bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Democratic Erosion Without Prerequisites? Poland and the Two Liberalisms
Authors: Ginsburg Tom
Published: October 2020

This contribution takes as its starting point Professor Sadurski’s analysis of the Polish slide from democracy. Poland’s populists learned from Hungary, trying many of the same strategies as Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz Party. The lack of a constitutional majority meant that certain moves were open and others foreclosed, and Europe’s previous failures with regard to Hungary’s backsliding motivated the regional institutions to pay more attention to Poland. The supranational interventions show the limits and possibilities of external efforts to slow backsliding: they can at best press the pause button on the backsliding, giving domestic electoral forces time to regroup. Poland illustrates the dynamic perfectly.
Polish Lessons: Backsliding, Sabotage, and the Rule of Law
Authors: Krygier Martin
Published: October 2020

Why have Kaczyński in Poland and Orbán in Hungary found so apparently easy what Donald Trump, whose power and ambitions are not small and whose motivations appear to tend in similar directions, finds so hard: to overwhelm and take over independent institutions that were hoped by many to be able to temper power? The chapter suggests that a fundamental part of the answer stems from a specific failure of understanding—of the significance of institutionalization—among those who led the optimistic projects of the 1990s that now seem to be unravelling at speed. Next, it argues that their populist opponents have unfortunately displayed a better awareness in these matters. Finally, it suggests some responses that lawyers might and are right to make to the onslaughts they face. In this struggle, the efforts of lawyers are not sufficient, because the crisis is fundamentally social and political, but they are necessary.
The Rule of Law Paradox in the 2016 Constitutional Amendments in Albania
Authors: Piqani Darinka
Published: October 2020

In 2016, the Albanian constitution underwent the most comprehensive constitutional reform since its adoption in 1998. One of the purposes of this reform was to transform the judicial system in Albania in order to detach it from corruption. One of the novelties of the reform was the vetting process of judges and prosecutors at all levels, including judges of the Albanian Constitutional Court. Following termination of mandates of some of the members to the Court, dismissals, and resignations in the context of the vetting process, Albania’s Constitutional Court did not function for more than a year. Although indisputably the constitutional reform and more specifically vetting were designed as a means of guaranteeing the rule of law, it seems that they were contributing factors to the stalemate within the Constitutional Court, thus ultimately undermining the rule of law. This chapter unfolds this paradox in Albania, an EU candidate country.
The Problem of Peer Review in Militant Democracy
Authors: Müller Jan-Werner
Published: October 2020

Sadurski is the most important interpreter of Art 7 of the Treaty of European Union—the clause that allows for the suspension of membership rights of states that are in violation of fundamental European values. This Article has often been criticized because it involves other Member State governments in deciding whether sanctions are justified. Looked more abstractly, the underlying problem would appear to be the Article's reliance on something like peer review: liberal democratic governments judging whether another government is still sufficiently similar to them. The chapter examines peer review from a normative and legal point of view, not least because it also plays an important role in national forms of militant democracy. This chapter’s argument is that the introduction of what the Venice Commission calls a ‘political filter’ is justified, but there must also be means of getting through the filter in extreme circumstances.
Extracting Voters from the Nation
Authors: Sajó András
Published: October 2020

Regimes that operate in a democratic manner without offering the possibility of changes in who rules the country represent the ultimate problem of illiberal democracies and authoritarian rule in general. The shaping of the electoral system in the 1860s and 1870s in England and Hungary was decisive for regime building. In liberal Hungary, the franchise and the electoral system were frozen because of nationalist hegemony. In consequence the governing party remained in power until the collapse of the country in 1918. In England, accidental reform enabled in the long run adaptation to social change and rather peaceful incorporation into the electorate of the working classes, which were thought in Hungary in the 1860s as dangerous, risking the establishment of national minorities. The Hungarian parliamentary debate indicates the importance of comparative constitutional law for liberalism.
Accounting for the Fall of Silver
Authors: Schiltz Michael
Published: October 2020

Whereas the emergence of the classical gold standard (1870‒1914) has attracted considerable attention in the economic literature, only very few authors have inquired into the protracted confidence crisis of silver. Building on the results of Calomiris, Oppers, and Flandreau, this book explores the evolution of management practice in exchange banks in Asia. Using ‘forensic accounting’, it attempts to show that contemporaries were aware of problems caused by the gyrations of the silver price after 1870, and that they sought to actively remedy their harmful effects on trade between gold and silver using countries. It describes how the experiment with financial instruments, although originally mishaps, eventually led to success. Next, and contrary to the commonly held belief that nineteenth-century bankers did not have a sophisticated understanding of hedging strategies, it shows, in a quantitative way, that hedging strategies existed, impacting banks’ operations in profound ways. More specifically, it uses the mostly unexplored accounting data and archives of the Yokohama Specie Bank (YSB; the world’s third largest exchange bank before World War II) to describe the bank’s wrought management history in the tumultuous years around the turn of the twentieth century. YSB had to come to grips with Japan’s effort at adopting the gold standard (1897), the difficult expansionary ‘postbellum administration’ after the Sino-Japanese War (1894‒5), and the consolidation of the country’s imperialism (after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904‒5)—all events shaping not only the bank’s operations and expansion in Asia, but also affecting the organization of its branch network and management of its flow-of-funds.
Yokohama Specie Bank Flow-of-Funds Analysis
Authors: Schiltz Michael
Published: October 2020

