Gerald Finzi

Works by Gerald Finzi

Approximate timings are given for most works. FP == First Performance

Orchestral works

The Fall of the Leaf (Elegy) op.20 (1929, rev.1939-41) 9'
(published posthumously, orchestration completed by Howard Ferguson)
FP: 11 December 1957, Manchester
Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli

Love's Labours Lost op.28 (1946)
Music for Shakespeare's play
FP: 16 December 1946 BBC broadcast
Marjorie West and Scott Joynt, orchestra conducted by Cliffon Helliwell

Love's Labours Lost Suite op.28b (1952,1955) 23'
1.Introduction
2.Moth
3.Nocturne
4.The Hunt
5.Dance
6.Quodlibet (Clowns)
7.Soliloquy I
8.Soliloquy II
9.Soliloquy III
10.Finale
FP (without nos.3,4 and 6 but with Songs of Hiems and Ver): 20 July 1952, Cheltenham
BBC Midland Light Orchestra conducted by Gilbert Vinter
FP (complete): 26 July 1955 BBC broadcast
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Russell

Love's Labours Lost - 3 Soliloquies (1952) 6'
for small orchestra

New Year Music (Nocturne) op.7 (1926, rev.1940s) 9'
FP: 16 March 1932, Bournemouth
Municipal Orchestra conducted by Sir Dan Godfrey

Prelude
see Works for string orchestra

Romance
see Works for string orchestra

A Severn Rhapsody op.3 (1923) 6' for chamber orchestra FP: 4 June 1924 Bournemouth
Summer Symphony Concert Orchestra conducted by Sir Dan Godfrey

Works for solo instrument and orchestra

Cello Concerto op.40 (1951-52,1954-55) 36'
FP: 19 July 1955 Cheltenham Festival
Christopher Bunting and the Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli

Clarinet Concerto op.31 (1948-49) 25'
for clarinet and strings
FP: 9 September 1949 Three Choirs Festival, Hereford
Frederick Thurston and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer

Eclogue op.10 (late 1920s, revised late 1940s) 9'
for piano and strings
(from an uncompleted piano concerto, published posthumously)
FP: 27 January 1957 Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Kathleen Long, Kalmar Orchestra conducted by John Russell

Five Bagatelles op.23a (1941) 14'
arranged for clarinet and string orchestra by Lawrence Ashmore (1992)
also arranged for symphonic wind band by Bram Wiggins (1984)
for original version see Chamber music

Grand Fantasia and Toccata op.38 14'
(Fantasia c.1928; rev.1953 and Toccata added)
for piano and orchestra
FP: 9 December 1953 Newbury
John Russell and the Newbury Choral Society Orchestra conducted by the composer
FP (London): 8 July 1954 Royal Festival Hall
Peter Katin and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Russell

Interlude op.21 (1932-36) 8'
for oboe and string orchestra
FP: in oboe and string quartet version
see also Chamber music

Introit op.6 (1925, rev.1942) 8'
for solo violin and small orchestra
FP (as second movement of a violin concerto, outer movements later withdrawn): 4 May 1927 Queen's Hall, London
Sybil Eaton and the British Women's Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcom Sargent
FP (as separate work): 31 January 1933 Ballet Club Theatre, London
Anne MacNaghten and an orchestra conducted by Iris Lemare

Works with string orchestra

Clarinet Concerto
see Works for orchestra and solo instrument

Farewell to Arms
see Works for voice and orchestra

Five Bagatelles
see Works for orchestra and solo instrument

Interlude
see Works for orchestra and solo instrument

Intrada from 'Dies natalis' op.8 (1938-39) 5'
for complete work see Works for voice and orchestra

Let Us Garlands Bring
see Works for voice and orchestra

Prelude op.25 (1920s) 4'
(published posthumously)
FP: 27 April 1957 St John's Church, Stockcross, Berks
Newbury String Players conducted by Christopher Finzi

Romance op.11 (1928) 6'
FP: 11 October 1951 Reading Reading String Players conducted by John Russell

Songs by Ivor Gurney
see Arrangements and editions

Welcome Death by John Stanley
see Arrangements and editions

Works for chorus and orchestra

For St.Cecilia op.30 (1946-47) 19'
Ceremonial ode for tenor solo, chorus, and orchestra
Text: Edmund Blunden (E)
FP: 22 November 1947 Royal Albert Hall, London
René Soames, the Luton Choral Society and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult

God is gone up op.27 no.2 (1951) 5'
Anthem for SATB chorus, organ and strings
Text: Edward Taylor (E)
FP: 20 May 1952 St Paul's Cathedral, London
St Paul's Cathedral Choir conducted by J.Dykes Bower
Arranged for chorus and orchestra by W Godfree
see also Works for chorus and keyboard

