Arnold Bax: Information from Answers.com

Born: Nov 08, 1883
Died: Oct 03, 1953
Active: '40s, '70s
Major Genres: Drama, Action
Career Highlights: Oliver Twist, Savage Sisters
First Major Screen Credit: Oliver Twist (1948)

Biography

Sir Arnold Bax had a short but notable career in movies. He composed the scores for only two films (both in the '40s), but they were among the better scores of their era in British cinema, rivalling the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sir William Walton. Bax came from a wealthy family and enjoyed the best education one could acquire in late Victorian and Edwardian England, studying at the Royal Academy of Music in the first decade of the 20th century. A man of many parts -- composer, poet, author, editor, and mystic -- his music was post-Romantic in style, heavily influenced by the work of Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel, but with a decidedly Celtic flavor. Where Stravinsky and Debussy found inspiration from Russian and French legends, Bax's compositions were steeped in a peculiarly Gaelic exoticism, which had grown from his love of the poet William Butler Yeats. Bax's early works had titles such as "In the Fairy Hills" and "The Garden of Fand," growing out of the myths and legends of the British Isles. He found a limited audience, which concerned him little as he had more than sufficient wealth to live, and for the first 15 years of his career Bax was relatively little known, even in England. It was only in the mid-'30s, when his cause was taken up by conductor Sir Adrian Boult that he achieved some measure of popularity from his 1919 symphonic poem, Tintagel, inspired by the myths and legends of King Arthur. In his thirties and forties, he moved more toward absolute music and a more formalized framework for his music, writing seven symphonies that were similarly elusive in their appeal at the time, though recorded at least twice by the end of the 20th century. At the start of the '40s, as he neared the age of 60, the composer was anticipating his retirement. Ironically, it was at this point -- when his composing activities had, for the most part, ceased to exist -- that Bax was made Master of the King's Music (the musical equivalent of Poet Laureate) and given a knighthood. Thus, his screen career dates from this period.

During World War II, virtually the whole of the British artistic and intellectual community (apart from a smattering of true conscientious objectors) felt obliged to contribute to the Allied war effort. Bax was persuaded by conductor Muir Mathieson to write the score for the Crown Film Unit's patriotic short Malta, G.C., telling of the island of Malta and its resistance to Axis bombings during the first three years of war. The result was a happy circumstance for everyone except Bax, who didn't take well (at age 59) to the specialized requirements for soundtrack composition; he didn't respond with great enthusiasm to the images or scenes and felt detached from the material on which he was working. His music, principally a group of marches and dances, underscored the quiet heroism of the Maltese people. The rousing finale included material that the composer used again in his 1945 "Victory March" and his "Coronation March" in 1953 for the crowning of Elizabeth II, both of these pieces being "obligatory" compositions as Master of the King's Music.

In 1948, Bax scored his only dramatic film, David Lean's Oliver Twist, which today is regarded as one of the finest adaptations of a work of fiction but had a troubled post-production history, which made it difficult for audiences in America to appreciate Bax's music. Once again it was Mathieson who prevailed upon him to write the music. Bax never cared for the novel upon which the movie was based, but found inspiration from the movie itself, rising to the occasion and producing a score (nearly an hour in length) that seemed to capture not only the subtleties of the tones Lean had shot, but its ironic edges as well. Fifty years later, musicologist Graham Parlett assembled the entirety of Bax's music for the movie into a viable edition that was recorded by the BBC Philharmonic. Strangely enough, it wasn't until the '70s that most Americans got to hear Bax's full contribution to the movie. His music got caught up in a protracted struggle between producers and the American censors over the finished film's content. Lean had, apparently, created too explicit a masterpiece, true to the spirit and content of Dickens' book in every essential respect. The anti-Semitic attributes were accepted parts of 19th century English literature and culture. The novel's depiction of Fagin had proved less well-received among modern readers, Jewish and non-Jewish alike (much as elements of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn proved difficult to explain to readers in the second half of the 20th century), and those very elements had been brought out in high relief in Alec Guinness' 1948 portrayal of the story, making no allowances for modern sensibilities. There had been other portrayals of Fagin before; actor/director Irving Pichel had given one such portrayal (including a memorable prison scene) in Monogram's threadbare but interesting version of the story from the early '30s. But Guinness was almost too good in the role, and his makeup, complete with hooked nose, was impossible to ignore. The problem was an outgrowth of institutionalized and popular anti-Semitism which had existed in England at least as far back as Henry II and was reinforced by religious wars across the centuries. There was both upper- and lower-class anti-Semitism present in England well into the '30 and usually wasn't considered notable; it could even be found in such innocuous works as John Buchan's novel The 39 Steps -- filmed three times (once by Hitchcock) and a staple of junior high school reading lists into the '60s -- in which an ally of the hero is fixated on the idea of "Jew anarchists."

