAN PARTRIDGE, tenor
GEOFFREY SHAW, bass
ALEXANDER GOEHR, director
I. Busoni – Canonic Variations and Fugue for pianoforte on the theme of King Frederick the Great from Bach’s Musical Offering.
followed by
II. Bach – Six Part Ricercar from the Musical Offering.
The six-part ricercar, which follows the Busoni work, will be performed in an instrumental arrangement by Alexander Goehr.
III. Mozart: Quartet for flute, violin, viola, and violoncello in D major, K. 285
IV. Cantata on texts by Edward Benlowes . . Robin Holloway
First performance written for Summer School
V. Cryes of London . . Orlando Gibbons
VI. Fourteen Ways of Describing Rain . . Hanns Eisler
Holloway’s Cantata was performed only in part:
(LS100049, 1:23’41”)
Thursday, 19 August at 5 p.m.
BARBARA ELSY, Soprano
PAULINE STEVENS, contralto
IAN PARTRIDGE, tenor
GEOFFREY SHAW, bass
TRISTRAM FRY, percussion
Aquil Altera . . Jacapo da Bologna
In tua memoria . . Arnold de Lantins
Westron Wynde . . Anon
Western Wind Mass . . John Taverner
Pause
Veni sancte spiritus . . Robert Sherlaw Johnson
(First performance written for Summer School)
Little Cantata of Proverbs (Blake) . . Alexander Goehr
_________
Sibylla Delphica
La nuit Froide et Sombre
Fuyone Tous
Bonjour mon coer
Ich weiss ich ein madlein . . Orlando di Lasso
Northcott’s comments here are more valuable for their suggestions of the flavour of the time than there are to the concert at hand. He begins with Alexander Goehr:
(LS100049, 1:26’08”)
And continues with Bill Hopkins:
(LS100049, 1:27’30”)
The earlier concert flyer had given Birtwistle’s Ring a Dumb Carillon as having it’s first performance at this concert. The published programme booklet (submitted to the Arts Council) didn’t list it as one of the pieces performed, but Northcott seemed to think that it was performed:
(LS100049, 1:28’46”)
Friday, 20 August at 8 p.m.
EMANUEL HURWITZ, violin
LEONARD FRIEDMAN, violin
CECIL ARONOWITZ, viola
TERENCE WEIL, cello
WILLIAM BENNETT, flute
PETER GRAEME, oboe
WILLIAM WATERHOUSE, bassoon
NEIL SANDERS, horn
HILLARY WILSON, harp
BARBARA ELSY, soprano
PAULINE STEVENS, contralto
IAN PARTRIDGE, tenor
GEOFFREY SHAW, bass
MEMBERS OF THE SUMMER SCHOOL
LAWRENCE FOSTER, director
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES, director
I. Canon for Syntagma Musicum (1619) . . Michael Praetorius
_________
II. Dunstable:
voices and instruments: Sanctus and Agnus Dei
organ: Sub tuam protectionem
voices and instruments: Motet, “Veni Sancte Spiritus – Veni Creator”
III. (a) Plainsong, Gloria Tibi Trinitas
(b) Benedictus, from “Gloria Tibit Trinitas” Mass . . John Taverner
(c) In Nomine . . John Taverner
(d) In Nomine . . Thomas Tallis
(e) Gloria Tibi Trinitas . . John Blitheman
(f) Two “In Nomines” . . Peter Maxwell Davies
(g) Fantasia (In Nomine) . . Henry Purcell
The two new “In Nomines” use the plainsong, and the instrumental versions of the Tallis and Blitheman are by Maxwell Davies.
Tragoedia . . Harrison Birtwistle
First performance, commissioned by the Melos Ensemble for the Summer School
INTERVAL – 25 MINUTES
V. Motet – Ecce Manus Tradentis . . Peter Maxwell Davies
Again, this is one of the most significant concerts of the summer school. Northcott began his comments with the Maxwell Davies arrangement of Taverner, Tallis, Blitheman and Purcell. The programme here is slightly misleading, and the music performed is now entitled Seven In Nomine. Maxwell Davies’s website gives a programme note in which he writes that the first five were premiered at the Wardour Castle Summer School in ‘September [sic] 1965’ with the complete work performed for the first time in December 1965.
Then came Tragoedia. Northcott here is fascinating:
(LS100049, 1:32’45”)
[Edit, 8 January 2010, Birtwistle indicated to me that the changes to Tragoedia were minor:
(LS100060, 22’14”)]
Northcott’s comments about the Times review (here) are here noteworthy and it seems likely that Northcott is right and that the entire work was performed in this concert. Northcott then moves on to Ecce Manus:
(LS100049, 1:40’05”)
Saturday, 21 August at 5 p.m.
RECITAL
ROGER SMALLEY, piano
BRIAN DENNIS, baritone
WILLIAM YORK, clarinet
JOHN WHITE, tenor horn
Two Pieces from Amores for prepared piano . . John Cage
Last Pieces . . Morton Feldman
February Pieces I, II, III . . Cornelius Cardew
Neumes Rhythmiques
Ile de Feu I . . Messiaen
_________
Pause
_________
Piano Pieces . . Karlheinz Stockhausen
Two Poems of D. H. Lawrence
for baritone, clarinet, tenor horn, piano (1st performance) . . Roger Smalley
(LS100049, 1:43’21”)
Participants’ Concert:
Bach: Double Concerto for 2 vioins in D minor. Leonard Freeman and Emanuel Hurwitz.
Bach: Cantata conducted by John Aldis and sung by participants. Solo parts by Barbara Elsy, Pauline Stevens, Geffrey Shaw and Ian Partridge.
March ‘Verdi’ from Macbeth played by Participants and conducted by Alan Hacker.
David Bedford: Dream of the Seven Lost Stars written for the Summer School and conducted by John Aldis.
I showed Northcott the above programme, and then some of the other information from different sources. He seemed vague about the other works, recalling clearly only the Bedford:
(LS100049, 1:44’05”)
Filed under: General details of the Summer Schools, Interviews, What music was performed?, Babbitt, Bach, Bedford, Beethoven, Bethany Beardslee, Bill Colleran, Birtwistle, Busoni, Cage, Cardew, Debussy, Edward Downes, Eisler, Emmanuel Hurwitz, Feldman, Gibbons, Goehr, Holloway, Leonard Stein, Martirano, Maxwell Davies, Melos Ensemble, Messiaen, Mozart, Northcott, Philomel, Pierrot Lunnaire, Schoenberg, Schubert, Sherlaw Johnson, Smalley, Stephen Pruslin, Stockhausen, Subotnick, Taverner, Tragoedia, Webern
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