Intimations of Immortality op.29 (late 1930s, 1949-50) 43'
Ode for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra
Text: William Wordsworth (E)
FP: 5 September 1950 Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester
Eric Greene and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Herbert Sumsion

In terra pax op.39 (completed 1954, rescored 1956) 14'
Christmas scene for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra
Text: Robert Bridges and St.Luke (E)
Version with small chorus, harp (or piano), cymbals and strings:
FP: 27 February 1955 BBC broadcast
Myra Verney, Hervey Allan and the Goldsborough Orchestra conducted by John Russell
Version with large chorus and full orchestra:
FP: 6 September 1956 Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester
Elsie Morison, Bruce Boyce and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer

Let us now praise famous men op.35 (1951) 3'
Choral song for tenors (or sopranos) and basses (or contraltos) and strings
Text: Ecclesiasticus (E)
see also Works for chorus and keyboard

Lo, the full, final sacrifice op.26 (1946, orch.1947) 14'
Festival anthem for chorus and orchestra
Text: Richard Crashaw (E)
FP: 12 September 1947 Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer
see also Works for chorus and keyboard

Magnificat op.36 (1952, orch.1956) 9'
for soloists (ad lib), chorus and orchestra
FP: 12 May 1956 Bromley
Bromley and Orpington Choir conducted by Audrey Langford
Version with string orchestra arr.Denis Williams
see also Works for chorus and keyboard

Requiem da camera (1924) 24'
for baritone solo, chorus (or SATB solo voices), and orchestra
1.Prelude 2.From 'August 1914' (John Masefield) 3.ln time of 'the breaking of nations' (Thomas Hardy) 4.Lament (Wilfrid Gibson)
FP: 7 June 1990 Christ Church, Spitalfields, London
Stephen Varcoe, BBC Northern Singers, City of London Sinfonia conducted by Richard Hickox

Works for chorus and keyboard

Children's Songs op.1 (1920-21, later revised) 13'
for unison and two-part voices and piano
Text: poems by Christina Rossetti (E)
1 .The Lily has a smooth stalk (S)
2.Dancing on the hill-tops (S)
3.Lullaby, oh lullaby (SS or S)
4.Rosy Maiden Winifred (SS)
5.Dead in the cold (SS)
6.Margaret has a milking-pail (SS)
7.Ferry me across the water (SS)
8.There's snow on the fields (SS)
9.A linnet in a gilded cage (SS)
10.Boy Johnny (SS or S)

God is gone up op.27 no.2 (1951) 5'
Anthem for SATB and organ
Text: poem by Edward Taylor (E)
FP: 22 November 1951 St Sepulchre's, Holborn Viaduct
Choristers from the Chapels Royal, St Paul's and Canterbury Cathedrals, and Westminster Abbey, directed by J.Dykes Bower
see also Works for chorus and orchestra

Let us now praise famous men op.35 (1952) 2 1/2'
Choral song for tenors (or sopranos) and basses (or contraltos) and piano (or with strings and piano)
Text: from Ecclesiasticus (E)

Lo, the full, final sacrifice op.26 (1946) 14'
Festival anthem for chorus and organ
Text: from Richard Crashaw (E)
FP: 21 September 1946 Church of St Matthew, Northampton
conducted by Alec Wyton
see also Works for chorus and orchestra

Magnificat op.36 (1952) 9'
for chorus and organ
FP: 12 December 1952 Northampton, Massachusetts
The All Smith Choir and Amherst Glee Club conducted by Iva Dee Hiatt
see also Works for chorus and orchestra

Muses and Graces op.34 (1950) 3 1/2'
School song for soprano (or treble) voices in unison, with piano or strings
Text: poem by Ursula Wood (E)
FP: 10 June 1950 Overstone School, Northamptonshire

My lovely one op.27 no.1 (1947) 2 1/2'
Anthem for SATB and organ
Text: Edward Taylor (E)

Welcome sweet and sacred feast op.27 no.3 (1953) 6 1/2'
Anthem for SATB and organ
Text: poem by Henry Vaughan (E)
FP: 11 October 1953 BBC Evensong
St Martin-in-the-Fields, London

Works for unaccompanied chorus

All this night op.33 (1951) 3'
Motet for SATB divisi
Text: poem by William Austin (E)
FP: 6 December 1951 St Paul's Cathedral
University of London Musical Society conducted by C.Thornton Lofthouse

Seven Unaccompanied Part Songs op.17 (1934-37) 18'
Text: poems by Robert Bridges (E)
1.I praise the tender flower (SATB)
2.I have loved flowers that fade (SAT)
3.My spirit sang all day (SATB)
4.Clear and gentle stream (SATB)
5.Nightingales (SSATB)
6.Haste on, my joys! (SSATB)
7.Wherefore to-night so full of care (SATB)
FP (complete): 29 December 1938 BBC broadcast
BBC Singers conducted by Trevor Harvey

