Stewart R Craggs - Lennox Berkeley: A Source Book

The Berkeley Family, photographed by Jan Traylen

compiled by

STEWART R. CRAGGS

First published 2000 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge

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Copyright Stewart R. Craggs, 2000

The author has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

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The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

Typeset in Goudy by JL & GA Wheatley Design, Aldershot.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 99036002

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-70805-1 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-315-20128-3 (ebk)

For

FREDA

without whose help much of

this would not have been possible,

and to the memory of

SHEILA MacCRINDLE

(19311993)

who also gave her full blessing

to all my endeavours

Given the invaluable work that Stewart Craggs has already produced on behalf of composers like Walton and Bliss, I am absolutely delighted that he should now have turned his meticulous attention to my father. Notoriously vague and ultimately stricken by Alzheimers, Lennox left many papers in a somewhat less than resolved state when he died in December 1989. Any work, therefore, that helps to clarify and sort out his manuscripts is not only very welcome but also timely since friends and assistants like Peter Dickinson and Joan Redding still have details and information relatively fresh in their minds.

The Source Book has already afforded me the wicked pleasure of being able to inform several musical acquaintances that Lennox had close links with Darmstadt only on reading Stewarts book will they be able to resolve their puzzlement and discover that far from an early affiliation with the young Stockhausen, Darmstadt was in fact the birthplace of Lennoxs maternal grandmother!

Lennox was not a composer of the grandiose statement; he was, on the whole, happiest while working on small scale canvasses where his love of economy afforded him real mastery. Like Faur, his tendency to understate means that climaxes, when they do come, are all the more striking for the restraint that surrounds them.

Looking through the catalogue I am now struck by the similarities not only with Faur but also with Lennoxs close friend, Francis Poulenc. Think of the deeply felt sacred music and the love of piano and song. Recently I had the pleasure of revisiting in performance a series of chamber works like the String Trio, Horn Trio and Oboe Quartet as well as some of the songs and piano works and was delighted to discover a veritable Pandoras box of exquisitely turned gems. Then there are the better-known works for small orchestra like the joyous Serenade for Strings, the Divertimento and Sinfonietta, and the profoundly moving Four Poems of St Teresa of Avila. All of these pieces and doubtless many more will, I know, stand the test of time and it is because of their quality that this Source Book by Stewart Craggs will gradually assume an ever-growing importance to both musician and music-lover alike.

This Source Book (the result of 15 years of research) seeks to document and place in the public domain factual details concerning Lennox Berkeleys life, career and compositions which until now have only been available in scattered form, and known only to those with access to the composers private papers and composition manuscripts.

I owe a special debt of gratitude to Freda Berkeley for providing me with information over the years, and for giving me permission to reproduce certain items, to Michael Berkeley for writing the Foreword, and to Julian Berkeley for his help in many other ways.

I should also record my thanks to Amanda Arnold of the PRS; Marion Arnold, Northampton County Library; Miss Jill Balcon; Dr A.S. Bendall, Fellow, Librarian and Archivist, Merton College, Oxford; Lady Bliss; Christopher Bornet of the RCM Library; Mrs Clare Brown, formerly of the BBC Written Archives Centre, Caversham; Mr Richard Buckle; Lady Clarke; David Cliffe, County Reference Librarian, Berkshire County Library; Clare Colvin, Archivist, English National Opera; David Cousins, Heritage Services Officer, Kent County Library; Judith Curthoys, Assistant Archivist, Christ Church, Oxford; Pat Curtis, Windsor Public Library; Timothy Day, National Sound Archive; Prof. Peter Dickinson; Prof. John Dressier; Roger Evans, Department of Manuscripts, British Library; Lewis Foreman; the late Mr Frederick Grinke; Mrs Jane Henderson; Mr Colin Horsley; Mr Michael Linsey; Keith Lodwick of the Theatre Museum; the late Sheila MacCrindle of Chester Music; Mr Roger Nichols for allowing me access to his Berkeley chronology, and for many other kindnesses; Andrew Potter, Head of Music at Oxford University Press; Marion Pringle, Senior Librarian, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; Joan Redding for her contribution to this volume and for all her kind help over the years; Dr Philip Reed, formerly of the Britten-Pears Music Library; Su Roberts of the Performing Right Society; James Rushton, Managing Director of Chester Music; Tony Scotland for allowing me access to the results of his genealogical research about the Berkeley family; Miss Rosamund Strode, former archivist at the Britten-Pears Music Library for all her many kindnesses; Mrs V.M. Thomas of the Merchant Taylors Company, Dr Tony Trowles, Librarian, Westminster Abbey, and Mr D. Withey, Reference Librarian, Finsbury Library.