Politics and Ideology in England's Art Music

            Socialism is an easy term to use as an all encompassing descriptive for the global left. In Great Britain there were strong calls for improved labor conditions and worker rights and a very easy argument could be made that the Communist Party would not have had the strength to become a world ideology were it not for contribution made by the English in the 19^th century. Thus, the Labor Party became the popular party of the British Isles (it’s a drastic oversimplification, I know, but I have to remind myself that this isn’t a political science class). But the “socialism” of England was always tempered by a fantastical obsession with the traditions of the Monarchy which still exists in that country. We can see this contradiction in the music of both Benjamin Brittan and Michael Tippett, in many ways these composers were able to bring out through their music very liberal ideologies (fair treatment of humans and the working class) while working in a very tonal medium and in many cases continuing the traditions of Vaughan Williams, Holst and Elgar to incorporate aspects of their native music.

           Peter Grimes, the opera by Benjamin Brittan with libretto by Montagu Slater tells the story of a violent unstable fisherman who has had one apprentice die (but is somewhat vindicated from any wrongdoing) and takes on another who meets the same fate. In some ways this can be read as an attack on the conditions of the poor as it seems the characters are somewhat doomed from the outset of the piece. In subject matter, the work is quite modern; this point is emphasized by Morgan: “the somber, pessimistic subject matter, presenting a sadistic title character combining characteristics of a romantic ‘outsider’ and a psychotic social misfit, is decidedly modern in flavor.” (Morgan p 276) The arrangement of the prologue and acts also has the influence of Alban Berg’s operas. There are, however; many aspects of Peter Grimes which are both vernacular and traditional with the inclusion of a drinking song and church hymns says something about the appreciation for music that might not fall strictly insider the modern art music repertoire. From this vantage point Peter Grimes is a prime example of the new living alongside the most cherished aspects of the past.

            Michael Tippett’s oratorio: A Child of Our Time is full of social commentary, as Morgan writes: “…in content an impassioned statement of man’s inhumanity to man, set within the context of the Nazi persecution of the Jews.” (Morgan p. 279) Once again we see a very modern viewpoint of international fraternity and minority class rights (although the argument could easily be made that the Enlightenment era was concerned with human fraternity, this notion very rarely manifested itself in terms of works of art with an outright political message [perhaps with the exception of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony). Another way this work is novel is that the composer and librettist are the same individual, few other composers delve into the lyric writing (the first exception I can think of was Roger Quilter). Morgan writes that A Child of Our Time owes much to the Bach Passions but when I listened to the example you recommended I really heard George Fredric Handel more than J.S. Bach. This would seem to make more sense to me as Handel has had an enduring reputation in Great Brittan.