‘Take Her Out and Air Her’: Irish Dances as Arranged by Stanford and Grainger

Abstract

Irish-born composer Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924) has received both acclaim and criticism for his integration of Irish folk melodies in his compositions and for his role in publishing collections of Irish folk melodies. Throughout his career, the music of Ireland provided the inspiration for a number of compositions including orchestral works, songs, opera and chamber music. This article critically examines his Irish Dances op. 89, later published and referred to as Four Irish Dances, the source material for the work and versions created for piano by both Stanford and the Australian composer Percy Grainger (1882–1961). The article also addresses gaps in scholarship related to the performance and reception of the work(s). It also highlights inaccuracies in contemporary commentary, and returns the authorship of the works to Stanford. This examination parallels other studies and enhances an understanding not only of Stanford’s compositional practice but the social, cultural and economic contexts of music at the turn of the twentieth century and their reception amongst audiences and critics.

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Alice Little and Julia Bishop for their comments on an earlier draft of this article and to the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful responses and worthwhile suggestions. The author is very grateful to Elizabeth Kertesz for her time and expertise in copyediting the article; to Sarah Batchelor and Michael Mullen in the Library at the Royal College of Music, London, for their assistance with acquiring copies of manuscripts; to Heather Gaunt, Jennifer Hill, Astrid Britt Krautschneider, and Sarah Kirby at the Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne for their assistance with some of the author’s queries and for facilitating requests to receive copies of material in the collection; to Barry Ould at Bardic Edition Music Publishers for his assistance with copyright queries; to the staff at Stainer & Bell for their assistance with queries in relation to their holdings of Stanford works; and to Elaine Archbold in the Special Collections and Archives at Newcastle University Library, for her assistance with queries in relation to the Stanford (Charles Villiers) Archive.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 For many musicians and critics Stanford was an integral part of the fabric of musical life in England, and some ‘adopted’ him as an Englishman, referring to him as an English composer, musician, or Englishman. His Irishness and Irish nationality were forgotten by many. Confusion about Stanford’s nationality has been subject to examination previously. See for example Ryan (1995), Murphy (1998), Klein (2001, 145), White (1998, 106–109), and Shaw (1981).

2 Stanford’s collections of folk music include Stanford (1882, 1893, 1895, 1901, 1905a).

3 The other vice-presidents were John Stainer (1840–1901), Alexander Campbell MacKenzie (1847–1935), and Hubert Parry (1848–1918).

4 See for example Ryan (1995); Murphy (1998); Klein (1996); White (1998); Shaw (1981, 876–83).

5 For further details on the dates of composition for each of the versions of Irish Dances, see Table 1.

6 One critic noted that many of the composers, ‘from the greatest to the least, are not at their best in writing for the pianoforte’ (The Times 1901, 15).

7 S.G. incorrectly lists 1875 as the date of composition for the Three Rhapsodies for Pianoforte Solo (sometimes referred to as Three Dante Rhapsodies) and only lists the first set of Twenty-Four Preludes, op. 163 (S.G. 1975). Other incomplete listings include Hudson (1980, 70–74), B.D.B. (1954), and Fuller Maitland (1940).

8 Although Caldwell gives the opus numbers and dates of compositions, neither are given their correct title. Five Caprices are noted as the Capriccios while the Three Rhapsodies for Pianoforte Solo are listed as the Rhapsodies.

9 There are, however, some omissions from Dibble’s catalogue.

10 Petrie’s daughter gave her father’s manuscripts to Stanford, who edited the Petrie Collection for publication in three parts between 1902 and 1905, sponsored by the Irish Literary Society of London (Stanford 1905a). Involved in the antiquarian movement, Petrie was also prominent in the 1851 establishment in Dublin of the Society for the Preservation and Publication of the Melodies of Ireland. The first volume of his collection was originally published in 1855, although some earlier sections of it were published in smaller publications from 1853. For further information on Petrie, see O’Sullivan (1946) and Cooper (2002).

11 I am grateful to Seóirse Bodley for alerting me to the articles in Irish Music Monthly.

12 Harry Plunket Greene (1865–1936) was an Irish baritone who regularly performed Stanford’s music, some of which Stanford dedicated to him. He was a close friend of Stanford and wrote the first biography of Stanford in 1935. He was married to Hubert Parry’s daughter Gwendolen Maud.

13 See Commins (2012, vol. 2) for further information on the qualities of the writing in Twenty-Four Preludes in All the Keys for Pianoforte, op. 163 which are suggestive of an Irish influence.

