04 Gch073 Bkrevs 415..500
Parry's Creative Process. By Michael Allis. pp. xviii the genesis of all his works,whether vocal or
+ 262. Music in 19th-Century Britain. (Ash- instrumental. Allis attempts to explicate this
gate,Aldershot,2003,£47.50. ISBN 1-84014- process systematically by clarifying the signifi-
681-8.)
cant differences between those stages of the
`sketching process' where varying levels of
In the last twenty-five years,a number of British detail are evident. In the songs,which were
composersÐParry,Stanford,MackenzieÐhave invariably subjected to many stages of revision,
(happily) been reassessed after a period of he makes a distinction between `pre-draft
neglect since the First World War. This re- sketches' (the initial stage of the compositional
assessment has been hard-earned,for many process) and `draft sketches' (those which `inter-
battles to establish the importance of their sperse the succession of drafts in the solo songs')
work have been fought against careless criticism and,with examples such as `A Fairy Town' and
and prejudice,based,incredible though it may `When the Sun's Great Orb',proceeds to show
seem,on a limited knowledge of the music in how these form part of the larger process.
question. Bernard Shaw's critiques of Parry's
In the instrumental works (generally a more
Judith and Job,by virtue of their humour and neglected area of Parry's output) the initial
erudition,have been quoted ad nauseam notated ideas are categorized as `concept
(though without the effort to deconstruct them) sketches' since they invariably appear in black
and have become established in the canon of ink or pencil on two staves and,often bearing
popular invective along with the views of others, scoring indications,relate to the opening of a
such as Delius,who plainly knew little of Parry's work. Out of the concept sketch emerged `devel-
work. Michael Allis's extremely detailed and oped sketches',which ranged from paragraphs
specialized book, Parry's Creative Process (which to entire movements,though again such
began life as his doctoral thesis at London sketches remained confined to two staves with
University) finds its raison d'eÃtre precisely in the varying textures. Such sketches consisted of
erroneous acceptance of Parry as academic either continuous composition or as an `amal-
pedant,conservative,and high-class amateur, gam of revisional blocks' which could be used in
who was too prolific to be self-critical (see H. a different order depending on the nature of the
C. Colles, The Growth of Music (rev. Eric Blom, material. Allis makes the point that,even from
London,1956),166,and Eric Blom,Music in an early stage of creativity,Parry worked in a
England (Harmondsworth,1942),163±4)Ðan hierarchical manner,and though the process of
unreliable topos that,as Allis states,has not `developed sketches' may have altered in his
been levelled at other prolific composers. Yet later works (where such sketches are largely
such generalizations and impressions of Parry absent),the schematic nature of his thinking
the avuncular,`lazy',back-slapping amateur was already well established,and it was a
have formed a pervasive image which is echoed process that `was flexible enough to accommo-
in writers from Ernest Newman and Alexander date [his] revisional procedures' so common in
Brent-Smith to Frank Howes and Gerald Abra- his mature oeuvre.
ham,and until the late 1970s was regarded as a
In terms of the `notational' process of Parry's
standard view in the literature on British music compositional method,Allis's fourth and fifth
of the Victorian and Edwardian periods.
chapters represent the core of his study. He
Through a reasoned and varied approach to presents further definitions of his systematic
the surviving primary sources,and by a select scrutiny of Parry's drafts,which,he asserts,are
but thorough assimilation of the secondary important for the purposes of chronology. The
sources,Allis has been able to construct,with `draft proper' is a stage of the work where the
notable success,a picture of Parry that refutes material is in a `relatively fixed state' (though
many of the lackadaisical clicheÂs,and he has one where further revisions were made,often
debunked decades of what Howells once extensively),whereas the `rough draft' lies
referred to as `loose scorn' with regard to Parry's between the sketch and draft stages where
attitude to the orchestra. First and foremost, Parry's determination to make a draft seems to
Allis demonstrates that,contrary to those who have been superseded by the desire to make
dismissed him as uncritical,Parry was not only further sketches. Such rough drafts often begin
professional in his craft but that his creative in a clear fashion but deteriorate (often rapidly)
mind was entirely disposed to the notion of into skeletal ideas written in pencil rather than
constant revision,almost to the extent of neu- pen; this is demonstrated in the fine setting of
rosis. More to the point,it seems that Parry was Byron's `There be none of beauty's daughters'.
