England - A Land Without Music?
No, I didn’t say that. It was a German, Oscar Adolf Hermann Schmitz, way back in 1904. Not so long ago that it doesn’t still wound.
Schmitz — or Fritz, as Sun readers would cry — had this to say of the land that bore Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Purcell, Parry and Holst :
England, he said is “Das Land Ohne Musik” — the land without music.
Thankfully, the country now has a champion. A man of many parts, a journalist and former editor of one of our top weekly magazines; a Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Higher Education, no less.
Step forward Defender of the Faith (musical variety) … (drum roll) : Boris Johnson.
A little late, we might murmur into our gins and tonic. And is he the best man for the job? After all …
But don’t look a gift horse in the mouth … even if Boris’s foot is already in it.
Enough of prelude and overture. Read Boris in his own words Here.
Actually, there is truth in what Herr Schmitz said; if there is a land without music, it is England. English folk music is almost entirely borrowed from the Celts, their classical composers can be numbered on the fingers of one hand and even the popular music explosion of the last fifty years can be laid largely at the feet of Irish and Scottish immigrants or their progeny. But the Germans should not crow too quickly - that does not mean that we cannot appreciate music, merely that we don’t create much of it.
And it must really get up German noses that where we do excel is in writing.
By Clive on October 22nd, 2006 at 3:08 pm
Well, Clive, given Germany’s population, there aren’t too many of them either. And Beethoven was Dutch and some came from the many Principalities which were conquered by the Prussians but which were disputed by Poland, Austria etc for centuries.
We haven’t done too badly I think.
By John on October 23rd, 2006 at 6:47 am
Schmitz’s description of England as ‘the (not a) land of of music’ has to be interpreted as propaganda in the context of growing economic & military rivalry in the turn of the 20th century. It is actually nothing more than a reformulation of English self-criticism, more specifically one of the main issues of Reginald Haweis’s influential book Music and Moral (1871): “The English are not a Musical People.” (pp. 124-125). English people shouldn’t be so hard on themselves. Self-criticism was one reason it’s romantic composers did not shine abroad. By the way, John, (van) Beethoven was born Flemish (not Dutch), but his genius was all-German. Why does Excellence (from renaissance polyphonists to Jacques Brel) flee Flanders Fields? Perhaps we, Flemish, should call ourselves the champions of melophobia…
By malisse peter on October 30th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Although I agree that it is high time the music industry acknowledges that Britain has made a valid contribution in the world of classical music, I do not agree that it should merely be on a simple flag-waving and jingoistic basis. I am myself researching late 19th-century British music focussing on Charles Villiers Stanford, someone who is conspicuously noticeable in his absence from Mr. Johnson’s article. One of the biggest criticisms you can place on music or a composer is that it can be labelled as being “nationalistic” as this suggests that it is only these very simple surface charateristics that are in any way appealing or definitive. It overlooks the fact that many of the composers from what we term the British Music Rennaissance were highly accomplished musicians capable of mastering complex musical structures in the way that their counterparts in Germany and the rest of Europe were priding themselves on. It is for this aspect that we should be celebrating British musical achievement and not for the likes of “Land of Hope and Glory” et al, which, although rousing and patriotic, do embody in part what it was that Schmitz was on about.
I do also think that it is important to be accurate when dealing with these matters as well, something that regrettably, despite his best intentions, Mr. Johnson has overlooked. It is important to remember that at this time the British measured musical success on a German scale. All the main figures from the late 19th century made a special effort to study in Germany and they championed the German methods of composition. Parry was himself one such character and much of his music embodies all that we might deem to be “Germanic”, namely continuing in the Brahmsian tradition that was reverred in this country. Stanford too studied in Germany along with countless other figures, and German music was very popular in this country at the time. Even Elgar was heavily influenced by German models at the time, namely Wagner, although we do acknoweldge that his music represents what we might term to be quintessentially English, assuming that this term means anything worthwhile when discussing music. Other issues arising from Mr. Johnson’s argument are that the Royal College of Music had been running for some 20 years by the time that Schmitz made his claims and that Vaughan Williams had nothing whatsoever to do with this process. He was indeed a pupil of Parry and Stanford and again embodies much of what we hold to be British in music, but we should get beyond this idea that music needs to have a national identity and instead look towards finding a more universal language. It is this aspect that really marks a great composer, and I do believe that this country has produced some.
By Jon on November 10th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
Jon, you’re right, once you start deconstructing Schmitz’s notion it doesn’t add up. It’s just another expression of nationalism. As for Boris, well, he’s a bit out of date yet again. God help higher education if he ever gets in. Could be fun though.
By John on November 12th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
We have to remember that although Standford made his home in England he was actually and Irishman - as was GBS, but we somehow always think of that playwright’s work as quintessentially English - Standford’s work (highly thought of at the time) has not (with the exception of some of the songs, Drake’s Drum etc) travelled the last century too well.
And although I love the music of Elgar (who was self-taught and, in my opinion, built upon Russian influences more than German), which is both ‘English’ and international, it is the music of Frederick Delius (Bradford born but German by blood, who, like Standford, also studied at Leipzig) that firmly, and finally, breaks away from the rigidity of the conservatoire, and by so doing gives a much needed lease of life to such composers as Ralph Vaughan Williams, and, toward the end of his life, Elgar too.
By Steve Newman on November 12th, 2006 at 3:36 pm