Page 398 - 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. 398
glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti
enormously. The folk-related music was acceptable to the British establish-
ment in the late 1940s. However, with the change in direction at the BBC
coinciding with the arrival of William Glock, the situation changed. As
one of Arnold Schoenberg’s prominent pupils, Gerhard was readily consid-
ered by Glock to be a member of the avant-garde. The high profile appreci-
ation he eventually received from the British musical establishment with its
positive effect on his musical development resulted from the extensive pro-
motion of his music by the BBC, especially under William Glock, his oth-
er major advocate David Drew, the publisher of his later works Oxford Uni-
versity Press and the recording companies EMI and Decca. This was done
at a price: Gerhard’s folk related music was quietly ignored, or at least side-
lined, by analysts, critics and other writers on music. This one-sided en-
thusiasm for composers who worked in twelve-note technique encouraged
Gerhard to fulfil his potential and, surreptitiously, he was able, little by lit-
tle, to reintroduce Catalan and other Spanish elements into his music in a
way that the more enlightened times of the later 1960s found acceptable. In
this way Gerhard was able create outstanding musical works which almost
certainly would have been impossible in Franco’s Spain. Was Gerhard’s mi-
gration a success? In the sense that he was able to fulfil his artistic mission,
unlike his compatriot the poet Federico García Lorca, who was murdered
in 1936, it undoubtedly was an outstanding success. It had allowed him to
develop a unique style without the danger of working under a threatening
régime, at the very least, but more likely that like Lorca he would have dis-
appeared into an unmarked grave. This, surely, is the complete justification
for his emigration.
396
enormously. The folk-related music was acceptable to the British establish-
ment in the late 1940s. However, with the change in direction at the BBC
coinciding with the arrival of William Glock, the situation changed. As
one of Arnold Schoenberg’s prominent pupils, Gerhard was readily consid-
ered by Glock to be a member of the avant-garde. The high profile appreci-
ation he eventually received from the British musical establishment with its
positive effect on his musical development resulted from the extensive pro-
motion of his music by the BBC, especially under William Glock, his oth-
er major advocate David Drew, the publisher of his later works Oxford Uni-
versity Press and the recording companies EMI and Decca. This was done
at a price: Gerhard’s folk related music was quietly ignored, or at least side-
lined, by analysts, critics and other writers on music. This one-sided en-
thusiasm for composers who worked in twelve-note technique encouraged
Gerhard to fulfil his potential and, surreptitiously, he was able, little by lit-
tle, to reintroduce Catalan and other Spanish elements into his music in a
way that the more enlightened times of the later 1960s found acceptable. In
this way Gerhard was able create outstanding musical works which almost
certainly would have been impossible in Franco’s Spain. Was Gerhard’s mi-
gration a success? In the sense that he was able to fulfil his artistic mission,
unlike his compatriot the poet Federico García Lorca, who was murdered
in 1936, it undoubtedly was an outstanding success. It had allowed him to
develop a unique style without the danger of working under a threatening
régime, at the very least, but more likely that like Lorca he would have dis-
appeared into an unmarked grave. This, surely, is the complete justification
for his emigration.
396
