Bax: Symphony No. 7 / Tintagel

Description

Arnold Bax (1883-1953)Symphony No. 7 TintagelArnold Bax was the son of a barrister who had no inclinationor financial need to practise at the bar and devoted much of his time insteadto antiquarian pursuits and genealogical research. He had traced his Quakerforebears back to the landed gentry of sixteenth-century Surrey, but thesurname itself is of Dutch origin, probably short for Bacszoon, 'son of Bac'(like English Jacks for Jackson). There was certainly no Irish blood in thefamily, and it was Arnold's intuitive response to the narrative poem TheWanderings of Oisin by W.B. Yeats that introduced him, at the age of eighteen,to the distinctive atmosphere of the Celtic world. 'Thereupon', he remarked, 'Iinstantly became a sort of honorary Irishman'. This revelation immediatelyprompted him to visit Ireland, where he immersed himself in its culture,history, legends and language. His burgeoning musical style, hitherto under theinfluence of Wagner, began to absorb elements from Irish folk-music, and hisname became associated with the so-called 'Celtic Twilight', though Bax himselflater dismissed the gloomy connotations of this phrase as 'bunk' dreamed up byEnglish journalists from the title of an early work by Yeats. He pointed outthat 'Primitive Celtic colours are bright and jewelled', an observation echoedby the Welsh composer William Mathias, who wrote that 'Rite and magic, jewelledcolours, the spirit of play, haunting wistfulness, lyrical warmth and ardour,and (above all) rhythmic vitality -- these are all qualities associated withCeltic art and tradition'. They are also qualities to be found in abundancethroughout Bax's music.Following a romantic escapade in Russia during 1910, Baxmarried on the rebound and set up house on the outskirts of Dublin, remainingthere until the outbreak of the Great War brought him back to London, where hesoon fell in love with the beautiful young piano student Harriet Cohen. InAugust 1917 the couple spent an idyllic six-week holiday at Tintagel, on thenorth coast of Cornwall, and this experience inspired Bax to compose atone-poem that was to become the best known of all his orchestral works.Although he wrote it out immediately on his return to London (the draft scoreis inscribed 'Oct 1917'), he delayed orchestrating it, and the final manuscriptdates from January 1919. It bears the dedication 'For Darling Tania with lovefrom Arnold', Tania being Harriet's pet name; but when the work was laterpublished, this had become the more demure 'To Miss Harriet Cohen'. The firstperformance was given by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra under Dan Godfreyon 20th October 1921, and Bax wrote a note describing the piece:This work is only in the broadest sense programme music. Thecomposer's intention is simply to offer a tonal impression of thecastle-crowned cliff of (now sadly degenerate) Tintagel, and more especially ofthe long distances of the Atlantic, as seen from the cliffs of Cornwall on asunny, but not windless, summer day. The