Message #23445

[Dundonnell]

I am interested in Dr. Schaarwachter's cut-off date of 1945.

There were a number of British Symphonists whose works bridge that divide:

Pre-1945:

Richard Arnell: Symphonies Nos.1-3
Stanley Bate: Symphonies Nos. 1-3  (No.3-1940) (No.4-1954)
Sir Lennox Berkeley: Symphony No.1-1940 Symphony No.2-1958
Havergal Brian Symphonies No.1-5
Alan Bush: Symphony No.1-1939/40 Symphony No.2-1949
George Lloyd: Symphonies Nos. 1-3
Edmund Rubbra: Symphonies Nos. 1-4
Cyril Scott: Symphonies Nos. 1-3  (No.4-1951/52)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Nos. 1-5
Sir William Walton: Symphony No.1-1934/35 Symphony No.2-1960
William Wordsworth: Symphony No.1-1944 Nos. 2-8-1947 onwards

The Gordon Jacobs Symphony No.2 was written in 1945, and the Daniel Jones Symphony No.1 and Sir Michael Tippett Symphony No.1 in 1944/45.

There is, perhaps, no great problem in relation to some of these composers. The five Havergal Brian written prior to the Second World War divide rather neatly from those written after the war beginning with the Sinfonia Tragica.
But with composers like Vaughan Williams or Edmund Rubbra I could see an issue in only discussing the symphonies written prior to 1945.

Any cut-off date will impose such problems of course.....I fully accept that. It will be interesting to hear how the author deals with the issue.