Howells: Hymnus Paradisi & A Kent Yeoman's Wooing Song
7/3/2014, 10 Tracks, 1:05:14
Featuring
Richard Hickox
Joan Rodgers
Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Alan Opie
BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Chorus
Herbert Howells
Did you know?
1/7
Composer Biography
Herbert Howells (1892-1983), the composer, described himself as having been 'frozen' by the death of his nine-year-old son, Michael, in 1935.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Howells emphasized the centrality of 'lux' (light) in Hymnus Paradisi, which he insisted was not a 'churchy' work, despite using words from the Requiem Mass.
Composition History
Hymnus Paradisi was largely a transfiguration of Howells's previously existing unaccompanied Requiem.
Composition History
A Kent Yeoman's Wooing Song, a secular cantata, was written in the early 1930s as a wedding present for baritone Keith Falkner and his bride, Christabel, but was not performed until 1953.
Notable Performances
Hymnus Paradisi, completed in 1938, was hidden away until Howells's idol, Vaughan Williams, encouraged its premiere at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester in 1950.
Composition History
Howells's Hymnus Paradisi became a 'medical document' for the composer, helping him work through his grief after his son's death.
Compositional Technique
A Kent Yeoman's Wooing Song features Howells in an unusually extrovert mood and explores the theme of lovemaking, using texts from around 1600.
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