One of the most prominent traits in the musical make-up of the young English composer is his persistent cry for loud, complex orchestral expression. Holbrooke was the one who started him on this trail; and now his constant prayer seems to be:
'O mihi si linguæ centum sint, oraque centum.'
Above this school Frank Bridge (b. 1879) stands head and shoulders. What the others do well he does better; and, if they ever attempt to follow him there, he always has a 'best' waiting for them. Though he is quite unknown outside England, one has no hesitation in saying that his superior as a plastic orchestral artist would be hard to find. Among his best works are his three orchestral impressions of 'The Sea,' his two 'Dance Rhapsodies,' and his beautiful symphonic poem 'Isabella.' In chamber music he has been very successful, more especially in the 'Fancy' or 'Phantasy' form recently revived in England. His 'Three Idylls' for string quartet are both charming and distinguished.
Round Bridge's name may be grouped, for convenience of placing, the names of York Bowen, who has written everything from symphonies and sonatas to a waltz on Strauss's Ein Heldenleben; A. E. T. Bax, whose activities are in some measure the musical counterpart of the 'Celtic twilight' school of poetry; W. H. Bell, the author of 'Mother Cary' and the 'Walt Whitman' symphony; Hamilton Harty, whose 'Comedy Overture,' 'With the Wild Geese,' and 'The Mystic Trumpeter' are all much played in England; and Hubert Bath. To the last-named composer we English owe a debt for his constant refusal to worship the muse with a cypress-branch. His gay, sprightly choral ballads, such as 'The Wedding of Shon Maclean' and 'The Jackdaw of Rheims,' bring him friends wherever they are heard. Bath has also made a specialty of accompanied recitation-music. He has produced nearly two dozen of these pieces; but in this field Stanley Hawley with his fifty-one published compositions easily leads the way. Almost all the musicians mentioned in this paragraph have been before the public at some time or other as conductors. Harty and Bridge in particular have shown themselves to be possessed of very strong gifts in this line.
It is perhaps premature to criticize the very latest swarms of orchestral composers that have issued from the musical bee-hives of London. Certain of them, however, show considerable promise and, in some cases, a rather alarming tendency to soar after the queen-bees of continental hives. This they will probably outgrow as their summer days increase. Among the most recent to try their wings are P. R. Kirby (a Scotsman from Aberdeen), Eugène Goosens, Jr. (with his symphonic poem 'Perseus'), and Oskar Borsdorf (with his dramatic fantasy 'Glaucus and Ione').
Among the members of the third group who have shown special excellence in the realm of chamber music B. J. Dale stands preëminent. The first performance of his big sonata in D minor made musical London hold its breath. He has written a great deal of music for the viola (as discovered by Lionel Tertis), and has even defied fate by composing a work for six violas. Dale's powers are very great, and he has probably a good deal to say yet. Richard Walthew and T. F. Dunhill have both an honorable record in chamber music. Both, too, have written on the topic. The former, who, is also a prolific song-writer, has published a volume on 'The Development of Chamber Music'; while the latter, in addition to his many-sided activities, has produced a tactful treatise for students entitled 'Chamber Music.' To the list of those who are specially devoted to this form of composition one may add the names of J. N. Ireland and James Friskin, neither of whom has yet had an opportunity adequate to his undoubted talents.
Naturally, at all times there has been a considerable literature of organ music in England. Almost all the composers mentioned above have written for the instrument. But, among those more specially identified with it and with church music, are W. Wolstenholme, who has more than sixty published compositions; Ernest Halsley, also with a long list; Lemare, whose transcriptions are so well known; T. Tertius Noble; C. B. Rootham; and Alan Gray. James Lyon, the Liverpool organist, has a lengthy record of the most varied sort, from orchestral, vocal, and organ works to church services and technical treatises. A. M. Goodhart, of Eton, has a similar weighty basketful. He has made a specialty of the 'choral ballad.'
We have already given the names of many English song writers. Here there are two groups of Richmonds in the field; those who write for the shop-ballad public, and those who do not. Most of the 'do nots' have naturally already been dealt with among the more serious composers; though the two spheres of activity by no means always coincide. The following short list—covering practically three generations—includes some of both sorts, but excludes the names of composers already mentioned: Stephen Adams, Frances Allitsen, Robert Batten, A. von Ahn Carse, Coningsby Clarke, Eric Coates, Noel Johnson, Frank Lambert, Liza Lehmann, Herman Löhr, Daisy McGeoch, Alicia A. Needham, Montague Phillips, John Pointer, Roger Quilter, Landon Ronald (principal of the Guildhall School of Music), Wilfred Sanderson, W. H. Squire, Hope Temple, Maude V. White, Haydn Wood, and Amy Woodforde-Finden.
Before closing this highly compressed sketch of the English musical renaissance an apology must be made for a double omission. First, the whole subject of English opera has been ignored as too complex and difficult for treatment. The activities of Carl Rosa, Moody-Manners, Beecham, and others have therefore to be left almost unnoticed. Second, no list has been attempted of the many fine executants produced by England in the past generation. In actual accomplishment some of these have been second to none in the world; though unfortunately their connection with the men of the English revival has often been slight or non-existent. On the other hand, some of the first of these artists have stood, and do now stand, in a very close relationship with the composers. And this mutual sympathy has often had happy results. One can scarcely imagine Stanford's Irish songs without Mr. Plunket Greene to sing them.
The reader who has travelled so far with the author should have by now a fairly clear idea of musical conditions and achievements on the other side. It is hoped that he will not regard his experiences merely as a forty-five-years' sojourn 'in darkest England.' He can take the writer's word for it that there is plenty of light shining there. But, what with the fogs in the North Sea, the Channel, and the Atlantic, the rays seldom get beyond the coastguard.