In 1948, however, the matter of anti-Semitism was too "hot," especially in the glare of Hollywood and of the various censors' new sensitivity in the wake of World War II. Thus, Oliver Twist was deemed unreleasable in the United States. Even Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures (who was never a mogul sensitive to "art" on more than a handshake basis) marveled at its content, but told Lean that he would have to reshoot some scenes before it could be released. This, however, was impossible since the movie's young star John Howard Davies had long outgrown the part. Ideally, the movie would have been released with an explanation -- that Dickens was writing of his time, for an audience that accepted certain prejudices, guilty for the same explanation that Shakespeare used with The Merchant of Venice -- but instead, the movie was held back from the American public until 1951. When it was released, 11 minutes, including the scene accompanying "Fagin's Romp," were removed. Only Bernard Herrmann's recording of the suite in the '70s held that part of Bax's music for listeners in the United States. Finally, in the middle of that decade, Janus Films released a full-length edition of the movie to television, and Oliver Twist was later shown complete in repertory and museum settings and on home video, giving American audiences their first opportunity to take in the movie and its music intact. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of Romanticism and Impressionism, always with a strong Celtic influence. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation. Bax’s poetry and stories, which he wrote under the pseudonym of Dermot O’Byrne, reflect his profound affinity with Irish poet William Butler Yeats and are largely written in the tradition of the Irish Literary Revival.

Sir Arnold Bax, KCVO
Born	8 November 1883(1883-11-08) Streatham, London, England
Died	3 October 1953 (aged 69) Cork, Ireland
Occupation	Composer

Life

Early years

Bax was born in Pendennis Road, Streatham, London, into a Victorian upper-middle-class family of Dutch descent. He grew up in Ivy Bank, a mansion on top of Haverstock Hill, Hampstead where he attended Heath Mount School.^[1] In Bax, A Composer and His Times (2007) Lewis Foreman suggests that, because of the family affluence, Bax never had to take a paid position and was free to pursue most of his interests. From an early age, Bax showed that he had a powerful intellect and great musical talent, especially at the keyboard. He often enjoyed playing the Wagner operas on piano. One of his first intimate meetings with art music was through Tristan und Isolde and its influence is seen in many of his later works, Tintagel for example. Bax was taught at home, but received his first formal musical education at age 16 from Cecil Sharp and others at the Hampstead Conservatory. He was accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in 1900 where he remained until 1905. At the Academy, he was taught composition by Frederick Corder, the Piano by Tobias Matthay and the Clarinet by Egerton. In his composition classes, Corder emphasized the examples of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner and pointed to their liberal approach to classical form, which led Bax to develop a similar attitude. He had an exceptional ability to sight-read and play complex orchestral scores at the piano, which won him several medals at the Academy and he also won prizes for best musical composition, including the Battison-Haynes prize and the competitive Charles Lucas Medal.

Bax discovers Ireland

Bax had a sensitive and searching soul and drew inspiration from a wide range of sources. He was a voracious reader of literature and in this way he happened upon William Butler Yeats's The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems in 1902. He proved highly receptive to the soft, melancholy moods of the Irish Literary Revival and found in Yeats a powerful muse, from which he derived a life-time of inspiration. He developed an infatuation with Ireland and began travelling extensively there. He visited the most isolated and secluded places, eventually discovering the little Donegal village Glencolumbkille, to which he returned annually for almost 30 years. Here, he drew inspiration from the landscape and the sea, and from the culture and life of the local Irish peasants, many of whom he regarded as close friends. His encounter with the poetry of Yeats and the landscapes of Ireland resulted in many new works, both musical and literary. The String Quartet in E (1903), which later was worked into the orchestral tone poem Cathaleen-Ni-Houlihan (1905), are fine examples of how he began to reflect Ireland in his music. Not only did he emerge as a surprisingly mature composer with these works, he also developed in them floating and undulating 'impressionistic' musical textures using orchestral techniques not yet heard — not even from Claude Debussy. Many of the works he wrote in the period from 1903 to 1916 can be seen as musical counterparts to the Irish Literary Revival. The tone-poems Into The Twilight (1908), In The Faery Hills (1909) and Rosc-catha [Battle hymn] (1910) echo the themes of the Revival and especially the soft, dreamy mood of many poems and stories.