rarely satisfied with the `finished article',as can The reason for distinguishing between these two
be understood in the methods he exercised in types of draft is made clearer by Allis's conclu-
472
sion that,by 1892±3,Parry's procedures for in the introduction to the volume of Parry's
drafts began to follow a strict pattern,which, songs edited by Geoffrey Bush for Musica
in chronological terms,is vital. Allis shows that Britannica (vol. 49 (1982)),but here Allis has
before 1892 Parry made drafts on both rectos confirmed,in graphic manner,that Parry's
and versos of his manuscript paper. After this attention to detail was not only meticulous and
date,drafts proper of solo songs,unison songs, painstaking but also agonized and often frustrat-
part-songs,keyboard works,choral works, ing.
small-scale chamber compositions,and theatre
In other chapters Allis extends Parry's revi-
works appeared on rectos only,with versos sionary mode of thinking to the processes of
being reserved for draft sketches,while a separ- scoring,and to the practical experiences of
ate and limited group of rough drafts appeared rehearsal,performance,and publication,all of
on rectos and versos. Allis points out,with some which provided further opportunities for the
force,that it was `a sudden attack of self-con- composer to change his mind. Again,contrary
sciousness,a real awareness on Parry's part of to popular belief,and to the somewhat noncha-
the methods he was employing in the craft of lant remarks of C. L. Graves and R. O. Morris,
composition; it is almost as if he began to set out Parry was exceedingly careful in his approach to
his ideas not only for his own benefit,but for instrumentation. Works like the overture Guil-
posterity'. As for the reason why Parry adopted lem de Cabestanh (1878±9) show a method
this method,Allis suggests that it may have whereby a draft full score in pencil was followed
derived from Parry's own reading of by a fully notated score in black ink,a process
Nottebohm's work on Beethoven's sketchbooks also echoed in the case of the First Symphony,
(Beethoveniana: AufsaÈtze und Mittheilungen (1872), which shows pencil inked over. More important,
Ein Skizzenbuch von Beethoven aus dem Jahre 1803 however,in the draft and final version of Guillem
(1880),and Zweite Beethoveniana: Nachgelassene de Cabestanh,Allis shows that Parry was still
AufsaÈtze (1887)),which the reading list of his dissatisfied with aspects of his work,for numer-
1892 diary shows that he read.
ous details of rescoring and alteration of figura-
Having established this modus operandi, tion appear throughout in red ink,a habit he
Allis discusses in some depth the nature of was to bring to later full scores with detailed
Parry's individual drafts,which varied in (indeed,as Allis states,`documented') annota-
number between at least two and as many as tions of changes. In later orchestral works,such
six before a final version was reached. An illus- as the unfinished Elegy for Brahms (1897),Allis
tration of how this process developed is shown constructs an intriguing and largely convincing
by the Songs of Farewell and particularly the first theory of Parry's attitude to scoring (which bears
and fifth motets (`My Soul,There Is a Country' a striking resemblance to Bruckner's methods in
and `At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners'), his Linz period),in which treble and bass lines
where the salient parts of the workÐthe open- were written first,and the remainder of the
ings,climaxes,and endingsÐwere often strings were then completed,followed by wind
changed radically before achieving their final and brass. It is a theory supported by Parry's
forms; these attributes,together with issues of own observation in Style in Musical Art where he
thematic alteration and structural definition,are considered that the greatest problems of scoring
subsequently applied to the mature published lay in the distribution of wind and brass; more-
and unpublished chamber works,all of which over,it is significant,as Allis points out,that
were subjected to extensive revision. Allis most of Parry's own revisions to scoring are
reserves his most detailed assessment of Parry's located mainly in the wind and brass sections.
sketches and drafts for chapter 8,in which he Although many of the revisions took place
shows,essentially,how his `system' of defini- before the works had been placed before per-
tions might be applied critically to one song,a formers,there is no doubt that Parry also leapt
setting of Christina Rossetti's `A Birthday'. Here at the chance of making alterations during
a list of no fewer than eighteen sketches and rehearsals and after premieres. In addition,
drafts is presented and appraised in order to those rare surviving proofs of full scores,such
show how a song of only forty-four bars was as those of the Second Symphony and The Pied
finally completed after much rumination; it was Piper of Hamelin,reveal that he was still minded
also a process which `travelled' from sketches of to make changes,and the discrepancies between
vestigial thematic elements and harmonic pro- surviving autograph manuscripts and the pub-
gressions to drafts where slight yet quint- lished versions of chamber works (such as the
essential details of texture,harmonic nuance, Piano Quartet) and songs confirm that further
and rhythm were altered and crystallized. Such revisions must have taken place at proof stage.
