English Impressions

In the course of the history of English music, Frank Bridge(1879-1941) stands out as an unpretentious yet enthralling composer whose works one has to know how to “tame” in order to appreciate their full beauty. Born in Brighton, Bridge’s first introduction to music came from his violinist father. The violin was thus the logical basis for the musical education of a child who, and the fact is worth underlining, had very early exposure to the demands of group musicianship by playing in light music orchestras his father regularly conducted.

A traditional path for a talented young English musician, Bridge studied at the Royal College of Music from 1896 to 1903. Of the violin and the viola, he displayed a clear preference for the latter going on to become an accomplished performer! , but also studied piano. Moreover, his vocation as composer soon became apparent, and he gained solid experience in this field under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford.

His degree course at the Royal College completed, the artist’s existence was divided between composition and practical musicianship. The necessity for the young musician to earn his living explains in part why Bridge capitalised on his talents as an instrumentalist. And yet there is no doubt that he drew tremendous satisfaction from playing in different London orchestras and, even more so, regular “drawing room’ concerts. A keen string quartet enthusiast, Bridge worked with three orchestras as early as 1903, in particular the English String Quartet for whom he was violist until the early 1920s.

The musician’s curiosity also led him to orchestra conducting. Rehearsal director of the (then newly-formed) New Symphony Orchestra and of London’s Savoy Theatre Orchestra, Bridge learned a great deal in this domain. His “baton” gained a solid reputation, the consequence being that he sometimes acted as replacement conductor for Beecham at Covent Garden or Henry Wood during the Prom’s, and also enabled the composer to bring his own works to audiences in England and the United States (where he made a grand tour in 1923).

Symphonic music occupied a significant place in Bridge’s works, and creations such as The Sea suite (1911) received warm receptions. But it was in chamber music that the author found his most natural field for expression, the most suited to satisfy his mysterious and demanding nature… -- as Britten would bear witness to!

In this domain, Bridge delivered his first outstanding creations in mid-1900, and the evolution of his language could be closely followed up until 1938.

The outbreak of the Great War marked a real turning-point in Bridge’s creative development, the spectacle of the butchery in human lives deeply affecting him and only confirming his pacifist convictions. This trauma, added to the regret at not having savoured the joys of paternity (1), contributed to a move from the lyrical and instantly accessible style of his early debut somewhat in the like of Gabriel Faure, as some said to a complex language tainted with bitterness. Under the influence of Scriabine and the Viennese composers, Bridge took greater and greater liberties in tonal applications: atonality, polytonality, bi-tonality are recurring terms when one studies his work of the early 1920s. “However, Harry Halbreich pertinently noted on this subject, the effect on the listener is more that of a prismatic refraction of the harmony, giving birth to highly complex aggregates.” Dedicated to the memory of a friend, Ernest Bristow Farrar, who died at the front lines, the vast Sonata for piano (1921-1924) provided the first illustration of this radical change of course. Completed at the cost of lengthy and absorbing work, this score was followed by a rapid return to chamber music, with the String Quartet no. 3 (1925-1927). This latter work opened up an inventive period which, following the Rhapsody Trio (1928) and the superb Trio no. 2 for piano (1929), led to the Sonata H. 183 for violin and piano in 1932.

In dedicating this work to Mrs. Elisabeth Sprague Coolige, the composer demonstrated his gratitude towards this rich American arts patron (2) he met in 1922, by offering her a gift of one of his finest creations. Witness to the remarkable maturity of the master, the Sonata H. 183 stands apart by its monolithic character, and links four episodes. With momentum and expression, an Allegro energico introduction leads into the Allegro molto moderato whose complexity of feeling is instantly asserted. Be it the energy or the tempo, the colour scheme first and foremost characterises the mysterious, carnal dialogue between the two instruments, in a progression of rare nobility. One bar of silence, and then the piano strikes up the Andante molto moderato second movement, soon joined by an interrogative violin. Be it in extreme sections, steeped in troubling grief, or a median part bursting with restrained fever, one can only be struck by a sense of balance that continuously relates lyricism with transparency. A sustained violin note and the Vivo e capriccioso surgit scherzo! Interchanging discourse and pure virtuosity are certainly appropriate in this movement, yet it is with a sentiment of bitterness, of unattainable joy, that one leaves it whilst a short lento transition leads to the Allegro molto moderato finale. An identical tempo to that of the preceding movement? Bridge indeed re-introduces here elements already employed at the début of the piece. They simply gain in dramatic intensity, and the success of this “reminiscent” movement is greatly responsible for the sonata’s overall coherence.

Frank Bridge and Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) reunited in one programme? Quite natural when one remembers the determining influence the former had on the future author of Peter Grimes, as much from the musical as the human point of view! Had he not been a conductor, Bridge would possibly never have become Britten’s teacher… In 1924, the latter had the opportunity to listen to Bridge conducting his symphonic suite, The Sea, at the Norwich Festival. The experience proved decisive for a young lad whose desire to devote himself to composition would henceforth increase with each new day! Through the intermediary of the violist Audrey Alston, Britten entered a relationship with Bridge, but a period of time went by before the lessons began since it was only in 1928 that an essential period in the young artist’s development opened up. Bridge had already taught violin and viola, but never as yet composition: his choice proved judicious to say the least!