14 Grainger performed in Belfast with the Belfast Philharmonic Society at the Ulster Hall on 1 February 1907, at Mr Phillips’s Subscription Concert at the Ulster Hall on 16 February 1912, and with the Belfast Philharmonic Society at the Ulster Hall on 7 February 1913. Incidentally, he performed his arrangement of ‘A March-Jig’ at the concert in 1912 and the ‘Reel’ at the concert in 1913. For reviews of his performances in Belfast, see Belfast Newsletter (1907a, 11) and Northern Whig (1912, 9; 1913, 10).

15 Forbes has suggested that the reference to a polar bear may have been on account of Grainger’s appearance (Forbes 2000, 6). The complete Stanford–Grainger correspondence held in the Grainger Museum Collection, University of Melbourne, is reproduced in Forbes (2000, 10–16).

16 See also Percy Grainger interview in the British Australasian, 3 January 1906 in Forbes (2000, 6), and also Grainger (1994, 66). During his time in London, Grainger lived at a number of addresses but at one time he lived very close to Stanford’s house on Holland Street, residing at 4 Hornton Street in 1902 and Abingdon Road in 1902–1903. For further information on Grainger’s addresses during his time in London, see Dreyfus (2002).

17 Forbes also considers the deterioration of the Grainger–Stanford relationship (Forbes 2000, 8–11).

18 In another anecdote, Grainger gives further insight into his opinion of Stanford (Grainger 1949d).

19 Grainger wrote his ‘Anecdotes’ between 8 October 1949 and 6 November 1954, and they are now housed in the Grainger Museum Collection, University of Melbourne.

20 See also Roud (2017, 135–36, 165).

21 Charles Wood arranged the four-hand piano version of Stanford’s ‘Irish’ Symphony no. 3 and Symphony no. 4 (1888 and 1890, both published in London and New York by Novello, Ewer).

22 Friskin had been a pupil of Stanford at the Royal College of Music.

23 See, for example, Daily Telegraph (1905, 7).

24 Fuller Maitland only referred to the version for orchestra in the fourth edition (1940). Confusion surrounding the opus number(s) continued in later editions of Grove’s Dictionary.

25 Despite Hudson addressing the confusion with the opus number, it was unfortunate that a recording of Grainger’s Four Irish Dances released by Hyperion records in 2002 included op. 79 as the opus number for the dances, while also including incorrect details for the date of composition by Stanford (Ould 2002).

26 See Stanford, arr. Grainger (1916, 1). See also programme for concert presented by the Westfield Symphony Orchestra on 20 February 1931, which also notes the sources of the original tunes (Simon 2003, 77).

27 This could lend credence to the idea that the orchestral version came first, as it suggests Stanford may not have conceived this arrangement as the primary version.

28 The dances were also performed by the Municipal Orchestra in 1906 (Bournemouth Graphic 1906, 78).

29 For a full account of the evening, see London Evening Standard (1904, 4). Interestingly, ‘Four’ is included in the title of the work, which was performed again at Buckingham Palace on 13 July 1906 (Morning Post 1906, 5).

30 Sybil Eaton performed regularly in England and premiered a number of works including Gerald Finzi’s Violin Concerto.

31 Two of the dances, no. 1 and no. 3, were also performed by Eaton in 1923 (Northampton Courier and Echo 1923, 8).

32 The title page of each dance in the published piano arrangement edition includes the text: ‘The Orchestra Score and Parts may be obtained on application to the Publishers,’ but Stainer & Bell do not currently hold a published copy of the orchestral version in their archive.

33 The chronology in Grainger’s ‘Anecdotes’ may be incorrect. Grainger indicated that he had slips printed advertising the Stainer & Bell publication during his 1907–1908 English tour with Ada Crossley (Grainger 1949b). However, the dances were not published with Stainer & Bell until 1912.

34 Grainger arrived in the USA on 1 June 1914. It is not clear exactly when this correspondence took place but most likely in late 1914. See Grainger (1949b) for an approximate timeline on this correspondence. It is not clear from Grainger’s ‘Anecdotes’ how the £200 might have been split between Grainger and Stanford.

35 For more information on the reception of Stanford’s music in the USA, see Commins (2019).

36 Two versions of this note exist in the archive. (Grainger, n.d.a, n.d.b).

37 Originally arranged for string quartet in 1907, Grainger made an arrangement for orchestra in 1914 and later completed an arrangement for piano and band, perhaps owing to the popularity of the work.

38 The Bechstein Hall at 36 Wigmore Street, London was later renamed Wigmore Hall.

39 The programme for the concert indicates that it was the first performance of these two works. See Hudson (1994, I14).

40 ‘Allegro’ most likely refers to the first dance, ‘A March-Jig.’

