To the author of these lines it appears likely that the Pagan consists of four movements with a slow movement and a Scherzo (as identified in the score). The Pagan combines the multi-movemental form of the traditional symphony within its own single-movemental form as did the Hebridean Symphony before it – though authors are still not quite sure when which movement begins and ends and how many movements actually exist. With Pagan Symphony, which Bantock dedicated to his son Raymond, he picks up the themes of mythical ancient Greece the composer especially loved the time of the ancient world and the Orient – besides the aforementioned works Bantock’s Symphonic poem The Witch of Atlas 1902), the orchestral songs Sappho (1905), the overture Oedipus Coloneus (1911), the symphony The Cyprian Goddess (1938-39) and the Overture to a Greek Comedy (1944) are worth noting. The ballet’s first part (whose eerie quality reminds Norman Demuth of Strauss) was published under the title Pan in Arcady in 1915 and premiered in Glasgow on 9th December 1919. The Pagan Symphony (1923-28) was partially developed from the unfinished second part of the choral ballet with vocal soli The Great God Pan: Festival of Pan. Furthermore he was a close and trusted friend to Havergal Brian, Josef Holbrook and others Clarence Raybould, Julius Harrison, Claude Powell, Cecil Gray and Christopher Edmunds were among his students. Bantock was said to be a good conductor and constantly supported the works of other artists (among them were Boughton, V. Apart from these exceptional talents Herbert Antcliffe points to Bantock’s importance as a patron of his colleagues and thus says that the title of an ✾nglish Liszt« is very fitting. Retrospectively Bantock’s style has frequently been described as eclectic, though many of his works display a sort of creativity which may not be attributed to harmony but much more to the formal structure and the instrumentation which gained sustainable meaning but is hardly recognized thus far. ![]() As for several other composers the first world war meant a break in popularity for Bantock. Especially these were largely popular amongst the British musical landscape at the beginning of the century. From 1897 to 1901 he was the musical director of the Tower in New Brighton and later accepted the call to be head of the School of Music of the Birmingham Midland institute (now Birmingham Conservatoire) and became Elgar’s successor as professor of music at Birmingham University in 1908 (he was knighted in 1930).Īs a student of Frederick Corder at the London Royal Academy of Music, Wagner and more so Liszt were of great influence on Bantock which can particularly be seen in his tone poems (The Witch of Atlas, 1902, Fifine at The Fair, 1901), and in his programmatic symphonies. In 1893 he became the leading editor of the Quarterly Musical Review. He was a lecturer at both conservatoires early on. ![]() His later teachers at the Royal Academy of Music were Henry Lazarus, Reginald Steggall, Frederick Corder and Alexander Campbell Mackenzie. Particularly noteworthy are his oratorios (amongst others Omar Khayyám, 1906, The Song of Songs, 1922 and Christus, 1901) as well as his unaccompanied choral symphonies Atlanta in Calydon (1911) and The Vanity of Vanities (1913), which are some of the first more complex counterpoint choral pieces in over 200 years in Great Britain.īantock began his studies at the London Trinity College of Music under the guidance of Gordon Saunders. Bantock mainly composed vocal and choral music. Granville Bantock should be known as one of Britain’s most important composers of the first third of the 20th century, even though he is virtually unknown nowadays and hasn’t been acknowledged with a complete monograph in the 70 years since his death. London, 11th October 1946) Pagan Symphony
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