A lover of chamber music, the fantasy and fancy, is Frank Bridge (1879). He is a thorough musician and has written The Sea, the Dance Rhapsodies for orchestra, symphonic poem Isabella on Keats’ poem of the same name. Three Idylls for Strings and other works.

Gustave Holst (1874) whose original name was von Holst although he is not of German descent, was a pupil of Sir Charles V. Stanford and is now an inspiring teacher and conductor. He has had many posts and has written many important works: an opera, The Perfect Fool, the Hymn to Jesus, one of the finest choral works of the century, The Planets, a very fine orchestral work, military band music, songs and part songs, some of which are written with violin accompaniment,—a charming idea!

John Ireland (1879), has written a fine piano sonata and a violin sonata, Decorations (a collection of small pieces), Chelsea Reach, Ragamuffin and Soho Forenoons, chamber music and orchestral pieces.

Cyril Scott (1879) was trained in Germany. He is a mixture of French impressionistic writing and Oriental mysticism, as you can see from the titles of his pieces: Lotus Land (Lotus is an Egyptian flower), The Garden of Soul Sympathy, and Riki Tiki Tavi, a setting of Kipling’s little chap of the Jungle Book, which is very delightful. He is one of the first English Impressionists who paved the way for the young English School. He has made many interesting experiments in modern harmony and rhythm.

Arnold Bax (1883), of Irish parentage, is a gifted and poetic composer who has written many things in small and large forms, chamber music and piano sonatas, The Garden of Fand for orchestra, Fatherland, a chorus with orchestra and other things, all of which show him to have a creative imagination and rich musical personality.

Lord Berners (1883) (Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson), a lover of the works of Stravinsky and Casella of the modern Russian and Italian Schools, was trained in an old-fashioned way, and then Stravinsky and Casella, seeing in his music possibilities for freer writing, encouraged him to break away from old ways, and he became one of the most modern of the young English composers. He writes interestingly in caricature and sarcasm, in fact he is a musical cartoonist in such pieces as the Funeral March of a Pet Canary, Funeral March of a Rich Aunt, full of originality and of fun in choosing subjects. He wrote, too, three pieces, Hatred, Laughter and A Sigh which are amazing musical studies. His work is interesting because of its daring in his very correct surroundings.

Eugene Goossens (1893) of Flemish ancestry, understands dissonance and modern combinations, which he uses with fascinating charm. His violin sonata and Nature Pieces for piano show his depth of feeling, his Kaleidescopes (12 children’s pieces) show his humor, love of the grotesque, and Four Conceits, his power to be musically sarcastic. His Five Impressions of a Holiday and Two Sketches for String Quartet are so delightful that modern music would have lost much without them. He is a gifted conductor and has directed concerts in London, in Rochester, New York, and is engaged as guest conductor of the New York Symphony in 1925–26.

Arthur Bliss (1891) like Stravinsky, whom he admires, is the enfant terrible of English music and is not held down by any rule or fixed standards except that of good taste. He uses instruments in daring ways, and shows a natural knowledge of them. One of his pieces is for an unaccompanied Cor Anglais (English horn). Among his pieces are The Committee, In the Tube (Subway) at Oxford Circus, At the Ball. He wrote a Color Symphony, so-called because when composing it, he experienced a play of color sensation, although he did not write it to be used with the color organ, as does Scriabin in Prometheus. He is a most daring experimenter, and altogether an interesting young musician. In Rout, a gay piece for voice and chamber orchestra, he used meaningless syllables in place of words. He spent several years in Los Angeles, but has returned to England.

America

In America we not only hear the works of all the people of whom we have spoken in this chapter, but among our composers are a few who show marked twentieth century ways of composing. Some of them are American born, some have adopted the country, but all are working for the advancement of American music: Loeffler, our first impressionist, Bloch, Carpenter, Gruenberg, Whithorne, Morris, Jacobi, Marion Bauer, Eichheim, Carl Engel, Ornstein, Varese, Salzedo, Ruggles, Cowell, Antheil, and Copland.