Intimations of Immortality op.29 Gerald Finzi 1901-1956

"The artist is like the coral insect, building his reef out of the transitory world around him and making a solid structure to last lon9 after his fragile and uncertain life. , ," Gerald Finzi

Gerald Finzi first became aware of the transience and fragility of life and the harshness of this world early in his life. His father and three brothers died in the space of a few years and the First World War also claimed the life of his early music teacher, Ernest Farrar, This was coupled with his own loneliness, growing up as the only one in his family showing any artistic interest or skill. His love of books led to a huge and critical knowledge of literature and poetry. He was greatly influenced by the poetry of Hardy, Traherne and Wordsworth, and he shared a love of the landscapeits peace and isolation - with other English composers in the first half of the 20th century, for it was very much their canvas, too.
'Intimations' is the most extended of Finzi's choral works, composed in one continuous, musical movement of truly symphonic proportions, Perhaps of all the choral works, It shows his word-setting at its most expressive and poignant, demonstrating his personal and individual affinity with the poet Wordsworth, and his resourcefulness in finding imaginative ways to set classic poetry which many had regarded as unsettable, The variety of moods ranges widely, from the pastoral lyricism (often subtly understated) of the opening, reminiscent of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, through the intimate Delius-like The rainbow comes and goes, to the jazzy and extrovert depiction of birdsong which is close in idiom to Walton's 'Belshazzar's Feast' or lambert's 'Rio Grande'. The often elegiac tone mingles human pain and natural beauty.
In 'Absalom's place' - a preface he wrote to a catalogue of his works in 1941, quoted above, Finzi also wrote:
" For me . , , the essence of art is order, completion and fulfillment. Something is created out of nothing, order out of chaos; and as we succeed in shaping our intractable material into coherence and form, a relief comes to mind (akin to the relief experienced at the remembrance of some forgotten thing) as a new accretion is added to that projection of oneself which, in metaphor, has been called 'Absalom's place' or a coral reef."

Finzi spent his early childhood in London before moving with his mother to Yorkshire, where he was able to study with Ernest Farrar and Edward Bairstow. He moved to Gloucestershire for a few years, that place beloved by Elgar, Howells, Gurney and Vaughan Williams, before being persuaded by Adrian Boult to return to london. There, he studied with R, O. Morris and gained a teaching job at the Royal Academy of Music. He immersed himself in the musical and cultural life of the capital and befriended Edmund Rubbra, Gustav Holst, Arthur Bliss and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Howard Ferguson became a lifelong friend.
He married in 1933 and moved back to the country, initially to Wiltshire, and ultimately to a farm he built in Hampshire. He began work on 'Intimations' in the late 1930s but did not complete it until 1950, when it was first performed at the Three Choirs Festival under Herbert Sumsion. The final scoring and copying were frantic and rushed. The covers of the first vocal scores had the classic misprint: 'Intimations of Immorality'!
The work is a setting of nine of the eleven stanzas of William Wordsworth's Ode from Recollections of Early Childhood, cast as a single, continuous movement. As the largest of Finzi's compositions, it shows his ability to develop themes and ideas, and is considered to be his masterpiece. Wordsworth's words struck a resonance with his own experience - a lament for the lost joys of childhood and its intuitive innocence in the soul of the adult. This was the conviction that compelled him to keep his artistic vision alive cmd fresh at all costs.
Introduction. The work opens, out of nothing, with a lonely horn-call, supported by some bitter harmonies, which leads to an expressive and expansive theme, introduced by the clarinet and lower strings. This, in turn, is developed by the rest of the orchestra, Its frequent re-stating becomes a familiar deja-vu.

I. There was a time. .The tenor solo takes up the theme, which the chorus imitate - in Finzi's typical style - with overlapping phrases.
II. The rainbow. .is introduced homophonically by the chorus and soloist, using syncopation and triplets to match the metre and rhythm of the text. layered counterpoint alternates with attractive chording, building to a climax at a glory from the earth.
III. The full orchestra accelerates to a jovial allegro to introduce the joy and youthful energy of spring. Now while the birds sing. . which surrounds the poet, apart from a brief, solitary thought of grief. , in the middle of all this gaiety. The chorus soon joins in the dance, which the orchestra builds to an inevitable climax,
IV. A full unison on the note E introduces Ye blessed creatures. . continuing the commentary in a lively appreciation. The tenor sings over a scherzo-like accompaniment and as the children are culling. . and the chorus hear it all The music slows and there is a realization that this cycle has occurred already, But there's a tree., and the chorus asks Whither is gone. .?
V. Our birth is but a . . is a solemn, march-like reflection with echoes of the opening horn-call. Here, the vision of youth fades into the everyday of manhood.
VI. Earth fills her lap, . The tenor comments, in a poignant moment, on Mother Nature's ability to make us forget our origins, We hear the horn-calls again.
IX. The orchestra revives energy to support the chorus 0 joy. Nature's rebirth helps us to remember, provided our instinctive human nature is developed. After a pause, the orchestra re-introduces the theme from the introduction, while the tenor sings freely, almost recitative-like. The choir brings this stanza to a close Hence in a season. . in contemplative harmony, which leads to an unusual moment of word-painting at waters rolling evermore.
X. The orchestra returns to the earlier fast music as the choir sings Then sing. . reaching a climax at of Glory in the flower, .This is followed with the gentle we will grieve not.
XI. The orchestra plays sombrely in bflat minor the opening theme as the tenor reflects And O ye fountains. .on nature's life-cycle. A charming obligato for solo flute illustrates I love the brook. . and, as day turns to night, the chorus make a final chordal comment Thanks to the human heart. The aching suspensions at too deep for tears. . followed by the opening horn-call, bring this work to an end, as it began.
DA VID MILNE 2008