an exhaustive self-critical process was hinted at
The main emphasis of Allis's study is the
473
tracing and extrapolation of Parry's creative music had he lived long enough). But of greater
process from the wealth of sketch,draft and interest and significance is the consideration of
autograph manuscripts (i.e. final versions) that Parry's ability as an editor and creator of texts
have survived (principally at the Bodleian for his choral works. This is instructive in
Library,Oxford,the Royal College of Music, showing how he attempted to generate a bal-
and Shulbrede Priory). There are,however,two ance between literary cohesion and musical
chapters which,though they lie outside this structure. Moreover,the methods he employed,
central thesis,are nevertheless useful in enhan- which included sweeping powers of excision (be
cing an understanding of the `science' of Parry's they in dramatic contexts such as Shelley's
compositional procedures and the chronology of Prometheus Unbound or philosophical allegories
his manuscripts. The second chapter is an such as Job) tell us much about the composer's
important reference guide to the entire range ethical preoccupations filtered through the
of materials (which includes notebooks and amalgam of Ruskin,Darwin,and Spencer,and
Parry's fifty-four years of diaries as well as about his own desire to project more experi-
manuscripts),and their provenance and loca- mental musical canvases. This is evident not
tions. Allis provides a detailed account of the only in Judith and the highly novel structure of
early sketchbooks (which goes much further Job but also in the series of `ethical oratorios'
than the catalogue Emily Daymond attempted culminating in The Vision of Life (1907),where,
to prepare in the 1920s),and,thanks to the fact pace Elgar's admiration,Parry's own poetry,
that Parry provided dates of composition and uncomfortably dated as well as frequently
completion,he provides an internal chronology banal in sentiment,feels distinctly incongruous
of the first three; but most of the chapter is within the more discursive symphonic ambience
devoted to an examination of the physical of the musical content. Parry was most often
nature of the manuscripts themselves,notably successful when setting the words of others,a
the paper and,to a more limited extent,the decision he must have reached himself after the
writing materials. One of the most frustrating lukewarm reception of his last ethical oratorio,
features of Parry's music is that,after being Beyond These Voices There Is Peace (1908); but,as
more assiduous in his early sketchbooks,he Allis shows,he was by no means an easy partner
failed to provide dates for his later works. in collaborative projects,a fact supported by his
Given his predilection for revision,sometimes problematic relationship with Robert Bridges in
over many years,a knowledge of paper types Invocation to Music (1895) and by the disaster of
that Parry used can,to some extent,provide an his one operatic venture, Guenever,with Una
indication of when works were probably com- Taylor.
posed and rewritten. His use of `Carbonel'
Given that Allis prefaces each chapter with an
paper for works such as the ConcertstuÈck,the important epigraph from Parry's musicological
song `Love and Laughter',the Suite in D writings,it seems inevitable that he should
minor for violin and piano,and the Fantasia choose to make the connection between Parry's
and Fugue (all 1877) helps to provide a likely methods of creativity and his wider artistic credo
date for the undated revision of the Violin at the conclusion of his study. Most of the
Sonata in D minor (recently published by quotations are taken from Parry's three most
Musica Britannica),and the mapping of Parry's popular and influential writings, Studies of the
extensive usage of the different forms of `Lard- Great Composers (1887), The Art of Music (1893),
Esnault' (including its later form,`H. Lard- and Style in Musical Art (1911),though it is also
Esnault,Ed. Bellamy') provides an illuminating evident that Allis's purview of Parry's literary
reference guide,made all the more valuable by work extends to lesser-known articles and
Allis's contextual comparisons with the same papers (such as `Things that Matter',published
manuscript paper used by other composers in the Musical Quarterly in 1915) and the unpub-
between 1880 and 1914.
lished,overamplified,but nevertheless quint-
In chapter 7 (`Attitudes to Text') Allis comes essential work of his last years, Instinct and
to Parry's creative process from an entirely Character. That we should find plentiful evidence
different angle in that instead of concerning of Parry's organic,generative style in his work-
himself with manuscript source materials,he ing methods comes as no surprise. It is plain to
concentrates on Parry's approach to and manip- see from his writings that he held Beethoven
ulation of text. Part of the discussion is reserved (even more than Brahms) in the highest esteem,
for a survey of poets used in the song settings, and the fact that his own system of working
and of Parry's choice of words from the Bible should emulate his idol serves to underline the
(refuting,incidentally,Delius's curt dismissal Beethovenian eulogies of his published writings
that Parry might have set the entire Bible to and (teste Vaughan Williams) unpublished lec-
474
tures. On a deeper level,however,Parry's cre- Mahler scholarship,namely,structural analysis
ative process,with its inherent sense of intellec- whose aim is to highlight the music's sophistica-
tual and democratic duty,chimes with a sense tion,and interpretative analysis whose aim is to
of moral responsibility in which `refinement', derive a biographical,psychological,or philo-
`reassessment',and `self-criticism' were seminal sophical reading of the music.
