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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
Charles Stanford was one of the most influential teachers in British music history: his list of students read like a who's-who of 20th century British composers, including both Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Asked about his most promising student, though, Stanford named Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) without the slightest hesitation. He qualified that evaluation, though: he said Gurney had the potential to be "the biggest of them all," but was "unteachable."
Gurney never achieved the level of fame that his teacher thought him capable of, but for a different reason. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. He left the Royal College of Music and enlisted as a private soldier in 1915. He was wounded in the shoulder April 1917, recovered and returned to the front, was gassed in September of the same year, and spent much of the rest of the war in a hospital. In March 1918, still hospitalized, he suffered a serious breakdown, attributed to "deferred shell shock." Gurney nonetheless seemed to thrive for a time after the war, returning to the Royal College of Music to complete his studies under Vaughan Williams and composing prolifically for the better part of four years. Some of his music was performed and received critical praise. But underneath his furious creative activity, his mental health continued to worsen. His family had him declared insane in 1922, and he was confined to psychiatric hospitals for the rest of his life with what is believed to have been bipolar disorder and PTSD with psychotic symptoms. Though he continued to play the piano, he almost completely ceased composing. His existing work was forgotten, with two-thirds of his musical output remaining unpublished today.
Today, Gurney is far better known as a poet than as a musician. While serving in the military, he wrote some highly acclaimed poetry that presented an wry, unglamorous view of his wartime experiences. Decades later, he would be one of sixteen Great War poets named on a memorial in Westminster Abbey.
A Gloucestershire Rhapsody was Gurney's most substantial surviving piece of music. While all his other works were completed quickly, this piece took him two full years to compose. He began work on it shortly after his discharge from the army, and finished it in 1921, not long before mental illness ended his career. Though Gurney attempted to have the piece performed, his deteriorating mental health prevented any performance in his lifetime. The premiere did not take place until 2010, nearly ninety years later.
Charles Stanford was one of the most influential teachers in British music history: his list of students read like a who's-who of 20th century British composers, including both Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Asked about his most promising student, though, Stanford named Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) without the slightest hesitation. He qualified that evaluation, though: he said Gurney had the potential to be "the biggest of them all," but was "unteachable."
Gurney never achieved the level of fame that his teacher thought him capable of, but for a different reason. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. He left the Royal College of Music and enlisted as a private soldier in 1915. He was wounded in the shoulder April 1917, recovered and returned to the front, was gassed in September of the same year, and spent much of the rest of the war in a hospital. In March 1918, still hospitalized, he suffered a serious breakdown, attributed to "deferred shell shock." Gurney nonetheless seemed to thrive for a time after the war, returning to the Royal College of Music to complete his studies under Vaughan Williams and composing prolifically for the better part of four years. Some of his music was performed and received critical praise. But underneath his furious creative activity, his mental health continued to worsen. His family had him declared insane in 1922, and he was confined to psychiatric hospitals for the rest of his life with what is believed to have been bipolar disorder and PTSD with psychotic symptoms. Though he continued to play the piano, he almost completely ceased composing. His existing work was forgotten, with two-thirds of his musical output remaining unpublished today.
Today, Gurney is far better known as a poet than as a musician. While serving in the military, he wrote some highly acclaimed poetry that presented an wry, unglamorous view of his wartime experiences. Decades later, he would be one of sixteen Great War poets named on a memorial in Westminster Abbey.
A Gloucestershire Rhapsody was Gurney's most substantial surviving piece of music. While all his other works were completed quickly, this piece took him two full years to compose. He began work on it shortly after his discharge from the army, and finished it in 1921, not long before mental illness ended his career. Though Gurney attempted to have the piece performed, his deteriorating mental health prevented any performance in his lifetime. The premiere did not take place until 2010, nearly ninety years later.
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Date: 2018-10-07 01:36 pm (UTC)