The main aim of this chapter is to demonstrate how the implementation of an intra-branch exchange risk hedging strategy can be traced cross-sectionally, that is, by means of snapshots of banking practice at certain points in time. After documenting the Yokohama Specie Bank (YSB)’s early history, it is demonstrated how the bank went through different managerial phases. YSB development in China on a silver basis is explained as a natural consequence of hedging practice, in contrast to the tendency to treat the latter as an anomaly. At all times, the bank could not neglect the realities of the world’s monetary geography. Willingly or not, YSB’s cadre had to take into account the fact that the bank’s center of gravity would, almost inevitably, move towards Shanghai; YSB’s decentralized operating in the many industrial and commercial centers of Manchuria was the consequence of government policy, on the one hand, and the severely limited credit conditions within the regions, on the other.
Trials and Tribulations
Authors: Spears Dean , Ban Radu , Cumming Oliver
Published: October 2020

This chapter introduces the WASH (Water Sanitation and Health) sector’s conversations about randomized intervention studies and draws lessons for development policy, more generally. Sanitation is a valuable case because, on the one hand, improving sanitation is widely recognized as a critical part of the development process, but, on the other hand, WASH interventions are often less well suited for randomized intervention evidence than other topics in health science or development economics. The chapter discusses a recent set of randomized trials which, far from definitively settling the important questions of rural sanitation policy, have renewed confusion and debate in the sector. Because even flawlessly designed and implemented sanitation interventions are likely to have different effects from one another and in different contexts, facts and theories from non-RCT sources are necessary (in addition to RCTs) to provide full and timely answers to sanitation policy questions. Finally, a case is made for the increased use of RCTs in the WASH sector where they might be more likely to help: to answer questions about behavior, rather than about health.
Humean Supervenience and the Possibility of Necessitation
Authors: Noordhof Paul
Published: October 2020

We have experiences of causation and, in specific circumstances, may well have experiences of necessary connection, although our experience mischaracterizes it. An analysis of our cognitive grasp of necessary connection explains how counterfactuals successfully capture the intimate connection we take to be present between cause and effect that, when there is no necessitation, may be lacking. The notion of necessary connection between distinct existences is coherent and, according to the most plausible ways of understanding (wholly) distinct existence, cannot be ruled out. Different metaphysical categories involve different notions of distinct existence, characterized spatially or in terms of distinct arrangements. The notion should not be characterized modally.
The Non-Transitivity of Causation
Authors: Noordhof Paul
Published: October 2020

There are clear cases in which causation is not transitive and this drops out of the analysis developed in which causation involves a certain kind of chance-raising involved after subtracting competitor processes. Attempts to explain away these cases to secure the transitivity of causation are a mistake. Alternative ways of capturing the non-transitivity of causation involve fixing the competitor processes in order to detect chance-raising dependencies between the target cause and effect. This alternative manoeuvre engenders problems. The non-transitivity of causation is better understood in the terms of my analysis rather than by appealing to the idea that causes are difference-makers (in a specified sense) or, in the kind of cases considered, switchers by interaction with a process.
The Ontological Categories of Causes
Authors: Noordhof Paul
Published: October 2020

A distinction is drawn between what kinds of entities may be causes and what are the fundamental causal relata. Arguments to settle the latter arise from the nature of the causal relation or more general ontological issues. Events are one fundamental causal relata because they are needed to be triggering causes. There is no need to recognize other fundamental relata than properties. Recognition of facts is neither required to capture the nature of causation nor for their truth-making role since no such role is required. Events are temporally limited particulars involving the instantiation of the properties required for the instantiation of a particular determinate property. More finely individuated events, involving the instantiation of perhaps just one property, are unnecessary. They are not needed to capture the truth of various causal claims or make the analysis of causation. Indeed, the analysis removes an argument for these other ways of understanding events.
Property Causation
Authors: Noordhof Paul
Published: October 2020

If one set of properties supervenes upon another, then the former have causal powers if: first, the supervenience base properties minimally metaphysically necessitate the supervening properties; second, part of the minimal supervenience base causes the target effect; third, instances of the supervening properties would all cause certain target effects in the right kind of circumstances, as a result of this. When these conditions are met, the causal relationship holds not only in virtue of the supervenience base properties but also the supervening ones. Two further explanatory virtues that citing property causes may display are: when a property has a distinctive causal profile (when it makes a causal contribution that no other property would) and when an instance of the property supplies the precise contribution required for a certain effect. Pragmatic appeal to the second explanatory virtue explains away our tendency to hear certain explicitly contrastive statements mistakenly as true.
Causation and Laws
Authors: Noordhof Paul
Published: October 2020

