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91
 +
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano
 +
and Four Stringed Instruments and its intended performance
 +
by
 +
Norah Drewett and the Hart House String Quartet
 +
Marc-AndrC
 +
Roberge
 +
Abstract
 +
This article attempts to
 +
reconstruct
 +
the
 +
history
 +
of
 +
what was
 +
to
 +
be
 +
the
 +
first
 +
per-
 +
formance
 +
of
 +
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for Piano and Four
 +
Stringed
 +
Instruments (1919-20),
 +
which
 +
was
 +
scheduled
 +
to
 +
be
 +
given
 +
on 29 November 1925
 +
at
 +
Aeolian Hall
 +
in
 +
New York
 +
by
 +
the pianist
 +
Norah
 +
Drewett and
 +
the
 +
University
 +
of
 +
Toronto's Hart House String Quartet
 +
as
 +
part
 +
of a concert sponsored
 +
by
 +
Edgard
 +
Varese's
 +
International
 +
Composers' Guild. The performance never took
 +
place
 +
for
 +
reasons that are
 +
not
 +
entirely clear
 +
but
 +
have
 +
to
 +
do mostly
 +
with
 +
the
 +
work's
 +
difficul-
 +
ties.
 +
The
 +
article also
 +
provides
 +
an
 +
introduction
 +
to
 +
the
 +
work
 +
itself,
 +
which Sorabji
 +
dedicated
 +
to
 +
his friend, the
 +
composer
 +
Philip Heseltine.
 +
Most
 +
people
 +
who have heard
 +
of
 +
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
 +
(1892-1988),
 +
the
 +
Parsi
 +
composer
 +
and
 +
pianist active
 +
who
 +
lived
 +
as
 +
a
 +
recluse in England for most
 +
of
 +
his
 +
career,
 +
know
 +
that performances
 +
of
 +
his
 +
often massive
 +
and
 +
extremely
 +
difficult
 +
works have been extremely rare
 +
as
 +
a
 +
result
 +
of a
 +
so-called
 +
ban.l
 +
The
 +
thirteen
 +
scores that Sorabji published between 1921
 +
and
 +
1931
 +
contain the
 +
following
 +
warning: "All
 +
rights
 +
including that
 +
of
 +
performance, reserved
 +
for
 +
all
 +
countries
 +
by
 +
the
 +
composer."
 +
The score of his
 +
248-page
 +
Opus clavicembalisticum
 +
(1929-30),
 +
his
 +
longest
 +
and most
 +
often
 +
cited work,
 +
contains the additional admonition:
 +
"Public
 +
performance prohibited unless
 +
by
 +
express
 +
consent
 +
of
 +
the
 +
composer."
 +
Various
 +
statements
 +
in
 +
letters make
 +
it
 +
possible
 +
to
 +
say
 +
that,
 +
in
 +
the late thirties,
 +
Sorabji had
 +
decided
 +
to
 +
turn
 +
down all
 +
requests for
 +
public performance
 +
either
 +
by
 +
himself
 +
or
 +
by
 +
others.
 +
As
 +
he later indicated
 +
in
 +
a letter
 +
to
 +
the pianist
 +
Egon
 +
Petri:
 +
"I
 +
have
 +
set
 +
my
 +
face
 +
against
 +
ANY
 +
PUBLIC
 +
PERFORMANCE OF
 +
MY
 +
WORK
 +
FOR
 +
GOOD
 +
AND
 +
ALL
 +
EVERYWHERE."2
 +
It
 +
is true that
 +
he
 +
did not have
 +
to
 +
turn
 +
92
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji
 +
Sorabji’s
 +
Quintet
 +
for Piano
 +
and
 +
Four Stringed Instruments
 +
down offers
 +
very often,
 +
since
 +
they were very few and far between.
 +
The
 +
visual
 +
aspect
 +
of
 +
most scores
 +
was
 +
forbidding enough
 +
to
 +
scare
 +
potential performers
 +
away.
 +
Up to
 +
December 1936, Sorabji
 +
had been heard
 +
in
 +
public at least ten
 +
times
 +
in
 +
various cities (London,
 +
Vienna, Paris, Glasgow), giving
 +
the
 +
first
 +
performances
 +
of
 +
five works for piano
 +
solo
 +
and playing
 +
the piano
 +
part
 +
of
 +
his
 +
Trois
 +
pokmes
 +
pour
 +
chant
 +
et
 +
piano.
 +
He
 +
had
 +
also
 +
allowed
 +
two
 +
friends-
 +
the pianist
 +
Harold Rutland
 +
(1900-1977)
 +
and the organist
 +
E. Emlyn Davies
 +
(1885-1951)-
 +
to
 +
play
 +
a
 +
work
 +
each.
 +
He
 +
had not
 +
approved,
 +
however,
 +
of a
 +
performance
 +
of
 +
pars prima
 +
of
 +
his Opus
 +
clavicembalisticum by John Tobin (1
 +
891-1960). The severe inadequacies
 +
of
 +
this
 +
performance, which took place at Cowdray Hall
 +
in
 +
London on
 +
10 March
 +
1936,
 +
were
 +
instrumental
 +
in
 +
bringing
 +
the
 +
composer
 +
to
 +
his decision
 +
of
 +
not
 +
allowing
 +
hearings of his
 +
music.
 +
Even though
 +
there were
 +
a few
 +
scattered
 +
performances
 +
af-
 +
ter 1936, it
 +
is only
 +
in 1976,
 +
thanks
 +
to
 +
the
 +
persistence
 +
of a number of
 +
friends, es-
 +
pecially
 +
Alistair Hinton,
 +
that
 +
Sorabji
 +
began
 +
to
 +
give permission for official per-
 +
formances
 +
to
 +
a
 +
few selected pianists, namely Yonty
 +
Solomon,
 +
Michael Haber-
 +
mann, and
 +
Geoffiey Douglas
 +
Madge.3
 +
Since
 +
that time,
 +
other
 +
musicians
 +
(mostly
 +
pianists)
 +
have
 +
been drawn
 +
to
 +
the
 +
intricacies
 +
of
 +
Sorabji’s music and
 +
public hear-
 +
ings
 +
of
 +
several
 +
short-
 +
and medium-size
 +
works
 +
have become more
 +
freq~ent.~
 +
A
 +
few recordings
 +
have
 +
also
 +
been produced, all offering sound proofs
 +
of
 +
the great
 +
beauty and
 +
artistic
 +
validity
 +
of
 +
the
 +
music.
 +
Sorabji never made any
 +
real efforts
 +
to
 +
promote performances
 +
of
 +
his music.
 +
It
 +
zppears that
 +
only
 +
one
 +
performance (except for Tobin’s) was
 +
organized
 +
without
 +
his
 +
close involvement,
 +
namely,
 +
the
 +
premikre
 +
of
 +
the
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano and
 +
Quartet
 +
of Stringed Instruments (1919-20)
 +
by
 +
the
 +
pianist Norah Drewett and
 +
the
 +
Uni-
 +
versity
 +
of
 +
Toronto’s Hart House
 +
String
 +
Quartet.
 +
This
 +
performance was
 +
to
 +
be
 +
given in
 +
New York
 +
in 1925 but failed
 +
to
 +
materialize. Another performance
 +
of
 +
the
 +
same work, scheduled for
 +
October 1992
 +
in
 +
Cambridge, did not take
 +
place
 +
either.
 +
The work is
 +
still unperformed
 +
even
 +
though it
 +
is
 +
available
 +
in
 +
print
 +
(or
 +
rather
 +
has
 +
been,
 +
since
 +
the
 +
remaining copies
 +
have been
 +
sold).
 +
It is
 +
the
 +
purpose
 +
of
 +
this article
 +
to
 +
give
 +
an
 +
account
 +
of
 +
the
 +
work and to document
 +
the
 +
sequence
 +
of events
 +
surround-
 +
ing
 +
its
 +
cancelled
 +
first Performance by
 +
the
 +
Canadian ensemble,
 +
a
 +
project that
 +
had
 +
to
 +
be
 +
filed away
 +
due to
 +
the
 +
vagaries
 +
of
 +
new music
 +
programming and
 +
to
 +
the
 +
diffi-
 +
culties
 +
posed by
 +
a
 +
new compositional idiom.5
 +
Sorabji’s
 +
musical
 +
output consists
 +
of
 +
11
 +
1
 +
works totalling
 +
more
 +
than
 +
1
 +
1,000
 +
manuscript pages.6
 +
This
 +
total can be broken down
 +
as
 +
follows: 61
 +
works for
 +
pi-
 +
ano (including 7
 +
transcriptions),
 +
3
 +
for
 +
organ,
 +
ll
 +
for piano and orchestra,
 +
7 for
 +
or-
 +
chestra (with
 +
or
 +
without voices),
 +
7
 +
for chamber ensemble
 +
(including 2
 +
with
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed
 +
Instruments
 +
93
 +
voices),
 +
20
 +
for
 +
voice and
 +
keyboard,
 +
one
 +
for carillon
 +
and
 +
one
 +
for unidentified
 +
forces. The
 +
music
 +
for
 +
chamber ensemble,
 +
to
 +
which
 +
this article is
 +
limited,
 +
spans
 +
almost all the
 +
composer's creative career. Below
 +
is a chronological
 +
list,
 +
with
 +
some
 +
useful data,
 +
of
 +
the works comprising this
 +
~ategory.~
 +
Like
 +
the works
 +
in
 +
the
 +
other
 +
categories,
 +
they range
 +
in
 +
length from
 +
the tiniest (2 pp.)
 +
to
 +
the mightiest
 +
(432 pp.).
 +
Some
 +
are
 +
written for traditional
 +
ensembles while others have a more
 +
peculiar
 +
scoring. Only
 +
three have received
 +
a
 +
first (and
 +
only)
 +
performance. The
 +
sole
 +
work to have been published in
 +
an
 +
engraved edition is the
 +
Piano Quintet
 +
No.
 +
I
 +
(as
 +
it
 +
will
 +
be
 +
called from
 +
now
 +
on,
 +
despite its
 +
original
 +
title), which
 +
is
 +
the
 +
object
 +
of
 +
this article.
 +
Chronological
 +
List
 +
of Sorabji's
 +
Works
 +
for
 +
Chamber Ensemble
 +
Music to
 +
"The Rider
 +
by
 +
Night" (1919);
 +
for voices and
 +
small
 +
orchestra;
 +
54
 +
pp.
 +
Quintet
 +
[No.
 +
11
 +
for
 +
Piano and Quartet
 +
of
 +
Stringed Instruments (1919-20);
 +
72
 +
pp.;
 +
publ. London and
 +
Continental
 +
Music
 +
Publishing, 1923
 +
(62
 +
pp.).
 +
The title
 +
of
 +
the
 +
published
 +
edition
 +
reads Quintet for Piano
 +
and
 +
Four Stringed Instruments.
 +
Cinque sonetti di Michelagniolo
 +
Buonarroti (1923);
 +
for
 +
baritone
 +
and small
 +
or-
 +
chestra;
 +
40
 +
pp. First performance:
 +
Toronto,
 +
University
 +
of Toronto,
 +
Walter
 +
Hall,
 +
New Music Concerts, 2
 +
February 1980.
 +
Quintet
 +
I1
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and String
 +
Quartet (1932-33); 432 pp.
 +
Concertino
 +
non
 +
grosso
 +
for
 +
String
 +
Septet with Piano
 +
obbligato
 +
quasi
 +
continuo
 +
(1
 +
968);
 +
for piano,
 +
4
 +
violins, viola,
 +
and 2 cellos;
 +
48
 +
pp.
 +
The
 +
manuscript
 +
contains
 +
music for
 +
one cello
 +
only
 +
even
 +
though it
 +
appears
 +
to call for two.
 +
I1
 +
tessuto
 +
d'arabeschi
 +
(1
 +
979); for
 +
flute
 +
and string
 +
quartet;
 +
32
 +
pp. First perform-
 +
ance: Philadelphia, Old Pine
 +
Street
 +
Church, Delius Society
 +
(Philadelphia
 +
branch),
 +
2 May
 +
1982.
 +
Fantasiettina
 +
atematica
 +
(1981); for flute,
 +
oboe, and
 +
clarinet;
 +
2
 +
pp.; publ. Sorabji
 +
Archive,
 +
1989
 +
(ed. Anthony Burton-Page). First performance:
 +
London,
 +
City
 +
University,
 +
9
 +
March 1995.
 +
94
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed
 +
Instruments
 +
Sorabji wrote
 +
his
 +
Piano Quintet No. 1
 +
in
 +
the years following World War I.
 +
Several noted
 +
composers
 +
have written works for the same forces during
 +
that
 +
pe-
 +
riod, such
 +
as
 +
Dohnsinyi
 +
(1919), Faure
 +
(No.
 +
2,
 +
Op. 117, 1919), Martin (1919),
 +
Pierne (Op. 41, 1919), Bax (1922), Bloch (No.
 +
1,
 +
1923-24), Korngold (Op. 15,
 +
1924),
 +
Vieme
 +
(Op.
 +
42, 1924), and d'Indy (Op. 81, 1925).8
 +
In
 +
the field
 +
of
 +
string
 +
quartet composition, which accounts for most works involving
 +
the
 +
strings, im-
 +
portant
 +
periods at
 +
the beginning of
 +
the
 +
century were 1905
 +
to
 +
1913 (Schoenberg,
 +
Bartok, Webern) and 1926-28 (Berg, Bartok, Schoenberg). Prior
 +
to the
 +
composi-
 +
tion
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's works,
 +
the
 +
most notable work
 +
is
 +
Bartok's
 +
String
 +
Quartet No. 2
 +
(1917); at
 +
about the same time
 +
as
 +
Sorabji, Stravinsky wrote his Concertino
 +
(1920)?
 +
When he attacked the composition
 +
of
 +
his
 +
quintet, Sorabji already
 +
had
 +
some
 +
experience
 +
of
 +
writing for
 +
the
 +
strings: he had composed the orchestral poem
 +
Chaleur (ca. 1916-17), four piano concertos (1915-16, 1916-17, 1918, 1918),
 +
and
 +
the
 +
Music
 +
to
 +
"The Rider
 +
by
 +
Night"
 +
(1
 +
9 19).
 +
The
 +
one-movement Piano Quintet
 +
No.
 +
1
 +
is
 +
dedicated
 +
"To
 +
my
 +
very good friend
 +
Philip Heseltine."
