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An Obsession with Perfection: William Sterndale Bennett and Composers’ Block1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 December 2016
Abstract
The career of the composer, pianist, teacher and conductor William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875) provides an excellent example of how early musical promise by no means guarantees adult success. In Bennett’s case, enthusiastic, but not undeserved, endorsements from Mendelssohn and Schumann, combined with equally high expectations from his compatriots, proved to be more of a curse than a blessing and resulted in a crisis of confidence. Drawing on many contemporary sources, among them letters, reviews and personal reminiscences, this article investigates the way in which this began to afflict Bennett in his mid-twenties. It manifested itself in various ways: first, he found it increasingly difficult to finish compositions for publication; second, and as a result of this, his output shrank considerably between the early 1840s and the late 1850s; third, most of the works he did complete were on a smaller scale than the earlier ones; fourth, as he is known to have been working on a number of works at this time of which no trace survives, one can only presume that he destroyed them. The burden of expectation, negative criticism and a dread of producing substandard work all contributed to his loss of self-belief, which was also reflected in the observable decline in his ability as a conductor. Lastly, an attempt is made to unravel the curious inverse connection between Bennett’s creativity and his marriage, and possible connections between his fantasy overture Paradise and the Peri and Schumann’s cantata of the same name. In conclusion, it reflects on the emotional ties between Bennett and two of those particularly close to him, his wife and Schumann, and posits a tentative link between their deaths and his regaining of his compositional voice.
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- Research Article
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- © Cambridge University Press 2016
Footnotes
1
No one writing about Bennett can fail to be indebted to two invaluable reference resources – James Sterndale-Bennett’s biography of his father, The Life of William Sterndale Bennett (Cambridge: the University Press, 1907), henceforth JRSB, and Rosemary Williamson’s William Sterndale Bennett: A Descriptive Thematic Catalogue (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) henceforth RW. The many references to ‘Letter books’ relate to volumes from the Sterndale-Bennett deposit in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
References
2 Robert Schumann (trans., ed and annotated by Fanny Raymond Ritter), Music and Musicians: Essays and Criticisms, 1st series (London: William Reeves, [1877]), 214. ‘Ja, gäb es nur noch viele Künstler, die in dem Sinne, wie W. Bennett wirkten – und Niemandem dürste mehr vor der Zukunft unsere Kunst bange sein’ (‘Concerte für das Pianoforte’, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 7 (1837), 65).
3 Letter dated 28 May 1836 (quoted in JRSB, 41).
4 While it was not uncommon for children to be admitted as pupils, few were as young as Bennett who, at the time of his admission on 7 March 1826, was still five weeks short of his tenth birthday.
5 Mendelssohn was present at the Royal Academy of Music end-of-year concert on 26 June 1833.
6 JRSB, 30.
7 Bennett’s visits to Düsseldorf had been facilitated by the Broadwood firm, as William Ayrton reported: ‘A professor … was expressing, a few days ago, his wish that young Bennett’s finances would allow of his being present at the approaching musical festival at Dusseldorf [sic] … “Don’t let the expense be an obstacle to his improving himself by such an excursion,” said one of the partners in the greatest piano-forte manufactory in Europe, – “I shall be happy to bear the whole of it, and to enable the young genius to remain in Germany as long as he may wish.” The noble offer was accepted, and Mr. Bennett reached the desired point on or before the 22nd of May’. (Supplement to the Musical Library, 27 (June 1836), 93).
It was after the festival that Mendelssohn paid his glowing tribute to Bennett in his letter to Attwood.
8 Schumann, Robert, On Music and Musicians (London: William Reeves, [1877]), 144 Google Scholar.
9 These were eventually published as Op. 23 and Op. 35.
10 Letter dated 27 June 1837 (Letter book VIIb).
11 Letter dated 21 December 1837 (Letter book VIIb).
12 Letter dated 21 December 1837 (Letter book VIIb).
13 Letter dated 19 July 1839 (Letter book VIIb).
14 Letter dated 12 February 1840 (Letter book VIIb).
15 Letter to Kistner dated 13 July 1840 (Letter book VIIb).
16 Letter dated 30 December 1840 (Letter book X).
17 Letter dated 3 December 1841 (Letter book X).
18 Letter dated 25 January 1842 (Letter book VIII).
19 JRSB, 84–85. The violinist Nicolas Mori (1796–1839) and cellist Robert Lindley (1777–1855) were leading London instrumentalists.
20 Letter dated 19 July 1839 (Letter Book VIIb).
21 Letter dated 12 February 1840 (Letter Book VIIb). The Philharmonic Society season, during which orchestral music was regularly performed, only ran from March to June.
22 JRSB, 100–101.
23 Schumann’s ‘A Retrospective View of Musical Life in Leipsic in 1837 and 1838’ provides an overview of the city’s musical activity (see Schumann, On Music and Musicians, 380–391).