Conglomerate of influences

The Irish influence is only one of many found in Bax's music. An early affinity with Norway and the literature of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson brought themes and moods from the Nordic countries into his music. From 1905 to 1911, Bax constantly alternated between using Nordic and Celtic themes in his compositions. He even attempted to teach himself some Norwegian and, in the song The Flute (1907) for voice and piano, he successfully set an original poem by Bjørnson to music. Later examples of Bax’s Nordic affinity include Hardanger for two pianos (1927) and the orchestral tone-poem The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew (1931).

In 1910, a youthful fling with a Ukrainian girl, Natalia Skarginska, brought Bax to St. Petersburg, Moscow and Lubny, near Kiev, which led to a fascination for Russian and Slavonic themes. The relationship with Skarginska resulted in an emotional agony from which he never completely recovered. His conflicting feelings are perhaps reflected in the First Piano Sonata in F sharp (1910, revised 1917-20). The Russian and Ukrainian influence can also be heard in two works for solo piano from 1912, Nocturne–May Night in the Ukraine and Gopak (Russian dance).

In 1915 appeared In a Vodka Shop also for solo piano. In 1919, Bax was one of four British composers to be commissioned to write orchestral music to serve as interludes at Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in London. For the commission, he incorporated the three above-mentioned piano works of Russian themes into Russian Suite for orchestra. In 1920, he wrote incidental music to J. M. Barrie’s whimsical play The Truth About the Russian Dancers, his last work based on a clearly Russian theme. The Russian influence may be found in many of Bax's other scores and is especially predominant in his first three symphonies.

Rathgar circle

In January 1911, not long after he returned to Britain, Bax married Elsita Sobrino, a childhood friend. They settled in Bushy Park Road, Rathgar, Dublin. Here Bax’s brother Clifford introduced them to the intellectual circle which met at the house of the poet, painter and mystic George William Russell. Bax had already had some of his poems and short stories published in Dublin and to the circle he was simply known by the pseudonym, Dermot O’Byrne (the name was possibly inspired by a renowned family of traditional musicians in Donegal).

As Dermot O’Byrne, he was specifically noted for Seafoam and Firelight, published in London by the Orpheus Press in 1909 and numerous short stories and poems published in different media in Dublin. It was at Russell’s house where Bax one night met Irish Republican Patrick Pearse. According to Bax, they got on very well and, although they met only once, the execution of Pearse following the Easter Rebellion in 1916 prompted him to compose several laments, the most noted being In Memoriam Patric Pearse (1916), which contains the dedication ‘I gCuimhne ar Phádraig Mac Piarais’.

Alienation, conflict and success

The threat of war led to the dissolution of the Rathgar Circle as many members fled Ireland and Europe. Bax and his family returned to London; it was the loss of a blissful life. A heart condition prevented Bax from enlisting, and he spent the war years composing profusely. Although World War I unleashed previously unimagined horrors upon the world, it was the Easter Rebellion and the destruction of Dublin that especially disturbed Bax.

As his Ireland — a haven and a retreat — was lost to bitter conflict and war, he sought refuge in a liaison with the younger pianist Harriet Cohen. What had started out as a purely professional alliance — Cohen playing and championing Bax's piano music — developed into a passionate relationship. Yet their love could not be sanctioned by the contemporary social code, which brought to both parties considerable emotional suffering.

This difficult period in Bax’s life led to the composition of several attractive tone-poems, including Summer Music (1916), Tintagel (1917) and November Woods (1914-1917). In Tintagel, Bax reached back to legends and dreams — specifically that of the doomed lovers Tristan and Isolde. Tintagel is undoubtedly the best known of Bax’s tone-poems and includes a colourful evocation of the sea. Bax's relationship with Cohen led some commentators to assume a Freudian link between Bax’s alleged sexual passion and the sea-theme in Tintagel.