Laws are potential patterns of causation characterized by the counterfactual analysis. The various accounts of law in the literature—or proposed refinements of them—are not properly thought of as accounts of law but rather ways in which laws may be realized. The various potential counterexamples to Humean accounts of laws are best seen as appealing to worlds in which laws are not realized in the Humean way, rather than showing something about the nature of law. This point is particularly salient bearing in mind the intellectual difficulties of non-Humean accounts of law—such as necessitation between properties accounts or the powers ontology—and the fact that their virtues have been rather overstated. In particular, this is outlined regarding counterfactual support and their alleged superiority in providing a basis for the rationality of induction.
The Dilemmas of Musical Surrealism
Authors: Massey Drew
Published: October 2020

Discussions of the music of Thomas Adès have seized on the idea of “surrealism” as an explanatory means to characterize music from across his career. This essay traces the development and emergence of the aesthetic of surrealism in the reception of Adès’s music and considers surrealism’s rapport with neighboring conceptual terrains, especially the uncanny. I argue that the idea of surrealism engages a larger process through which commentators have developed a vocabulary for considering various dimensions of otherness in Adès’s music while avoiding a rhetoric that uses alterity and identity politics as its primary argumentative fulcra.
Vocal Repertoire for the Twenty-First Century, Volume 1
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