24 Supplement to the Musical Library, 27 (June 1836), 93.
25 Society of British Musicians, Associated 1834, For the Encouragement and Advancement of Native Talent in Composition and Performance (London: Printed by Joseph Mallett, [1834]). For an account of the society, see McVeigh, Simon, ‘The Society of British Musicians (1834–1865) and the Campaign for Native Talent’, in Music and British Culture, 1785–1914, ed. Christina Bashford and Leanne Langley (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 145–168 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Horton, Peter, ‘The British Vocal Album and the Struggle for National Music’, in Music and Performance Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain, ed. Bennett Zon (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012)Google Scholar.
26 JRSB, 103.
27 Letter dated 27 November 1840 to John Bennett (Letter book VIII).
28 Letter dated 18 January 1841 [recte 1842] (Letter book VIII).
29 Letter dated 19 July 1839 (Letter book VIIb).
30 See Bennett’s letter of 12 February 1840 (Letter book VIIb).
31 Letter dated 12 February 1840 (Letter Book VIIb).
32 Bennett’s letter (no longer extant) was quoted by Kistner in his reply dated 30 December 1840 (Letter book X, 15).
33 Although the trio was published in both England and Germany, the German edition was prepared from proofs of the English edition.
34 Letter dated 13 July 1840 (Letter Book VIIb).
35 The Musical World 13 (1840), 322.
36 The earlier of the two surviving manuscripts, which Bennett gave to his friend Kellow J. Pye (26 June 1844), reflects its history in that it consists only of the two movements retained from the original version. The tempo markings for the discarded movements can be found in the programme of the first performance; the new finale was initially marked ‘Allegro Presto ma con Maesta’, but on publication this was changed to ‘Allegro fermato’.
37 The Musical World 19 (1844), 396. The review was of a performance given by the Society of British Musicians on 2 December 1844.
38 JRSB, 102–103.
39 JRSB, 106.
40 JRSB, 211.
41 Letter dated 12 January from Piatti to James Sterndale-Bennett (Letter book XVIII).
42 ‘Mr. Sterndale Bennett’s Concert’, The Musical World 30 (1852), 194.
43 ‘Mr. Sterndale Bennett’s Concert’, 194.
44 The sketch is in the so-called RAM Notebook (British Library, Oliver Neighbour deposit).
45 The only reference to a third piano trio, in C minor, may well be a misprint for the one in E minor. See the advertisement by Coventry & Hollier on 28 October 1841 which describes two trios, ‘in A major and C minor’ as being ‘in the press’ (see The Musical World 16 (1841), 287).
46 Letter dated 13 July 1840 (Letter book VIIb).
47 For a fuller account of the Concerto, see Williamson, Rosemary, ‘Sterndale Bennett’s Lost Piano Concerto Found’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association 119/1 (1994), 115–129 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
48 Letter dated 7 February 1842 (Letter book VIII, 38).
49 Letter dated 19 February 1842 (Letter book VIII, 44).
50 The Times, 6 June 1843, 5.
51 The Musical World 18 (1843), 195.
52 The Musical Examiner 32 (1843), 230.
53 The Musical Examiner 32 (1843), 230.
54 Letter dated 19 October 1843 to Friedrich Kistner (Letter Book VIIb).
55 See RW, 382–385.
56 Letter dated 16 September 1844 (Letter book VIIb).
57 The Musical Examiner 32 (1843), 231.
58 The Times, 6 June, 1843, 5.
59 The Musical Examiner 32 (1843), 231.
60 The Musical World 23 (1848), 407.
61 See JRSB, 190–193.
62 The Musical World 19 (1844), 354. See RW, 385.
63 See RW, 460. A further notebook contains two fuller, but different, librettos whose texts are drawn from a variety of Old Testament sources (see RW, 461).
64 Letter dated 26 January 1840 (Letter book XI, 26).
65 Letter dated 14 February 1840 (Letter book VIIb).
66 Letter dated 13 July 1840 (Letter book VIIb).
67 Letter dated 9 October 1842 (Letter book XVI, 63).
68 Schumann, On Music and Musicians, 285–86.
69 Letter postmarked 3 July 1840 (Letter book X).
70 Letter postmarked 3 July 1840 (Letter book X).
71 Letter postmarked 3 July 1840 (Letter book X).
72 JRSB, 175.
73 The Musical Examiner 87 (1844), 653–654.
74 The Musical Examiner 87 (1844), 654.
75 The Musical Examiner 87 (1844), 654.
76 Letter dated 8 January 1842.
77 Letter dated 8 January 1842 (Letter book VIII). The Suite was dedicated to Lucy Anderson.
78 Letter dated 25 January 1842 (Letter book VIII) .
79 The Musical Examiner 32 (10 June 1843), 231.
80 ‘Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle?’ served also as Bennett’s exercise for the degree of MusD.
81 The Athenaeum, 2294 (14 October 1871), 504. Chorley, writing to Bennett on 16 April 1858, dated this to ‘nine years ago’ (Letter book X).
