Bax: A Composer and his Times

Bax was quite prolific, one of the most prolific composers ever.Bax was rather opaque as this book shows is. He was very shy and retiring, Spent months and years alone writing in unheated hotels in remotest Scotland and Ireland. He was from a rich family, independently wealthy, did not have to work for a living, for example, conduct and often did not go back and revise his earlier works as did his contemporaries and buddies, like Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Peter Warlock, EJ Moeran, Sibelius, etc.While this is maybe the best bio , the best vision of him available of the enigmatic figure, it is lacking. The reader often gets' little of no feeling what was going on in Bax's head. Many chapters are fascinating, Bax heard the music of Faery along with Poet AE (George Russell) in Glencolumbcille, Ire and it entranced him. (we take him at his word). This ecstatic Faery music he heard he tried to capture again and again in his music "In the Faery Hills", "Spring Fire", the end of the Third Symphony, " Nympholept" , etc. So that part is wonderful, but then the narrative goes on to things that sound like little more than Bax laundry list, or a boring list of people at some party. With all of the letters to all his lovers extant, there must be some something that elucidates his thoughts and state of mind. All the principles are now dead, so tell us what they said...Bax love life played an important part in his music. He fell for a young Russian woman, Natalia Skarginski, put her up at his parents house, followed her to Russia only to have her use his money and dump him. On the rebound, Bax went back to England and married Elsita, who he had nothing in common with had children, then grew tired of her shortly thereafter. Then he met young pianist Harriet Cohen with whom he carried on a passionate love affair for decades. His wife was Catholic and refused him a divorce and they separated. By the time his wife eventually died decades later and he was free and could have married Cohen, as people expected. Cohen as sick all the time, tubercular, and constantly asking Bax for money and new songs to play and had affairs with other men. Bax fell for another younger woman Mary Gleaves who he was with for the rest of his life. He apparently liked younger women, he romanticized them, thought of them as goddesses incarnate. This love turmoil charged much of his music. Bax supported all three women all his life...He would be better know if he had not given all rights to many compositions to Harriet Cohen who hoarded them, didn't publish and didn't make them public for years after their deathsI also would have like to see Mr Foreman put some symbol in the text to indicate he is changing subjects, there will be some tantalizing insightful passage and then proceed without mark, into lists of trivia, Some symbol or line break to let us know he, Foreman is changing subject. which he does often.Also, there is much musical score and much reference to the many Bax albums now out. In addition to the written musical score, it would be useful for the next edition if Mr Foreman would tell you this passage he refers to is like in the most famous recordings, like Bryden Thomson's Chandos: recording tract 1, time: 3' 32" rather than just the publishing the score. Most of us, I included, are not that good at reading musical scores.Odd to say but some of Mr Foreman's notes in CDs (he has written Bax notes in practically every Bax CD there is) , some of his CD notes are actually more complete and thorough than what is here in this book!when I initially wrote this review it was for edition two., three is much improvedI recently read the latest edition of this book which has access to latters of the principals and explains a lot more about motivationsThen there is Bax own "Farewell my Youth" autobio and it's even more opaque, except at the very end!Sir Arnold Bax, IMHO, is one of the greatest composers in the 20th century, Bax is certainly one of the top 5 composers (as his friend Ralph Vaughn Williams also heatedly pointed out to the dunderheads at British Royal Academy of Music, quoted herein). He is certainly the most underappreciated. His music yields its virtues, subtleties and complexities only upon repeated listening. He deserves to be played much more and he deserves to be heard much more. There are so many better known 20th c composers whose works are downright boring and painful to listen to....I love Impressionism and there is so little of it. Dive into Bax! The more you listen the more you'll like.This is the best book out on Bax, but it leaves the reader wanting a lot more.

This is an excellent biography of Sir Arnold Bax. It was an invaluable tool for me as I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the composer. Lewis Foreman shows great love and dedication to his subject, and writes in a way that makes you want to keep reading. His combination of personal information and analysis of the music is as good as that of anyone I've read.

Great book! I don't know why the amazon page puts it as having 616 pages. It only has 569 including the index and appendices.

Excellent and detailed biography with score examples.