 +
The
 +
composer and writer Philip Heseltine
 +
(1
 +
894-1930)
 +
had
 +
been a friend
 +
of
 +
Sorabji
 +
since
 +
1913 when they began an interesting correspon-
 +
dence
 +
which
 +
dates
 +
up
 +
to
 +
1922; it is
 +
one
 +
of the rare sources documenting Sorabji's
 +
early career. Prior
 +
to
 +
the Quintet, Sorabji
 +
had
 +
already dedicated
 +
to
 +
Heseltine
 +
his first
 +
piano
 +
concerto (completed
 +
in
 +
June 1916).12
 +
In
 +
his obituary notes written
 +
shortly
 +
after
 +
Heseltine's death
 +
in
 +
1930, Sorabji described
 +
his
 +
friend
 +
as
 +
one
 +
of
 +
the
 +
finest musical minds
 +
of
 +
our time, a critic and writer
 +
of
 +
un-
 +
paralleled brilliance, insight, and subtlety. What I owe personally
 +
to
 +
his
 +
early encouragement, sympathy, and championship
 +
I
 +
can never ade-
 +
quately express, except
 +
to
 +
say that here and now [it]
 +
is
 +
my
 +
bounden
 +
moral
 +
duty
 +
to
 +
express that obligation
 +
as
 +
best
 +
as
 +
I can.
 +
The Quintet, which
 +
is
 +
printed
 +
on oblong
 +
paper (or landscape format,
 +
in
 +
modem
 +
parlance),
 +
has
 +
a piano part written throughout
 +
on
 +
three-stave systems.
 +
The
 +
tempo and
 +
expressive markings are written
 +
in
 +
French throughout; indeed, Sorabji
 +
had been
 +
using
 +
French not only for evocative titles but for generic
 +
ones as
 +
well,
 +
such
 +
as
 +
concerto,
 +
and
 +
had been setting several poems
 +
in
 +
French since his earliest
 +
works
 +
in
 +
1915.
 +
As
 +
in
 +
most
 +
of
 +
his works, the
 +
top
 +
stave
 +
of
 +
the piano part uses a
 +
symbol (here a fraction composed of the Roman numerals
 +
I
 +
and VIII)
 +
to
 +
indicate
 +
that
 +
the contents
 +
of
 +
this
 +
stave have
 +
to
 +
be
 +
played an octave higher than written.
 +
l5
 +
Roberge: Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed
 +
Instruments
 +
95
 +
Another conspicuous feature
 +
is
 +
the almost constant change
 +
of
 +
meter throughout
 +
the
 +
281
 +
long
 +
measures.
 +
The
 +
following time signatures are
 +
used:
 +
211;
 +
2,
 +
3,
 +
412;
 +
3,
 +
4,
 +
5,
 +
6,
 +
7,
 +
8,
 +
9,
 +
1014;
 +
7,
 +
8,
 +
9,
 +
10,
 +
11,
 +
12, 14,
 +
15,
 +
2018;
 +
15/8
 +
[or]
 +
5/4%
 +
(see
 +
meas.
 +
66), 2%/4
 +
(see
 +
meas.
 +
265).
 +
The
 +
initial boldface
 +
tempo
 +
marking
 +
"ModCr6"
 +
ap-
 +
plies
 +
until
 +
meas.
 +
235
 +
(p.
 +
54),
 +
where
 +
"Lent suave" appears, followed
 +
at
 +
meas.
 +
240
 +
(p.
 +
55)
 +
by "Tres large."
 +
Elsewhere, various agogical markings
 +
such
 +
as
 +
"Ralenti"
 +
or
 +
"En
 +
s'animant et augmentant" shape the
 +
work.
 +
Given
 +
the long measures containing
 +
up
 +
to
 +
fifteen
 +
and twenty
 +
beats,
 +
Sorabji
 +
had
 +
the
 +
good
 +
idea
 +
of
 +
providing an
 +
''index
 +
of
 +
beats,"
 +
which
 +
is
 +
a series
 +
of
 +
numbers
 +
aligned underneath the piano part. The index,
 +
however, is
 +
missing for
 +
twenty
 +
measures;
 +
this
 +
is probably an oversight of
 +
both
 +
the composer and the engraver.
 +
A
 +
final
 +
visual peculiarity
 +
of
 +
the score is the use
 +
of
 +
unusual
 +
rehearsal numbers.
 +
Sorabji uses letters
 +
from
 +
A (meas.
 +
6)
 +
to
 +
Z
 +
(meas.
 +
131),
 +
then from Aa
 +
(meas.
 +
136)
 +
to
 +
Zz
 +
(meas.
 +
260).
 +
Then,
 +
instead
 +
of
 +
tripling
 +
letters,
 +
he resorts
 +
to
 +
symbols
 +
for the
 +
last
 +
four instances: a downward pointing arrow cutting across a circle (meas.
 +
265),
 +
a right-pointing arrow cutting across
 +
a
 +
rectangle (meas.
 +
269),
 +
a
 +
symbol
 +
re-
 +
sembling
 +
"OL8".
 +
(meas.
 +
274),
 +
and
 +
an inverted
 +
version of the swastika (meas.
 +
279).
 +
These
 +
symbols are
 +
closely related
 +
to
 +
those
 +
used
 +
by
 +
Schoenberg
 +
in
 +
Die
 +
gluckliche Hand, op.
 +
18
 +
(1910-13,
 +
full
 +
score
 +
publ.
 +
1916)
 +
to
 +
indicate exactly
 +
where a stage direction takes
 +
effect.
 +
The
 +
piano has always held a
 +
central
 +
place
 +
in
 +
Sorabji's compositional activity.
 +
It
 +
is not
 +
only the instrument
 +
to
 +
which
 +
he
 +
has
 +
devoted
 +
most
 +
of
 +
his
 +
production,
 +
but
 +
the
 +
medium which was
 +
most
 +
congenial
 +
to
 +
him. It
 +
is
 +
true
 +
that'he
 +
was a great
 +
amateur
 +
of
 +
singing, but his songs,
 +
many
 +
of
 +
which
 +
are early works, are
 +
not
 +
truly
 +
idiomatic. Several examples
 +
in
 +
his
 +
music confirm the preeminent place held
 +
by
 +
the piano.
 +
A
 +
note
 +
in
 +
the separate piano
 +
part
 +
of
 +
his
 +
Opus
 +
clavisymphonicum: Con-
 +
certo
 +
for
 +
Piano and Large Orchestra
 +
(1957-59;
 +
333
 +
pp.)
 +
reads: "This work
 +
re-
 +
volves around the Piano
 +
as
 +
the Solar System
 +
round
 +
the
 +
Sun."
 +
His Symphony
 +
I1
 +
for
 +
Piano, Large Orchestra, Organ,
 +
Final
 +
Chorus,
 +
and
 +
Six
 +
Solo
 +
Voices
 +
(1930-3
 +
1;
 +
333
 +
pp. [also]) exists only
 +
in
 +
a piano
 +
part.18
 +
The
 +
Symphonic Variations
 +
exist
 +
in
 +
two
 +
versions: one
 +
for
 +
piano only
 +
(1936-37; 484
 +
pp.), and
 +
one
 +
for
 +
piano
 +
and
 +
or-
 +
chestra
 +
(1953-56;
 +
540
 +
pp.), which
 +
is an orchestral
 +
version of
 +
the
 +
first
 +
of
 +
the
 +
three
 +
volumes of the
 +
first
 +
incarnation.
 +
Rapoport has
 +
remarked
 +
that Sorabji nearly
 +
al-
 +
ways wrote the
 +
piano part
 +
of
 +
his
 +
concertos
 +
first,
 +
then proceeding
 +
to
 +
the
 +
orchestral
 +
fabric;
 +
he
 +
also suggests that
 +
this
 +
was the case
 +
with
 +
the Piano Quintet
 +
No.
 +
l.19
 +
This
 +
is
 +
quite
 +
likely since the piano
 +
part is
 +
continuous
 +
from
 +
beginning
 +
to
 +
end;
 +
there are only
 +
very
 +
short rests
 +
in
 +
meas.
 +
44,
 +
59,63,85,
 +
and
 +
148.
 +
A performance
 +
of
 +
96
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji Sorabji's
 +
Quintet for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed Instruments
 +
the
 +
piano
 +
part
 +
alone
 +
would probably not be unsatisfactory. Sorabji
 +
therefore
 +
ap-
 +
pears
 +
as
 +
a quite unique example
 +
of
 +
a modem
 +
composer
 +
who
 +
uses
 +
a technique re-
 +
lated
 +
to the
 +
successive counterpoint of the
 +
medieval composers.
 +
As
 +
in
 +
most works written
 +
around 1920
 +
(and
 +
after,
 +
for that
 +
matter),
 +
Sorabji uses
 +
in
 +
the Piano
 +
Quintet
 +
No.
 +
1
 +
a free
 +
chromatic
 +
language
 +
based on bitonal
 +
combina-
 +
tions
 +
of
 +
standard chords (often
 +
with added notes) and chords built
 +
on
 +
fourths
 +
and
 +
featuring numerous chromatic runs using
 +
irrational rhythmic values.20
 +
The
 +
mu-
 +
sic
 +
often reminds one of the
 +
highly
 +
sensuous
 +
melodic lines and
 +
harmonies
 +
of
 +
works by Skryabin
 +
and Szymanowski. Until
 +
the
 +
work
 +
is
 +
performed and
 +
recorded,
 +
one
 +
may
 +
have
 +
a good idea of
 +
its
 +
sound
 +
by listening
 +
to
 +
the
 +
recording
 +
of
 +
a piece
 +
written
 +
at
 +
exactly
 +
the
 +
same time, the
 +
Sonata
 +
No.
 +
1
 +
(1
 +
9 1
 +
9).2
 +
Three contemporary critics
 +
have published brief
 +
comments about the
 +
work; in
 +
all
 +
cases they
 +
had
 +
to
 +
rely solely on
 +
the
 +
score,
 +
since
 +
there had been
 +
no
 +
perform-
 +
ance. A certain
 +
"F.B.,"
 +
who
 +
is
 +
most probably
 +
the
 +
Italian-born English
 +
critic
 +
and
 +
composer Ferruccio Bonavia
 +
(1877-1950), paid special attention
 +
to
 +
the index of
 +
beats:
 +
A
 +
Quintet for pianoforte
 +
and four stringed instruments
 +
[...I
 +
deserves
 +
special mention
 +
as the
 +
first work in which
 +
the
 +
thoughtful
 +
composer has
 +
provided
 +
an
 +
''index
 +
of
 +
beats" for
 +
the
 +
benefit
 +
of the
 +
performer.
 +
That the
 +
index is
 +
much
 +
needed a single
 +
glance
 +
suffices
 +
to prove. When bars fol-
 +
low
 +
one
 +
another
 +
in
 +
this
 +
order,
 +
2018,
 +
414,
 +
614,
 +
414,
 +
514,
 +
&c., it
 +
is
 +
evident
 +
that some little guidance is
 +
sure
 +
to
 +
be
 +
welcomed
 +
by
 +
the
 +
harassed reader:
 +
harassed
 +
not only
 +
by time-signatures but
 +
by
 +
the
 +
accidentals which
 +
adorn
 +
every chord,
 +
by
 +
the
 +
three staves of the
 +
pianoforte
 +
(the
 +
upper
 +
stave is
 +
to
 +
be
 +
played
 +
an
 +
octave
 +
higher), by
 +
the
 +
frequent directions,
 +
by
 +
the unusual
 +
demands the composer
 +
makes
 +
on
 +
his
 +
string
 +
players.
 +
Thus the
 +
reader will
 +
be
 +
grateful
 +
for
 +
the
 +
index.
 +
For this
 +
relief many
 +
thanks-
 +
especially
 +
as
 +
it
 +
happens
 +
to
 +
be the
 +
only relief worth mentioning.
 +
The
 +
actual music, alas,
 +
is aptly defined
 +
in
 +
the
 +
directions printed over
 +
the
 +
last bar,
 +
Enigmatique
 +
equivoque.
 +
Whether
 +
anyone
 +
will care to
 +
solve that
 +
problem
 +
is
 +
not
 +
our
 +
affair.22
 +
Another reviewer,
 +
writing
 +
in an
 +
as
 +
yet unidentified and unfortunately incomplete
 +
source found
 +
in
 +
the composer's
 +
papers,
 +
also seems
 +
to
 +
have had
 +
difficulty
 +
with
 +
Sorabji's unusual style:
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed
 +
Instruments
 +
97
 +
This
 +
is
 +
one
 +
of
 +
those excessively modem works
 +
that
 +
stagger
 +
the
 +
re-
 +
viewer
 +
and
 +
leave
 +
him flat. Personally
 +
I
 +
must
 +
acknowledge that
 +
I
 +
hesitate
 +
to
 +
pass
 +
judgment
 +
upon
 +
it.
 +
I
 +
can only say
 +
that
 +
it
 +
appears
 +
to me to be
 +
highly interesting.
 +
the
 +
harmony
 +
is
 +
very
 +
dissonant,
 +
but
 +
I
 +
seem
 +
to
 +
feel
 +
the
 +
direction
 +
of
 +
the passing chords
 +
and
 +
altered chords,
 +
the
 +
appoggiaturas,
 +
which seem
 +
logical,
 +
though
 +
I
 +
am
 +
often at
 +
a loss
 +
to
 +
explain
 +
them.
 +
By way
 +
of
 +
elucidation
 +
I
 +
may
 +
say that there is
 +
no
 +
harm in
 +
dissonance
 +
provided
 +
it
 +
has
 +
a
 +
logical
 +
association
 +
with basic
 +
harmonies.
 +
The
 +
diffi-
 +
culty
 +
I
 +
find
 +
in
 +
this
 +
Sorabji quintet
 +
is
 +
that (for
 +
me) the association with
 +
the
 +
basic
 +
harmonies is
 +
rather vague. Yet
 +
I
 +
am dimly
 +
conscious
 +
of
 +
it,
 +
and
 +
I
 +
can
 +
readily
 +
conceive
 +
of more
 +
alert
 +
ears,
 +
more
 +
modernly
 +
attuned ears,
 +
grasping
 +
it
 +
in
 +
its
 +
entirety.
 +
Certainly, the
 +
construction
 +
of
 +
it
 +
is
 +
masterly.
 +
Certainly, too,
 +
the
 +
brief
 +
bits
 +
of
 +
melody, or
 +
theme,
 +
show
 +
real invention. All
 +
of
 +
the parts are tremen-
 +
dously difficult, and its
 +
[source breaks]23
 +
Philip Heseltine, the dedicatee
 +
of
 +
the
 +
work, wrote
 +
some comments about
 +
the
 +
work in
 +
1923
 +
(i.e., not long after
 +
his correspondence
 +
with
 +
Sorabji
 +
stops).
