Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 An Unexpected Talent, 1907–23
- 2 The Royal College of Music, 1923–9
- 3 Prague, Paris, Vienna, and London, 1929–31
- 4 An Expansion of Style, 1932–5
- 5 A Growing Reputation, 1936–9
- 6 Darker Days Ahead, 1939–45
- 7 Balancing Motherhood and a Career, 1946–50
- 8 Glimmers of Hope, 1951–5
- 9 A Musical Block and an Operatic Solution, 1956–9
- 10 Administrative Diversions, 1959–66
- 11 Of Ageing and Critics, 1967–73
- 12 Recognition at Last, 1973–7
- 13 Sunset before Twilight, 1978–94
- Epilogue
- Chronological List of Works
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Music in Britain, 1600–2000
11 - Of Ageing and Critics, 1967–73
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 December 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 An Unexpected Talent, 1907–23
- 2 The Royal College of Music, 1923–9
- 3 Prague, Paris, Vienna, and London, 1929–31
- 4 An Expansion of Style, 1932–5
- 5 A Growing Reputation, 1936–9
- 6 Darker Days Ahead, 1939–45
- 7 Balancing Motherhood and a Career, 1946–50
- 8 Glimmers of Hope, 1951–5
- 9 A Musical Block and an Operatic Solution, 1956–9
- 10 Administrative Diversions, 1959–66
- 11 Of Ageing and Critics, 1967–73
- 12 Recognition at Last, 1973–7
- 13 Sunset before Twilight, 1978–94
- Epilogue
- Chronological List of Works
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Music in Britain, 1600–2000
Summary
One of the greatest advantages to a composer no longer in the throes of youth is the resurgence of interest that each decade and demi-decade brings as they approach particular milestone years. For Maconchy, her sixtieth year would be the first of several landmark birthdays that were especially advantageous, with a deluge of performances and speaking engagements filling her calendar throughout the year.
It was the first half of 1967 that proved to be the busiest. On 31 January, she delivered a talk at Morley College as part of a series of public lectures titled ‘The Composer Speaks’. The series, which ran from mid-January to the beginning of March, featured Humphrey Searle, Nicholas Maw (1935–2009), Anthony Milner (1925–2002), Malcolm Williamson (1931–2003), Wilfred Josephs (1927– 97), Edmund Rubbra, and Tristram Cary. A particular emphasis of the series was the relationship between the composer and the contemporary music scene. Maconchy focused her talk on the perils facing composers of serious music:
[W]hat has all this preoccupation with serious music got to do with the world to-day? If one had to justify it – to make out a case for serious music – one would say, I think, that it gives intellectual and emotional satisfaction of the highest order to those who play & those who listen to it. And that its values and standards are absolute – self-interest, compromise, commercialism & money-values are irrelevant to it.
But one must accept music on its own terms. If you try to harness it to serve some extra-musical purpose – however lofty – you degrade it. […]
Many people sincerely ask – ‘Why can't you write to please the public?’ But if you are consciously trying to please, you are not thinking exclusively of the music, you are thinking about what might please & what might not – & so inevitably you begin to ‘write down’. (I don't mean that music that pleases is automatically inferior – of course not: but it is only good if the composer's instinct & whole hearted inclination was to write that way – & not if he has consciously been writing to please.)
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Life and Music of Elizabeth Maconchy , pp. 216 - 243Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023