Toccata Classics - Symphony in D: Sleeve Notes

The orchestra quietly begins the solemn prelude (Andante maestoso) in the key of D major in the cellos and violas on a ground bass (Ex. 1). Much of the music of the Prelude is later to be heard in Act III. For example, the ground bass at the opening of the prelude is harmonised when set to the words ‘That God whom unknown so long’ in Act III.

The music of the prelude anticipates the final hymn to Dionysus in Act III, where it is used without harmonies at the moment Dionysus sets his thyrsus[1] in Ariadne’s hand. A variation in the minor will later be important in the major in Act III. Later manipulations allude to the sound of the pan pipes, and to the tangle of ivy and vine which entrap Ariadne in her dream the night she is deserted. Ariadne’s own first theme joins the polyphony of the prelude and foreshadows the setting of ‘Blessed art thou, O bride divine’ at the end of the opera. The prelude reaches a climax in three fortissimo chords, which thunder out from the whole orchestra. A coda follows in which the last four notes of the ground bass are harmonised with chords (fig. b in Ex. 2) which mark the moment when Dionysus guides events with the words ‘With thee, O Dionysus, thee the world’s life, the world’s glory’ (fig.c in Ex.2). The remainder of the ground bass (fig. a in Ex. 1) are compressed in to a theme (fig. a in Ex. 3), here played by a solo violin, to be associated with justice as divine and living in the pure and gentle heart.

In early 1913 Tovey travelled to Aachen to play his Piano Concerto under Fritz Busch, who had recently been appointed Director of Music there. The concert was so successful that he was asked to return for an engagement in April. This was the start of his long-standing friendship with Busch, who asked Tovey to write a symphony, to be performed at Aachen as soon as possible. Tovey stopped work on the opera but his other commitments delayed work on the symphony. It was initially intended that it should be premiered at Aachen on 11 December 1913 but by mid-November there was still not a note of the finale on paper. Tovey worked round the clock to finish the work by the end of November, and with the ink hardly dry on the orchestral parts – and with heroic effort on the part of everyone concerned – Fritz Busch premiered the Symphony on the promised date. It was well received, and a London performance – by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Henri Verbrugghen – followed on 31 May 1915. Tovey wrote the following programme note for that performance.

The Symphony consists of the usual four movements, in classical forms on a large scale. The orchestra, though quite normal and not large for modern music, is full-sized, the woodwind instruments being grouped in threes; i.e., three flutes, one of which takes the piccolo, two oboes and cor anglais, two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrafagotto. The brass consists of the usual four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba.

The first movement, Allegro, D major, 4/4, begins pianissimo with a long theme for the strings in octaves. Wind instruments enter one by one in deliberate dialogue merging into a crescendo as they crowd into a tutti. This tutti introduces a transition theme, which modulates to the threshold of an extremely remote key (A flat). It dies away on this threshold with the evident intention of leading to the 'second subject’, which does, in fact, begin with a calm and plain melody in the remote key. But in the course of its first phrase a simple turn of harmony brings it into the ordinary dominant, where it continues in the minor mode, becoming grave and reflective. The time slackens, and a melancholy transformation of the opening theme appears, developing into a livelier transformation of several other figures from the first subject and transition themes, in a long crescendo. This ends in a triumphant close, reminiscent of the climax of the transition; and, with the momentum thus set up, the 'working-out' part of the movement begins. The 'melancholy transformation' of the first theme is turned into a spitfire sort of fugue subject on pizzicato strings, alternating with one of the main melodies of the second subject. This melody is eventually taken up by the kettledrums in an ominous passage, which leads to a fresh outburst of fugued treatment of several energetic variants of the principal themes, through which emerges with increasing emphasis the material of the long crescendo before the close of the second subject. This comes to a climax in which the trombones have it all their own way. The music remains determinedly fixed in the remote key of C sharp minor with apparently no prospect of getting anywhere near the key note. But the energy shows signs of an approaching collapse. Suddenly, there is a general pause. Then with a unanimous crash on A, the first subject returns, fully harmonized with the whole orchestra. The ensuing dialogue between single wind instruments becomes an antiphonal chorus between the three groups of wind, brass, and strings, and it dies away into the second subject which now enters in the tonic, its remoter modulations being smoothed away by a very slight change of one harmonic turn. The sequel is abridged, and the long crescendo leads to a piano in which the original triumphant climax appears very calmly in the quiet key of the subdominant. From this emerges, in a very remote key, the theme which the abridgement of the recapitulation had omitted, and from this theme a slow crescendo is built up, restoring the tonic and bringing by degrees the principal materials of the movement (including the 'spitfire fugato') to a triumphant close.

