Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Musical Examples
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Introduction: Paradox of an Establishment Composer
- PART I Howells the Stylist
- PART II Howells the Vocal Composer
- PART III Howells the Instrumental Composer
- PART IV Howells the Modern
- 10 ‘Tunes all the way’? Romantic Modernism and the Piano Concertos of Herbert Howells
- 11 ‘I am a “modern” in this, but a Britisher too’: Howells and the Phantasy
- 12 Austerity, Difficulty and Retrospection: The Late Style of Herbert Howells
- PART V Howells in Mourning
- Appendix: Catalogue of the Works of Herbert Howells
- Bibliography
- Index of Works
- General Index
10 - ‘Tunes all the way’? Romantic Modernism and the Piano Concertos of Herbert Howells
from PART IV - Howells the Modern
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2013
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Musical Examples
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Introduction: Paradox of an Establishment Composer
- PART I Howells the Stylist
- PART II Howells the Vocal Composer
- PART III Howells the Instrumental Composer
- PART IV Howells the Modern
- 10 ‘Tunes all the way’? Romantic Modernism and the Piano Concertos of Herbert Howells
- 11 ‘I am a “modern” in this, but a Britisher too’: Howells and the Phantasy
- 12 Austerity, Difficulty and Retrospection: The Late Style of Herbert Howells
- PART V Howells in Mourning
- Appendix: Catalogue of the Works of Herbert Howells
- Bibliography
- Index of Works
- General Index
Summary
The release in May 2000 of not one but two piano concertos by Herbert Howells was hailed as ‘an astonishing revelation’. Both technically advanced and well crafted, Howells's piano concertos make a significant contribution to British music at the start of the twentieth century and, although discarded by the composer, demand a central position in any reassessment of Howells. For the scholar of British music, these are major artistic statements that function as significant commentaries on their period; and as an increasing number of publications emerge critiquing the ways in which British composers adapted and reacted to Continental Modernism, Howells, in particular, demands attention.
The piano concertos date from 1913 and 1924. The first (HH 31), written during Howells's initial year of study at the Royal College of Music (RCM), could arguably be regarded as the last Romantic British piano concerto, focusing heavily on models of Elgar, Stanford and Parry. The second (HH 152), premiered in 1925, could equally be considered the first British Modernist piano concerto. The piano concertos (and specifically Howells's journey from the first to the second) give us a vivid picture of Howells the modernising composer, working through a period Constant Lambert labelled ‘The Revolutionary Situation’. Their reception, like-wise, demonstrates much about the critical press and general state of music in Britain at the time.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Music of Herbert Howells , pp. 170 - 184Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013