Reflecting

I was feeling very stumped as to what to write my second blog on. Sooooo I started thinking about all of the things we've discussed in class since the semester began, and how the various readings and new information I’ve received compare to any preconceived notions I had about Victorian Music. I think I had Victorian music pegged as something out of a Jane Austin book, just very sweet, refined and contained. In my opinion there is some truth to that. The readings on 'girling at the piano' and the ideas in regard what is appropriate in upper class Victorian society certainly seem to be more restrictive; women should not perform in public, men shouldn't play the piano, no one performed music professionally unless they had to, ect...

However, there is this whole other side to Victorian Music that I overlooked, and over the last few weeks I even forgot we were discussing the same time period as mentioned above. The music of Vaughn Williams, Elgar and now Holst is not at all what I expected from Victorian England. It really sounds, for lack of a better word, modern. I can absolutely hear the influence of Wagner in the music of Elgar, and Vaughn Williams with his use of folk song makes me think of Copland. However, maybe it is Copland who should make me think of Elgar, and at the same time it is the use of folk song that seems to give his music a sense of English landscape and atmosphere. Then there is Holst who is inspired by Bach, Purcell, folk song, and mysticism. This mixture of different influences along with all the stimulation Holst gathered from life made his music so incredibly unique.

There truly was innovation going on musically during the Victorian period in England. We’ve focused on three composers thus far, with the exception of Wagner (because he was German and that’s the only reason I’m not including him), all of whom have vastly different compositional styles and reasons for composing. Edgar was criticized for “selling out,” I don’t agree with that but it sounds as though there were times when his heart wasn’t in what he was doing. And on the other end of the spectrum is Holst who seemed to have loved everything he was doing, he accepted life, allowed it to inspire him, and gave all that inspiration to his music.

I feel so incredibly naïve to have not been familiar with this music, but very glad to have been exposed to these composers.