However, the opening of Harriet Cohen's private papers and the research into them by scholars, such as the Norwegian musicologist Thomas Elnaes, indicates that such a link is at best speculative. Bax's works from this time reflect deep psychological conflicts that point forward to the passionate yet deeply troubled First Symphony in E flat, completed in 1922. After the war, British music was in demand as never before in England; and Bax won considerable fame with his works, which were widely performed.

Morar period

From 1928 onwards, Bax ceased to travel to Glencolumbkille and instead began his annual migration to Morar, west Scottish Highlands, to work. He would sketch his compositions in London and take them to the Station Hotel at Morar for the winter, in order to orchestrate them. At this time, he found a new love in Mary Gleaves; and she accompanied him to Scotland. In the Morar period, which lasted until the outbreak of World War II, Bax rediscovered his interest in Norway and the Nordic countries, and found a new musical hero in Sibelius. At Morar, he orchestrated Symphonies Nos. 3 to 7 and several of his finest orchestral works, including the three Northern Ballads. (No. 5 is actually dedicated to Sibelius and shares something of his stylistic austerity).

All seven of Bax's symphonies were composed within a relatively short span of time and are perhaps the most coherent cycle of symphonies by any composer. They reflect his many influences and are profound works of art with a deep psychological dimension tied to evocations of scenery. The symphonies earned Bax a reputation as the successor to Elgar, as Vaughan Williams, for instance, had only completed four symphonies by the time Bax had completed his seventh.

Peter Pan of composers

Bax received a knighthood in 1937 (Knight Bachelor), but he was not entirely prepared to enjoy this honour. He contended that there was a conflict between the knighthood and his profound affinity with Ireland, but accepted nonetheless. A feeling that his creative energies were drained started to manifest itself. Bax explained to his friends that he felt tired, restless and lonely. He contended that he had a hard time ‘growing up’. His increasing age depressed him, and he started to drink heavily. He also felt alienated by the new modernistic fashions in music, and realised, to his sorrow, that his style was falling out of critical favour.

In 1942, Bax was appointed Master of the King's Musick, a decision the British musical establishment was not altogether happy with. To many, Bax was an atypical English composer, some especially pointing to the 'Irishness' of his music.

Of his later works, only the film scores for Malta G.C. and Oliver Twist were really successful. They earned Bax a renewed (and deserved) public acclaim, but their popularity could not compensate for his being considered old-fashioned by many younger composers and critics. He retreated from the public scene and lived quietly at The White Horse Hotel in Storrington, Sussex.

Ireland reaches out

In 1929, the Father Mathew Feis, a competitive music festival organized by the Capuchin Fathers, invited Bax to become adjudicator. It was Irish pianist Tilly Fleischmann who suggested him, knowing that he was familiar with Ireland and Irish conditions. This was also the first time Bax met Irish musicians in Ireland, other than folk musicians. In Cork, he was introduced to such outstanding musicians as the pianist Charles Lynch and singer Maura O'Connor, both of whom went on to give many performances of Bax’s music.

Bax’s first visit to Cork marked the beginning of a 24 year friendship with the Fleischmann family. As performances of Bax’s music grew increasingly rare in Britain, Tilly Fleischmann demonstrated to Bax that his music had wide appeal in Ireland. Bax, however, did little to act on this, or to support further efforts; and his music was not heard nationwide in Ireland until Aloys Fleischmann began conducting his orchestral works with the Irish Radio Orchestra in Dublin just after the end of the war. In 1946, Bax became external examiner with both University College Cork and University College Dublin, and he also gave individual tuition to aspiring young Irish composers. He received an honorary doctorate degree from the National University of Ireland in 1947.

In 1953, Bax was further honoured by appointment as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO), an honour within the Queen's personal gift. He died during a visit to the Fleischmanns later that year, possibly from a complication of his heart condition. One of his last compositions was Coronation March for Queen Elizabeth II.

Not long before he died, Bax was asked by the editor of the The World of Music which were his own preferred works. He provided the following selection:

The Garden of Fand (1916)
Symphony No. 3 (1929)
Winter Legends (1930)
The Tale the Pine Trees Knew (1931)
Symphony No. 6 (1935)

On another occasion, he said, of his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, which had been commissioned by and dedicated to Gaspar Cassadó, "The fact that nobody has ever taken up this work has been one of the major disappointments of my musical life".^[2]

He died at age 69 and was interred in St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork.

