Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction by Peter Dickinson
- Part I Reports from Paris, 1929–34
- Part II Letters to Nadia Boulanger, 1929–74
- Part III Selections from Berkeley's Later Writings and Talks, 1943–82
- 1 Britten and his String Quartet [no. 1] (1943)
- 2 Modern French Ballet Music (1946)
- 3 British Music Today (1949)
- 4 Britten's Spring Symphony (1950)
- 5 Poulenc's Piano Concerto (1950)
- 6 Mr Lennox Berkeley on the Composer's Need to Hear his own Works (1959)
- 7 Gabriel Fauré (1962)
- 8 The Sound of Words (1962)
- 9 Concert-going in 1963 (1962)
- 10 Britten's Characters (1963)
- 11 Francis Poulenc: Obituary (1963)
- 12 Truth in Music (1966)
- 13 Lennox Berkeley Describes his Setting of the Magnificat (1968)
- 14 Lili Boulanger (1968)
- 15 Last Week's Broadcast Music [I] (1969)
- 16 Last Week's Broadcast Music [II] (1969)
- 17 Charles Burney's Tour (1970)
- 18 Lennox Berkeley Writes about Alan Rawsthorne (1971)
- 19 On Criticism (1972)
- 20 Berkeley as Song-writer (1973)
- 21 Maurice Ravel (1978)
- 22 Stravinsky: A Centenary Tribute (1982)
- 23 Bid the World Good-Night (1981)
- Part IV Interviews with Berkeley, 1973–8
- Part V Extracts from Berkeley's Diaries, 1966–82
- Part VI Interviews with Performers, Composers, Family and Friends, 1990–91
- Part VII Memorial Address by Sir John Manduell
- Catalogue of Works
- Bibliography
- Index of Works by Berkeley
- General Index
3 - British Music Today (1949)
from Part III - Selections from Berkeley's Later Writings and Talks, 1943–82
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction by Peter Dickinson
- Part I Reports from Paris, 1929–34
- Part II Letters to Nadia Boulanger, 1929–74
- Part III Selections from Berkeley's Later Writings and Talks, 1943–82
- 1 Britten and his String Quartet [no. 1] (1943)
- 2 Modern French Ballet Music (1946)
- 3 British Music Today (1949)
- 4 Britten's Spring Symphony (1950)
- 5 Poulenc's Piano Concerto (1950)
- 6 Mr Lennox Berkeley on the Composer's Need to Hear his own Works (1959)
- 7 Gabriel Fauré (1962)
- 8 The Sound of Words (1962)
- 9 Concert-going in 1963 (1962)
- 10 Britten's Characters (1963)
- 11 Francis Poulenc: Obituary (1963)
- 12 Truth in Music (1966)
- 13 Lennox Berkeley Describes his Setting of the Magnificat (1968)
- 14 Lili Boulanger (1968)
- 15 Last Week's Broadcast Music [I] (1969)
- 16 Last Week's Broadcast Music [II] (1969)
- 17 Charles Burney's Tour (1970)
- 18 Lennox Berkeley Writes about Alan Rawsthorne (1971)
- 19 On Criticism (1972)
- 20 Berkeley as Song-writer (1973)
- 21 Maurice Ravel (1978)
- 22 Stravinsky: A Centenary Tribute (1982)
- 23 Bid the World Good-Night (1981)
- Part IV Interviews with Berkeley, 1973–8
- Part V Extracts from Berkeley's Diaries, 1966–82
- Part VI Interviews with Performers, Composers, Family and Friends, 1990–91
- Part VII Memorial Address by Sir John Manduell
- Catalogue of Works
- Bibliography
- Index of Works by Berkeley
- General Index
Summary
In March 1949 the British Council arranged a lecture tour for Berkeley to promote British music. He started at Roubaix, near Lille, on 21 March and went on to Nancy, Strasbourg and finally Paris on 30 March.23 The typescript is at the Britten-Pears Library: it has been translated from French by the editor with assistance from Oliver Goulden.
Mesdames, Messieurs,
When I came to Paris twenty-four years ago to study music, I found that people were astonished to learn that composers existed in England: it was felt that England was a country of businessmen and sportsmen, and that apart from literature, the arts had little importance in our life. At that period there was nothing surprising about this attitude. During the last part of the nineteenth century, and the start of the twentieth, painting and music which were of major importance in France, were with us almost dead. To find the causes of this I think it is necessary to go a long way back. The spiritual and cultural isolation which the Reformation produced is perhaps one: the nineteenth-century industrial revolution is perhaps another. What is sure is that at the time when France produced painters like Cézanne and Renoir, composers like Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, England, as far as painting and music are concerned, counted for nothing. She lacked a tradition, and her few composers, submerged by waves of Wagner, failed because their works were completely lacking in personality and freshness.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Lennox Berkeley and FriendsWritings, Letters and Interviews, pp. 97 - 104Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012