Thou didst delight my eyes op.32 (1951) 2 1/2'
for male chorus (TBB)
Text: poem by Robert Bridges (E)

Three Short Elegies op.5 (1926) 4'
1.Life a right shadow is
2.This world a hunting is
3.This life, which seems so fair
Text: poems by William Drummond (E)
FP: 23 March 1936 BBC broadcast
BBC Singers conducted by Trevor Harvey

White-flowering days op.37 (1952-53) 3 1/2'
Text: poem by Edmund Blunden (E)
FP: 2 June 1953 Royal Festival Hall, London
Cambridge University Madrigal Society conducted by Boris Ord
Commissioned by the Arts Council of Great Britain as one of ten songs for A Garland for the Queen

Works for voice and orchestra

By Footpath and Stile op.2 (1921-22, rev.1941) 22'
Song-cycle for baritone and string quartet
Text: poems by Hardy (E)
1.Paying calls
2.Where the picnic was
3.The oxen
4.The master and the leaves
5.Voices from things growing in a churchyard
6.Exeunt omnes
FP: 24 October 1923 Contemporary Music Centre, London
Sumner Austin and the Charles Woodhouse String Quartet

Dies natalis op.8 (mid-1920s, 1938-39) 25'
Cantata for tenor or soprano solo and strings
Text: Traherne (E)
1 Intrada (strings only)
2.Rhapsody (recitativo stromentato)
3.The Rapture (Danza)
4.Wonder (Arioso)
5.The Salutation (Aria)
FP: 26 January 1940 Wigmore Hall, London
Elsie Suddaby and the Maurice Miles String Orchestra conducted by Maurice Miles
The Intrada may be performed separately

Farewell to Arms op.9 (Aria mid-1920s, Introduction 1944) 8'
Introduction and Aria for voice and small orchestra (or strings)
Text: The helmet now an hive for bees becomes (Ralph Knevet); His holden locks time hath to silver turned (George Peele) (E)
FP (Aria only): 6 February 1936 Mercury Theatre, London
Steuart Wilson and an orchestra conducted by Iris Lamare
FP (complete): 30 March 1945 Manchester
Eric Greene and the BBC Northern Orchestra conducted by Charles Groves

Let Us Garlands Bring op.18 (1929-1942) 13'
Five Shakespeare Songs for baritone and strings (E)
1.Come away, come away, death
2.Who is Silvia?
3.Fear no more the heat o' the sun
4.0 mistress mine
5.lt was a lover and his lass
FP: 18 October 1942 BBC broadcast
Robert Irwin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Clarence Raybould
see also Works for voice and piano

Four Songs from Love's Labours Lost op.28a (1946-47) 7'
Songs from Shakespeare's play for voice and small orchestra (E)
1.When daisies pied (Song of Ver)
2.When icicles hang by the wall (Song of Hiems)
3.If she be made of white or red (Riddle Song)
4.Is it not sure a deadly pain (False Concolinel - Anon)
FP(concert): 7 July 1947 Wigmore Hall, London
Mollie Sands and Ruth Dyson
see also Orchestral works

Two Sonnets op.12 (mid-1920s) 8'
for tenor (or soprano) and small orchestra
Text: poems by Milton (E)
1.When I consider how my life is spent
2.How soon hath Time
FP: 6 February 1936 Mercury Theatre, London
Steuart Wilson and an orchestra conducted by Iris Lemare

When I set out for Lyonnesse (1928-32) 3'
from Earth and Air and Rain
arranged for tenor and small orchestra
Text: Thomas Hardy (E)
for original version see Works for voice and piano

Works for voice and piano

Before and After Summer op.16 (1932-49) 29'
Ten songs for baritone and piano
Text: poems by Thomas Hardy (E)
1 Childhood among the ferns
2.Before and after summer
3.The self-unseeing
4.Overlooking the river
5.Channel firing
6.ln the mind's eye
7.The too short time
8.Epeisodia
9.Amabel
10.He abjures love

Earth and Air and Rain op.15 (1928-32) 29'
Ten songs for baritone and piano
Text: poems by Thomas Hardy (E) 1.Summer schemes
2.When I set out for Lyonnesse
3.Waiting both
4.The Phantom
5.So I have fared
6.Rollicum-rorum
7.To Lizbie Browne
8.The clock of the years
9.In a churchyard
10.Proud songsters
FP(nos.1,3,6,8,1 0 only): 11 January 1937 Mercury Theatre, London
Keith Falkner and Howard Ferguson
FP(complete): 2 July 1945 National Gallery, London
Robert Irwin and Gerald Moore

I Said to Love op.19 (1928-56) 15'
Six songs for baritone and piano
(published posthumously)
Text: poems by Thomas Hardy (E)
1.I need not go
2.At Middle-Field Gate in February
3.Two lips
4.In five-score summers
5.For Life I had never cared greatly
6.I said to Love
FP: 27 January 1957 Victoria and Albert Museum, London
John Carol Case and Howard Ferguson