Research and scholarship

The first biography of Bax was Colin Scott-Sutherland’s Arnold Bax, published in 1973. It offers a description of Bax's life and some insightful analysis of his music, especially the large-scale works. Scott-Sutherland also published the works of Dermot O'Byrne (Bax's literary pseudonym): Ideala: Poems and Some Early Love Letters of Arnold Bax including the Collected Poems of Dermot O'Byrne (2001). Bax’s principal biographer, however, is the English writer Lewis Foreman. Foreman's first major contribution to Bax scholarship was a 1983 biography entitled Bax, A Composer and His Times. A second edition appeared in 1988 and a third edition in February 2007.

The principal primary source for information regarding Bax’s life and philosophy is his anecdotal autobiography Farewell My Youth (1943), which, for personal reasons, ends at the year 1914. In it Bax attempted to create several myths about himself, but many of his own statements are contradicted by things he wrote elsewhere. Lewis Foreman's 1992 edition of Bax's autobiography is the most recent currently available. Entitled Farewell My Youth, and Other Writings by Arnold Bax, it also includes photographs and some letters. Another compendium of primary source material is Cuchullan Among the Guns (1998), a selection of letters from Bax's correspondence with the British conductor Christopher Whelen, edited by Dennis Andrews.

A significant event in Bax musicology was the publication of Graham Parlett's exhaustive list of Bax's works entitled A Catalogue of the Works of Sir Arnold Bax (1999). Recognising Parlett's achievement and contribution, Bax musicologists have now started to use his chronological numbering system as a universal system of reference (e.g. Bax's celebrated Third Symphony would be "Parlett #297" or simply P. 297). The doctoral dissertation of Dr. Paul R. Ludden and the M. Litt. dissertation of Thomas Elnaes (University of Dublin, Trinity College, 2006) use the succinct Parlett Numbers exclusively. As a composer Graham Parlett has also edited and orchestrated several Bax scores, including the Russian Suite and the film music to Oliver Twist.

Recordings

After his death, Bax's music fell into neglect. Bax had maintained that his was a Romantic outlook. Accordingly, he distanced himself from musical modernism and especially Arnold Schoenberg's Serialism, which was embraced by institutions worldwide. He was increasingly pigeon-holed as a 'musical pastoralist' together with Vaughan Williams and others, and as a result, orchestras which had once given his work frequent performances abandoned the playing of it.

Because of this decline, Bax's music was slow to reach recording. As late as the mid-sixties, there were only two recordings of his symphonies, one long deleted and the other on an obscure label. But from 1966 onwards, a revival of his music began with a series of recordings on Richard Itter's Lyrita Label. By the centenary of his birth, in 1983 much of his music was available in modern recordings. In 2003, Chandos released a new stereo album of the complete scores to Oliver Twist and Malta G.C.. The Lyrita recordings of the First and Seventh Symphonies were re-issued by Lyrita in 2006. The Lyrita recording of the Sixth Symphony, only previously available on LP, was re-issued in June 2007. The Lyrita recordings of the Second and Fifth Symphonies, only previously available on LP, were re-issued by Lyrita in February 2008.

Naxos Records have released a complete cycle of Bax’s symphonies and tone poems and also much of his chamber music. Chandos Records have also provided two complete symphony cycles. The first, released throughout the 1980s and 1990s with the late Bryden Thomson and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for all except the Fourth Symphony, which was played by the Ulster Orchestra, and the second, released in 2003, by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the late Vernon Handley. Notwithstanding such gramophonic championship, even today Bax’s music is hardly ever performed in concerts.

Although he was an able pianist, Bax's appearances as a performer were few and far between. There are recordings of him partnering with May Harrison and Lionel Tertis in sonatas by Frederick Delius and himself. He made a rare concert appearance at the memorial concert for Peter Warlock in 1930.

His piano music has been recorded by (amongst others) Iris Loveridge, John McCabe, Eric Parkin and Ashley Wass. No complete survey of his piano music has yet been recorded, however.

As of February 2008, one disc is waiting to be issued, though a release date has not yet been announced - a second disc of Tone-Poems from Handley and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (Chandos).