Bax has written some of the most compelling and fascinating music ever to come out of the British isles; yet the survival of his legacy today depends almost entirely on the CD, and his music is virtually unknown outside Britain. I had hoped to find in Mr. Foreman's biography of the composer some explanation or theory regarding this perplexing state of affairs. I had expected, too, to see the colourful richness of the music reflected in an equally colourful description of Bax the man.To my surprise, however, I found this book rather monotonous and, in a way, superficial. I hesitate to say this, seeing how many decades Mr. Foreman spent on studying his subject, but there it is. Maybe I set too high a standard for a composer biography, La Grange's "Mahler" being my idea of perfection. Compared to that monumental achievement, Foreman only gives us fragments, with the focus on brief analyses of key works, Bax's love interests, and his lifelong infatuation with Ireland and things Irish. What the book lacks is an integrated sense of the musical and social environment Bax lived and worked in, and his views of it. It is inconceivable to me that in a biography of an English composer who lived through the year 1945 no mention at all is made of probably the most sensational musical event in Britain for centuries, the premiere of "Peter Grimes". Similarly, it is frustrating to read that Bax went to hear this or that work of a fellow composer, but never to be told what he thought of it. Too often, Foreman is content with dropping names. Instead of filling in the details, we are treated to an umpteenth love-letter to Harriet or Mary. On a different note, I was quite amazed how the reader is made to forget that Bax actually had children. There's hardly a word about them - they get six and seven entries in the whole of the book, respectively.In the end we have a pretty clear idea of outward events, but little sense of the inner workings of the man himself. What caused the eventual drying up of inspiration? Why was Bax so vulnerable to alcohol? What was the driving force behind his love affairs? What were his views of his own musical achievements - and those of others? How can it be explained that a man of such prodigious talent did not succeed in truly establishing himself? Why did fatherhood mean so little to him? Such questions remain largely unanswered. You might say that Foreman is a competent musicologist and a decent historian, but not much of a psychologist. Nonetheless, this is no doubt the best book on Bax around (it is, as far as I know, the ONLY book on Bax around) and Foreman does deserve praise for his staunch advocacy of this extremely interesting and unaccountably neglected composer.

Das Oeuvre von Arnold Bax ist in Deutschland leider immer noch viel zu unbekannt, obgleich fast alle großen Werke in erstklassigen Einspielungen vorliegen. Die vorliegende Biographie schließt zumindest für den Fan eine letzte Lücke.Foreman zieht in dem lebendig geschriebenen Werk die Summe seiner lebenslangen Beschäftigung mit dem Thema "Bax". Mit größter Sorgfalt werden etwa alle Einflüsse - u.a. auch von Stefan George! - auf die geistige Entwicklung von Bax nachvollzogen. Das biographische Material ist so vollständig gesichert, dass Foreman etwa Argumente dafür liefern kann, dass Bax die Uraufführung von Daphnis und Chloe gesehen hat usw.Im Weiteren stehen jedoch die Werke von Bax und ihre stilistische Analyse fast im Vordergrund. Endlich erfährt auch der Laie, unter welchen Umständen etwa ein Werk wie "Nympholept" entstanden ist. Fern jeder hagiographischen Anwandlungen liefert der Autor auch sehr kritische Einordnungen der Werke nach ihrer musikalischen Qualität, wobei die Liebe zu dieser Musik zu Recht im Vordergrund steht. Nach der Lektüre habe ich mir rasch die Orchestersuite zu Tamara bestellt, die Foreman hier in den glühendsten Farben herausstellt und konnte das Urteil bestätigen.Und das Leben von Bax? Seine Jugend kann den Leser fast mit Neid erfüllen. Bis auf den etwas kühlen Vater wächst er in einer liebevollen, sorgenfreien und naturnahen Umgebung auf. Geld - in welchen Mengen auch immer - spielt nie eine Rolle. Im Haus gehen geistreiche Freunde und schöne Frauen in Scharen ein und aus. Es bedurfte daher wohl erst des Osteraufstandes von 1916, um die dramatischere Ader von Bax zum Pulsieren zu bringen.Das Werk liefert dem Liebhaber, genau das, was er sucht: Eine auf hohem wissenschaftlichen Niveau angesiedelte Wiederbegegnung mit den lieb gewonnen Werken wie etwa der Spring Symphonie. Der historische Kontext, die kritische Analyse des musikalischen Materials und die Einordnung in den zeitlichen Kontext sind vorbildlich, wenn auch wie immer Wünsche offenbleiben. Mir persönlich kam "Christmaseve in the Mountains" ein wenig zu kurz und zu schlecht weg. Dieses Werk hatte ich vor 20 Jahren an Weihnachten im Rundfunk gehört und danach fieberhaft nach "Mr. Banks" geforscht. Es dauerte weitere fünf Jahre, bis der Groschen fiel! Seitdem gehören Winter Legends oder die Symphonic Variations bei mir zum stets wiedergehörten Repertoire.

At long last this masterly biography of a great composer has re-emerged, now in a substantially augmented third edition. First published in 1983, this third edition has been expanded to incorporate some of the recently released correspondence between Bax and his long time lover, Harriet Cohen which is quite explicit at times.As the title suggests, this is not just a biography of a very remarkable man, but also a commentary on the extraordinary renaissance of serious composition that occurred in England (perhaps that should be Britain!) in the first half of the twentieth century.His privileged upbringing and studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London are vividly described. The Irish /Celtic influences, adventures in Russia and Tintagel, the beginning of the long relationship with Harriet Cohen are explored. Then that golden period, between the wars, when Bax was arguably, the finest symphonist in the country and his friendship with the man who was eventually to create the greatest British symphonic cycle, Ralph Vaughan Williams.Finally, Master of the King's Music, and the slow Sibelian decline in composition. Incredibly, this major composer lived out his last decade, more or less unnoticed, in a Sussex Pub, the White Horse at Storrington. He died in Ireland , his spiritual homeland.This book is a model biography, highly informative, easy to read and referenced in great detail, essential reading not only for those interested in this composer but twentieth century, European music in general.