 +
They
 +
are
 +
obviously
 +
partial
 +
to
 +
the
 +
composer,
 +
who was a
 +
friend, but they
 +
are
 +
neverthe-
 +
less
 +
worth reprinting
 +
here, for they
 +
give a glimpse
 +
into
 +
Sorabji's composition
 +
method
 +
and shed light
 +
on
 +
the style
 +
of
 +
the
 +
work:
 +
His music is
 +
written down, without
 +
any
 +
preliminary
 +
sketches,
 +
bar by bar
 +
into
 +
the
 +
fair copy; there
 +
is no
 +
improvisation
 +
or
 +
any
 +
use
 +
of
 +
the
 +
piano
 +
at
 +
any stage
 +
of
 +
the
 +
composition, nor is there any
 +
rewriting
 +
or alteration
 +
when
 +
a work
 +
is completed.
 +
This
 +
is the more
 +
remarkable by
 +
reason
 +
of
 +
the
 +
fact
 +
that the
 +
texture of
 +
the
 +
music is of
 +
the
 +
utmost complexity,
 +
both
 +
of harmony and
 +
rhythm.
 +
The
 +
effect
 +
of
 +
a
 +
first
 +
hearing
 +
or
 +
reading is
 +
be-
 +
wildering
 +
in
 +
the
 +
extreme; but with familiarity
 +
there comes
 +
the
 +
convic-
 +
tion
 +
that
 +
we
 +
are dealing
 +
with
 +
a composer
 +
who
 +
is nothing short
 +
of
 +
a
 +
phe-
 +
nomenon
 +
in musical history.24
 +
Sorabji's Piano Quintet
 +
No.
 +
1,
 +
as
 +
mentioned earlier,
 +
has yet
 +
to
 +
be
 +
performed;
 +
in-
 +
deed,
 +
the two
 +
performances that
 +
were
 +
to
 +
take place
 +
were
 +
cancelled.
 +
The
 +
most
 +
re-
 +
cent
 +
possibility
 +
of
 +
hearing the
 +
work would
 +
have
 +
been
 +
on
 +
9
 +
October
 +
1992,
 +
at
 +
a
 +
concert presented
 +
by
 +
Orchid Music
 +
in
 +
association
 +
with
 +
the
 +
Cambridge
 +
New
 +
Mu-
 +
sic Players
 +
and
 +
the
 +
pianist
 +
Ben Morrison
 +
in
 +
the Great
 +
Hall,
 +
Blackheath Halls, Lee
 +
98
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed Instruments
 +
Road, Blackheath, London. The program was
 +
to
 +
feature Sorabj i's work alongside
 +
Cage's
 +
Europera
 +
5
 +
and
 +
works
 +
by
 +
Xenakis, Clapperton,
 +
Shaman,
 +
Allauca, Red-
 +
gate, Hughes,
 +
and
 +
Pyne. Practical problems prevented the ensemble from re-
 +
hearsing the
 +
piece and
 +
the
 +
performance
 +
had
 +
to
 +
be
 +
cancelled.
 +
The
 +
cancelled performance that will
 +
be
 +
dealt with here
 +
in
 +
some detail
 +
was
 +
scheduled
 +
to
 +
be
 +
given
 +
on
 +
29 November 1925
 +
by
 +
the Hart House
 +
String
 +
Quartet
 +
at
 +
Aeolian Hall
 +
in
 +
New
 +
York,
 +
as
 +
part
 +
of
 +
a
 +
concert sponsored
 +
by
 +
the International
 +
Composers' Guild.25
 +
At
 +
the time
 +
of
 +
its
 +
formation
 +
in
 +
1923,
 +
the
 +
Hart House
 +
String
 +
Quartet, which is considered
 +
to
 +
have been Canada's most famous chamber music
 +
ensemble
 +
in
 +
the first half
 +
of
 +
the twentieth century, was composed of
 +
the
 +
violinists
 +
Geza
 +
de
 +
Kresz
 +
(1882-1959) and Harry Adaskin (b. 1901), the violist Milton
 +
Blackstone
 +
(1
 +
894- 1974), and the cellist Boris Hambourg
 +
(1
 +
885- 1954), all of
 +
whom were foreign-born musicians. There were subsequent changes
 +
in
 +
the
 +
members until the ensemble gave its last concert
 +
in
 +
1946; only Hambourg re-
 +
mained
 +
with the
 +
ensemble throughout its life. The Hart House
 +
String
 +
Quartet,
 +
which
 +
was
 +
associated with the University
 +
of
 +
Toronto,
 +
is
 +
reputed
 +
to
 +
have been
 +
"one
 +
of
 +
the
 +
dozen or
 +
so
 +
best
 +
on
 +
the international
 +
scene.ff26
 +
The piano part
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's work
 +
was to
 +
be
 +
played
 +
by
 +
de
 +
Kresz's wife, the English pianist Norah
 +
Drewett
 +
(1
 +
882-
 +
1960), who
 +
had
 +
been
 +
a
 +
pupil
 +
of
 +
Victor-Alphonse Duvernoy
 +
(1
 +
842-1
 +
907)
 +
in
 +
Paris
 +
and
 +
of
 +
Bernhard Stavenhagen
 +
(1
 +
862-
 +
19
 +
14)
 +
in
 +
Munich.27
 +
The history
 +
of
 +
the
 +
cancelled premiere
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's Piano Quintet
 +
No.
 +
1
 +
can
 +
be
 +
reconstructed
 +
in
 +
some
 +
detail (though not with
 +
as
 +
much precision
 +
as
 +
would
 +
be
 +
de-
 +
sirable)
 +
using
 +
the correspondence between the composer and Norah Drewett
 +
(which
 +
is
 +
limited
 +
to one
 +
letter from each party)?8 the memoirs of
 +
the
 +
ensemble's
 +
second violin, Harry
 +
Ada~kin,~~
 +
and clippings from the Toronto newspapers
 +
in
 +
the months preceding the date
 +
set
 +
for the intended concert.
 +
The concert at
 +
which Sorabji's Piano Quintet
 +
No.
 +
1
 +
was
 +
to
 +
be
 +
performed was
 +
organized
 +
by
 +
the
 +
International Composers' Guild (ICG), which
 +
had
 +
been founded
 +
by
 +
Edgard Varese.
 +
This
 +
society
 +
had
 +
been established
 +
in
 +
1921 and was
 +
to
 +
give
 +
eighteen
 +
concerts
 +
between 1922 and 1927.30 It
 +
is
 +
not known how
 +
the
 +
Guild
 +
be-
 +
came
 +
aware
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's quintet, which had been published
 +
in
 +
1923. However,
 +
it
 +
could have received
 +
a
 +
recommendation from two musicians who were
 +
on
 +
the
 +
Advisory
 +
Committee
 +
of
 +
the Guild
 +
in
 +
1924: Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), who
 +
had
 +
given Sorabji
 +
a
 +
letter
 +
of
 +
recommendation
 +
in
 +
1919 to help
 +
him
 +
find
 +
a
 +
pub-
 +
lisher for
 +
his
 +
Sonata
 +
No.
 +
1,31 and Bernard van Dieren (1887-1936),
 +
to
 +
whom
 +
Sorabji had given for Christmas 1923 an inscribed copy
 +
of
 +
his
 +
Concerto for
 +
Pi-
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed Instruments
 +
ano
 +
No.
 +
5,
 +
which had recently been published
 +
as
 +
Concerto
 +
11.
 +
Van Dieren's
 +
name, however,
 +
seems
 +
to
 +
be
 +
a safer
 +
guess,
 +
since
 +
Busoni was
 +
seriously ill in
 +
1924; furthermore,
 +
a
 +
recommendation
 +
by
 +
Busoni would have
 +
to
 +
have been
 +
made
 +
before
 +
his death
 +
in
 +
July
 +
1924, whereas
 +
one
 +
by
 +
Van Dieren
 +
could
 +
have
 +
been
 +
pos-
 +
sible anywhere
 +
thereafter.
 +
There are
 +
two
 +
dates
 +
on
 +
which
 +
a
 +
concert could
 +
have taken
 +
place.
 +
It
 +
was first
 +
announced in
 +
the
 +
musical
 +
press
 +
that
 +
"[tlhe second
 +
concert
 +
on
 +
Feb.
 +
8
 +
[1925] will
 +
introduce a Hindu
 +
[sic] composer, Kaikhosru
 +
S~rabji."~~
 +
Sorabji's
 +
name
 +
was
 +
eventually dropped
 +
from
 +
the
 +
programme
 +
at
 +
an unknown date.
 +
According
 +
to
 +
a
 +
flyer published
 +
by
 +
the ICG announcing
 +
its programmes for
 +
the fourth season,
 +
the
 +
concert
 +
was
 +
to
 +
feature works
 +
by
 +
Auric, Bartok, Casella,
 +
Salzedo,
 +
Malipiero,
 +
Sorabji, Still, Webern, Zanotti-Bianco.
 +
The
 +
performers listed were
 +
Greta
 +
Tor-
 +
padie
 +
(voice), Marie Miller (harp),
 +
Hyman Rowinsky
 +
(piano),
 +
and
 +
Carlos
 +
Sal-
 +
zed0
 +
(piano).33 Since
 +
no
 +
quartet
 +
is
 +
mentioned
 +
in the
 +
flyer,
 +
several works
 +
by
 +
Sorabj
 +
i
 +
could
 +
have been performed. Yet
 +
the
 +
actual concert featured
 +
additional
 +
artists: Henry
 +
Cowell (thunderstick), the
 +
Letz Quartet, and the conductor
 +
Vladimir
 +
Shavitch.
 +
Sorabji had disappeared from
 +
the
 +
programme,
 +
as
 +
had Auric,
 +
Casella,
 +
and Malipiero,
 +
who
 +
had been replaced with Acario
 +
Cotapos and Henry
 +
~owe11.34
 +
The
 +
presence
 +
of
 +
a
 +
quartet and
 +
of two
 +
pianists
 +
suggests that
 +
Sorabji's
 +
quintet
 +
could
 +
have been
 +
the
 +
work that
 +
the
 +
ICG had
 +
in
 +
mind. It
 +
is
 +
not known if
 +
the Hart
 +
House
 +
String
 +
Quartet
 +
had been approached
 +
to
 +
play
 +
at
 +
that concert,
 +
only
 +
to
 +
be
 +
re-
 +
placed by
 +
the
 +
Letz
 +
Quartet.
 +
It
 +
is
 +
a
 +
known fact, however, that they
 +
were hired
 +
to
 +
play
 +
the quintet
 +
at
 +
the
 +
latest
 +
in
 +
the Spring of
 +
1925. On 21 May 1925,
 +
the Toronto
 +
Globe announced that "[tlhe
 +
Hart House
 +
String
 +
Quartet has been
 +
engaged
 +
by
 +
the
 +
International
 +
Composers'
 +
Guild
 +
to
 +
present
 +
a
 +
modern work
 +
by
 +
Khaikhosru
 +
[sic],
 +
the Hindu composer
 +
[sic], who
 +
is
 +
residing in
 +
London,
 +
England."35
 +
In
 +
his memoirs, Harry Adaskin recalls that the ensemble had received
 +
an
 +
offer
 +
for a free debut
 +
in
 +
New
 +
York if they would play Sorabji's quintet.
 +
As
 +
he
 +
puts
 +
it,
 +
the
 +
cost
 +
of a New
 +
York recital
 +
(about
 +
$4,000)
 +
was such that,
 +
"to
 +
get
 +
it for nothing
 +
we would cheerfully have undertaken
 +
to
 +
decipher and play
 +
a Sumerian Quod-
 +
libet."36
 +
Three months
 +
later, it was reported that "[tlhe Hart House
 +
String Quar-
 +
tet are practising
 +
five
 +
hours a
 +
day all
 +
this summer
 +
in
 +
Newcastle, where
 +
all the
 +
players are living
 +
until early
 +
Se~tember."~~
 +
Indeed,
 +
the ensemble seems
 +
to
 +
have
 +
had much
 +
difficulty
 +
with
 +
the
 +
work. Adaskin recalls
 +
that "[tlhe daunting
 +
intricacy
 +
of the
 +
freely
 +
interweaving
 +
lines
 +
of
 +
his work demanded
 +
a
 +
total rhythmical
 +
control
 +
100
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's Quintet
 +
for Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed
 +
Instruments
 +
on the
 +
part
 +
of
 +
the
 +
players. This,
 +
alas, we
 +
couldn't supply,
 +
as
 +
neither
 +
de
 +
Kresz nor
 +
his wife had any
 +
rhythm."
 +
He
 +
adds: "In conventional
 +
works
 +
we
 +
just
 +
had near
 +
misses.
 +
But in the
 +
free-structured highly involved labyrinth
 +
of
 +
Sorabji,
 +
the
 +
best
 +
we
 +
could
 +
achieve was
 +
pandemonium."
 +
Adaskin
 +
then recalls
 +
how they
 +
worked
 +
several
 +
hours during thirteen
 +
weeks and managed
 +
to
 +
play
 +
up
 +
to
 +
the
 +
end
 +
of
 +
the
 +
first
 +
page
 +
of
 +
his
 +
part, which
 +
corresponds
 +
to
 +
meas.
 +
49 (p. 9),
 +
"without
 +
seriously
 +
falling
 +
out."
 +
He concludes
 +
by
 +
saying
 +
"So
 +
we never learned
 +
to
 +
play it,
 +
and
 +
we
 +
didn't
 +
get
 +
our
 +
free New York
 +
recital."38
 +
The rehearsal
 +
difficulties
 +
mentioned by
 +
Adaskin
 +
are well
 +
documented
 +
in
 +
their
 +
copy
 +
of
 +
the
 +
full
 +
score
 +
and
 +
parts
 +
which were
 +
donated
 +
in
 +
1969
 +
to
 +
the Edward John-
 +
son Library
 +
of
 +
the
 +
Faculty
 +
of Music
 +
at
 +
the
 +
University
 +
of
 +
Toronto
 +
by
 +
Milton
 +
Blackstone,
 +
the
 +
ensemble's
 +
violist.
 +
The
 +
performing material must have been
 +
provided
 +
to the
 +
ensemble
 +
by
 +
the
 +
International Composers' Guild,
 +
since
 +
the
 +
cover
 +
of
 +
the score and
 +
the
 +
initial
 +
pages
 +
of
 +
the parts are
 +
marked
 +
as
 +
being
 +
their property.
