Music Journal of Northern Europe № 2(22), 2020

Contents

Natalia A. Katulina
Charles Burney. Life journey of a musician and a traveller | 1-17

Vera M. Razina
Arnold Bax and his Viola sonata (from the history of English music of the first half of the twentieth century) | 18-32

Bogdan V. Sysolyatin
Musical folklore of Great Britain in Percy Grainger’s oeuvre | 33-51

Abstract: Charles Burney is a distinguished representative of English music culture in the second half of the 18th – early 19th centuries, a musical encyclopedist. In the context of studying the musical culture of Europe in the 18th century, his work has not lost its significance even today. The works of the English musicologist are of great value for the study of the history of music. However, Russian-language materials about him are few in numbers. The article provides biographical details about Charles Burney and Музыкальный журнал Европейского Севера № 2 (22), 2020 2 his family, describes his diverse interests, artistic tastes and preferences, his social circle, as well as some materials on the musician's travels.

Keywords:Charles Burney, history of music, musical journeys

Abstract: In the early 20th century most of the viola music was written for Lionel Tertis, the famous viola virtuoso and the pioneer of the viola as a solo instrument. Regarded by his contemporaries as a performer of the same level as Fritz Kreisler and Eugène Ysaÿe, he inspired almost all of the outstanding British composers of the time to Музыкальный журнал Европейского Севера № 2 (22), 2020 19 write music for the viola. Sir Аrnold Edward Trevor Bax, a composer and a poet, who went under the pseudonym ‘Dermot O’Byrne’, has lived in Dublin for a long time; he was acquainted with many distinguished figures of the Irish literary revival. He wrote the Viola sonata five years after the Easter Rising – the tragedy that strongly influenced his literary and musical works. The article analyzes the musical contents of the sonata in connection with the Irish folk music and Celtic mythology.

Keywords: Аrnold Edward Trevor Bax, Irish music, Viola sonata, Lionel Tertis

Abstract: In the 20th century the world of art was in the search of new ways of artistic expressiveness. Academic canons were not working anymore, and a lot of artists, musicians, and writers turned their eyes to what had been considered an exotic art or a low tradition which needed refining. An Australian composer and a distinguished pianist Percy Grainger (1882–1961) was one of those new creators. In accordance with his own creative philosophy, he started searching for a new musical language in nature and in the “primitive art” – in folklore. He began his search from the musical folklore of the British islands. Together with the English composers who in the beginning of 20th century became interested in folk art of Great Britain (such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Cyril Scott, Cecil Sharp, and others), he organized “folk-song-hunts”, during which he travelled about England’s counties in search of folk music. He went down in music history as a meticulous researcher, an innovator, and a composer who skillfully absorbed the language and features of British folk tunes. The article covers the peculiarities of Percy Grainger’s methods of research and composing music. In addition, the article examines some of the composer’s outstanding works in which he used the experience gained during his ethnomusicological expeditions.

Keywords: Percy Grainger, British folklore, ethnomusicology