Fantastically written, an invaluable resource for a researching musician, and a good read too.

Really good

I was appalled and amazed to find that the author had compressed the first seventeen years of Bax's life, the most formative part of any human's existence, into a mere ten pages. How could any modern biographer hope to present any meaningful critique of a man's life without delving into the youth that made him? We are given glimpses of a relaxed and carefree childhood, but no boy grows into a man without some inkling of a sense of tragedy. But this biography foregoes a deeper interest in the creation of the man, concentrating instead in the remaining eighteen chapters on the man as ready-made. This did not bode well for this reader in seeking to understand the man behind the music.There is no discussion about the basis of Bax's youthful religious ideas, for instance. We are simply told that his father had a Quaker ancestry and his mother, who later converted to Roman Catholicism, was the daughter of a Congregationalist minister. The two young Bax brothers produced literature linked to Theosophy, but there is neither any explanation given to the reader about this, nor any explanation as to how the Baxes became involved. Readers seeking some background to Bax's mysticism will look in vain. The biographer talks much about this in the context of his music, but the question is left unanswered as to what Bax's real beliefs were that substantiate these musings. We are told that, "Although Bax was not a religious man in the sectarian sense, he had a deeply mystical side to his nature." But there is no real analysis of this assertion.There are many other gaps that begged for analysis. We are told, for example, about Bax holidaying in Majorca with Holst. What did they say to each other? What did they think of each other? And I still do not feel that I know the real details of all that went on in Tintagel. Moreover, what about the children? Bax had two offspring, but whereas the pianist Myra Hess has fifteen entries in the index, Bax's son Dermot has just ... six. Just what was Bax's relationship with his children between their birth and his death? How intimate was he with them? How often did he see them? What did he think of them? We do not know. We are not told.In a sense, Bax was not a man of his times. He appears in this volume as a man of strictly personal experience, only "concerned by events in his land of heart's desire." We hear of passing references to great events in the background - the Russian Revolution, the General Strike, the Abdication of Edward VIII - but we never hear much of how these effected Bax except in vague terms of the music that he produced. The biographer makes plain that, "Up to 1939 Bax remained supremely indifferent to world events", but nevertheless one ponders, for example, how the Wall Street Crash and the ensuing depression affected his earnings. We are told he had a significant tax demand in the early 1920s, but that's all. If the Crash had had very little effect, at least I would have liked to have known it, rather than letting the question remain hanging in my head.Bax clearly did have strong views on some issues, such as the Great War and the Easter Rising, but inexplicably these are never clearly related. The author writes that, "Bax's reaction to conflict in Ireland was the same as it had been to war in France: to escape into dream." Later we learn that the war "had left Bax feeling profoundly anti-German." Really? In what way? We are not told. And I was left wondering whether the reason for all these gaps was due to the biographer having difficulty coming to terms with what might otherwise be interpreted as the life of a coward and a cad: a man who escaped into dreams as his friends died on the western front; a man who dared not declare his support for Irish nationalism for fear of upsetting his bourgeois and comfortable life; a man who left his wife and children for other women and seems to have taken little interest in the upbringing of his son and daughter; in short, a man who placed self above all other considerations.I found this all strangely disturbing in a book that claims to be a biography not only of "a composer" but also of "his times". The book's subtitle should really be "His Life and Music", but, even then, the former is treated as a superficial account of times spent when and where; it is only with the latter that this book shines. For the author clearly has a firm grasp of the musical element. He knows the music inside out, not just the symphonies, tone poems and piano sonatas, but down to every song, every prelude and every dance. This is the strength of this volume, and his descriptive essays urged me to get off the sofa and put on a Bax CD and listen to the music afresh. I guess this is the highest compliment of the biographer of a composer, and in that sense - and that sense only - he has marvellously succeeded.As for the text itself, there is constant irritation in the lack of consistency of major names. We have "Bax" or "Arnold", "Harriet" or "Miss Cohen", often in consecutive sentences. I was equally annoyed by the publisher's perverse habit of placing punctuation outside the inner justification limit. The writer's style is engaging, but there are often abrupt changes of subject-matter from one paragraph to the next. It might have been better indeed to disentangle the music criticism from the life story. Indeed, there is an argument here that the seeming utter stability of much of Bax's life might allow for a biography that was not so chronological in its approach.The volume comes with endnotes, a bibliography, and a good index. There are also extremely comprehensive and useful catalogues of Bax's writings and compositions compiled by the author. Meanwhile, Graham Parlett provides a twenty-page discography. Yes, twenty pages! Who would have guessed thirty years ago that so much of Bax's music would have been recorded? There has truly been a renaissance in Bax studies and this author has led the way in that worthwhile endeavour. I now know more about Bax's music and the circumstances of its composition. It is just a shame that I finished this biography knowing little more of the real Arnold Bax as a man than I did before I started.