 +
The piano
 +
part,
 +
especially, contains
 +
several markings, mostly
 +
written
 +
in
 +
black
 +
pencil,
 +
some
 +
with
 +
a
 +
thick
 +
greasy
 +
orange
 +
pencil,
 +
some
 +
with
 +
a similar blue
 +
pencil.
 +
The
 +
most
 +
detailed (and
 +
interesting)
 +
examples
 +
read
 +
as
 +
follows:
 +
"Metronome
 +
indi-
 +
cation
 +
is
 +
imperiously needed.
 +
'Modtre'
 +
means nothing at
 +
all, theoretically
 +
not
 +
actually"
 +
(p. 3);
 +
'I?!?"
 +
with reference
 +
to
 +
fermatas
 +
above
 +
each member
 +
of
 +
a series
 +
of chords placed
 +
underneath
 +
a
 +
measured
 +
tremolo (meas. 87,
 +
p. 21); "Help!!"
 +
with
 +
reference
 +
to
 +
a difficult
 +
left-hand tremolo;
 +
"Index of
 +
beats, mostly
 +
needed
 +
here"
 +
(meas.
 +
253, p.
 +
54); "Help!"
 +
with
 +
reference
 +
to
 +
the
 +
indication "Pesant, sestencieux"
 +
[recte
 +
"sentencieux"
 +
(sententious)];
 +
"Index
 +
of
 +
beats please" (meas. 246-47, p.
 +
57); "how!" and
 +
"?!
 +
impossible" with reference
 +
to
 +
chords that cannot be grasped
 +
by
 +
one
 +
hand
 +
(meas. 255, p. 59; meas. 273, p. 63).
 +
The
 +
first page
 +
of the score
 +
is
 +
reproduced
 +
as
 +
an
 +
illustration showing the
 +
free, mellifluous
 +
writing that
 +
is
 +
charac-
 +
teristic
 +
of
 +
the
 +
score.
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji Sorabji, Quintet for Piano
 +
and
 +
Four Stringed Instruments,
 +
p.
 +
3, meas. 1-5
 +
(with annotations
 +
by
 +
the
 +
members
 +
of the
 +
Hart House
 +
String
 +
Quar-
 +
tet).
 +
London and Continental Music
 +
Publishing Co. Ltd., 1923. From
 +
the
 +
collec-
 +
tion
 +
of
 +
the
 +
Edward
 +
Johnson
 +
Library, Faculty
 +
of
 +
Music, University
 +
of
 +
Toronto
 +
(accession number
 +
32,420).
 +
[see
 +
opposite
 +
page]
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru Shapurji
 +
Sorabji’s
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four Stringed
 +
Instruments
 +
101
 +
102
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosm
 +
Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's Quintet
 +
for Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed Instruments
 +
It is
 +
obvious that
 +
Drewett,
 +
the
 +
ensemble's pianist, was baffled
 +
by
 +
Sorabji's
 +
un-
 +
usual
 +
writing; actually, anyone
 +
at
 +
that
 +
time was- and many modern traditional
 +
practitioners
 +
-
 +
still gasp
 +
when shown a page from
 +
one
 +
of
 +
his
 +
scores.
 +
In
 +
Drewett's
 +
defence, it
 +
should
 +
be
 +
added that most
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's published
 +
scores
 +
as
 +
well
 +
as
 +
his
 +
manuscripts contain (very) numerous mistakes
 +
and inconsistencies; indeed,
 +
modern
 +
editors
 +
of
 +
his
 +
music
 +
constantly have
 +
to
 +
decide which
 +
note Sorabji
 +
actu-
 +
ally
 +
intended
 +
to
 +
write.39
 +
The string parts show that the players did
 +
at
 +
least
 +
at-
 +
tempt
 +
to
 +
work through the
 +
piece: there
 +
are various
 +
position markings,
 +
cues, solu-
 +
tions
 +
for metrical
 +
problems for the
 +
whole quintet.
 +
On
 +
6
 +
June 1925,
 +
it was announced
 +
that the
 +
Hart House
 +
String Quartet was
 +
to
 +
play at
 +
Aeolian
 +
Hall
 +
on 29
 +
November.40 The concert was
 +
supposed
 +
to
 +
feature
 +
a
 +
chamber orchestra
 +
of
 +
thirty
 +
players
 +
conducted by Eugene
 +
Goo~sens.~~
 +
The
 +
va-
 +
garies
 +
of
 +
the
 +
programming
 +
of
 +
contemporary music modified
 +
the
 +
announced
 +
plans:
 +
Goossens conducted
 +
on
 +
24
 +
January
 +
1926
 +
and there
 +
seems
 +
to
 +
have been
 +
no
 +
chamber orchestra
 +
of
 +
thirty players.
 +
The ensemble
 +
finally played
 +
at
 +
Aeolian Hall
 +
not on
 +
29
 +
but
 +
28
 +
November.
 +
Their recital, which was favourably reviewed by
 +
the
 +
New
 +
York
 +
Times, seems
 +
to
 +
have been given independently
 +
of
 +
the ICG;
 +
it fea-
 +
tured
 +
works
 +
by Debussy, Bartok, and Beethoven.42
 +
The
 +
Hart
 +
House String Quartet thus
 +
most probably paid
 +
for their New York
 +
debut
 +
since they did
 +
not play Sorabji's work. Back
 +
in
 +
Toronto,
 +
on 19
 +
December
 +
1925, Drewett wrote
 +
to
 +
Sorabji
 +
to
 +
explain
 +
that Salzedo,
 +
who
 +
was a
 +
member
 +
of
 +
the
 +
ICGs
 +
Technical
 +
Board, "had changed
 +
the dates
 +
&
 +
had
 +
also published
 +
the
 +
en-
 +
closed
 +
circular with
 +
no
 +
mention
 +
either
 +
of
 +
your work or
 +
our
 +
co-operation."
 +
The
 +
letter, which
 +
is
 +
reproduced in full below,
 +
suggests
 +
that
 +
the ensemble
 +
would
 +
have
 +
liked
 +
to
 +
play it elsewhere.
 +
Dear
 +
Mr Sorabji,
 +
I
 +
have
 +
still
 +
to
 +
thank
 +
you
 +
for
 +
your kind letter with all
 +
the detailed
 +
expla-
 +
nations.
 +
We have
 +
undergone a great disappointment
 +
for
 +
after
 +
having
 +
studied your interesting
 +
work very intensively, we discovered
 +
that
 +
h4r
 +
Salzedo had
 +
changed the dates
 +
&
 +
had
 +
also
 +
published
 +
the enclosed
 +
circu-
 +
lar with
 +
no
 +
mention either
 +
of
 +
your work
 +
or
 +
our
 +
co-operation.
 +
We
 +
had
 +
some
 +
correspondence
 +
with Mr Salzedo,
 +
&
 +
also
 +
a friendly
 +
discussion
 +
with him
 +
during our
 +
stay last month
 +
in
 +
New
 +
York, but nothing
 +
definite
 +
has happened. It
 +
is
 +
of
 +
little
 +
avail
 +
to
 +
introduce your work at
 +
an
 +
ordinary
 +
recital before
 +
the
 +
ordinary
 +
audience
 +
-
 +
these
 +
societies
 +
have been
 +
founded
 +
to
 +
gather
 +
together
 +
the
 +
different
 +
elements
 +
interested
 +
in
 +
"modern" music.
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed
 +
Instruments
 +
103
 +
But
 +
we
 +
want
 +
to
 +
ask
 +
you
 +
if,
 +
in
 +
principal
 +
[sic],
 +
should
 +
we
 +
find
 +
a
 +
good op-
 +
portunity
 +
to
 +
play
 +
the
 +
Quintet either
 +
in
 +
New
 +
York
 +
or
 +
elsewhere,
 +
we
 +
will
 +
have
 +
no difficulties
 +
from
 +
your side.
 +
I
 +
really
 +
consider
 +
it
 +
rather
 +
unfair
 +
of
 +
the
 +
I.C.G.
 +
to
 +
have acted thus. Since the Hart House String Quartet
 +
had
 +
an
 +
exceptional
 +
success
 +
at
 +
its initial concerts
 +
in
 +
N.Y.
 +
&
 +
Boston
 +
&
 +
is
 +
playing there
 +
again
 +
in
 +
January,
 +
I
 +
believe the opportunity mentioned be-
 +
fore
 +
will
 +
certainly
 +
occur, with
 +
or
 +
without
 +
the
 +
I.C.G.
 +
I
 +
meant
 +
to
 +
write
 +
to
 +
you
 +
at
 +
once
 +
but
 +
have
 +
been
 +
so
 +
busy
 +
with
 +
various
 +
things.
 +
With
 +
kind
 +
regards
 +
from
 +
my
 +
husband
 +
&
 +
myself.
 +
Sincerely yours
 +
[unsigned,
 +
but
 +
the
 +
name
 +
"Norah Drewett" is part
 +
of
 +
the letter-
 +
head]
 +
In
 +
May
 +
1928,
 +
in
 +
one
 +
of
 +
his articles
 +
for
 +
The
 +
New Age,
 +
Sorabji,
 +
who
 +
had
 +
just
 +
fin-
 +
ished
 +
reading
 +
A
 +
Final Burning
 +
of
 +
Boats Etc.
 +
by
 +
the
 +
English
 +
composer
 +
and
 +
writer,
 +
Dame
 +
Ethel Smyth (1858-1948)$3 referred
 +
to
 +
the author
 +
as
 +
a
 +
victim
 +
of
 +
"persistently relentless efforts to
 +
down
 +
her"
 +
and
 +
gives
 +
two examples
 +
of problems
 +
he
 +
had
 +
faced
 +
with
 +
the
 +
reception
 +
of
 +
his music. The
 +
letter also
 +
makes
 +
clear
 +
that he
 +
had
 +
been
 +
contacted
 +
by
 +
the
 +
"head
 +
of
 +
an
 +
organisation for the performance
 +
of
 +
new
 +
music"
 +
(Varese,
 +
Goossens, Salzedo?)
 +
for
 +
a
 +
copy
 +
of his
 +
score.
 +
As
 +
I
 +
have said before,
 +
I
 +
know how
 +
people without
 +
what
 +
I
 +
have
 +
called
 +
the
 +
correct
 +
back-ground, no matter what
 +
their gifts
 +
and
 +
accomplish-
 +
ment, are pushed on
 +
one side,
 +
passed
 +
over,
 +
ignored
 +
in
 +
favour
 +
of
 +
nonen-
 +
tities
 +
who possess the "background." This
 +
affects
 +
men
 +
just
 +
as
 +
much
 +
as
 +
women.
 +
I, too,
 +
can speak
 +
from
 +
personal experience.
 +
I
 +
remember
 +
some
 +
years
 +
ago calling, at
 +
the instance
 +
of
 +
a distinguished critic
 +
and
 +
musician,
 +
upon
 +
a
 +
friend
 +
of
 +
his,
 +
also a
 +
leading
 +
critic,
 +
armed
 +
with
 +
his recommenda-
 +
tion,
 +
and
 +
being
 +
met with
 +
an
 +
unconditional refusal
 +
to
 +
either
 +
look
 +
at
 +
or
 +
listen
 +
to
 +
my
 +
work. Also after being urgently requested
 +
by
 +
the
 +
head
 +
of an
 +
organisation
 +
for
 +
the
 +
performance
 +
of
 +
new
 +
music for
 +
a
 +
copy
 +
of a
 +
work
 +
of
 +
mine for performance
 +
in
 +
New
 +
York,
 +
and
 +
receiving glowing messages
 +
from
 +
him and from
 +
the
 +
leader
 +
of
 +
the quintet engaged
 +
to
 +
work
 +
upon
 +
it
 +
as
 +
to their admiration, I
 +
discovered that
 +
it
 +
had
 +
been
 +
dropped-
 +
not
 +
at the
 +
instance
 +
of
 +
the performers
 +
-
 +
on
 +
the score
 +
of
 +
insufficient
 +
time
 +
for
 +
work,
 +
104
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed Instruments
 +
but
 +
entirely unknown
 +
to
 +
them
 +
as to
 +
myself, and without
 +
a
 +
word
 +
of
 +
ex-
 +
planation
 +
from
 +
that
 +
day
 +
to
 +
thk44
 +
The last
 +
item
 +
shedding some
 +
light on
 +
the
 +
sequence
 +
of events surrounding
 +
the
 +
cancelled
 +
premiere of the Piano
 +
Quintet
 +
No.
 +
1
 +
is
 +
a
 +
letter from
 +
Sorabji
 +
to
 +
Drewett,
 +
written
 +
on
 +
3
 +
November 1929.
 +
Dear Madame
 +
de
 +
Kresz
 +
Or should I say
 +
Drewett?
 +
I
 +
suspect you will remember me if not in per-
 +
son
 +
yet
 +
perhaps through
 +
my
 +
piano quintet
 +
that
 +
you were
 +
once going
 +
to
 +
play in
 +
New
 +
York
 +
chez the
 +
International Composers' Guild under
 +
the
 +
auspices
 +
of
 +
Monsieur Carlos
 +
Salzedo.
 +
From
 +
him
 +
I
 +
have never from
 +
that
 +
day
 +
to
 +
this,
 +
some
 +
years ago[,] had
 +
any
 +
explanation
 +
as to
 +
why
 +
my
 +
work was dropped. While
 +
I
 +
well
 +
remember a
 +
letter from you which
 +
I
 +
still
 +
possess telling
 +
me
 +
of the dropping
 +
of
 +
the
 +
work (dated
 +
19.12.25).
 +
I
 +
have heard
 +
so
 +
many strange
 +
stories
 +
as
 +
to
 +
the
 +
reason why
 +
the
 +
workwas
 +
dropped that
 +
I
 +
am making
 +
a
 +
collection
 +
of
 +
them. One, from
 +
a
 +
well
 +
known
 +
English composer
 +
whom
 +
I
 +
have no reason
 +
to
 +
believe
 +
[he] loves
 +
me,
 +
that
 +
you all
 +
found the
 +
work impossible
 +
of
 +
performance and
 +
that
 +
it
 +
was
 +
dropped for that reason, a
 +
story
 +
so
 +
fantastic and absurd
 +
that
 +
it may be
 +
dismissed
 +
as
 +
the
 +
invention
 +
of
 +
malignant stupidity.
