Herbert Howells (1892-1983)

Herbert Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucester .

He showed a keen interest in composition early in his life and, at the age of
eighteen, became a pupil of Herbert Brewer, Organist of Gloucester
Cathedral.
He remained an organist throughout his life and wrote many of his finest
works for the instrument. He also composed prolifically for choir.

His songs range widely in subject matter, from sorrowful to ecstatic, from
still nocturne to the boistrous and rustic. He was also particularly adept at
writing lullabies, as is common to many Eng. song writers. He was
potentially one of the finest English songwriters of the 20 th C. It is
lamentable that his output is small—ca. 40.

Unlike his close friend and mentor, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Howells never
collected or made direct use of folk songs. He did, however, accept their
importance as part of a wider musical heritage but preferred to allow church
modes and the pentatonic scale to play a more prominent part in the
construction of his output. In some of his works, Howells shows his ability to
incorporate a smooth melodic line with an almost disturbing harmonic
dissonance.

His style can be called a composite of Delius and V. Williams with his little
arabesque figures and rich chromatic harmonies. There is also a strong link
to Ravel in their penchant for antique dance rhythms and their love for
bittersweet diatonic dissonances. One can often detect an impressionistic
blur of polyphony disguising the imitative impulse. At times he borrows
clusters and uses “bluesy” falsely related 3rds from jazz with add spice to his
tonal language.

His songs are essentially melodic in impulse, using melisma at times to lend
a rapturous lyricism unusual in English song composers. Voice and keyboard
are thoroughly integrated in imitation and echo, but also in deeper ways.
Like Gurney, Howells also knew how to use silences, as we will hear in the
next piece King David.

Listening selections on Naxos:

Gavotte, Come sing and dance, tr. 12 CHAN6653

King David NI5033, tr. 19