In this new follow-up to her highly regarded New Vocal Repertory, volumes 1 and 2, English concert and opera soprano Jane Manning provides a seasoned expert’s guidance and insight into the vocal genre she calls home. This book contains a diverse array of contemporary vocal music available in the twentieth century. It provides specific pieces for different voices, abilities, and occasions. Choices range from substantial song cycles to shorter pieces suitable for encores, examinations, or auditions. Almost all works are for voice and piano, but there are some for solo voice. This volume also contains a rich variety of musical styles, which is reflected here along with some revised and updated articles on works featured in the previous edition, in order to keep them in circulation. Furthermore, this volume includes the broadest possible selection of works which are confined to settings of the English language. Two works in Latin as well as one piece in fake Russian are the only exceptions. In addition, there are certain songs culled from some diploma syllabus many years ago, which seem to have progressed unchallenged through successive generations despite a wealth of viable alternatives. Teachers can thus be inclined to steer students in the direction of pieces they are already familiar with in this book.
THOMAS ADÈS (b. 1971)Life Story (1994)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses Thomas Adès’s Life Story as an unconventional song cycle which lies somewhere between an operatic scena and an extended show song. Although written originally for soprano and ensemble, this piece could suit any flexible voice. In view of the composer’s command of the keyboard, the chapter further notes the challenges for the accompanying pianist. A quick, responsive ensemble is also crucial in this piece. Here, the singer usually takes the lead, but the effect must seem spontaneous. The text itself takes the form of a rambling anecdotal confession which is cynical and sardonic. The chapter shows that Life Story is thus both a bitterly humorous reflection on the futility of efforts to communicate, and a protracted demonstration of self-absorption.
GEORGE ANTHEIL (1900–1959)Five Songs (1919–1920)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses Five Songs by George Antheil. As one of the first composers to incorporate jazz elements in a classical context, he was fond of experimenting with odd instrumental combinations and electronic devices. This chapter provides examples of Antheil’s vocal work to demonstrate the composer’s originality. The piano writing is dramatic and often dense in texture. Moreover, the vocal tessitura descends as the cycle progresses, while the piano becomes more dominant. The first three songs are very short, but the last two have an almost orchestral richness. Texts are aphoristic and concise, and voice parts are correspondingly plain and unadorned, moving for the most part in a combination of declamatory speech patterns, long slow spans, often on a monotone, and close intervals, leaving the piano to illustrate the imagery and atmosphere of the words.
RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT (1936–2012)A Garland for Marjory Fleming (1969)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter introduces Richard Rodney Bennett's A Garland for Marjory Fleming for the young, relatively inexperienced performer. Here, the five songs are perfectly balanced to provide contrast of pace and mood. The supple vocal lines are not perhaps quite as simple as they may first appear: rhythms contain a few surprises, and subtle shadings underpin key moments in the text. The central song, ‘On Jessy Watsons Elopement’, in particular, requires good rhythmic articulation and some breadth of range and dynamic. The final piece, ‘Sonnet on a Monkey’, is a gem of artfulness and grace, sure to charm audiences, bringing the cycle to an end in exuberant, tongue-in-cheek vein.
LYELL CRESSWELL (b. 1944)Eight Shaker Songs (1985)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter introduces works by Lyell Cresswell. His use of the voice as showcased in this chapter is highly imaginative and often demanding. The refreshingly uninhibited musical style defies easy categorization, but displays signs of an iconoclasm developed by Charles Ives. Cresswell achieves its effect by relatively simple means, including repetition. All the songs are brief yet sharply contrasted, and they convey a heady religious fervour that carries all before it. The third perhaps requires the most vocal virtuosity, and the sixth needs considerable stamina to bring it off, especially in some crucially loud spoken (shouted) passages. The final movement is a test of quick rhythmic articulation. The piano’s contribution is brimming with energy and drama, responding and adapting adroitly to the texts’ changing moods.
GEORGE CRUMB (b. 1929)Apparition (1979)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores George Crumb’s cycle, Apparition. As a display piece and an evocation of fantasy and colour, the piece can prove enthralling for the listener. Here, the pianist is an equal partner, with a wide-ranging virtuoso role for one adept in modernist techniques, including using the inside of the piano. The piece also shows Crumb’s innate understanding of the voice and its timbral possibilities. Notation is often ‘free’ and spatial, and could appear challenging to the uninitiated, but it all turns out to be eminently practicable. Much use is made of elaborate melismas, including passages of rapid grace-notes, and the interval of a seventh seems to be especially favoured—the singer has to tune a great many of these, often exposed, and unaccompanied at a quiet dynamic.
DAVID DEL TREDICI (b. 1937)Four Songs (1958–1960)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses some James Joyce settings composed by David Del Tredici. It shows how these songs can stretch the singer’s resources, but in a constructive way. Here, Del Tredici has an innate understanding of the voice and its capabilities, and there is an enticing array of vocal figurations which can engage the performer. A high level of musicianship is called for, however, as well as an accomplished pianist. All four songs are direct and persuasive in their communicative appeal, aided by the well-loved texts. These pieces date from an earlier period in Joyce’s output, when he embraced modernism and atonality, but the skill and fluency of his writing is always evident.
PETER DICKINSON (b. 1934)Extravaganzas (1963–1969)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines Peter Dickinson’s Extravaganzas. This brief cycle is set to ironically humorous, occasionally disturbing texts by the American beat poet Gregory Corso. Highly entertaining and varied, the songs show how well this composer understands the voice. Wit and flexibility are shown throughout in idiomatic writing for both performers. Moods change quickly and every detail counts in music of such extreme concentration. The singer is kept constantly occupied with satisfying tasks and musical pleasures, closely linked to the sardonic twists and flashes of dry humour in the texts. The vocal part is wide-ranging and requires precise intonation. Overall, the chapter deems Extravaganzas a most agreeable antidote to heavier fare, and a welcome showpiece for stylish performers with a disciplined technique.
IRVING FINE (1914–1962)Mutability (1952)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter describes Irving Fine’s Mutability. This cycle is distinctive and powerful, with striking musical and verbal images. The musical style can be described as neoclassical with elements of serialism, yet there is great flexibility and variety within the strict compositional procedures. The singer will need to command a wide range of colours and dynamics, as well as rapid articulation. A high standard of musicianship is also expected, especially for pitching some difficult intervals. A voice with a cutting edge will sound well here. Darker, fuller tones, verging on a contralto-like quality, will enhance lower-lying passages. However, the singer must always be able to move around nimbly, producing a clear tone over the whole range. The pianist will also have a good time getting to grips with an exciting part.