 +
Another
 +
reason al-
 +
leged
 +
is
 +
such that it is
 +
an insult
 +
to
 +
such
 +
a
 +
body
 +
of
 +
artists
 +
as
 +
yourself and
 +
the
 +
Hart
 +
House
 +
Quartet
 +
to
 +
reprint it. Yet
 +
a
 +
third ascribed
 +
this
 +
very rea-
 +
son
 +
as the
 +
motive
 +
of
 +
the
 +
removal
 +
of
 +
this
 +
work from the I.C.G. pro-
 +
grammes.
 +
It
 +
is
 +
all profoundly intriguing and ambiguous.
 +
I
 +
doubt
 +
not
 +
that
 +
you
 +
have still more diverting
 +
tales
 +
of
 +
supposed "reasons"?
 +
It would
 +
a pleasure
 +
to
 +
hear from you again.
 +
With kind regards.
 +
Yours sincerely.
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Sorabji
 +
It
 +
appears
 +
from
 +
this
 +
letter
 +
that
 +
Sorabji and Drewett met at least
 +
once,
 +
obviously
 +
in
 +
London, since Sorabji
 +
never visited North America. They could have met
 +
in
 +
1929,
 +
in which year
 +
the
 +
letter was written, for
 +
the
 +
Hart House
 +
String Quartet
 +
had
 +
gone on
 +
a European tour
 +
in that year
 +
(including
 +
England and BBC
 +
broadcast^).^^
 +
There
 +
is
 +
no
 +
indication in Sorabji's reviews
 +
that
 +
he attended
 +
one
 +
of
 +
their
 +
London
 +
Roberge:
 +
Kaikhosru Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for Piano
 +
and
 +
Four Stringed Instruments
 +
105
 +
concerts; therefore, the reference
 +
to
 +
"such a body
 +
of
 +
artists
 +
as
 +
yourself and
 +
the
 +
Hart
 +
House
 +
Quartet" may have
 +
been
 +
made simply out
 +
of
 +
politeness. Finally, the
 +
reasons
 +
for
 +
which
 +
the
 +
work
 +
was dropped from the
 +
ICG
 +
programme
 +
were
 +
not
 +
clear, even
 +
for
 +
the
 +
composer.
 +
The
 +
history
 +
of
 +
the (non)performance
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
andQuar-
 +
tet
 +
of
 +
Stringed Instruments
 +
is
 +
not entirely
 +
clear.
 +
The above paragraphs
 +
have
 +
tried
 +
to
 +
reconstruct
 +
it
 +
on
 +
the
 +
basis of
 +
the documents that
 +
are
 +
known
 +
to
 +
have
 +
survived.
 +
There
 +
may
 +
be other letters which would clarify the intricate course
 +
of events
 +
re-
 +
lated
 +
to
 +
the
 +
work's
 +
history. It
 +
is
 +
sad that, twenty years or
 +
so
 +
after the "lifting
 +
of
 +
the
 +
ban,"
 +
no
 +
ensemble
 +
has
 +
managed
 +
to bring the
 +
work
 +
to the
 +
public's ears-
 +
at
 +
least,
 +
one
 +
intended
 +
to.
 +
Obviously,
 +
an
 +
ensemble like the
 +
Hart
 +
House
 +
String
 +
Quar-
 +
tet
 +
-
 +
whose daily
 +
bread
 +
consisted
 +
of
 +
standard pieces from the Classical
 +
and
 +
Ro-
 +
mantic periods, with occasional forays into the works
 +
of
 +
Bartok, Hindemith,
 +
Kodaly, Prokofiev, and Schoenberg
 +
-
 +
could
 +
have
 +
difficulties with Sorabji's
 +
counterpoint
 +
of
 +
free, mellifluous
 +
lines. Several
 +
quartets can
 +
now
 +
play highly
 +
complex
 +
works like those
 +
of
 +
Brian Femeyhough, which leave Sorabji
 +
as
 +
much
 +
behind
 +
as
 +
Sorabji's did leave
 +
other
 +
works
 +
in the
 +
1920s.
 +
There are now also
 +
sev-
 +
eral
 +
pianists
 +
able
 +
to play Sorabji's piano part- and the
 +
piano
 +
part
 +
is
 +
pretty
 +
easy
 +
by
 +
Sorabjian standards.
 +
So
 +
far,
 +
our
 +
recorded
 +
aural
 +
experience
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's music
 +
is
 +
limited
 +
to
 +
a handful
 +
of
 +
piano works (including the great
 +
Opus
 +
clavicembalisti-
 +
cum)
 +
and a major organ work. Performances
 +
and
 +
recordings
 +
of
 +
at least the
 +
shorter works from his chamber
 +
and
 +
orchestral production
 +
are
 +
badly needed if
 +
we
 +
are
 +
to
 +
assess his
 +
contribution properly. It remains
 +
to
 +
be hoped that
 +
the
 +
next
 +
planned premiere
 +
will
 +
not
 +
fall prey
 +
to the unfortunately too frequent problems
 +
associated with the performance
 +
of
 +
modern music.
 +
106
 +
Notes
 +
Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji
 +
Sorabji's
 +
Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed Instruments
 +
1.
 +
2.
 +
3.
 +
4.
 +
5.
 +
6.
 +
7.
 +
8.
 +
9.
 +
10.
 +
11.
 +
12.
 +
13.
 +
14.
 +
15.
 +
16.
 +
For
 +
a
 +
detailed explanation
 +
of
 +
the so-called
 +
ban,
 +
see
 +
Paul
 +
Rapoport, "Sorabji:
 +
A
 +
Continuation,"
 +
Sorabji:
 +
A
 +
Critical Celebration, ed.
 +
Paul
 +
Rapoport, Aldershot, Hampshire: Scolar Press,
 +
1992;
 +
2nd
 +
printing,
 +
1994,
 +
pp.
 +
58-87; 75-83.
 +
Letter, Sorabji
 +
to
 +
Egon
 +
Petri,
 +
23
 +
January
 +
1948
 +
(Sorabji Archive).
 +
Alistair
 +
Hinton
 +
(b.
 +
1950)
 +
is
 +
a
 +
Scottish composer
 +
who
 +
became Sorabji's closest friend during the
 +
last fifteen years
 +
of
 +
his life.
 +
In
 +
1988
 +
he
 +
founded the Sorabji Music Archive (since
 +
1993
 +
the
 +
Sorabji Archive, located
 +
at
 +
Easton Dene, Bailbrook
 +
Lane,
 +
Bath, England,
 +
BA1
 +
7AA), which
 +
makes available photocopies
 +
of
 +
all
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's scores (manuscripts, original publications,
 +
mod-
 +
em
 +
editions).
 +
For
 +
an
 +
extensive list
 +
of
 +
performances
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's music
 +
between
 +
1919
 +
and
 +
1991,
 +
see
 +
Marc-
 +
Andre Roberge,
 +
"Un
 +
tessuto d'esecuzioni:
 +
A
 +
Register
 +
of
 +
Performances
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's Works,"
 +
Sorabji:
 +
A
 +
Critical Celebration,
 +
pp.
 +
425-51.
 +
I
 +
would like to thank
 +
Robin
 +
Elliott (Toronto), Louise Hirbour (Universite de Montreal), Gordana
 +
Lazarevich (University
 +
of
 +
Victoria),
 +
R. Allen
 +
Lott (School
 +
of
 +
Church Music
 +
at
 +
the Southwestern
 +
Baptist Theological Seminary,
 +
Fort
 +
Worth,
 +
Texas),
 +
Kathleen McMorrow (Edward Johnson
 +
Li-
 +
brary,
 +
University
 +
of
 +
Toronto), and
 +
Ben
 +
Morrison (Geneva) for their help
 +
in
 +
the preparation
 +
of
 +
this article.
 +
I
 +
also extend
 +
my
 +
warmest thanks to Alistair Hinton, curator
 +
of
 +
the Sorabji Archive
 +
(Bath), who provided copies
 +
of
 +
essential documents
 +
and
 +
gave
 +
me
 +
permission
 +
to
 +
reproduce the
 +
excerpts quoted
 +
from
 +
Sorabji's writings
 +
and
 +
music.
 +
Sorabji was also
 +
a
 +
prolific writer.
 +
He
 +
wrote more
 +
than
 +
650
 +
reviews for two
 +
English
 +
magazines
 +
(The New
 +
Age and
 +
The New English Weekly) as well
 +
as
 +
more
 +
than
 +
200
 +
letters to the editors
 +
of
 +
various newspapers
 +
and
 +
magazines
 +
in
 +
addition to his books
 +
of
 +
collected essays, Around Music,
 +
London: Unicorn Press,
 +
1932;
 +
repr.
 +
ed.,
 +
Westport, Conn.:
 +
Hyperion Press,
 +
1979,
 +
and
 +
Mi
 +
contra
 +
fa: The lmmoralisings
 +
of a
 +
Machiavellian Musician, London: The Porcupine Press,
 +
1947;
 +
repr.
 +
ed.,
 +
New York:
 +
Da
 +
Cap0 Press,
 +
1986.
 +
Further details
 +
will be found
 +
in
 +
Rapoport,
 +
"'Could
 +
you
 +
just
 +
send
 +
me
 +
a
 +
list
 +
of
 +
his
 +
works?,"'
 +
Sorabji:
 +
A
 +
Critical Celebration,
 +
pp.
 +
93-192,
 +
most
 +
of
 +
which consists
 +
of
 +
"A
 +
'Complete Provisional'
 +
Chronological Catalog
 +
of
 +
Sorabji's Compositions."
 +
For
 +
a
 +
more complete list,
 +
see
 +
Wilhelm Altmann, Kammermusik-Katalog: ein Verzeichnis
 +
von
 +
seit
 +
184
 +
1
 +
veroffentlichten Kammermusikwerken,
 +
6th
 +
ed.,
 +
Hofheim and Taunus:
 +
Friedrich
 +
Hof-
 +
meister Verlag,
 +
1945,
 +
pp.
 +
123-29.
 +
Sorabji's
 +
work is listed
 +
on
 +
p.
 +
128.
 +
For
 +
a
 +
useful chronological list
 +
of
 +
strings quartets,
 +
see
 +
Paul
 +
Griffiths, "Appendix
 +
Two:
 +
Chronol-
 +
ogy,"
 +
The String Quartet, London: Thames
 +
and
 +
Hudson,
 +
1983,
 +
pp.
 +
232-37.
 +
The second piano concerto
 +
(1916-17)
 +
is known
 +
only through
 +
a
 +
two-piano reduction.
 +
It
 +
is
 +
not
 +
known
 +
whether
 +
it
 +
was actually orchestrated.
 +
See
 +
Kenneth Derus, "Sorabji's Letters
 +
to
 +
Heseltine," Sorabji:
 +
A
 +
Critical Celebration, pp.
 +
195-
 +
255.
 +
The friendship between Sorabji
 +
and
 +
Heseltine
 +
is
 +
too briefly covered
 +
in
 +
Barry Smith, Peter
 +
Warlock: The Life
 +
of
 +
Philip Heseltine, Oxford
 +
and
 +
New York: Oxford University Press,
 +
1994.
 +
The dedication reads
 +
"a
 +
Monsieur Philip Heseltine:
 +
en tCmoignage
 +
d'amitie."
 +
Sorabji, "Music,"
 +
TheNew
 +
Age
 +
48,
 +
no.
 +
11
 +
(15
 +
January
 +
1931):
 +
128-29; 128.
 +
Three-stave systems
 +
are
 +
standard
 +
in
 +
Sorabji's music,
 +
which
 +
often
 +
laid
 +
out
 +
on
 +
four-
 +
or
 +
five-stave
 +
systems.
 +
In
 +
later works, Sorabji uses
 +
a
 +
capital
 +
I
 +
with
 +
a
 +
caret
 +
(i).
 +
This time signature is to
 +
be
 +
understood
 +
as
 +
a
 +
15/8
 +
time signature
 +
which is
 +
equivalent
 +
to
 +
one com-
 +
prising five dotted quarter notes. Sorabji was
 +
to
 +
use
 +
such unnecessarily complex fractional time
 +
signatures again
 +
in
 +
his setting
 +
of
 +
Baudelaire's L'irremediable
 +
(1927).
 +
Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet
 +
for
 +
Piano
 +
and
 +
Four
 +
Stringed Instruments
 +
107
 +
17.
 +
18.
 +
19.
 +
20.
 +
21.
 +
22.
 +
23.
 +
24.
 +
25.
 +
26.
 +
27.
 +
28.
 +
29.
 +
30.
 +
31.
 +
32.
 +
33.
 +
34.
 +
35.
 +
36.
 +
The index
 +
is
 +
missing for meas.
 +
26, 30-31, 42, 46-47, 54-55, 154-55, 220-21, 235-36, 246-47,
 +
252-53,275-76.
 +
The composer eventually wrote the following comment
 +
on
 +
the title
 +
page
 +
of
 +
the Symphony
 +
11:
 +
"Got
 +
Bored with
 +
this:
 +
and
 +
no wonder!
 +
A
 +
grotesque extravaganza."
 +
Rapoport, "'Could
 +
you
 +
just
 +
send
 +
me
 +
a
 +
list
 +
of
 +
his
 +
works?,"'
 +
Sorabji:
 +
A
 +
Critical Celebration,
 +
p.
 +
192.
 +
It
 +
is
 +
impossible to confirm this on the basis
 +
of
 +
the handwriting since the composer's manuscript
 +
is not
 +
extant; only
 +
a
 +
copyist's copy
 +
with
 +
annotations
 +
by
 +
the composer
 +
has
 +
survived (located
 +
at
 +
the
 +
Central Music Library, Westminster, London).
 +
Maurice Hinson, The Piano
 +
in
 +
Chamber Ensemble:
 +
An
 +
Annotated
 +
Guide, Bloomington
 +
and
 +
Lon-
 +
don: Indiana University Press,
 +
1978,
 +
p.
 +
483,
 +
describes the
 +
work
 +
thus: "Changing meters, har-
 +
monic fourths
 +
in
 +
flowing figuration, tremolo. Enormous climax suddenly drops
 +
to
 +
pp and ppp
 +
with
 +
the indication 'Enigmatique
 +
equivoque'
 +
Complex
 +
and
 +
D[ifficult]."
 +
Sorabji's Sonata No.
 +
1
 +
has been
 +
recorded
 +
by
 +
Marc-Andre
 +
Hamelin
 +
on
 +
Altarus AIR-CD-9050
 +
(issued
 +
in
 +
1990).
 +
F.B. [Ferruccio Bonavia?],
 +
"New
 +
Music: Chamber
 +
Music,"
 +
The Musical Times
 +
44,
 +
no.