82 See The Athenaeum 996 (28 November 1846), 1225.
83 The edition was published as vol, 7 of The Works of Handel (London: Cramer, Beale & Co. for the Handel Society, 1847).
84 Letter to Bennett dated 16 April 1858 (Letter book X, 32).
85 The Athenaeum 1490 (17 May 1856), 625.
86 The whereabouts of Bennett’s letter to Chorley, if extant, is not known. See JRSB, 285.
87 Letter to Bennett dated 16 April 1858 (Letter book X, 32).
88 JRSB, 194.
89 JRSB, 286.
90 Basing his case on two pieces of evidence – first, that the different paper on which the second number of the score was written indicates an earlier date, and second, that its inclusion of a four-bar phrase from the overture implied a long-standing connection – James Sterndale-Bennett argued that his father had always intended to re-use the earlier overture (JRSB, 285–286). Rosemary Williamson, however, is not convinced that the second number predates the remainder of the score (RW, 211).
91 ‘The Leeds Musical Festival’, The Musical World 36 (1858), 590.
92 For a study of how this effected Bennett’s piano music, see Todd, R. Larry, ‘Mendelssohnian Allusions in the Early Piano Works of William Sterndale Bennett’, in The Piano in Nineteenth-Century British Culture, ed. Therese Ellsworth and Susan Wollenberg (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 101–118 Google Scholar.
93 Letter dated 26 August 1849 (Royal College of Music MS 7737).
94 ‘Leeds Festival’, The Athenaeum 1611 (11 September 1858), 338.
95 JRSB, 128.
96 Letter dated 17 December 1843 (Bodleian Library Sterndale Bennett deposit). Mendelssohn supplied Bennett with a testimonial when he was a candidate for the Reid Chair of Music in the University of Edinburgh.
97 Letter dated 29 July 1853 – see JRSB, 228.
98 JRSB, 231.
99 Letter dated 11 August 1853 (Letter book VIII, 56).
100 Litzmann, Berthold (trans. Grace E. Hadow), Clara Schumann: An Artist’s Life (London: Macmillan & Co., 1913), ii, 132 Google Scholar.
101 Spark, William, Musical Memories, 3rd edn (London: W. Reeves [1909]), 103–104 Google Scholar.
102 The Athenaeum 1496 (28 June 1856), 816.
103 The Athenaeum 1496 (28 June 1856), 816.
104 For an account of these events, see Ehrlich, Cyril, First Philharmonic: a History of the Royal Philharmonic Society (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), 88–89 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
105 Wagner was further hampered by his lack of knowledge of the English language and communicated in French with the leader, Prosper Sainton, and any others who could understand it.
106 The Musical World 34 (1856), 253. For some reason Davison chose to incorporate a review from an anonymous rival publication in his own column. This quotation is taken from that other notice.
107 The Athenaeum 1492 (31 May 1856), 689.
108 Davison certainly had no qualms about taking Bennett to task when he conducted music, particularly by Schumann, that was not to his taste.
109 ‘Philharmonic Concerts’, The Musical World 44 (1866), 288. On reading Davison’s reviews of Philharmonic Society concerts one encounters a much more flourishing musical culture than is implied by Ehrlich, First Philharmonic, passim.
110 RW, 249.
111 JRSB, 41.
112 Due to the current inaccessibility of the manuscript it has been impossible to examine the Cambridge Ode, while constraints of space have precluded more than a mention of the Exhibition Ode.
113 JRSB, 249.
114 Letter dated 27 August 1862 to Carl Gurckhaus (Letter book Vllb).
115 Letter dated 2 January 1851, quoted in JRSB, 220.
116 Letter to Clara Schumann dated 21 January 1856, quoted in JRSB, 244. James Sterndale-Bennett observed that the idea of programming the cantata was first proposed by Jenny Lind’s husband, Otto Goldschmidt (see JRSB, 243).
117 The Musical World 34 (1856), 408. As modern recordings last on average between 1 hour 30 minutes and 1 hour 40 minutes, it is unclear how the figure of three hours was reached – it was either an exaggeration or an indication of a painfully slow performance.
118 JRSB, 325.
119 JRSB, 325.
120 The Athenaeum 1812 (19 July 1862), 89.
121 The Athenaeum 1812 (19 July 1862), 89.
122 The Musical World 40 (1862), 455.
123 Letter to Carl Gurckhaus dated 9 August 1869 (Letter book Vllb).
124 Letter to Carl Gurckhaus dated 9 August 1869 (Letter book Vllb).
125 Bennett’s obituary in The Athenaeum is a prime example of the negative criticism with which he had to cope his lifetime (The Athenaeum 2467 (6 February 1875), 199–200).
126 It doubtless suited Gruneisen’s purpose to claim that Bennett’s music had failed to develop stylistically from the 1830s to the 1860s, but few present-day commentators would agree with him.
127 The Athenaeum 2467 (6 February 1875), 199–200.
128 Reprinted in The Musical World 53 (1875), 112.