Works

Ballets

Tamara (1911, orch. 2000)
From Dusk till Dawn (1917)
The Truth about the Russian Dancers (1920)

Orchestral

Symphonies

Tone poems

Cathaleen-ni-Hoolihan (1905)
Into The Twilight (1908)
In The Faery Hills (1909)
Rosc-catha (1910)
Christmas Eve (1912, revised c.1921)
Nympholept (1912, orch. 1915, revised 1935)
The Garden of Fand (1913, orch. 1916)
Spring Fire (1913)
In Memoriam (1916)
November Woods (1917)
Tintagel (1917, orch. 1919)
Summer Music (1917, orch. 1921, revised 1932)
The Happy Forest (1922)
The Tale the Pine Trees Knew (1931)
Northern Ballad No. 1 (1927)
Northern Ballad No. 2 (1934)
Prelude for a Solemn Occasion (Northern Ballad No. 3) (1927, orch. 1933)
A Legend (1944)

Other orchestral works

Variations for Orchestra (Improvisations) (1904)
A Song of War and Victory (1905)
On the Sea Shore (1908, orch. 1984)
Festival Overture (1911, revised 1918)
Dance of Wild Irravel (1912)
Four Orchestral Pieces (1912-13)
Three Pieces for Small Orchestra (1913, revised 1928)
Symphonic Scherzo (1917, revised 1933)
Russian Suite (1919)
Mediterranean (1922)
Cortège (1925)
Romantic Overture (1926)
Overture, Elegy and Rondo (1927)
Three Pieces (1928)
Overture to a Picaresque Comedy (1930)
Sinfonietta (1932)
Saga Fragment (1932)
Rogue's Comedy Overture (1936)
Overture to Adventure (1936)
London Pageant (1937)
Paean (1938)
Salute to Sydney (Fanfare) (1943)
Work in Progress (Overture) (1943)
Victory March (1945)
The Golden Eagle (Incidental Music) (1945)
Two Royal Wedding Fanfares (1947)
Coronation March (1952)

Concertante

Symphonic Variations, for piano and orchestra (1918)
Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra (1920)
Winter Legends, for piano and orchestra (1930)
Cello Concerto (1932)
Violin Concerto (1938)
Piano Concertino (1939)
Morning Song, for piano and orchestra (1946)
Concertante for Three Solo Instruments and Orchestra (1949)
Concertante for Orchestra with Piano (Left Hand) (1949)
Variations on the name Gabriel Fauré for Harp & String Orchestra (1949)

Chamber

One player

Valse, for harp (1931)
Rhapsodic Ballad, for cello (1939)

Two players

Harp
- "Fantasy Sonata for Harp and Viola" (1927)
- Sonata for Flute and Harp (1928)

Violin
- Violin Sonata No. 1 (1910)
- Legend, for violin and piano, in one movement (1915)
- Violin Sonata No. 2 (1915, revised 1922)
- Ballad, for violin and piano (1916)
- Violin Sonata No. 3 (1927)
- Ballad, for violin and piano (1929)
- Violin Sonata in F (1928)

Viola
- Concert Piece for Viola and Piano (1904)
- Viola Sonata (1922)
- "Fantasy Sonata for Harp and Viola" (1927)
- Legend, for viola and piano (1929)

Cello
- Folk-Tale, for cello & piano (1918)
- Cello Sonata (1923)
- Cello Sonatina (1933)
- Legend-Sonata, for cello & piano (1943)

Flute
- Four Pieces for Flute and Piano (1912, revised 1915 & 1945)
- Sonata for Flute and Harp (1928)

Clarinet Sonata (1934)

Three players

Trio in One Movement for Piano, Violin, and Viola (1906)
Elegiac Trio, for flute, viola, and harp (1916)
Piano Trio in Bb (1946)

Four players

String Quartet No. 1 in G major (1918)
Piano Quartet, in one movement (1922)
String Quartet No. 2 (1925)
String Quartet No. 3 in F (1936)

Five players

Quintet in G (1908)
Piano Quintet in G minor (1915)
Quintet for Harp and Strings, in one movement (1919)
Oboe Quintet (1922)
String Quintet, in one movement (1933)