Let Us Garlands Bring op.18 (1929-42) 13'
Five Shakespeare songs for baritone and piano (E)
FP: 12 October 1942 National Gallery, London
Robert Irwin and Howard Ferguson
see also Works for voice and orchestra

Oh Fair to See op.13 (1921-56) 13'
Seven songs for high voice and piano
(published posthumously)
Text: various (E)
1.I say I'll seek her (Hardy)
2.Oh fair to see (C.Rossetti)
3.As I lay in the early sun (Edward Shanks)
4.Only the wanderer (Ivor Gurney)
5.To Joy (Edmund Blunden)
6.Harvest (Blunden)
7.Since we loved (Robert Bridges)
FP: 8 November 1965 Arts Council, St James's Square, London
David Johnston and Courtney Kenny

Till Earth Outwears op.19 (1927-56) 14'
Seven songs for high voice and piano
(published posthumously)
Text: poems by Thomas Hardy (E)
1.Let me enjoy the earth
2.In years defaced
3.The market-girl
4.I look into my glass
5.It never looks like summer
6.At a lunar eclipse
7.Life laughs onwards
FP: 21 February 1958 Arts Council, St James's Square, London
Wilfred Brown and Howard Ferguson

To a Poet op.13 (1920s-1956) 16'
Six songs for low voice and piano
(published posthumously)
Text: various (E)
1.To a poet a thousand years hence (Flecker)
2.On parent knees (attrib.William Jones)
3.Intrada (Traherne)
4.The birthnight (de la Mare)
5.June on Castle Hill (F.L. Lucas)
6.Ode on the rejection of St Cecilia (George Barker)
FP: 20 February 1959 Arts Council, St James's Square, London
John Carol Case and Howard Ferguson

A Young Man's Exhortation op.14 (1926-29) 26'
Ten songs for tenor and piano
Text: poems by Thomas Hardy (E)
Part I:
1.A young man's exhortation
2.Ditty
3.Budmouth dears
4.Her temple
5.The comet at Yell'ham
Part II:
1.Shortening days
2.The sigh
3.Former beauties
4.Transformations
5.The dance continued
FP(in public, complete): 5 December 1933 Grotrian Hall, London
Frank Drew and Augustus Lowe

Chamber music

Elegy op.22 (1940) 9'
for violin and piano
FP: December 1954 Wigmore Hall, London
Frederick Grinke

Five Bagatelles op.23 (1938-43) 14'
for clarinet and piano
1.Prelude
2.Romance
3.Carol
4.Forlana
5.Fugheffa
FP (without Fughetta): 15 January 1943 National Gallery, London
Pauline Juler and Howard Ferguson
arranged for flute and piano by Terence Allbright
arranged for clarinet and strings: see Works for solo instrument and orchestra
arranged for symphonic wind band by Bram Wiggins (1984)

Interlude op.21 (1932-36) 8'
for oboe and string quartet
FP: 24 March 1936 Wigmore Hall, London
Leon Goossens and the Menges String Quartet
see also Works for solo instrument and orchestra
Arranged for oboe and piano by Howard Ferguson

Prelude and Fugue op.24 (1938) 8'
for string trio
FP: 13 May 1941 Queen's College Chambers, Birmingham
Breta Graham, Vincent Groves and Lilian Warmington

Arrangements and editions

Richard Capel Bond (1730-1790)
Concerto No.1 in D for trumpet, strings and continuo
Concerto No.6 in B flat for bassoon, strings and continuo

William Boyce (1711-1779)
Overtures (Musica Britannica xiii, London 1957)

John Garth (1722-1810)
Concerto No.2 in B flat for cello, strings and continuo

Ivor Gurney (1890-1937)
Under the Greenwood Tree (Shakespeare)
Orpheus (Shakespeare)
Spring (Nashe)
Sleep (Fletcher)
all arranged for voice and string orchestra

Richard Mudge (1718-1763)
Concerto No.1 in D for trumpet, strings and continuo
Concerto No.4 in D minor for strings and continuo
Concerto No.6 in F for organ and strings

Hubert Parry (1848-1918)
Chorale Fantasia on 'When I survey the wondrous cross',
arranged for string orchestra (1950)

John Stanley (1713-1786)
6 Concertos, op.2, for strings or piano (or organ or harpsichord) and strings
Solo in D, op.4 no.5, for flute and piano (1954)
'Welcome Death' (Teraminta) for voice, keyboard and/or strings (1953)

Charles Wesley (1757-1834)
Concerto No.4 in C for piano (or harpsichord or organ) and strings (oboe ad lib) (1956)
String Quartets No.1 in F, No.2 in D, No.5 in B flat (1953)

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