Page 391 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 391
escape from catalonia: the composing experience of roberto gerhard
rows into two hexachords. The symphony lent itself very readily to detailed
analysis of the kind that was then being used in connection with the works
of Schoenberg and Webern.30 It was suspected at the time that the sympho-
ny had much more significance, but without any evidence from the com-
poser, the suspicions remained unproven. Mason very fairly concluded his
article in The Musical Times with the words: “... it is as the work of a Spanish
composer that it will be remembered – as one of the masterpieces of Spain’s
musical history, perhaps as her first symphonic masterpiece, and perhaps
also as one of the most original symphonic masterpieces of its generation.”31
This clearly represented the consensus at the time.
However, there remained the problem that the music barely disguised
a tone of stormy violence. How could this music not have some kind of ex-
tra-musical dimension? Was there something more to the music than the
composer had revealed? Was it simply “absolute music” as Colin Mason
had proposed? Since Gerhard’s death there have been numerous sugges-
tions that this vivid and sometimes violent music has some kind of hidden
programme. For example in 1995 David Drew wrote of the work: “if Ger-
hard’s [symphony] can … be heard as a kind of war symphony, it is surely
in a less specific sense than Stravinsky (or the Shostakovich of the Eighth
Symphony) can have intended … the battles with which we are concerned
are also the battles between life and death, consciousness and unconscious-
ness.”32 In 1998, Bernard Benoliel went even further: “Here all is anger, an-
guish, and a forlorn brooding which seethes with impeding violence. …
Most frightening of all in Gerhard’s case, it is the threat of near destruction
of his creativity and humanity – the fascist within.”33 These strong words
seem now to have a strong element of truth, because, also in 1998, a care-
fully argued article by Julian White34 proposed a programmatic connection
between Gerhard’s Symphony and events portrayed in the novel L’Espoir
(“Hope”) by André Malraux chronicling the Spanish Civil War between
July 1936 and March 1937. The circumstantial evidence for this interpre-
tation is extensive and very strong, it leads all in one direction and makes
30 See, for example, the detailed analyses by Darren Sproston, “The Serial Symphonist,”
The Roberto Gerhard Companion, 227–56 and “Serial Structures in Roberto Gerhard’s
First and Second Symphonies,” Tempo, 248 (April 2009): 21–34.
31 Colin Mason, “Roberto Gerhard’s First Symphony,” The Musical Times (February
1962): 100.
32 Booklet for the recording on Valois V 4728 (Barcelona: Auvidis Ibèrica, 1995), 17
33 Booklet for the recording on CHAN 9599 (Colchester, UK: Chandos Records, 1998),
6
34 Julian White, “Symphony of Hope,” The Musical Times (March 1998): 19–28
389
rows into two hexachords. The symphony lent itself very readily to detailed
analysis of the kind that was then being used in connection with the works
of Schoenberg and Webern.30 It was suspected at the time that the sympho-
ny had much more significance, but without any evidence from the com-
poser, the suspicions remained unproven. Mason very fairly concluded his
article in The Musical Times with the words: “... it is as the work of a Spanish
composer that it will be remembered – as one of the masterpieces of Spain’s
musical history, perhaps as her first symphonic masterpiece, and perhaps
also as one of the most original symphonic masterpieces of its generation.”31
This clearly represented the consensus at the time.
However, there remained the problem that the music barely disguised
a tone of stormy violence. How could this music not have some kind of ex-
tra-musical dimension? Was there something more to the music than the
composer had revealed? Was it simply “absolute music” as Colin Mason
had proposed? Since Gerhard’s death there have been numerous sugges-
tions that this vivid and sometimes violent music has some kind of hidden
programme. For example in 1995 David Drew wrote of the work: “if Ger-
hard’s [symphony] can … be heard as a kind of war symphony, it is surely
in a less specific sense than Stravinsky (or the Shostakovich of the Eighth
Symphony) can have intended … the battles with which we are concerned
are also the battles between life and death, consciousness and unconscious-
ness.”32 In 1998, Bernard Benoliel went even further: “Here all is anger, an-
guish, and a forlorn brooding which seethes with impeding violence. …
Most frightening of all in Gerhard’s case, it is the threat of near destruction
of his creativity and humanity – the fascist within.”33 These strong words
seem now to have a strong element of truth, because, also in 1998, a care-
fully argued article by Julian White34 proposed a programmatic connection
between Gerhard’s Symphony and events portrayed in the novel L’Espoir
(“Hope”) by André Malraux chronicling the Spanish Civil War between
July 1936 and March 1937. The circumstantial evidence for this interpre-
tation is extensive and very strong, it leads all in one direction and makes
30 See, for example, the detailed analyses by Darren Sproston, “The Serial Symphonist,”
The Roberto Gerhard Companion, 227–56 and “Serial Structures in Roberto Gerhard’s
First and Second Symphonies,” Tempo, 248 (April 2009): 21–34.
31 Colin Mason, “Roberto Gerhard’s First Symphony,” The Musical Times (February
1962): 100.
32 Booklet for the recording on Valois V 4728 (Barcelona: Auvidis Ibèrica, 1995), 17
33 Booklet for the recording on CHAN 9599 (Colchester, UK: Chandos Records, 1998),
6
34 Julian White, “Symphony of Hope,” The Musical Times (March 1998): 19–28
389
