Roger Quilter: His Life and Music

by Valerie Langfield

The songs of Roger Quilter are a staple of the English art song repertoire, yet little is known of his life, and his popularity suffered an eclipse in postwar years largely through changing musical fashions. Championed by the great English tenor Gervase Elwes, Quilter became famous for songs, such as Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, Love's Philosophy and Go, Lovely Rose. The BBC included A Children's Overture in their first broadcast concert, and the success of his atmospheric music for the children's fairy play, Where the Rainbow Ends ensured his immense popularity. Access to numerous sources worldwide, many of them unpublished, and extensive interviews with friends and family, have enabled Valerie Langfield to write a sympathetic and authoritative account of Quilter, the first full-length study. The first part focuses on Quilter's life: she examines his relationships with his friends, particularly Grainger and the de Glehn family, and how his wealth, ill-health, family and homosexuality affected him.; Her researches testify to Quilter's quiet philanthropy: his many practical actions included his founder-membership of the Musicians Benevolent Fund, generous and discreet assistance to young musicians, and help to Jewish friends fleeing Germany and Austria before the second world war. The second part of the book discusses and contextualises all his music: songs, chamber, orchestral and theatre music, and his light opera, Julia, performed at Covent Garden in 1936. The CD included with the book contains recordings of Quilter himself, either playing or conducting. The 17 songs that Quilter recorded in 1934 with the baritone Mark Raphael are included, together with his own arrangement for piano quintet of the song cycle To Julia with Hubert Eisdell as the tenor soloist. Quilter also conducts a short selection of items of music from Where the Rainbow Ends. It also includes: a schedule of performances; a catalogue of works; a discography; and a bibliography. Valerie Langfield is a freelance musician. She read music at Girton College, Cambridge.

375 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book covers Quilter's life, the second half all of his works, in some detail. I didn't find this second half quite so interesting: it's helpful to know something of the pieces before your read it, and it varies in the degree to which it discusses them. So I can't claim that I read much of this section, even though I know some of Quilter's pieces well.
The first half is certainly interesting; at times Langfield goes a bit overboard on how much detail to give to people who make only one or two appearances, but that apart there's a good deal of background to the times Quilter lived in.
He comes across as a somewhat indolent character: his wealthy background, where there was no need to make a living, plus his habitual illnesses, meant that he was free to work or not. He did apply himself readily to writing music when the mood took him, or when he actually had a deadline (there weren't many of those) and he was obviously an able pianist, since he accompanied singers in many of his songs at public concerts. He made a reasonable sum of money from his songs and from the music to a children's play that was put on annually (Noel Coward was amongst the children in the original cast, and repeated his performance more than once), but the need to make money from his music wasn't his prime objective. For all that he was a considerable philanthropist, helping not only fellow musicians, but a number of charities.
His homosexuality is dealt with at various times, though details of actual relationships are kept to a minimum. Only towards the end of his life, when Quilter suffered a prolonged illness and recovered badly, did he become blatant about his homosexual behaviour, often to the embarrassment of his friends.
Langfield has done her homework very thoroughly, and many of the people who flit through the book are well-drawn. For all that the biographical side of the book doesn't always entice you to keep on reading. I'm not sure whether it's the style - which on the surface seems clear and precise - or whether it's Quilter himself. Perhaps being a rather non-assuming character he doesn't give his biographer much to go on.