JULIAN GRANT (b. 1960)Despondent Nonsenses (1979)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter concerns Despondent Nonsenses by Julian Grant. This, his Op. 1, is the first item in a handsomely produced volume of collected songs. Its freshness and effervescent wit should ensure it much popularity. The chapter shows how Grant swiftly acquired the skill and craftsmanship of an instinctive songwriter through this piece, at the same time as he was making successful forays into the field of small-scale opera. Writing humorous music is often a challenge, but this piece finds Grant in his element, with quicksilver responses to verbal nuances, and an unerringly delicate touch. Each song flows spontaneously and tessitura is perfectly judged for clarity and comfort.
JEREMY HALADYNA (b. 1955)Two Sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney (1981)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter looks at Two Sonnets of Sir Philip Sidney. In this powerful cycle, the American composer Jeremy Haladyna demonstrates dramatic flair, musical vitality, and a keen sense of colour. Though written in a modernist, atonal idiom, the work skilfully incorporates a taste of Olde England, which is highly appropriate to the texts. References to Elizabethan music and dance forms are subtly blended in, yet the resultant effect is not so much English as an intriguing and highly individual fusion of New and Old Worlds. The work blazes with passion: the first song is an angry, self-flagellating diatribe against personal weakness and the destructiveness of desire, and the second, in more contemplative vein, acknowledges the joys of spiritual reward, and Love’s eternal life-affirming force.
JOHN HARBISON (b. 1938)Mirabai Songs (1982)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores Mirabai Songs, a song cycle by one of America’s major composers, John Harbison. It asserts that this piece can already be termed a classic of the genre. Despite a relatively conservative musical language, Harbison maintains a distinctive and memorable voice, and his musical integrity shines through at every point. The six songs here provide plenty of contrast. Piano parts are arresting, many featuring continuous ostinatos; they bear echoes of minimalism, but with greater thematic interest than is customary for that genre. Rhythmic verve is always present—the pulse rarely slackens. Subtle dynamic markings, if observed closely, will contribute strongly to the overall effect.
HANS WERNER HENZE (1926–2012)Three Auden Songs (1983)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter studies songs for the tenor repertoire by Hans Werner Henze. Henze’s three songs, based on texts by the poet W. H. Auden, are a key example of his fastidious and beautifully-crafted vocal writing. Henze sets these three contrasting poems with utmost sensitivity. The fast-moving texts contain layers of subtlety, couched in a concise, freely chromatic musical language which sits easily in the voice. The settings build cumulatively in proportion and weight. A tiny, poignant tribute to a dead cat leads to a powerfully intuitive, four-verse portrait of the poet Arthur Rimbaud. This is followed by a substantial love song, full of tenderness and passion, yet controlled with consummate skill. The work is written in standard notation (without bar-lines) and should prove a rewarding vehicle for singers of relatively modest attainment as well as mature artists.
DEREK HOLMAN (1931–2019)The Centred Passion (1986)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines The Centred Passion by Derek Holman. This beautifully crafted cycle shows flair and spontaneity, and a deep understanding of the physical nature of the voice. The idiom is quasi-tonal, with frequent use of wide intervals such as ninths and thirteenths. Furthermore, chromatic intervallic relationships with the piano need careful tuning at all times. Each of the six settings from Alfred Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H. (1849) has its own distinct flavour, and the idiomatic keyboard parts are accordingly well varied, with a clear sense of balance and layout. Standard notation is used, but without key signatures. The cycle should prove an absorbing experience for both performers and listeners.
JOSEPH HOROVITZ (b. 1926)Lady Macbeth (1970)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter considers Joseph Horovitz’s Lady Macbeth scena. This short, through-composed dramatic scena is extracted and compiled from different scenes of Shakespeare's play. It presents a vivid, multifaceted portrait of Lady Macbeth, showing her progression from lofty pride and ruthless ambition to guilt-ridden madness. The piece is meticulously crafted and the music’s flexible, chromatic tonality is cohesive and highly accessible. A faint tinge of Scottishness can be detected in the choice of rhythmic gestures. Extremes of range are eschewed: most of the work lies in middle register, avoiding any jarringly exaggerated chest-voice sounds. Accordingly, high notes are used sparingly. The palette of conflicting moods and emotions is conjured with consummate skill and rhythmic vitality. Rapid babblings are interspersed with bursts of outraged scorn and frustrated passion.
EARL KIM (1920–1998)Letters Found Near a Suicide (1954)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter introduces an extended scena by Earl Kim—Letters Found Near a Suicide. Kim sets three poems in a continuous span, so the work can be counted as a song cycle. The chapter reveals Kim's intimate understanding and love of the human voice, which is amply demonstrated by the comfortable lie of vocal lines which cover an extremely wide range of dramatic colours. Words are always audible, and emotions conveyed with concise poignancy. Key moments in the text are often set in a fairly low tessitura so that the singer is able to vary the vocal palette and enunciate the texts without strain. The piano part is full of fine detail, and there are plenty of pitch cues to help the singer. The textures are expertly balanced and well integrated in style.
OLIVER KNUSSEN (1952–2018)Four Late Poems and an Epigram of Rainer Maria Rilke (1988)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines a compelling solo work by Oliver Knussen in which his command of style and acute sensitivity to vocal and verbal subtleties are immediately apparent. Here, pitches and rhythms are calibrated with precision, and a host of detailed dynamic and expressive markings guide the performer to a disciplined and faithful reading. Though fragmentary in appearance, and larded with meticulous shadings and accents, the music flows in long paragraphs, and its subtle intricacies result in a sense of spontaneous rhythmic freedom, almost as if improvised. The agile vocal lines moreover teem with shifting emotions, and shows a refined technique to advantage.
ERNST KRENEK (1900–1991)The Flea (1960)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores Ernst Krenek’s setting of John Donne’s poem, ‘The Flea’. Krenek’s work is an exuberant piece of twelve-tone writing, referring back, not without irony, to his Viennese heritage, and friendships with all the leading artists and intellectuals of the day. Here, there are some enjoyable glissandos covering broad spans. Rhythms may appear complex, but the plethora of quintuplets and other varied divisions of beats should, in fact, create a spontaneous, flexible impression to the listener. The vocal line proceeds in uninhibited, expressionistic fragments throughout, with the piano providing some startling dramatic interpolations. Extremes of dynamic abound. One suspects an element of affectionate parody, yet veering dangerously close to losing control.