The Scherzo, a Presto in B minor, 6/4 measure, is in Beethoven’s form, i.e., with a recurring trio. A notable effect is a duet between piccolo and contrafagotto early in the Scherzo. The Trio is announced with a crescendo of side drums, and the Trio itself begins with a long fanfare of brass and full orchestra, which proves to be the harmonic framework of a very simple melody in dialogue between strings and wind. The second part of the Trio begins with mysterious syncopated chords (C time), from out of which a solo violin emerges and brings back a variation of the melody. When the Scherzo returns it is kept pianissimo throughout, and dies away in a passage where the three drums will attract attention. Then the Trio re-enters, beginning at the plain melody.

At the close of the second part there is a moment of suspense, and then the piccolo starts its duet with the contrafagotto. The ensuing crescendo has new details, and in the forte the trombones tumble downwards over the kettledrums; after which the conclusion flutters away in a tremolo pianissimo until the rustle of the side drum grows again to a roar and the fanfares of the Trio bring the movement to an abrupt end.

The slow movement consists of variations on a chorale tune in what is known as the Dorian mode,[2] with a second theme in E major in 9/8 and 6/8 time alternating. The chorale tune is stated by the strings, with interludes by the wind. The first variation divides the phases of the chorale between the first violins and three flutes (note particularly the first counterpoint of the violins.) The last notes of the tune hover repeatedly on the threshold of a remote key, E major, in which by imperceptible gradations the time changes to 9/8 and the new theme enters largo maestoso. It is a square melody in two repeated portions, the first in 9/8 and the second in 6/8. The repetition of the second leads, by means of a little expansion, back to the Dorian opening, and a fragment of the chorale tune is passed from the upper wind instruments to the lower, while the violas state a transformation of the second melody into a mournful fugue subject. To this fugue the chorale tune enters in the deep bass, phrase by phrase, and with its last notes a climax is reached. The brass instruments crash in and subside again; and then the four horns bring back the second theme fortissimo in C major. Its repeats are once more piano in E major; and from the end emerges the chorale tune, beginning in F minor, on pianissimo trombones and the lower strings. Above is a glitter of violins, part muted, part pizzicato, while the wind hold a dialogue on the counterpoints of the first and second variations. When the chorale reaches its last phase, it hovers over the last notes as it did at the end of the first variation, and the changes of harmony drift steadily to a final close in G major.

The finale, headed Allegro con moto moderato ma energico, is in 3/2 measure, D minor and major. It begins quietly on the remoter outskirts of D minor, with a questioning alternation of themes that do not yet take their determined shape, though the tempo is at full speed. After a dramatic climax there is a moment’s silence, and the main theme bursts out in D major in unison for the full orchestra (without trombones). This is answered as it were in fugue. A new transition theme leads to the distant key of F minor, in which a square melody, dark in colour and quietly decisive in rhythm, represents the second subject. The sequel dies away in a passage leading slowly back to D major, in which the main theme re-enters pianissimo and leads to a short fugued development which remains pianissimo till it subsides (tranquillo and maestoso) into the transition theme in A major.

From this arises a further development, which, beginning demurely, soon sets the whole orchestra by the ears. The theme of the introduction comes stampeding up the basses, and at last the main theme bursts out in D minor (in the bass), and the whole force of the brass enters (for the first time in the movement) in B flat. Then the orchestra plunges furiously into the second subject in B flat minor, from which remote key it swings round (decrescendo) into the tonic, D major, and there gives its quiet conclusion and its slow passage of return to the first theme. This passage now goes to the same distant outpost as that with which the introduction began.

The ensuing coda is in C time and works up the material of the introduction and first theme in three stages, successively faster, with a very sudden fortissimo outburst of the second subject before the second stage. The final stage is astringendo, which quickens to a prestissimo, in which the bars group themselves into triple time while the maestoso transition theme dominates the conclusion until all the main themes combine in the last fanfare.

Peter R. Shore, born in Eastbourne in 1945, worked for several years as a professional theatre and dance-band musician, bandleader, arranger and orchestrator before joining Decca Records Ltd in the export sales department. He emigrated from England to Sweden in 1972, working for Decca’s Scandinavian distributor in Stockholm, in the Swedish film and video industry as a sound engineer and editor, and for Ericsson Telecom in technical training; since 2001 he has worked as a teacher of music and English. His paternal grandmother was Donald Francis Tovey’s first cousin.

[1] A thyrsus is a staff entwined with ivy, and headed with pine-cones. –prs.

[2] Tovey added the title ’Canzone dorica’ to the slow movement in the manuscript of the Symphony. -prs