41 Maguire’s Kick is not named in the Houghton or Stainer & Bell editions.

42 ‘Temple Hill’ (no. 901) and ‘Molly on the Shore’ (no. 902) were on the same page in Stanford’s edition of the Petrie Collection. Stanford and Grainger corresponded on the copyright of the folk tunes for use in Molly on the Shore, with Stanford appearing to correct Grainger’s spelling of Petrie: ‘It is NB Petrie (not Petri like Egon)’ (Stanford 1911).

43 The second dance was based on ‘Madame Cole,’ a tune composed by Turlough O’Carolan (1670–1738) to celebrate the wedding of Jean Cole in Fermanagh in 1719. The tune appeared in collections by Bunting in 1796 (Trimble 1979, 37).

44 ‘In some parts of Ireland the rural population still believes in the existence of Leprechauns, tiny man fairies who wear tall hats and knee-breeches. The man that can catch them becomes fabulously rich, it is asserted. But they are hard to catch. In fact, few Irishmen ever succeed in catching a Leprechaun—“except in America”, as Mr H.T. Parker wittily remarked in the “Boston Evening Transcript”. Quite recently a Leprechaun was reported seen in Ireland, and a man was even said to have put his hat over him. But on the removal of the hat the fairy was found to have vanished. Stanford’s composition reflects the elusive quality of the Leprechaun’ (Stanford, arr. Grainger 1916, 2). The Stainer & Bell 1912 publication included the following note: ‘A Leprechaun is a tiny man-fairy who wears a tall hat and knee-breeches’ (Stanford, arr. Grainger 1912, no. 3, 1). The 1917 Stainer & Bell violin and piano arrangement does not include this description (Stanford 1917–1924).

45 The bar numbers in this discussion refer to the 1903 Stanford manuscript for solo piano (Stanford 1903a).

46 Other examples of this can be found throughout Stanford’s Twenty-Four Preludes in All the Keys for Pianoforte. See for example, Prelude, op. 163, no. 3, bars 48–51 and Prelude, op. 179, no. 25, bars 29–30.

47 The bar numbers in this discussion refer to the 1907 Houghton edition of Grainger’s arrangement of Stanford’s Four Irish Dances (Stanford, arr. Grainger, 1907–1910).

48 Much of Stanford’s later piano music includes numerous occurrences of this cadential progression, including his Twenty-Four Preludes in All the Keys for Pianoforte, op. 163 and op. 179, with more than thirty of the forty-eight Preludes featuring the sharpened fourth in a functional and strategic role. For further insight into Stanford’s preference for this cadential progression, see Commins (2012, vol. 2).

49 For further insights into Grainger as a modernist, see Robinson and Dreyfus (2016).

50 Rare performances of the dances by other pianists include a performance by George F. Boyle in Belfast in October 1907 and a performance by Edgar Carr at the Grotrian Hall, London in 1932 (Belfast Newsletter 1907b, 8; Hendon and Finchley Times 1932, 12). The performance by Boyle is significant given that the works were only recently published. A concert held by the Cheltenham Philharmonic Society on 28 October 1914 included the ‘Reel’ (Looker-On 1914, 6). I am grateful to Francis Smith of the Cheltenham Philharmonic Orchestra for furnishing me with a copy of the programme from this event. Some radio performances of the works were undertaken in the 1920s and 1930s, including performances by Gordon Bryan and Cathleen Wright (Dundee Courier 1925, 3; Gloucester Citizen 1925, 5; Derry Journal 1936, 3).

51 Further details on the popularity of individual pieces in different countries are available in Bellio (2013, 71). Her reference to ‘Allegro Vivace’ as a separate entry could be mistaken for the ‘Reel’ from the Four Irish Dances.

52 The Daily News (Perth) described ‘The Leprechaun's Dance’ as dainty, delicate, and bewitching (1907b, 5). See also Morning Post (1905, 9), Queen (1905, 908), and Referee (1905, 5).

53 See for example Sacramento Union (1916, 18) and Richmond Times Despatch (1917, 4).

54 In the repertoire list for Extreme Pianissimo Playing he includes ‘The Leprechaun’s Dance’ from Four Irish Folk Dances, and for Brilliance and Attack he includes ‘Irish Reel’ from Four Irish Folk Dances (Bellio 2013, 34).

55 The recording was made on 6 May 1908. John Bird believed that he included the work on one of his first recordings on 16 May 1908 (Bird 1976, 126).

56 The work was performed in Dublin in 1909 as part of the Feis Ceoil festival on 18 May (Dublin Daily Express 1909, 2).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adèle Commins

Adèle Commins is Head of Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland. Her main research focuses on musicological studies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a specific focus on the music of Charles Villiers Stanford. She is also a composer and performer who has toured internationally and has released an album of compositions entitled A Louth Lilt (2017) with Daithí Kearney.