LIBBY LARSEN (b. 1950)Songs From Letters: Calamity Jane to Her Daughter Janey, 1880–1902 (1989)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter studies Libby Larsen’s work. It shows that her forthright, accessible style is flexible enough to allow for a sensitive response to words, and a close identification with the subject matter. Her wide musical tastes are reflected clearly here and she is notably responsive to the inherent rhythms of American pronunciation. Moreover, this chapter shows how ‘Jane’ in Larsen’s songs was caricatured and sentimentalized in popular culture, and how historical facts were distorted. The composer’s programme note informs us that ‘Martha Jane Canary Hickock’ (her real name) wrote these letters to her daughter Janey during the time when the child had been sent to live in a ‘normal’ environment. ‘Calamity’ raised the money to support her by taking on often humiliating and dangerous work in the brutal, uncompromising Wild West.
ELISABETH LUTYENS (1906–1983)In the Temple of a Bird’s Wing (1956, 1965)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter looks at In the Temple of a Bird’s Wing by avant-garde composer Elisabeth Lutyens. It explores how the melodies and rhythms are, for the most part, strictly controlled, though the musical result is flexible and mellifluous. This cycle comes from what many regard as an especially rich period in Lutyens’s output, which also saw the premieres of major cycles for voice and ensemble. This work is beautifully crafted and assured, and should prove a rewarding task for a gifted singer. Phrases are often fragmentary. Punctuating rests can be placed gently within the natural flow. A lively piano part shares many features with the vocal lines, and there is also much use of arpeggiated chords. It requires a player of darting, mercurial reactions and poised sensitivity.
JOHN McCABE (1939–2015)Requiem Sequence (1971)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores John McCabe’s Requiem Sequence. This work, by one of Britain's most masterly composer-pianists, was written in memory of conductor Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970) and composer Alan Rawsthorne (1905–71). It is simple in structure and highly practical to perform—an invaluable addition to the soprano recital repertoire, and also eminently suitable for a church setting. As would be expected, the keyboard writing is especially striking and idiomatic. The vocal tessitura concentrates on the upper middle range, which could expose any vulnerability in tuning or security of line, but could also serve as a useful exercise in preserving legato between registers.
ELIZABETH MACONCHY (1907–1994)Sun, Moon and Stars (1978)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses Elizabeth Maconchy’s Sun, Moon and Stars. This short but most alluring cycle of four contrasting songs is written with complete mastery and integration of style, and represents this distinguished composer in peak form. Tone colours and vocal placing are acutely heard and the text setting displays the voice's brightest resonances to the full. Skill and craftsmanship are also combined with spontaneity. The piano writing is clear-textured and sonorous, complementing the voice throughout. The soprano will need to float and hold some lengthy high notes, some in pianissimo, but a womanly warmth of tone is required, rather than a boyish sound.
ROGER MARSH (b. 1949)A Little Snow (1994)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines Roger Marsh’s A Little Snow. This fascinating, delicate little piece consistently displays Marsh’s deft touch and innate musicality, which is devoid of pretentiousness. Space-time notation allows plenty of rhythmic freedom, but the composer is meticulous in indicating the proportions of note lengths and rests, ensuring that a sense of pulse is retained. Sequences of inflected short notes end with long silences, and there are passages of normal non-notated speech, to be delivered in a quietly detached manner. Later, scattered groups of soft staccatos are contrasted with hypnotic repetitions of cantabile fragments. At the halfway point, lines become a little more active and complex. But even here, since there is so much repetition, familiar ‘cells’ will seal themselves in the physical memory, so that the basic pitch range can be recalled quite easily.
DONALD MARTINO (1931–2005)Three Songs (1955)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses three concise, fastidious songs by Donald Martino. It explores the richness of expression contained within their modest proportions. Here, Martino demonstrates acute sensitivity to the subtleties of syllables and their vocal implications: each sound is gauged precisely within a practicable range, so that the singer can both exercise and relax their voice. The darker colours of the bass range sounds especially well against the wide-ranging, angular piano part. It is important to remember, however, that heavier voices do not always have to be ‘monumental’ and ponderous, but should be able to move around flexibly. All of these mellifluous phrases can be taken in one breath.
WILLIAM MATHIAS (1934–92)A Vision of Time and Eternity (1972)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores a contemporary work for contralto by William Mathias. The piece runs in a continuous span, but contains many contrasting sections within it. Although conceived for a rich, low voice, it also requires the lightness and agility to articulate swift staccato passages with aplomb. The highest pitches are at a loud dynamic. Otherwise, the contralto’s strong chest register is exploited rewardingly. A good deal of stamina is required to sustain and conserve energy through a welter of varied gestures and moods, which are enhanced by a striking piano part. The musical language is ‘advanced traditional’. It should prove an excellent vehicle for an enterprising duo able to give an authoritative interpretation. The inspiring text is an additional asset.
DAVID MATTHEWS (b. 1943)From Coastal Stations (1991)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines a series of songs by David Matthews. These six songs are basically tonal and carry an immediate appeal. Matthews responds instinctively to the vivid verbal images and sonic resonances of these succinct and vibrant evocations of seascape and weather. Sumptuous in detail and subtle inflection, with frequent onomatopoeia, each setting is distinctive in character, and piano textures are satisfyingly varied, full of sparkling colours and dancing patterns. The composer is at his most inventive in the melismatic vocal writing, which is often ornamented with trills and mordents. The highest note comes only once but many phrases exploit the singer’s deeper register. The effect is, however, buoyant and lucid, with refined use of dynamic contrast, staccato, and accent.
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES (1934–2016)The Medium (1981)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter presents one of the most substantial works for voice by Peter Maxwell Davies. The piece was written for the late Mary Thomas, whose extraordinary range is here exploited to the full. The performer portrays a prodigious parade of colourful characters, with no holds barred as to extreme vocal effects and timbres. Although the singer will need a safe low F, and, occasionally an E, the upper range is not as daunting, since ‘normally sung’ notes go no higher than A. Others are treated with a variety of ‘spoken’ timbres, including blood-curdling shrieks, with a liberal use of glissandos. The score is mainly in standard notation, with a few of the more familiar twentieth-century innovations, such as the gradual thickening and thinning of ‘beams’ above groups of notes, to indicate accelerando and rallentando respectively.
