Spring Symphony, Op.44
Benjamin Britten 1913 - 1976

Benjamin Britten composed his Spring Symphony, op, 44 when he was 35, during a prolific and mature period just a year or two after he completed his operas Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, and Albert Herring, Its composition was the result of a commission from the Boston Symphony's great conductor Serge Koussevitzky, to whom it is dedicated. (The Koussevitzky Music Foundation had also commissioned Peter Grimes,) The conductor kindly allowed the first performance to take place under another baton at the Holland Festival on 9 July 1949. Here none less than the magnificent singers Jo Vincent, Kathleen Ferrier, and Peter Pears took part, along with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Eduard van Beinum. But just five weeks later, the first American performance took place at Tanglewood's Berkshire Festival under Koussevitzky's direction. The work is phenomenally difficult for nearly all of the assembled forces, Scored for a full orchestra including a vast array of percussion instruments, chorus, children's chorus, and three soloists, the complexity is at times staggering, The score is exceedingly dense, full of ideas and detail, which-although in many cases not at all obvious to the ear-combine in the most uncanny way into a very natural and homogenized result. At several moments in the work one encounters layer upon layer of musical textures. It seems that Britten was experiencing an unbridled burst of creativity and inventiveness. He imbued each section of the work with the qualities we associate with spring - freshness, colour, and spontaneity among them.

Titled "Symphony," the work is in four movements, each a combination of several choruses and arias, The flavours of each of the four movements closely resemble those of a classical symphony: the first movement is the longest, and it is followed by a "slow movement," "scherzo," and Finale, With the exception of three verses by Auden, Blake and Clare, all the texts are by poets who flourished between the mid-sixteenth century and the end of the seventeenth century. They comprise a "who's who" of English verse: Edmund Spenser, Thomas Nashe, George Peele, John Clare, John Milton, Robert Herrick, Henry Vaughan, W.H. Auden, Richard Barnefield, William Blake, and the great Jacobean literary partnership of English Restoration drama, (Francis) Beaumont and (John) Fletcher.

Part I The Introduction depicts our world in the throes of the dead of winter. Following the opening measures characterized by the hollow sounds of timpani, bass drum, gong, two harps, vibraphone, and the eerily icy sound of the xylophone, the chorus begin their pleas to the long absent sun to "shine out." Now muted strings play upon the "hollow" sound oftritone intervals, followed by another choral interjection. Still unsuccessful, they are followed by winds and trilling strings representing the beginnings of a thaw, the first stirrings of life beneath the ice. But not enough: here two especially colourfullines of text are sung, "The grey wolfhowls he does so bile; Crook! age on three knees creeps the street, " The next orchestral attempt to break the freeze features muted trumpets, horns, trombones, and tuba, distantly playing a sort of ascending fanfare. This, too, fails, Finally, all of the previously heard elements combine in a burst of energy, one last attempt to raise the sun, This is one of only two moments in the entire work when all the orchestral forces are united, Frustrated, they slowly give up their efforts, Only the vibraphone and fading voices are now heard in one last shivering gasp,
Trumpets and tenor herald the arrival of spring. It seems to have come overnight, in the blinking of an eye. The tenor's first words, "The merry cuckoo. " are given more of a portrayal in the following movement, "Spring, the Sweet Spring," marked con slancio ("dashingly"). Here all three vocal soloists imitate the sounds of birds, an enchanting effect. In "The Driving Boy" we are finally treated to one of the most endearing aspects of the work's scoring. The children's voices sing of "strawberries swimming in the cream and schoolboys playing in stream" and even whistle to their hearts' content, as the soprano soloist, observing admiringly, sings a complimentary text by Clare. The long first movement comes to a close with Milton's "The Morning Star." Another stroke of colorful orchestration is Britten's use here of horns, trumpets, trombones, and bells. The brass instruments create the sound of a glorious peal, heralding the "bounteous May, that doth inspire Mirth and youth. and warm desire, ..

Part II brings us even more color, beginning with Herrick's "Welcome Maids of Honour." Here the harps make a great contribution, foiled by the drooping sounds of violas, violoncellos, and basses, ultimately depicting the poem's last regretful and sadly ironic lines. "Waters Above," scored for tenor and violins only, playing mostly ponticello (on their instruments' bridges), portrays an exquisite evening shower. Another evening is described in lines from Auden's poignant poem "A Summer Night." Introduced by a wordless choir, the scoring (for winds, brass, and percussion) immediately foretells a darker subtext. While the alto soloist extols a blissfully peaceful night, she reminds us of those things we "do not care to know," of the atrocities in war-tom Poland, and of the terrible price others pay to allow "Our freedom in this English house, Our picnics in the sun. .. In context, this is a chilling sentiment, certainly one not expected,

Part III, the "scherzo" of this symphony, is comprised of three highly animated verses, At first, in "When Will my May Come," the tenor's urgent and somewhat exaggerated protestations are accompanied by nearly hysterical strings and harps, all very much "over the top" and a perfect snapshot of the text. A romp of canons follows in Peele's "Fair and Fair." The soprano and tenor displace each other rhythmically, the only stability being supplied by violins at first, then lower strings happily strumming along. The children's voices return in Blake's "Sound the Flute!" This movement is sadly barely more than a minute long, but it quickly sets up Britten's use of the various "choirs" of the ensemble: winds, brass, strings, adult voices, and children's voices will be used in a similar force- upon-force style in the ensuing Finale,

Part IV By all means the most complex part of the work, the Finale culminates in what feels like the entire world joining together in song. Using the address of the Maylord from Beaumont and Fletcher's The Knight of the Burning Pestle, nothing less than a cow horn introduces the tenor's entreaties, The city, the town and every shire join together in a great free-for-all of revelry, (At this point, an old copy of the old old Oxford English Dictionary might be handy, The text is delightful, if at times elusive,) One clever felicity follows another, until we are almost overwhelmed by the composer's resourceful ingenuity. Just as we perhaps begin to lose track of all the ideas, our heads swimming in gestures and colorful texts, the Maylord, with one very loud bang of his "gilded staff," reorganizes the assembled forces-some 200 in tonight's performance-with the direction that we all go "a-maying." Now words are no longer sufficient. The entire throng joins together in a wordless song, a full-throated vocalise, no doubt substantially fortified by ale and May wine, This is proven out by some unexpected and rather topsy-turvy modulations, The crowning glory is an enthralling moment when the children's voices re-enter the scene and sing the thirteenth-century song "Sumer is icumen in. " The ultimate triumph of this simple tune, sung in 2/4 time over the unyielding 3/4 waltz of the rest of the ensemble, is just. Eventually the celebrations slowly begin to subside, and with a decidedly cinematographic effect, our vantage point becomes gradually more and more distant. The Maylord offers a final benediction, and with one last self-absorbed proclamation, he sings "and so, my friends, I cease, "