watchwords. These,Parry implicitly believed,
Knapp considers that his less polarized
were germane human values,and ones which, approach to the musicÐin which discussions
if carried through with sincerity and dedication, of musical and extra-musical detail are placed
could be conveyed to audiences through the side by side and are discussed in accessible
medium of music.
languageÐis a positive means of reconciling
At £47.50 for 262 pages this book is perhaps a the two attitudes to Mahler scholarship and,
bit expensive,and it is a pity that it includes no he implies,a more authentic one. Thus he
glossy photographs or facsimiles,the latter of admits that while `some will find this disturbing
which would have been a helpful contextual and inadequate . . . others with find that it offers
addition to the generous number of music far more than if I had hewed more closely to
examples as well as an important visual aid to either side of the divide' (p. xiii). He then goes
the understanding of Parry's hand and the on to reveal a key objective: `IfÐlike MahlerÐI
`physical' properties of the paper and ink. The am able to provoke both types of response,I
music examples are well placed in the text,easy believe I will have succeeded in my larger
to follow,and neatly laid out. The text is project to produce a more suitably Mahlerian
supported by extensive but entirely relevant treatment of Mahler than what is currently
footnotes,a wide-ranging bibliography,and,in available' (loc. cit.).
addition to a standard index,there is one for
Knapp's analysis and interpretation of the
works which undoubtedly enhances the book's first four symphonies is a significant contribu-
usefulness for reference purposes. As an addi- tion to Mahler studies. He deals specifically
tion to the literature on Parry,the book serves with the practice of self-borrowing and has
not only to complement more recent biograph- much more to offer the reader than a presenta-
ical and musical studies but also to accentuate tion of thematic and formal resemblances and
the fact that Parry's music is fertile ground for divergences between the lieder and the sym-
research from both musicological and editorial phonies. He places a strong emphasis on sub-
points of view.
jectivity and alienation in the music,these being
Jeremy Dibble
concepts that he considers central to the study of
Mahler's `re-cycling' of song material in the
symphonies.
Symphonic Metamorphoses: Subjectivity and Aliena-
The keyword `metamorphoses' in the book's
tion in Mahler's Re-Cycled Songs. By Raymond title draws attention to the manner in which
Knapp. pp. xx + 320. (Wesleyan University Mahler's songs changed both in content and in
Press,Middletown,Conn.,2003,$24.95. meaning when transplanted from the more
ISBN 0-8195-6636-5.)
intimate world of chamber music to the public
sphere of symphonic music. Thus while the
In the preface to this book,Raymond Knapp book presents a discussion and analysis of the
draws attention to the `Mahlerian' structure of changes that existing Mahler songs underwent
his book,indicating how it began life as an in terms of their structure,orchestration,and
article on the Fourth Symphony which was other features,the scope of Knapp's enquiry
later prefaced by five chapters on the first three extends beyond the musical content to explore
symphonies. He then draws a further parallel the impact that such changes had on the extra-
between the composer's structuring practice and musical and the symbolic content of the songs.
his own,summarizing the content of this analyt- The consequence of Mahler's numerous acts of
ical and interpretative study in the following constructing symphonic material through the
programme: `Mahler marches inÐWhat the `re-cycling' of his songs was to render the mean-
Child told himÐWhat the fishes told himÐ ing of his song material subjective. This situation
What the spirit of the forest told himÐWhat arose in more than one way: Mahler's treatment
the fahrenden Gesellen [sic] told himÐWhat of the song material ranges from the virtually
Music told himÐWhat the World told him' straightforward reuse of Das himmlische Leben as
(p. xi). The structuring of his material forms the finale to the Fourth Symphony (leading the
part of a wider musicological agenda: the listener to interpret the preceding three move-
attempt to find a middle ground between the ments in the light of the finale's imagery) to the
two prevalent and very separate strands of more complex process of symphonically working
475