THEA MUSGRAVE (b. 1928)A Suite o’Bairnsangs (1953)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses Thea Musgrave's settings of nursery rhymes from her native Scotland. The poems are aptly projected, in music of an approachable style, with some rhythmic quirks, all in an unmistakeably Scottish vein. A young and relatively inexperienced singer will feel happy and comfortable performing them, and should relish the challenge of enunciating the dialect words. For the faint-hearted, however, the author has made a straight English translation, but this could perhaps diminish the bracing effect of the piece. The composer has set the Scottish words meticulously, so some of the translations do not roll off quite so easily in the voice. Moreover, a light, clear tone is appropriate for the infectious, dancing lines, and there is plenty of contrast in mood and tempo, making it a beautifully balanced item for a recital.
PRIAULX RAINIER (1903–86)Cycle for Declamation (1954)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter looks at Priaulx Rainier’s piece for unaccompanied voice, Cycle for Declamation. Here, timeless, inspiring texts from John Donne’s Devotions (1624) receive music of the finest calibre. There are no flashy displays here, but a series of ringing phrases, not all of which lie easily in the voice at first. The work lies rather better for tenor than soprano, because of the tessitura, which often focuses around the top of the treble stave, where clear articulation could prove difficult with the higher vibrations. This is especially true of the first movement. The second exposes a potentially vulnerable, transitional area of the voice while requiring dynamic subtlety. The composer, ever-practical, suggests that the whole work can be transposed to make it more comfortable for other voices. This could, however, modify the gleaming colours resulting from the high pitches.
GEORGE ROCHBERG (1918–2005)Fantasies (1971)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines George Rochberg’s Fantasies, written as a present for his wife on their thirtieth wedding anniversary. A set of four haiku-like miniatures for medium voice and piano, Fantasies makes an ideal introduction to a modernist vocal idiom for those who have yet to lose their inhibitions and plunge into new territory. A flexible mezzo would perhaps be best suited to the diverse range of styles packed into such a small frame. Clear projection is essential, in view of the economy of the vocal writing, and a certain forthright strength, as well as a poised lightness. There are just a few moments of Sprechstimme, whispered as well as spoken, and a couple of long, arching melismas, which require considerable breath control. In contrast, speech rhythms are also deftly employed. It is the pianist, however, who has the lion's share in shaping the narrative and illustrating the texts, in a most satisfying part, full of wit and humour, and incorporating some challenging figurations.
RHIAN SAMUEL (b. 1944)The Hare in the Moon (1977)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter considers the mini-cantata, The Hare in the Moon, by Rhian Samuel. This work skilfully bridges the gap between Eastern and Western styles. Plain parlando writing is contrasted by a rich array of neo-baroque runs and melismas, and a dazzling variety of rhythmic patterns. The narration, which constitutes over half the piece, is propelled by sections of fast-moving, non-notated speech. The singer has to assume the characters of a fox, a monkey, and a hare, as well as a god disguised as an old man. Devices such as glissandos add to the fun. In contrast, ‘Threnody’ and ‘Envoi’ are arias in miniature: the first a virtuoso display piece, and the second, a tender reflection.
WILLIAM SCHUMAN (1910–1992)Time to the Old (1979)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter presents Time to the Old by William Schuman. This elegantly-written short cycle affords a brief but telling glimpse of Schuman’s sterling qualities as a composer. It certainly dispels any suspicions that angular lines lack lyricism and expressive freedom. The music moves at a steady pace, and the prevailing mood is contemplative and spiritual. Vocal lines dip and soar, and words fall naturally into place. Full-blooded histrionics are mostly absent; instead, there are many mellifluous, long-breathed phrases that allow the pitches to reveal their own intrinsic colourings—so precise is the composer’s aural imagination. The chapter showcases Schuman’s interpretative aspects and practicalities through this piece.
SHEILA SILVER (b. 1946)Transcending (1995)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter provides an example of Sheila Silver’s work. It features three distinctive, highly contrasting songs—an example of her writing on a smaller canvas—which form a nicely balanced cycle suitable for a flexible baritone with a characterful performing persona. The composer's style is immediately appealing, fluent, and colourful, incorporating a tinge of late romanticism within a modern idiom, but able to switch on the heat and embrace a more pungent rhythmic mode when needed. Standard notation is employed throughout, including time and key signatures. A substantial first song aptly depicts the mercurial moods and movement of the cat in the well-loved Yeats poem. The short, reflective H. D. Thoreau setting is followed by mordant, syncopated dance rhythms that convey the sardonic, bitter message of the final song based on the work of P. L. Dunbar.
HARRY SOMERS (1925–1999)Evocations (1966)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines Harry Somers’s Evocations. This piece could be said to be a prime example of 1960s vocal writing, especially in regard to its notation and its appetite for experimenting with vocal sounds. In four short movements, the work can prove fascinating and hypnotic in performance. The music comes across with bold energy as well as lyrical spaciousness and a refined aural sense. The composer shows a keen grasp of the interpretative possibilities, as copious performance notes indicate. Along with a wish to make his intentions clear for future generations, Somers leaves plenty of scope for personal creative input and characterization.
GILLIAN WHITEHEAD (b. 1941)Awa Herea (Braided Rivers) (1993)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter explores Gillian Whitehead’s Awa Herea. A personal and deeply felt response to the nature and folklore of New Zealand is always present in Whitehead’s music. The chapter illustrates how this is shown strongly in this cycle, for which she has composed her own text. Intimate spiritual identification with her heritage (she is one-eighth Maori) manifests itself, both in a special sensitivity to the sights and sounds of birds, beasts, plants, landscapes, and climate, and their significance in Maori culture, and in a fierce resistance to the commercial interests that threaten to destroy them. The work is divided into seven movements, some overlapping, making an exceptionally well-balanced whole.
MALCOLM WILLIAMSON (1931–2003)Celebration of Divine Love (1961)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter presents a song cycle by Malcolm Williamson, entitled Celebration of Divine Love. Williamson was a devout Catholic, and the influence of Olivier Messiaen (1908–92) is unmistakeable, especially in additive rhythms as well as sensuous harmonies. The soprano writing is rewardingly spectacular and the pianist too will be able to project driving rhythms and luscious colours. The musical language is highly accessible, with a strong harmonic sense, and pitch cues are frequently to be found in the piano part. The piece runs in one whole span, divided into subsections, which change markedly in pace and character. The broad sweep of the phrases should prove useful for consolidating vocal strength and control.
JAMES WILSON (1922–2005)First Frost (1988)
Authors: Manning Jane
Published: October 2020