Six or more players

In Memoriam, sextet for cor anglais, harp & string quartet (1916)
Nonet (1930)
Octet (1934)
Threnody and Scherzo, octet in two movements (1936)
Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Harp and String Quartet (1936)

Piano

One piano

Clavierstücke (Juvenilia) (1897-8)
Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (1898)
Piano Sonata in D minor (1900)
Marcia Trionfale (1900)
White Peace (Arranged by Ronald Stevenson 1907)
Concert Valse in Eb (1910)
Piano Sonata No. 1 (1910, revised 1917-20)
Piano Sonata in F# minor (1910, revised, 1911, 1919 & 1921)
Two Russian Tone-Pictures (1912)
Nympholept (1912)
Scherzo for Piano (1913)
Toccata for Piano (1913)
From the Mountains of Home (Arranged by Peter warlock) (1913)
The Happy Forest (1914)
In the Night (1914)
Apple-Blossom-Time (1915)
In a Vodka Shop (1915)
The Maiden with the Daffodil (1915) )
A Mountain Mood (1915)
The Princess’s Rose Garden (1915)
Sleepy-Head (1915)
Winter Waters (1915)
Dream in Exile (1916)
Nereid (1916)
On a May Evening (1918)
A Romance (1918)
The Slave Girl (1919)
What the Minstrel Told Us (1919)
Whirligig (1919)
Piano Sonata No. 2 (1919, revised 1920)
Burlesque (1920)
Ceremonial Dance (1920)
A Country-Tune (1920)
A Hill Tune (1920)
Lullaby (1920)
Mediterranean (1920)
Serpent Dance (1920)
Water Music (1920)
Piano Sonata in E-flat (1921)
Piano Sonata No. 3 (1926)
Pæan (c.1928)
Piano Sonata No. 4 (1932)
A Legend (1935)
Piano Sonata in B flat Salzburg (1937)
O Dame get up and bake your pies (1945)
Suite on the Name Gabriel Fauré (1945)
Four Pieces for Piano (1947)
Two Lyrical Pieces for Piano (1948)

Two pianos

Fantasia for Two Pianos (1900)
Festival Overture (Arrangement of orchestral work 1911)
Moy Mell (1916)
Mediterranean (Arranged for three hands by H. Rich 1920)
Hardanger (1927)
The Poisoned Fountain (1928)
The Devil that tempted St Anthony (1928)
Sonata for Two Pianos (1929)
Red Autumn (1931)

Film music

Malta, G. C. (1942)
Oliver Twist (1948)

Vocal

Choral

Fatherland (Runeberg, tr. C. Bax) [tenor solo] (1907, revised 1934)
A Christmas Carol (Anon.) [arranged for SATB by Hubert Dawkes] (1909)
Enchanted Summer (Shelley) [two soprano solos] (1910)
Variations sur ‘Cadet Rousselle’ (French trad.) [arranged by Max Saunders] (1918)
Of a rose I sing a song (Anon.) [SATB, harp, cello, double bass] (1920)
Now is the Time of Christymas (Anon.) [TB, flute, piano] (1921)
Mater, ora Filium (Anon.) [SSAATTBB] (1921)
This Worldes Joie (Anon.) [SATB] (1922)
The Boar’s Head (Anon.) [TTBB] (1923)
I sing of a maiden that is makeless (Anon.) [SAATB] (1923)
To the Name above every Name (Crashaw) [soprano solo] (1924)
St Patrick’s Breastplate (Anon.) [SATB] (1924)
Walsinghame (Raleigh) [tenor, obbligato soparano) (1926)
Lord, Thou hast told us (Washbourne) [hymn for SATB] (1930)
The Morning Watch (Vaughan) [SATB] (1935)
5 Fantasies on Polish Christmas Carols (trans. Śliwiński) [unison trebles] (1942)
5 Greek Folksongs (trans. Michel-Dmitri Calvocoressi) [SATB] (1942)
To Russia (Masefield) [baritone solo] (1944)
Gloria [SATB] (1945)
Nunc Dimittis [SATB] (1945)
Te Deum [SATB] (1945)
Epithalamium (Spenser) [SATB in unison] (1947)
Magnificat [SATB] (1948)
Happy Birthday to you (Hill) [arr. SATB] (1951)
What is it like to be young and fair? (C. Bax) [SSAAT] (1953)

