Finzi's early life was marked by tragedy, losing his father at age eight and three brothers in quick succession, including one as a wartime airman in 1918.
Composer Biography
Finzi founded an amateur orchestra, the Newbury String Players, in 1940, which provided an outlet for composers whose work he found congenial.
Composition History
Finzi's incidental music for Shakespeare's Love's Labours Lost was commissioned by the BBC for a 1946 broadcast, featuring actors like Paul Scofield.
Composer Biography
Gerald Finzi, born in London in 1901, was of Italian Jewish origin, with Sephardic heritage on his father's side and Ashkenazi on his mother's.
Composition History
The Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano were originally intended for clarinettist Pauline Juler, for whom Finzi had also considered writing the Clarinet Concerto.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Finzi's music is tonal and attractive, firmly based in English traditions, often described as 'pastoral,' and draws inspiration from the English landscape.
Composition History
Finzi's Clarinet Concerto was commissioned by the Three Choirs Festival and premiered in 1949 at Hereford Cathedral with Frederick Thurston as soloist.
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