Fand IncWessex Press

This extended interview of Carey Blyton by his friend and former pupil Peter Thompson was conducted at the very end of 1999, only a couple of years before Carey died – at a time when his final compositions were already conceived, if not yet written down. Over around twenty pages, the interview discusses many aspects of Carey Blyton’s life and musical career, and includes a detailed account of the story behind Bananas in Pyjamas.

Second Edition: Copies of the original edition ran out in Carey Blyton’s 80th anniversary year, so Fand decided to revamp the publication and produce a new edition with extra material. The interview itself is unchanged except for the correction of minor errors and the addition of a few extra details relating to recent publications. However, a new four-page essay by Peter Thompson, written for the 80th anniversary year, has also been included, and the booklet is laid out in an attractive new style of presentation. The new edition was launched at the Carey Blyton & Friends 80th Anniversary Concert.

The Sonata for ’Cello and Piano is a long single-movement work written in 1981 for the ’cellist Pamela George. Alongside his symphonies and the opera Hamlet, the ’Cello Sonata is one of John Barton Armstrong’s most important works. It was first performed at St John’s, Smith Square on 14th May 1987 by Markus Stocker and Michael Dussek. The same duo gave the first broadcast performance in February 1988 on BBC Radio 3. The work has now received its first commercial recording, by Lionel Handy and Nigel Clayton, on the CD From Bohemia to Wessex (available from Fand).

The information on this page is retained for archival purposes. See the Publicity images section at the foot of the page for a few photographs from the concert. Thanks to John Mitchell for the first two photographs and Richard Hallas for the third.

A programme of songs and piano solos, interspersed with readings from nonsense verse, celebrating the 80th Anniversary of Carey Blyton’s birth, with:

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• Alison Smart, soprano (member of the BBC Singers)
• Katharine Durran, piano

This important event will feature primarily the work of Carey Blyton, along with that of his friends and pupils, such as Frank Bayford, John Mitchell and Peter Thompson, together with music by Warlock and Moeran (Blyton was a member of the Warlock Society and wrote a radio play about Warlock and Moeran).

Also featured will be three world premiere performances: Sir Arnold Bax’s Welcome, Somer, Peter Thompson’s Dawn and In the Highlands by George Butterworth.

Date & Venue

Date:	Saturday, 19th May 2012 at 7:00 pm
Venue:	The Warehouse
	13 Theed Street
	London SE1 8ST
	(near Waterloo station; see map to the right)

Tickets

Entry is by souvenir programme. The ticket price is £12, and postage is free. To book, either use the ‘Add to Cart’ button at the head of this page to order online via PayPal, or send a cheque, payable to Fand Music Press, to Fand at the address to be found on the Contact/Info page. Spaces are limited, so you are strongly advised to book well in advance.

If you have further enquiries, please phone Fand on 01730 267341.

Programme summary

Carey Blyton	Lachrymae – In Memoriam John Dowland Two Pensive Songs Three Impressions Prayers from the Ark (Selection) Lyrics from the East Dirge for St Patrick’s Night Park Lane Stroll A Ghost from the Past Indigo Blues The Flea Readings from Dr Shinfiddler’s Musical Zoo
George Butterworth	In the Highlands	– World premiere performance
Sir Arnold Bax	Welcome, Somer	– World premiere performance
Peter Thompson	Dawn	– World premiere performance
E. J. Moeran	Six Songs of Seumas O’Sullivan (Selection)
Peter Warlock	Songs (Selection)
John Mitchell	The Half-moon Westers Low
Derek Foster	Two Folk Tunes
Frank Bayford	Songs for Children’s Dreams

Full programme details

In 1914, Bax composed Three Rondels by Chaucer for high voice and piano, of which only the first, Roundel, was ever published (in Seven Selected Songs, J. W. Chester, 1919); the other two, Welcome, Somer and Of her Mercy, remained in manuscript (British Library, Add. MS 54779, ff. 9–14). The first of these was completed on 20 October 1914 and is a setting of a rondel near the end of Chaucer’s long poem, The Parlement of Foules (c. 1381–2), in which a narrator describes a dream-vision. A rondel is a form of verse usually containing thirteen or fourteen lines, whereas a roundel usually contains eleven lines, both being variants of the French rondeau. Welcome, Somer is a thirteen-line rondel, but Bax curiously omits the final line in his setting. He uses a partly modernised version of Chaucer’s Middle English text, which has been retained for this edition:

Now welcome, somer, with thy sonne softe,
That hast this wintres weders overshake,
And driven away the longe nightes blake [black]!

