SATB vocal score of Three Elegies Op.5 by Gerald Finzi for mixed chorus a cappella. Words by William Drummond.
SKU: HL.48024085
ISBN 9781784541224. UPC: 888680712150. 8.25x11.75x0.398 inches. Hawkes Pocket Scores 1538.
First publication of Finzi's orchestral versions of: Lo, the full, final sacrifice op 26 - festival anthem for chorus & orchestra (14 minutes); Magnificat op 36 - for soloists (ad lib), chorus & orchestra (9 minutes); God is gone up op 27 - anthem for chorus, string orchestra & organ (4 minutes); Let us now praise famous men op 35 - choral song for tenors & basses (or sopranos & altos), string orchestra & piano (3 minutes). The first three works as listed are, in their original organ versions, established in the English cathedral repertoire. Lo, the full, final sacrifice was orchestrated for the 1947 Gloucester Three Choirs Festival, thus bringing the work into the mainstream British choral society repertoire. The preface by Andrew Burn (Finzi Trust) gives details of the commission, composition and orchestration of each work.
SKU: GI.G-R031
ISBN 9780854022755.
Herb ert Sumsion was born in Gloucester in 1899, was a chorister in that city, and became an articled pupil of Sir Herbert Brewer, the Cathedral Organist. He later studied at the Royal College of Music before proceeding to organ and teaching posts in or near London. After a short period in America (1926–1928) as Professor of Harmony at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he accepted the appointment of Organist and Master of the Choristers at Gloucester Cathedral on the sudden death of Brewer. He was able to take up his duties just in time to conduct the 1928 Three Choirs Festival, immediately justifying the confidence placed in him by the high standard of his direction and musicianship. Sumsion was honoured with the Lambeth Doctorate of Music in 1947 and awarded the CBE in 1961. He retired from the post at Gloucester Cathedral in 1967 and continued to be active with teaching and composition until shortly before his death in 1995. He had a special sympathy for the works of the English composers stemming from Vaughan Williams and Elgar, and was responsible for bringing works of younger composers to the attention of the British public.Two great English choral works of this century - Herbert Howells’s Hymnus Paradisi and Gerald Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality - received their premieres at the 1950 Gloucester Festival. These two composers were particularly close friends of Sumsion. It would follow then that Sumsion’s own compositions are in this same mould, yet there is a very distinct style that endears his music to singers and listeners alike. Church music has benefitted tremendously from his work, for his compositions in this medium have been prolific and wide-ranging. Many of his choral works are published by The Royal School of Church Music.