This chapter discusses First Frost by James Wilson. This work showcases Wilson’s unfaltering taste, wit, and technical expertise. Drawing on a rich range of interests and experience, he possesses a flexible musical language, implicitly tonal, yet with a free-ranging chromaticism. Some gestures evoke an earlier generation of English composers, yet remain distinctively his, generating considerable emotional power. He sustains atmosphere especially well, and responds instinctively to the sensuous nature of syllables and the minutiae of their inflections. Furthermore, the texts offer a veritable cornucopia of memorable images, their biting perceptions needing no further adornment. They reflect eloquently on the relation between Man and Nature, especially the parallel between impending Death and the coming of Winter. Despite the often grim pictures presented, however, a sense of beauty and truth prevails in this piece.
Festivals, Amphictiones, and the Calendar
Authors: Rutherford Ian
Published: October 2020

This chapter examines the relation between the richly attested festival culture of Hittite Anatolia and Greece. The closest to Greek festivals are the local Hittite festivals described in cult inventories, where we get a sense of communal celebration. The big state festivals seem less close, though, paradoxically, these are the ones visiting foreign delegates from place like Greece might have witnessed. The Hittites texts also attest the operation of religious network, whch have been compared to Greek amphictonies. One of the striking differences is that unlike Greek festivals and those of some parts of the Ancient Near East, Hittite festivals do not seem to be celebrated on a fixed monthly calendar, but motivated by the seasons.