Saint Valentine, that art full hy in lofte,
Thus singen smalle foules for thy sake:
     Now welcome, somer, with thy sonne softe,
     That hast this wintres weders overshake.

Wel have they cause for to gladden ofte,
Sith [since] ech of hem recovered hath his make [mate];
Ful blisfully they singen whan they wake:
     Now welcome, somer, with thy sonne softe,
     That hast this wintres weders overshake
     [And driven away the longe nightes blake!]

Joan Thornycroft (1888–1988), the song’s dedicatee, was the eldest daughter of the sculptor Sir Hamo Thornycroft. On 24 October 1914 she married Herbert Farjeon, and Bax’s song, dated four days earlier, was clearly intended as a wedding present.

—Graham Parlett

Welcome, Somer has been recorded by Lorna Windsor, soprano and William Hancox, piano on the At the Open Door CD (this track may be heard below).

Carey Blyton wrote two versions of The Christmas Spirit (both published by Fand): one for two equal voices and piano and the other for choir (SATB) and string orchestra. Although both versions work well in themselves, their scoring is a little specialised, and Fand felt that there was a strong case for producing an amalgam of the two versions in order to maximise the appeal and ease of performance of the work. Therefore, Richard Hallas has created this arrangement for four-part choir (SATB) and piano.

The music is still authentically Blyton’s: the new arrangement essentially just takes the SATB choral part from one of the original Blyton versions and combines it with the piano part from the other. Aside from the resolution of a few minor musical inconsistencies, and some editorial optimisations, the music is fundamentally the same across all three scorings. Thus, this new version for four-part choir and piano can either be presented in a full concert performance as an authentic Blyton work in its own right, or may alternatively be used as a rehearsal score when learning the version with string orchestra, prior to the string players being available.

Use as a rehearsal score

As just noted, this version of The Christmas Spirit is musically compatible with the version for choir and string orchestra. In other words, this score may be used for choir rehearsal purposes, and the singers may continue to use the score on the occasion of the performance, when the rehearsal piano is replaced by the string orchestra.

If you decide to use this score for rehearsals in this way, then you may choose to purchase copies of this version instead of the SATB choir booklets that are available with the string orchestra version. Although those choir booklets are much cheaper, they are less useful to the singers because they contain only the voice parts with string cues, and no instrumental accompaniment.

A note about parts

Please note that this version of The Christmas Spirit is only available as a full score. However, Fand appreciates that purchasing multiple copies for a performance by a substantial number of singers could turn out to be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, if you require more than THREE COPIES in order to stage a performance, please get in touch to discuss your requirements, either by email or phone (01730 267341), and we will be happy to arrange a discount. The discount is available regardless of whether you intend to perform this choir and piano version of the piece in its own right or as a choral score for the version with string orchestra.

This piece was written in memory of John Barton Armstrong, a Renaissance man. The front cover depicts the Aerial Screw, an early helicopter design by Leonardo da Vinci (the original Renaissance man), thus recalling J.B.A.’s aeronautical connections.

A recording of this work may be found on the CD, Carey Blyton – The Choral Music.

A note about parts

Please note that this version of The Christmas Spirit is only available as a full score. However, Fand appreciates that purchasing multiple copies for a performance by a substantial number of singers could turn out to be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, if you require more than THREE COPIES in order to stage a performance, please get in touch to discuss your requirements, either by email or phone (01730 267341), and we will be happy to arrange a discount.