Songs with orchestra

2 Nocturnes [soprano] (1911)
3 Songs [high voice] (1914)
Song of the Dagger (Strettell and Sylva) [bass] (1914)
The Bard of the Dimbovitza (Strettel and Sylva) [mezzo-soprano] (1914, revised 1946)
Glamour (O’Byrne) [high voice] (1921, orchestrated by Rodney Newton 1987)
A Lyke-Wake (Anon.) [high voice] (1908, orchestrated 1934)
Wild Almond (Trench) [high voice] (1924, orchestrated 1934)
Eternity (Herrick) [high voice] (1934)
O Dear! What can the matter be? (trad. arr. Bax)

Songs with chamber ensemble

Aspiration (Dehmel) [arranged for high voice w/violin, cello, & piano] (1909)
My eyes for beauty pine (Bridges) [high voice with string quartet] (c.1921)
O Mistress mine (Shakespeare) [high voice with string quartet] (c.1921)

Songs with piano

The Grand Match (O'Neill) (1903)
To My Homeland (Gwynn) (1904)
A Celtic Song Cycle (Macleod) (1904)
- Eilidh my Fawn
- Closing Doors
- The Dark Eyes to Mine
- A Celtic Lullaby
- At the Last
When We Are Lost (Arnold Bax) (1905)
From the Uplands to the Sea (Morris) (1905)
Leaves, Shadows and Dreams (Macleod) (1905)
In the Silence of the Woods (Macleod) (1905)
Green Branches (Macleod) (1905)
The Fairies (Allingham) (1905)
Golden Guendolen (Morris) (1905)
The Song in the Twilight (Freda Bax) (1905)
Mircath: Viking-Battle-Song (Macleod) (1905)
A Hushing Song (Macleod) (1906)
I Fear Thy Kisses Gentle Maiden (Shelley) (1906)
Ballad: The Twa Corbies [recitation with piano] ('Border Minstrelsy') (1906)
Magnificat (St. Luke 1.46-55) (1906)
The Blessed Damozel (Rossetti) (1906)
5 Traditional Songs of France (1920)

References

^ Biography of Bax at boosey.com
^ Baxworks

Bibliography

Corder, Frederick. A History of The Royal Academy of Music from 1822 to 1922 (London: Fredrick Corder, 1922).

O’Byrne, Dermot. Poems by Arnold Bax, collected, selected and edited by Lewis Foreman, together with two previously unpublished songs by Bax to his own words, Lewis Foreman (ed.), (London: Thames Publishing, 1979).

De Barra, Séamas. "Arnold Bax, The Fleischmanns and Cork", The Journal of Music in Ireland 5/1 (January–February 2005): 24–30.

De Barra, Séamas. "Into the Twilight: Arnold Bax and Ireland", The Journal of Music in Ireland 4/3 (March–April 2004): 25–29.

Elnaes, Thomas. "An Anglo-Irish Composer: New Perspectives on the Creative Achievements of Sir Arnold Bax", Master's Dissertation, University of Dublin, Trinity College, 2006.

Fleischmann, Tilly. "Some reminiscences of Arnold Bax", 12 May 2005.

Fry, Helen. "Music and Men, the Life and Loves of Harriet Cohen", The History Press, September 2008.

Foreman, Lewis, Bax. A composer and his times (1st edn, Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1983; 2nd edn, Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 1987; 3rd edn, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2007).

Foreman, Lewis (ed.). Farewell, My Youth and other writings by Arnold Bax (Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1992; now Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.).

Foreman, Lewis and Susan Foreman. London–A Musical Gazetteer (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005).

Parlett, Graham. A Catalogue Of The Works Of Sir Arnold Bax (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999).

Scott-Sutherland, Colin. Arnold Bax (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1973).

Scott-Sutherland, Colin (ed.). Ideala – Love Letters and Poems of Arnold Bax (Petersfield, Hampshire: Fand Music Press, 2001).

White, Harry. The Keeper’s Recital: Music and Cultural History in Ireland, 1770–1970 (Cork: Cork University Press, 1998).

British Broadcasting Radio 3. "Arnold Bax", Composer of the Week, 29 July 2003.

External links

Biographical links

Sir Arnold Bax, an extensive archive of reviews and essays on Arnold Bax
Music & Men, a biographical website dedicated to Bax's lover, the pianist Harriet Cohen

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Arnold Bax