 +
965
 +
(1
 +
July
 +
1923):
 +
480.
 +
"London
 +
and
 +
Continental Publishing
 +
Co.,
 +
Ltd.
 +
/
 +
Quintet for Piano
 +
and
 +
Strings
 +
by
 +
Kaikhosru
 +
Sorabji,"
 +
1
 +
p.
 +
(incomplete).
 +
Philip Heseltine, "Music," The Weekly Westminster Gazette,
 +
18
 +
August
 +
1923: 14-15.
 +
Aeolian Hall
 +
was located
 +
at
 +
34
 +
West
 +
43rd
 +
Street,
 +
between
 +
Fifth
 +
and
 +
Sixth Avenues.
 +
Helmut Kallmann, "Hart
 +
House
 +
String Quartet," Encyclopedia
 +
of
 +
Music
 +
in
 +
Canada, 2nd
 +
ed.,
 +
ed.
 +
Helmut Kallmann
 +
and
 +
Gilles Potvin, Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University
 +
of
 +
Toronto Press,
 +
1992,
 +
pp.
 +
589-90
 +
(includes
 +
a
 +
picture
 +
of
 +
the ensemble).
 +
For
 +
a
 +
history
 +
of
 +
string quartet
 +
perform-
 +
ance
 +
in
 +
Canada, see Robert
 +
William Andrew
 +
Elliott, "The String Quartet
 +
in
 +
Canada" (Ph.D. diss.,
 +
University
 +
of
 +
Toronto,
 +
1990).
 +
See Ruth Pincoe,
 +
"GCza
 +
de
 +
Kresz,"
 +
Encyclopedia
 +
of
 +
Music
 +
in
 +
Canada,
 +
p.
 +
353
 +
(includes
 +
a
 +
picture
 +
of
 +
de Kresz
 +
and
 +
Drewett).
 +
For
 +
more on the
 +
de
 +
Kresz couple, see Maria Kresz and Peter Kiraly,
 +
The Violinist
 +
and
 +
Pianist Geza de Kresz
 +
and
 +
Norah Drewett: Their Life
 +
and
 +
Music on
 +
Two
 +
Con-
 +
tinents, Including Parts
 +
of
 +
Norah Drewett's Memoirs,
 +
n.p.:
 +
George
 +
Hencz,
 +
1989.
 +
Letter, Norah Drewett to Sorabji, Toronto,
 +
19
 +
December
 +
1925
 +
(The Sorabji Archive, Bath); let-
 +
ter, Sorabji
 +
to
 +
Norah Drewett, London,
 +
3
 +
November
 +
1929
 +
(Edward Johnson Library, University
 +
of
 +
Toronto).
 +
Harry Adaskin,
 +
A
 +
Fiddler's World: Memoirs
 +
to
 +
1938,
 +
Vancouver: November House,
 +
1977,
 +
pp.
 +
84-85, 139-40.
 +
A
 +
second volume was published
 +
in
 +
1982
 +
as
 +
A
 +
Fiddler's Choice: Memoirs,
 +
1938
 +
to
 +
1980.
 +
For more on the history
 +
of
 +
this society, see
 +
R.
 +
Allen
 +
Lott, "'New Music
 +
for
 +
New Ears':
 +
The
 +
In-
 +
ternational Composers' Guild," Journal
 +
of
 +
the American Musicological Society
 +
36,
 +
no.
 +
2
 +
(Summer
 +
1983): 266-86.
 +
About the links between Sorabji
 +
and Busoni,
 +
see
 +
my
 +
article "Producing Evidence for the Beatifi-
 +
cation
 +
of
 +
a
 +
Composer: Sorabji's Deification
 +
of
 +
Busoni,"
 +
The Music Review (forthcoming).
 +
"International Composers' Guild Plans Brilliant Season," Musical Courier
 +
89,
 +
no.
 +
20
 +
(13
 +
No-
 +
vember
 +
1924):
 +
35.
 +
The same text also appeared
 +
as
 +
"Composers' Guild
 +
Will
 +
Present Modern
 +
Works: Organization Announces Three Concerts
 +
of
 +
Advanced Compositions
 +
in
 +
Aeolian
 +
Hall,"
 +
Musical America
 +
41,
 +
no.
 +
11
 +
(15
 +
November
 +
1924):
 +
33.
 +
Photocopy
 +
of a
 +
document provided
 +
by
 +
Louise Hirbour.
 +
See the program
 +
in
 +
Lott, "'New Music for New
 +
Ears':
 +
The International Composers' Guild,"
 +
285.
 +
"To Play
 +
in
 +
New
 +
York,"
 +
The Globe (Toronto),
 +
21
 +
May
 +
1925.
 +
Adaskin,
 +
A
 +
Fiddler's World,
 +
1:
 +
84.
  
  

Revision as of 21:00, 18 August 2013











91 Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments and its intended performance by Norah Drewett and the Hart House String Quartet Marc-AndrC Roberge Abstract This article attempts to reconstruct the history of what was to be the first per- formance of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments (1919-20), which was scheduled to be given on 29 November 1925 at Aeolian Hall in New York by the pianist Norah Drewett and the University of Toronto's Hart House String Quartet as part of a concert sponsored by Edgard Varese's International Composers' Guild. The performance never took place for reasons that are not entirely clear but have to do mostly with the work's difficul- ties. The article also provides an introduction to the work itself, which Sorabji dedicated to his friend, the composer Philip Heseltine. Most people who have heard of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988), the Parsi composer and pianist active who lived as a recluse in England for most of his career, know that performances of his often massive and extremely difficult works have been extremely rare as a result of a so-called ban.l The thirteen scores that Sorabji published between 1921 and 1931 contain the following warning: "All rights including that of performance, reserved for all countries by the composer." The score of his 248-page Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30), his longest and most often cited work, contains the additional admonition: "Public performance prohibited unless by express consent of the composer." Various statements in letters make it possible to say that, in the late thirties, Sorabji had decided to turn down all requests for public performance either by himself or by others. As he later indicated in a letter to the pianist Egon Petri: "I have set my face against ANY PUBLIC PERFORMANCE OF MY WORK FOR GOOD AND ALL EVERYWHERE."2 It is true that he did not have to turn 92 Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji’s Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments down offers very often, since they were very few and far between. The visual aspect of most scores was forbidding enough to scare potential performers away. Up to December 1936, Sorabji had been heard in public at least ten times in various cities (London, Vienna, Paris, Glasgow), giving the first performances of five works for piano solo and playing the piano part of his Trois pokmes pour chant et piano. He had also allowed two friends- the pianist Harold Rutland (1900-1977) and the organist E. Emlyn Davies (1885-1951)- to play a work each. He had not approved, however, of a performance of pars prima of his Opus clavicembalisticum by John Tobin (1 891-1960). The severe inadequacies of this performance, which took place at Cowdray Hall in London on 10 March 1936, were instrumental in bringing the composer to his decision of not allowing hearings of his music. Even though there were a few scattered performances af- ter 1936, it is only in 1976, thanks to the persistence of a number of friends, es- pecially Alistair Hinton, that Sorabji began to give permission for official per- formances to a few selected pianists, namely Yonty Solomon, Michael Haber- mann, and Geoffiey Douglas Madge.3 Since that time, other musicians (mostly pianists) have been drawn to the intricacies of Sorabji’s music and public hear- ings of several short- and medium-size works have become more freq~ent.~ A few recordings have also been produced, all offering sound proofs of the great beauty and artistic validity of the music. Sorabji never made any real efforts to promote performances of his music. It zppears that only one performance (except for Tobin’s) was organized without his close involvement, namely, the premikre of the Quintet for Piano and Quartet of Stringed Instruments (1919-20) by the pianist Norah Drewett and the Uni- versity of Toronto’s Hart House String Quartet. This performance was to be given in New York in 1925 but failed to materialize. Another performance of the same work, scheduled for October 1992 in Cambridge, did not take place either. The work is still unperformed even though it is available in print (or rather has been, since the remaining copies have been sold). It is the purpose of this article to give an account of the work and to document the sequence of events surround- ing its cancelled first Performance by the Canadian ensemble, a project that had to be filed away due to the vagaries of new music programming and to the diffi- culties posed by a new compositional idiom.5 Sorabji’s musical output consists of 11 1 works totalling more than 1 1,000 manuscript pages.6 This total can be broken down as follows: 61 works for pi- ano (including 7 transcriptions), 3 for organ, ll for piano and orchestra, 7 for or- chestra (with or without voices), 7 for chamber ensemble (including 2 with Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments 93 voices), 20 for voice and keyboard, one for carillon and one for unidentified forces. The music for chamber ensemble, to which this article is limited, spans almost all the composer's creative career. Below is a chronological list, with some useful data, of the works comprising this ~ategory.~ Like the works in the other categories, they range in length from the tiniest (2 pp.) to the mightiest (432 pp.). Some are written for traditional ensembles while others have a more peculiar scoring. Only three have received a first (and only) performance. The sole work to have been published in an engraved edition is the Piano Quintet No. I (as it will be called from now on, despite its original title), which is the object of this article. Chronological List of Sorabji's Works for Chamber Ensemble Music to "The Rider by Night" (1919); for voices and small orchestra; 54 pp. Quintet [No. 11 for Piano and Quartet of Stringed Instruments (1919-20); 72 pp.; publ. London and Continental Music Publishing, 1923 (62 pp.). The title of the published edition reads Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments. Cinque sonetti di Michelagniolo Buonarroti (1923); for baritone and small or- chestra; 40 pp. First performance: Toronto, University of Toronto, Walter Hall, New Music Concerts, 2 February 1980. Quintet I1 for Piano and String Quartet (1932-33); 432 pp. Concertino non grosso for String Septet with Piano obbligato quasi continuo (1 968); for piano, 4 violins, viola, and 2 cellos; 48 pp. The manuscript contains music for one cello only even though it appears to call for two. I1 tessuto d'arabeschi (1 979); for flute and string quartet; 32 pp. First perform- ance: Philadelphia, Old Pine Street Church, Delius Society (Philadelphia branch), 2 May 1982. Fantasiettina atematica (1981); for flute, oboe, and clarinet; 2 pp.; publ. Sorabji Archive, 1989 (ed. Anthony Burton-Page). First performance: London, City University, 9 March 1995. 94 Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments Sorabji wrote his Piano Quintet No. 1 in the years following World War I. Several noted composers have written works for the same forces during that pe- riod, such as Dohnsinyi (1919), Faure (No. 2, Op. 117, 1919), Martin (1919), Pierne (Op. 41, 1919), Bax (1922), Bloch (No. 1, 1923-24), Korngold (Op. 15, 1924), Vieme (Op. 42, 1924), and d'Indy (Op. 81, 1925).8 In the field of string quartet composition, which accounts for most works involving the strings, im- portant periods at the beginning of the century were 1905 to 1913 (Schoenberg, Bartok, Webern) and 1926-28 (Berg, Bartok, Schoenberg). Prior to the composi- tion of Sorabji's works, the most notable work is Bartok's String Quartet No. 2 (1917); at about the same time as Sorabji, Stravinsky wrote his Concertino (1920)? When he attacked the composition of his quintet, Sorabji already had some experience of writing for the strings: he had composed the orchestral poem Chaleur (ca. 1916-17), four piano concertos (1915-16, 1916-17, 1918, 1918), and the Music to "The Rider by Night" (1 9 19). The one-movement Piano Quintet No. 1 is dedicated "To my very good friend Philip Heseltine." The composer and writer Philip Heseltine (1 894-1930) had been a friend of Sorabji since 1913 when they began an interesting correspon- dence which dates up to 1922; it is one of the rare sources documenting Sorabji's early career. Prior to the Quintet, Sorabji had already dedicated to Heseltine his first piano concerto (completed in June 1916).12 In his obituary notes written shortly after Heseltine's death in 1930, Sorabji described his friend as one of the finest musical minds of our time, a critic and writer of un- paralleled brilliance, insight, and subtlety. What I owe personally to his early encouragement, sympathy, and championship I can never ade- quately express, except to say that here and now [it] is my bounden moral duty to express that obligation as best as I can. The Quintet, which is printed on oblong paper (or landscape format, in modem parlance), has a piano part written throughout on three-stave systems. The tempo and expressive markings are written in French throughout; indeed, Sorabji had been using French not only for evocative titles but for generic ones as well, such as concerto, and had been setting several poems in French since his earliest works in 1915. As in most of his works, the top stave of the piano part uses a symbol (here a fraction composed of the Roman numerals I and VIII) to indicate that the contents of this stave have to be played an octave higher than written. l5 Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments 95 Another conspicuous feature is the almost constant change of meter throughout the 281 long measures. The following time signatures are used: 211; 2, 3, 412; 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1014; 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 2018; 15/8 [or] 5/4% (see meas. 66), 2%/4 (see meas. 265). The initial boldface tempo marking "ModCr6" ap- plies until meas. 235 (p. 54), where "Lent suave" appears, followed at meas. 240 (p. 55) by "Tres large." Elsewhere, various agogical markings such as "Ralenti" or "En s'animant et augmentant" shape the work. Given the long measures containing up to fifteen and twenty beats, Sorabji had the good idea of providing an index of beats," which is a series of numbers aligned underneath the piano part. The index, however, is missing for twenty measures; this is probably an oversight of both the composer and the engraver. A final visual peculiarity of the score is the use of unusual rehearsal numbers. Sorabji uses letters from A (meas. 6) to Z (meas. 131), then from Aa (meas. 136) to Zz (meas. 260). Then, instead of tripling letters, he resorts to symbols for the last four instances: a downward pointing arrow cutting across a circle (meas. 265), a right-pointing arrow cutting across a rectangle (meas. 269), a symbol re- sembling "OL8". (meas. 274), and an inverted version of the swastika (meas. 279). These symbols are closely related to those used by Schoenberg in Die gluckliche Hand, op. 18 (1910-13, full score publ. 1916) to indicate exactly where a stage direction takes effect. The piano has always held a central place in Sorabji's compositional activity. It is not only the instrument to which he has devoted most of his production, but the medium which was most congenial to him. It is true that'he was a great amateur of singing, but his songs, many of which are early works, are not truly idiomatic. Several examples in his music confirm the preeminent place held by the piano. A note in the separate piano part of his Opus clavisymphonicum: Con- certo for Piano and Large Orchestra (1957-59; 333 pp.) reads: "This work re- volves around the Piano as the Solar System round the Sun." His Symphony I1 for Piano, Large Orchestra, Organ, Final Chorus, and Six Solo Voices (1930-3 1; 333 pp. [also]) exists only in a piano part.18 The Symphonic Variations exist in two versions: one for piano only (1936-37; 484 pp.), and one for piano and or- chestra (1953-56; 540 pp.), which is an orchestral version of the first of the three volumes of the first incarnation. Rapoport has remarked that Sorabji nearly al- ways wrote the piano part of his concertos first, then proceeding to the orchestral fabric; he also suggests that this was the case with the Piano Quintet No. l.19 This is quite likely since the piano part is continuous from beginning to end; there are only very short rests in meas. 44, 59,63,85, and 148. A performance of 96 Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments the piano part alone would probably not be unsatisfactory. Sorabji therefore ap- pears as a quite unique example of a modem composer who uses a technique re- lated to the successive counterpoint of the medieval composers. As in most works written around 1920 (and after, for that matter), Sorabji uses in the Piano Quintet No. 1 a free chromatic language based on bitonal combina- tions of standard chords (often with added notes) and chords built on fourths and featuring numerous chromatic runs using irrational rhythmic values.20 The mu- sic often reminds one of the highly sensuous melodic lines and harmonies of works by Skryabin and Szymanowski. Until the work is performed and recorded, one may have a good idea of its sound by listening to the recording of a piece written at exactly the same time, the Sonata No. 1 (1 9 1 9).2 Three contemporary critics have published brief comments about the work; in all cases they had to rely