Ö÷²¥´óÐã

Ìý

Rubbra conducting the first performance of his 4th symphony at the Proms in 1942. Photo: Ö÷²¥´óÐã

Rubbra converted to Catholicism in 1948 after a long personal journey. In that same year he produced a Mass and the famous Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. Although the Te Deum, which we sing this week, is a later work (1962), it shares many of the features of these previous large-scale religious works. Here, Rubbra uses the double choir framework (that is to say, eight parts) of his Missa Cantuariensis but subtly changes it, setting the sopranos and altos against the tenors and basses primarily.
Ìý
This was to be a period of great personal expression for Rubbra. His Symphony No.8 – dedicated to the great Jesuit philosopher Teilhard de Chardin – was to come a little more than a year later, but here in the Te Deum we see Rubbra’s unashamed devotion. He takes great care to quote important religious statements bold and undisguised in counterpoint: phrases like 'when thou hast overcome the sharpness of Death', and 'we therefore pray thee help thy servants' rise from the texture like beacons. Homophonic (hymn-like) writing serves to deliver the message without confusing it in harmony or layered part-writing. In addition, from a singer’s point of view, we see all the composer’s hallmarks - fully expressed contrapuntalism in the 17th-century vein, strong organum and modal textures; the whole piece smacks of monastic, canonical rite. This is the very essence of Rubbra’s style and the strongest tie to his Englishness.

Rubbra’s music draws a line between the old Edwardian stalwarts of Vaughan Williams and Holst, right through to the modern day, encompassing the likes of Leighton and Britten along the way. His later work Psalm 122 ('I was glad when they said unto me'), written just two years before his death, is highly serial and functional. Whilst not fully utilising a 12-tone row, he does allow the pure structure of a theme to dominate the progression, rather than letting harmony or development hold the reins. It’s purposefully modernistic – always striving to throw off the mantle of Parry’s famous setting! But we should never fully expunge the deep-seated Englishness of Rubbra’s writing from our minds, nor would he want us to. The simple carol, The Virgin’s Cradle Hymn, is an early work (Op.3) and is clearly shaped by his cultural learning. It’s pentatonic, pastoral and contrapuntal – one could stuff it, and place it in a museum of English music!

Rubbra was always clearly a product of his influences. He maintained a keen interest in Buddhism and mysticism throughout his life, something he got from his early mentor and teacher Cyril Scott who wrote many books on it. He was also an avid exponent of modal writing, which he no doubt took from his teacher at the Royal Academy of Music, R. O. Morris. All this might serve in answering that one glaring question in our minds: how is it, that a composer of such prolific output and seemingly respected reputation should be so unknown in the general repertoire? It is hard to say, though one must appreciate that although Rubbra’s keen ability in contrapuntal writing often led to some complex dissonances in his music, he generally eschewed modern treatments and styles in his compositions at a time when others were forging ahead with, for example, the avant-garde.

However apposite that might be, for me it’s more simple. His music is undoubtedly hard work for any singer and this can put choirs off. But for shame! Since, for the listener, the rewards are rich and bountiful. He is a composer wonderfully attuned to the British ear. He weaves highly crafted melodies through rich harmonies – the music is taut like a Haydn symphony, but less direct in its speech. Like Debussy – whose music he loved so much as a young boy – his language is discreet but powerful at the same time. Not bad for a former railway clerk!

• Listen to the first broadcast from 2pm on Monday 11 June.
• Visit the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Singers website

Here are full details of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Singers' Rubbra broadcasts in Afternoon on 3:

Monday 11 June 2012 c1515

Op 37 5 Motets for chorus, 1934:

Eternitie (Robert Herrick)

Vain Wits and Eyes (Henry Vaughan)

A Hymn to God the Father (John Donne)

The Search (Henry Vaughan)

A Song (Richard Crashaw)

Dedication: for Leslie Woodgate (Chorus Master of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Singers from 1934-1961)

Ìý

Tuesday 12 June c1525

Op 3/1 Dormi Jesu (Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Virgin’s Cradle Hymn), SATB, 1924;

Op 5Ìý Madrigals 2^nd Set (1942; Thomas Campion)

No 1: Leave prolonging thy distress

No 2: So sweet is thy discourseÌý, S, TB soli

Ìý

Wednesday 13 June 2012 c1430

Op 96 The Givers (Louis MacNeice), SATB, 1957, written specially in honour of the 85^th birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams Ìý

Op 162 Introit (W.H. Auden; words from ‘In Memory of W.B. Yeats’ from collected poems by W.H. Auden), SSATB, 1982 (Commissioned by the Ö÷²¥´óÐã for its 60^th birthday celebration at St Paul’s Cathedral on July 12^th, 1982)Ìý

Op 164 Psalm 122 (vv. 1, 9), SATB, 1984Ìý

Ìý

Friday 15 June 2012 c1505

Op 115 Te Deum (Latin), SSAATTBB with div; 1962

Dedication: To the Lord Mayor and the City of London for Performance at the Opening Service of the Festival of the City of London in St Paul’s Cathedral on July 9, 1962.Ìý

Ìý

Ìý

Ìý

ÌýÌý