Music
Germany's domination
Peter Phillips
0 f the several musicians from the past whose posthumous reputations might re- commend them to us in their anniversary year, I suspect that we shall ignore the following: R. R. Terry (1865-1938), Sir William Herschel (1738-1822) and Thomas Attwood (1765-1838). Of these Sir Richard Terry was the least significant, but, to me, the most markworthy.
Richard Terry's fame, like that of his friend, E. H. Fellowes, rests on his pers- picacity as an editor of Tudor music. Perhaps if it had been possible to make reliable gramophone recordings in the first two decades of this century he would also now be known as an interpreter of the music he discovered; but his position as organist and director of music at West- minster Cathedral from 1901 until 1924 produced no more concrete evidence of his abilities as a conductor than a handful of murky 78s, which may be heard in the National Sound Archive. However, any- one who values Tudor church music may be certain that less of it would now be in general currency if Terry had not under- taken a long campaign to have it reinstated as an acceptable vehicle for worship in the liturgies of the Catholic Church.
Amongst those musicians currently trying to establish this same repertory as ordinary concert fare, it is taken for granted that it is normally performed in church services, both Catholic and Protes- tant. In fact, Terry was largely responsible for this important advance, and eventually resigned his post at the Cathedral after years of niggling criticism at his 'bold' choice of repertoire. This adjective, now reserved for plinkety-plonk experimental music, was in Terry's case applied to the Byrd Four-part Mass, Tallis's 'Lamenta- tions', Tye's Huge Bone (sic) Mass and the relatively undisturbing (in an existential way) motets of Philips, Morley, Whyte and Sheppard.
It is significant that Edmund Fellowes, who was fighting the same battle at the same time for the Tudor Anglican reper- tory at St George's Chapel, Windsor, found a more willing acceptance of his pioneering perforniances and editions. It goes to show that the Anglican Church, after the 16th century itself, has generally kept a broader mind than the Catholics on what it will tolerate in the way of music, so that, for instance, Tallis's Anglican music is very well known and has been for centuries, whereas his Catholic music is probably the least performed of that of any first-rate Renaissance composer. Terry did his best to reverse this state of affairs, and succeeded to such an extent that his biographer in Grove's Dictionary com- ments that the 'Use of Westminster offered an example to Roman Catholic church musicians unequalled anywhere outside Rome itself . I should be intrigued to know where in Rome any kind of equivalence might have been found: at the time in question the papal choirs were going through a very dark patch indeed, and the fact that they still have not come out of it only goes to highlight Terry's achievement. Two hundred years before Terry's death the remarkable astronomer and musician Wilhelm Herschel was born in Hanover, though he lived and worked largely in England. He is best known for his discov- ery of the planet Uranus and for the development of a Torty-foot Telescope', but his career as a musician was no less important to him than that of an astronom- er — indeed until he was 44 he earned his living as an organist and violinist. Only in 1782 did he accept George IV's invitation to become Astronomer Royal, which final- ly left him free to indulge in music purely as an amateur.
His compositions consist of more than 20 symphonies, many concertos and sonatas, and some keyboard music including figures and sets of variations. Before his involve- ment with the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, Herschel worked entirely out- side London — in Sunderland, Newcastle, Durham, Halifax (where he served for three months as organist of the parish church), Leeds, Bath and Bristol. Such an apparently lucrative career as he was able to pursue in these, towns — in 1767 he earned £400 — would surely not have been possible earlier in the century. In Halifax and in Bath he was a central figure in establishing the local oratorio societies which sprang up all over the country in the 1760s following Handel's death, initially to perform Messiah. His Halifax choir was simply called the Messiah Club, though it is hard to believe that they, or he, devoted all their energies to this one work. Once Herschel was settled in London, his com- positional style came quite obviously under the influence of J. C. Bach.
This indebtedness of Herschel, and many other native English musicians, to Handel and J. C. Bach from the later 18th century onwards could usefully lead to a reappraisal of the German domination of British music: it has gone on much longer and involved many more people than we sometimes realise. For many it is still a matter of Beethoven, Brahms and Wag- ner; but, if the example of Herschel were not enough, the training of Thomas Attwood brings a whole new set of names into the equation. The moment the royal family appreciated Attwood's talent they sent him abroad to study. There he became Mozart's favourite pupil. During the course of his tuition he penned some exercises which, happening to, survive and because Mozart corrected them, have made him more famous than all his original compositions put together. Later in life he became a close friend of Mendelssohn, who stayed with him on several occasions at his house on Beulah Hill, Norwood. Whether his compositions are worth bothering with I suspect we are not about to find out, but if they sound like weak Mozart who can be surprised? Hogarth always steadfastly refused to study abroad, no matter how dazzling the possible tutors. Attwood's problem was that he would have been swamped by the Germans even if he had stayed at home.
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