solely on the score, since there had been no perform- ance. A certain "F.B.," who is most probably the Italian-born English critic and composer Ferruccio Bonavia (1877-1950), paid special attention to the index of beats: A Quintet for pianoforte and four stringed instruments [...I deserves special mention as the first work in which the thoughtful composer has provided an index of beats" for the benefit of the performer. That the index is much needed a single glance suffices to prove. When bars fol- low one another in this order, 2018, 414, 614, 414, 514, &c., it is evident that some little guidance is sure to be welcomed by the harassed reader: harassed not only by time-signatures but by the accidentals which adorn every chord, by the three staves of the pianoforte (the upper stave is to be played an octave higher), by the frequent directions, by the unusual demands the composer makes on his string players. Thus the reader will be grateful for the index. For this relief many thanks- especially as it happens to be the only relief worth mentioning. The actual music, alas, is aptly defined in the directions printed over the last bar, Enigmatique equivoque. Whether anyone will care to solve that problem is not our affair.22 Another reviewer, writing in an as yet unidentified and unfortunately incomplete source found in the composer's papers, also seems to have had difficulty with Sorabji's unusual style: Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments 97 This is one of those excessively modem works that stagger the re- viewer and leave him flat. Personally I must acknowledge that I hesitate to pass judgment upon it. I can only say that it appears to me to be highly interesting. the harmony is very dissonant, but I seem to feel the direction of the passing chords and altered chords, the appoggiaturas, which seem logical, though I am often at a loss to explain them. By way of elucidation I may say that there is no harm in dissonance provided it has a logical association with basic harmonies. The diffi- culty I find in this Sorabji quintet is that (for me) the association with the basic harmonies is rather vague. Yet I am dimly conscious of it, and I can readily conceive of more alert ears, more modernly attuned ears, grasping it in its entirety. Certainly, the construction of it is masterly. Certainly, too, the brief bits of melody, or theme, show real invention. All of the parts are tremen- dously difficult, and its [source breaks]23 Philip Heseltine, the dedicatee of the work, wrote some comments about the work in 1923 (i.e., not long after his correspondence with Sorabji stops). They are obviously partial to the composer, who was a friend, but they are neverthe- less worth reprinting here, for they give a glimpse into Sorabji's composition method and shed light on the style of the work: His music is written down, without any preliminary sketches, bar by bar into the fair copy; there is no improvisation or any use of the piano at any stage of the composition, nor is there any rewriting or alteration when a work is completed. This is the more remarkable by reason of the fact that the texture of the music is of the utmost complexity, both of harmony and rhythm. The effect of a first hearing or reading is be- wildering in the extreme; but with familiarity there comes the convic- tion that we are dealing with a composer who is nothing short of a phe- nomenon in musical history.24 Sorabji's Piano Quintet No. 1, as mentioned earlier, has yet to be performed; in- deed, the two performances that were to take place were cancelled. The most re- cent possibility of hearing the work would have been on 9 October 1992, at a concert presented by Orchid Music in association with the Cambridge New Mu- sic Players and the pianist Ben Morrison in the Great Hall, Blackheath Halls, Lee 98 Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments Road, Blackheath, London. The program was to feature Sorabj i's work alongside Cage's Europera 5 and works by Xenakis, Clapperton, Shaman, Allauca, Red- gate, Hughes, and Pyne. Practical problems prevented the ensemble from re- hearsing the piece and the performance had to be cancelled. The cancelled performance that will be dealt with here in some detail was scheduled to be given on 29 November 1925 by the Hart House String Quartet at Aeolian Hall in New York, as part of a concert sponsored by the International Composers' Guild.25 At the time of its formation in 1923, the Hart House String Quartet, which is considered to have been Canada's most famous chamber music ensemble in the first half of the twentieth century, was composed of the violinists Geza de Kresz (1882-1959) and Harry Adaskin (b. 1901), the violist Milton Blackstone (1 894- 1974), and the cellist Boris Hambourg (1 885- 1954), all of whom were foreign-born musicians. There were subsequent changes in the members until the ensemble gave its last concert in 1946; only Hambourg re- mained with the ensemble throughout its life. The Hart House String Quartet, which was associated with the University of Toronto, is reputed to have been "one of the dozen or so best on the international scene.ff26 The piano part of Sorabji's work was to be played by de Kresz's wife, the English pianist Norah Drewett (1 882- 1960), who had been a pupil of Victor-Alphonse Duvernoy (1 842-1 907) in Paris and of Bernhard Stavenhagen (1 862- 19 14) in Munich.27 The history of the cancelled premiere of Sorabji's Piano Quintet No. 1 can be reconstructed in some detail (though not with as much precision as would be de- sirable) using the correspondence between the composer and Norah Drewett (which is limited to one letter from each party)?8 the memoirs of the ensemble's second violin, Harry Ada~kin,~~ and clippings from the Toronto newspapers in the months preceding the date set for the intended concert. The concert at which Sorabji's Piano Quintet No. 1 was to be performed was organized by the International Composers' Guild (ICG), which had been founded by Edgard Varese. This society had been established in 1921 and was to give eighteen concerts between 1922 and 1927.30 It is not known how the Guild be- came aware of Sorabji's quintet, which had been published in 1923. However, it could have received a recommendation from two musicians who were on the Advisory Committee of the Guild in 1924: Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), who had given Sorabji a letter of recommendation in 1919 to help him find a pub- lisher for his Sonata No. 1,31 and Bernard van Dieren (1887-1936), to whom Sorabji had given for Christmas 1923 an inscribed copy of his Concerto for Pi- Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments ano No. 5, which had recently been published as Concerto 11. Van Dieren's name, however, seems to be a safer guess, since Busoni was seriously ill in 1924; furthermore, a recommendation by Busoni would have to have been made before his death in July 1924, whereas one by Van Dieren could have been pos- sible anywhere thereafter. There are two dates on which a concert could have taken place. It was first announced in the musical press that "[tlhe second concert on Feb. 8 [1925] will introduce a Hindu [sic] composer, Kaikhosru S~rabji."~~ Sorabji's name was eventually dropped from the programme at an unknown date. According to a flyer published by the ICG announcing its programmes for the fourth season, the concert was to feature works by Auric, Bartok, Casella, Salzedo, Malipiero, Sorabji, Still, Webern, Zanotti-Bianco. The performers listed were Greta Tor- padie (voice), Marie Miller (harp), Hyman Rowinsky (piano), and Carlos Sal- zed0 (piano).33 Since no quartet is mentioned in the flyer, several works by Sorabj i could have been performed. Yet the actual concert featured additional artists: Henry Cowell (thunderstick), the Letz Quartet, and the conductor Vladimir Shavitch. Sorabji had disappeared from the programme, as had Auric, Casella, and Malipiero, who had been replaced with Acario Cotapos and Henry ~owe11.34 The presence of a quartet and of two pianists suggests that Sorabji's quintet could have been the work that the ICG had in mind. It is not known if the Hart House String Quartet had been approached to play at that concert, only to be re- placed by the Letz Quartet. It is a known fact, however, that they were hired to play the quintet at the latest in the Spring of 1925. On 21 May 1925, the Toronto Globe announced that "[tlhe Hart House String Quartet has been engaged by the International Composers' Guild to present a modern work by Khaikhosru [sic], the Hindu composer [sic], who is residing in London, England."35 In his memoirs, Harry Adaskin recalls that the ensemble had received an offer for a free debut in New York if they would play Sorabji's quintet. As he puts it, the cost of a New York recital (about $4,000) was such that, "to get it for nothing we would cheerfully have undertaken to decipher and play a Sumerian Quod- libet."36 Three months later, it was reported that "[tlhe Hart House String Quar- tet are practising five hours a day all this summer in Newcastle, where all the players are living until early Se~tember."~~ Indeed, the ensemble seems to have had much difficulty with the work. Adaskin recalls that "[tlhe daunting intricacy of the freely interweaving lines of his work demanded a total rhythmical control 100 Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments on the part of the players. This, alas, we couldn't supply, as neither de Kresz nor his wife had any rhythm." He adds: "In conventional works we just had near misses. But in the free-structured highly involved labyrinth of Sorabji, the best we could achieve was pandemonium." Adaskin then recalls how they worked several hours during thirteen weeks and managed to play up to the end of the first page of his part, which corresponds to meas. 49 (p. 9), "without seriously falling out." He concludes by saying "So we never learned to play it, and we didn't get our free New York recital."38 The rehearsal difficulties mentioned by Adaskin are well documented in their copy of the full score and parts which were donated in 1969 to the Edward John- son Library of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto by Milton Blackstone, the ensemble's violist. The performing material must have been provided to the ensemble by the International Composers' Guild, since the cover of the score and the initial pages of the parts are marked as being their property. The piano part, especially, contains several markings, mostly written in black pencil, some with a thick greasy orange pencil, some with a similar blue pencil. The most detailed (and interesting) examples read as follows: "Metronome indi- cation is imperiously needed. 'Modtre' means nothing at all, theoretically not actually" (p. 3); 'I?!?" with reference to fermatas above each member of a series of chords placed underneath a measured tremolo (meas. 87, p. 21); "Help!!" with reference to a difficult left-hand tremolo; "Index of beats, mostly needed here" (meas. 253, p. 54); "Help!" with reference to the indication "Pesant, sestencieux" [recte "sentencieux" (sententious)]; "Index of beats please" (meas. 246-47, p. 57); "how!" and "?! impossible" with reference to chords that cannot be grasped by one hand (meas. 255, p. 59; meas. 273, p. 63). The first page of the score is reproduced as an illustration showing the free, mellifluous writing that is charac- teristic of the score. Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments, p. 3, meas. 1-5 (with annotations by the members of the Hart House String Quar- tet). London and Continental Music Publishing Co. Ltd., 1923. From the collec- tion of the Edward Johnson Library, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto (accession number 32,420). [see opposite page] Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji’s Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments 101 102 Roberge: Kaikhosm Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments It is obvious that Drewett, the ensemble's pianist, was baffled by Sorabji's un- usual writing; actually, anyone at that time was- and many modern traditional practitioners - still gasp when shown a page from one of his scores. In Drewett's defence, it should be added that most of Sorabji's published scores as well as his manuscripts contain (very) numerous mistakes and inconsistencies; indeed, modern editors of his music constantly have to decide which note Sorabji actu- ally intended to write.39 The string parts show that the players did at least at- tempt to work through the piece: there are various position markings, cues, solu- tions for metrical problems for the whole quintet. On 6 June 1925, it was announced that the Hart House String Quartet was to play at Aeolian Hall on 29 November.40 The concert was supposed to feature a chamber orchestra of thirty players conducted by Eugene Goo~sens.~~ The va- garies of the programming of contemporary music modified the announced plans: Goossens conducted on 24 January 1926 and there seems to have been no chamber orchestra of thirty players. The ensemble finally played at Aeolian Hall not on 29 but 28 November. Their recital, which was favourably reviewed by the New York Times, seems to have been given independently of the ICG; it fea- tured works by Debussy, Bartok, and Beethoven.42 The Hart House String Quartet thus most probably paid for their New York debut since they did not play Sorabji's work. Back in Toronto, on 19 December 1925, Drewett wrote to Sorabji to explain that Salzedo, who was a member of the ICGs Technical Board, "had changed the dates & had also published the en- closed circular with no mention either of your work or our co-operation." The letter, which is reproduced in full below, suggests that the ensemble would have liked to play it elsewhere. Dear Mr Sorabji, I have still to thank you for your kind letter with all the detailed expla- nations. We have undergone a great disappointment for after having studied your interesting work very intensively, we discovered that h4r Salzedo had changed the dates & had also published the enclosed circu- lar with no mention either of your work or our co-operation. We had some correspondence with Mr Salzedo, & also a friendly discussion with him during our stay last month in New York, but nothing definite has happened. It is of little avail to introduce your work at an ordinary recital before the ordinary audience - these societies have been founded to gather together the different elements interested in "modern" music. Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments 103 But we want to ask you if, in principal [sic], should we find a good op- portunity to play the Quintet either in New York or elsewhere, we will have no difficulties from your side. I really consider it rather unfair of the I.C.G. to have acted thus. Since the Hart House String Quartet had an exceptional success at its initial concerts in N.Y. & Boston & is playing there again in January, I believe the opportunity mentioned be- fore will certainly occur, with or without the I.C.G. I meant to write to you at once but have been so busy with various things. With kind regards from my husband & myself. Sincerely yours [unsigned, but the name "Norah Drewett" is part of the letter- head] In May 1928, in one of his articles for The New Age, Sorabji, who had just fin- ished reading A Final Burning of Boats Etc. by the English composer and writer, Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1948)$3 referred to the author as a victim of "persistently relentless efforts to down her" and gives two examples of problems he had faced with the reception of his music. The letter also makes clear that he had been contacted by the "head of an organisation for the performance of new music" (Varese, Goossens, Salzedo?) for a copy of his score. As I have said before, I know how people without what I have called the correct back-ground, no matter what their gifts and accomplish- ment, are pushed on one side, passed over, ignored in favour of nonen- tities who possess the "background." This affects men just as much as women. I, too, can speak from personal experience. I remember some years ago calling, at the instance of a distinguished critic and musician, upon a friend of his, also a leading critic, armed with his recommenda- tion, and being met with an unconditional refusal to either look at or listen to my work. Also after being urgently requested by the head of an organisation for the performance of new music for a copy of a work of mine for performance in New York, and receiving glowing messages from him and from the leader of the quintet engaged to work upon it as to their admiration, I discovered that it had been dropped- not at the instance of the performers - on the score of insufficient time for work, 104 Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments but entirely unknown to them as to myself, and without a word of ex- planation from that day to thk44 The last item shedding some light on the sequence of events surrounding the cancelled premiere of the Piano Quintet No. 1 is a letter from Sorabji to Drewett, written on 3 November 1929. Dear Madame de Kresz Or should I say Drewett? I suspect you will remember me if not in per- son yet perhaps through my piano quintet that you were once going to play in New York chez the International Composers' Guild under the auspices of Monsieur Carlos Salzedo. From him I have never from that day to this, some years ago[,] had any explanation as to why my work was dropped. While I well remember a letter from you which I still possess telling me of the dropping of the work (dated 19.12.25). I have heard so many strange stories as to the reason why the workwas dropped that I am making a collection of them. One, from a well known English composer whom I have no reason to believe [he] loves me, that you all found the work impossible of performance and that it was dropped for that reason, a story so fantastic and absurd that it may be dismissed as the invention of malignant stupidity. Another reason al- leged is such that it is an insult to such a body of artists as yourself and the Hart House Quartet to reprint it. Yet a third ascribed this very rea- son as the motive of the removal of this work from the I.C.G. pro- grammes. It is all profoundly intriguing and ambiguous. I doubt not that you have still more diverting tales of supposed "reasons"? It would a pleasure to hear from you again. With kind regards. Yours sincerely. Kaikhosru Sorabji It appears from this letter that Sorabji and Drewett met at least once, obviously in London, since Sorabji never visited North America. They could have met in 1929, in which year the letter was written, for the Hart House String Quartet had gone on a European tour in that year (including England and BBC broadcast^).^^ There is no indication in Sorabji's reviews that he attended one of their London Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments 105 concerts; therefore, the reference to "such a body of artists as yourself and the Hart House Quartet" may have been made simply out of politeness. Finally, the reasons for which the work was dropped from the ICG programme were not clear, even for the composer. The history of the (non)performance of Sorabji's Quintet for Piano andQuar- tet of Stringed Instruments is not entirely clear. The above paragraphs have tried to reconstruct it on the basis of the documents that are known to have survived. There may be other letters which would clarify the intricate course of events re- lated to the work's history. It is sad that, twenty years or so after the "lifting of the ban," no ensemble has managed to bring the work to the public's ears- at least, one intended to. Obviously, an ensemble like the Hart House String Quar- tet - whose daily bread consisted of standard pieces from the Classical and Ro- mantic periods, with occasional forays into the works of Bartok, Hindemith, Kodaly, Prokofiev, and Schoenberg - could have difficulties with Sorabji's counterpoint of free, mellifluous lines. Several quartets can now play highly complex works like those of Brian Femeyhough, which leave Sorabji as much behind as Sorabji's did leave other works in the 1920s. There are now also sev- eral pianists able to play Sorabji's piano part- and the piano part is pretty easy by Sorabjian standards. So far, our recorded aural experience of Sorabji's music is limited to a handful of piano works (including the great Opus clavicembalisti- cum) and a major organ work. Performances and recordings of at least the shorter works from his chamber and orchestral production are badly needed if we are to assess his contribution properly. It remains to be hoped that the next planned premiere will not fall prey to the unfortunately too frequent problems associated with the performance of modern music. 106 Notes Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. For a detailed explanation of the so-called ban, see Paul Rapoport, "Sorabji: A Continuation," Sorabji: A Critical Celebration, ed. Paul Rapoport, Aldershot, Hampshire: Scolar Press, 1992; 2nd printing, 1994, pp. 58-87; 75-83. Letter, Sorabji to Egon Petri, 23 January 1948 (Sorabji Archive). Alistair Hinton (b. 1950) is a Scottish composer who became Sorabji's closest friend during the last fifteen years of his life. In 1988 he founded the Sorabji Music Archive (since 1993 the Sorabji Archive, located at Easton Dene, Bailbrook Lane, Bath, England, BA1 7AA), which makes available photocopies of all of Sorabji's scores (manuscripts, original publications, mod- em editions). For an extensive list of performances of Sorabji's music between 1919 and 1991, see Marc- Andre Roberge, "Un tessuto d'esecuzioni: A Register of Performances of Sorabji's Works," Sorabji: A Critical Celebration, pp. 425-51. I would like to thank Robin Elliott (Toronto), Louise Hirbour (Universite de Montreal), Gordana Lazarevich (University of Victoria), R. Allen Lott (School of Church Music at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas), Kathleen McMorrow (Edward Johnson Li- brary, University of Toronto), and Ben Morrison (Geneva) for their help in the preparation of this article. I also extend my warmest thanks to Alistair Hinton, curator of the Sorabji Archive (Bath), who provided copies of essential documents and gave me permission to reproduce the excerpts quoted from Sorabji's writings and music. Sorabji was also a prolific writer. He wrote more than 650 reviews for two English magazines (The New Age and The New English Weekly) as well as more than 200 letters to the editors of various newspapers and magazines in addition to his books of collected essays, Around Music, London: Unicorn Press, 1932; repr. ed., Westport, Conn.: Hyperion Press, 1979, and Mi contra fa: The lmmoralisings of a Machiavellian Musician, London: The Porcupine Press, 1947; repr. ed., New York: Da Cap0 Press, 1986. Further details will be found in Rapoport, "'Could you just send me a list of his works?,"' Sorabji: A Critical Celebration, pp. 93-192, most of which consists of "A 'Complete Provisional' Chronological Catalog of Sorabji's Compositions." For a more complete list, see Wilhelm Altmann, Kammermusik-Katalog: ein Verzeichnis von seit 184 1 veroffentlichten Kammermusikwerken, 6th ed., Hofheim and Taunus: Friedrich Hof- meister Verlag, 1945, pp. 123-29. Sorabji's work is listed on p. 128. For a useful chronological list of strings quartets, see Paul Griffiths, "Appendix Two: Chronol- ogy," The String Quartet, London: Thames and Hudson, 1983, pp. 232-37. The second piano concerto (1916-17) is known only through a two-piano reduction. It is not known whether it was actually orchestrated. See Kenneth Derus, "Sorabji's Letters to Heseltine," Sorabji: A Critical Celebration, pp. 195- 255. The friendship between Sorabji and Heseltine is too briefly covered in Barry Smith, Peter Warlock: The Life of Philip Heseltine, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. The dedication reads "a Monsieur Philip Heseltine: en tCmoignage d'amitie." Sorabji, "Music," TheNew Age 48, no. 11 (15 January 1931): 128-29; 128. Three-stave systems are standard in Sorabji's music, which often laid out on four- or five-stave systems. In later works, Sorabji uses a capital I with a caret (i). This time signature is to be understood as a 15/8 time signature which is equivalent to one com- prising five dotted quarter notes. Sorabji was to use such unnecessarily complex fractional time signatures again in his setting of Baudelaire's L'irremediable (1927). Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments 107 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. The index is missing for meas. 26, 30-31, 42, 46-47, 54-55, 154-55, 220-21, 235-36, 246-47, 252-53,275-76. The composer eventually wrote the following comment on the title page of the Symphony 11: "Got Bored with this: and no wonder! A grotesque extravaganza." Rapoport, "'Could you just send me a list of his works?,"' Sorabji: A Critical Celebration, p. 192. It is impossible to confirm this on the basis of the handwriting since the composer's manuscript is not extant; only a copyist's copy with annotations by the composer has survived (located at the Central Music Library, Westminster, London). Maurice Hinson, The Piano in Chamber Ensemble: An Annotated Guide, Bloomington and Lon- don: Indiana University Press, 1978, p. 483, describes the work thus: "Changing meters, har- monic fourths in flowing figuration, tremolo. Enormous climax suddenly drops to pp and ppp with the indication 'Enigmatique equivoque' Complex and D[ifficult]." Sorabji's Sonata No. 1 has been recorded by Marc-Andre Hamelin on Altarus AIR-CD-9050 (issued in 1990). F.B. [Ferruccio Bonavia?], "New Music: Chamber Music," The Musical Times 44, no. 965 (1 July 1923): 480. "London and Continental Publishing Co., Ltd. / Quintet for Piano and Strings by Kaikhosru Sorabji," 1 p. (incomplete). Philip Heseltine, "Music," The Weekly Westminster Gazette, 18 August 1923: 14-15. Aeolian Hall was located at 34 West 43rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Helmut Kallmann, "Hart House String Quartet," Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, 2nd ed., ed. Helmut Kallmann and Gilles Potvin, Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press, 1992, pp. 589-90 (includes a picture of the ensemble). For a history of string quartet perform- ance in Canada, see Robert William Andrew Elliott, "The String Quartet in Canada" (Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1990). See Ruth Pincoe, "GCza de Kresz," Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, p. 353 (includes a picture of de Kresz and Drewett). For more on the de Kresz couple, see Maria Kresz and Peter Kiraly, The Violinist and Pianist Geza de Kresz and Norah Drewett: Their Life and Music on Two Con- tinents, Including Parts of Norah Drewett's Memoirs, n.p.: George Hencz, 1989. Letter, Norah Drewett to Sorabji, Toronto, 19 December 1925 (The Sorabji Archive, Bath); let- ter, Sorabji to Norah Drewett, London, 3 November 1929 (Edward Johnson Library, University of Toronto). Harry Adaskin, A Fiddler's World: Memoirs to 1938, Vancouver: November House, 1977, pp. 84-85, 139-40. A second volume was published in 1982 as A Fiddler's Choice: Memoirs, 1938 to 1980. For more on the history of this society, see R. Allen Lott, "'New Music for New Ears': The In- ternational Composers' Guild," Journal of the American Musicological Society 36, no. 2 (Summer 1983): 266-86. About the links between Sorabji and Busoni, see my article "Producing Evidence for the Beatifi- cation of a Composer: Sorabji's Deification of Busoni," The Music Review (forthcoming). "International Composers' Guild Plans Brilliant Season," Musical Courier 89, no. 20 (13 No- vember 1924): 35. The same text also appeared as "Composers' Guild Will Present Modern Works: Organization Announces Three Concerts of Advanced Compositions in Aeolian Hall," Musical America 41, no. 11 (15 November 1924): 33. Photocopy of a document provided by Louise Hirbour. See the program in Lott, "'New Music for New Ears': The International Composers' Guild," 285. "To Play in New York," The Globe (Toronto), 21 May 1925. Adaskin, A Fiddler's World, 1: 84.










91 Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments and its intended performance by Norah Drewett and the Hart House String Quartet Marc-AndrC Roberge Abstract This article attempts to reconstruct the history of what was to be the first per- formance of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments (1919-20), which was scheduled to be given on 29 November 1925 at Aeolian Hall in New York by the pianist Norah Drewett and the University of Toronto's Hart House String Quartet as part of a concert sponsored by Edgard Varese's International Composers' Guild. The performance never took place for reasons that are not entirely clear but have to do mostly with the work's difficul- ties. The article also provides an introduction to the work itself, which Sorabji dedicated to his friend, the composer Philip Heseltine. Most people who have heard of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988), the Parsi composer and pianist active who lived as a recluse in England for most of his career, know that performances of his often massive and extremely difficult works have been extremely rare as a result of a so-called ban.l The thirteen scores that Sorabji published between 1921 and 1931 contain the following warning: "All rights including that of performance, reserved for all countries by the composer." The score of his 248-page Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30), his longest and most often cited work, contains the additional admonition: "Public performance prohibited unless by express consent of the composer." Various statements in letters make it possible to say that, in the late thirties, Sorabji had decided to turn down all requests for public performance either by himself or by others. As he later indicated in a letter to the pianist Egon Petri: "I have set my face against ANY PUBLIC PERFORMANCE OF MY WORK FOR GOOD AND ALL EVERYWHERE."2 It is true that he did not have to turn 92 Roberge: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji’s Quintet for Piano and Four Stringed Instruments down offers very often, since they were very few and far between. The visual aspect of most scores was forbidding enough to scare potential performers away. Up to December 1936, Sorabji had been heard in public at least ten times in various cities (London, Vienna, Paris, Glasgow), giving the first performances of five works for piano solo and playing the piano part of his Trois pokmes pour chant et piano. He had also allowed two friends- the pianist Harold Rutland (1900-1977) and the organist E. Emlyn Davies (1885-1951)- to play a work each. He had not approved, however, of a performance of pars prima of his Opus clavicembalisticum by John Tobin (1 891-1960). The severe inadequacies of this performance, which took place at Cowdray Hall in London on 10 March 1936, were instrumental in bringing the composer to his decision of not allowing hearings of his music. Even though there were a few scattered performances af- ter 1936, it is only in 1976, thanks to the persistence of a number of friends, es- pecially Alistair Hinton, that Sorabji began to give permission for official per- formances to a few selected pianists, namely Yonty Solomon, Michael Haber- mann, and Geoffiey Douglas Madge.3 Since that time, other musicians (mostly pianists) have been drawn to the intricacies of Sorabji’s music and public hear- ings of several short- and medium-size works have become more freq~ent.~ A few recordings have also been produced, all offering sound proofs of the great beauty and artistic validity of the music. Sorabji never made any real efforts to promote performances of his music. It zppears that only one performance (except for Tobin’s) was organized without his close involvement, namely, the premikre of the Quintet for Piano and Quartet of Stringed Instruments (1919-20) by the pianist Norah Drewett and the Uni- versity of Toronto’s Hart House String Quartet. This performance was to be given in New York in 1925 but failed to materialize. Another performance of the same work, scheduled for October 1992 in Cambridge, did not take place either. The work is still unperformed even though it is available in print (or rather has been, since the remaining copies have been sold). It is the purpose of this article to give an account of the work and to document the sequence of events surround- ing its cancelled first Performance by the Canadian ensemble, a project that had to be filed away due to the vagaries of new music programming and to the diffi- culties posed by a new compositional idiom.5 Sorabji’s musical output consists of 11 1 works totalling more than 1 1,000 manuscript pages.6 This total can be broken down as follows: 61 works for pi- ano (including 7 transcriptions), 3 for organ, ll for piano and orchestra, 7 for or- chestra (with or without voices), 7 for chamber ensemble (including 2 with

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