Harold Truscott

23rd August 1914 - 7th October 1992

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Chart Map

Letters 1 - 10 11 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 – 52 Index

From Hitler To Horticulture: the letters of Havergal Brian to Harold Truscott

edited and annotated by Guy Rickards

(with additional comments from Malcolm MacDonald and Margaret Truscott) 

Letter #31: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 18 Jan (in the unusual format 18:1:50),

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 9 15AM 19 JAN 1950.

[envelope marked in pencil Enigmatic letter - clairvoyance. by HT]

Dear Harold & Margaret,

Thanks for your letter. You will see from the envelope enclosed, that your letter has been grazing in foreign pastures before it was delivered here today. I'm afraid I can offer no opinion on the matter you mention. If I possessed a gift of clairvoyance sufficient to make use of it - I would begin with my own works and find not only the dot upon the i but the reason why.

It is a world of mysteries: and long before Tasso fell foul of the Duke of Ferrara, art has been mixed up with damnation and enforced humiliation. It cannot be said there is no money about: the publishing of scores and parts of symphonies & other large scale works suggests that publishers now have command of money to invest in unknown ventures & take a chance of winning recognition.

Even the Institute of Journalists have recently made Mr Bernard Shaw a life member, at the age of 931/2. What an honour - or is it cynicism?

All the best to you both

from

HB

Letter #32: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 23 Jan (again in the format 23:1:50),

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 1PM 23 JAN 1950.

Dear Harold & Margaret,

I am very sorry that I shall have to ask you kindly to postpone your visit. Circumstances with the youngest & eldest daughters in Africa are upsetting. The former has her husband in hospital & the latter her twins in hospital. To make the thing complete, my second daughter's husband has gone into hospital with T. B. and for the time being she has returned here. All this happening in a few days. Anyhow like this damnable dull weather it will clear itself like newly made herb beer. Among the things I wanted us to talk about is a long translation (from the German) of a remarkable critique by Heine of the first appearance in Paris in 1837 of Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique) [no comma] Liszt, Thalberg, Chopin. Ther [sic] is no such criticism being written today - because there is no such wit as Heine living. If that [added afterwards, over the top Quarterly] 'Musical Digest' of yours is still going [HB is again referring here to Music Survey; cf Letters ##8-9, etc.] - I would hand this thing over for a consideration. Had you been coming you would have both been pleased to read it. In writing it runs to 4/5 foolscap pages.

Well - we must look forward & put up with a disappointment.

All the best to you both Yours Ever

HB

[MM comments: 'Re the translation from Heine. When I was examining HB's mss. and sketches at Shoreham 20 years ago I saw two copies of a typescript containing two translations from Heine. The first was a passage from 'Uber Deutschland' concerning Martin Luther, the second evidently the critique of Berlioz, Liszt, Thalberg and Chopin referred to here. I also recall a notebook with a pencilled rough-draft of the second of these translations. As far as I know they were never published anywhere; and given that HB seems to have intended them for publication they would seem, by a few months, to be the very last of his literary endeavours.' Perhaps they, and the 'Amateur Gardening' article referred to in Letter #28 can be tracked down for inclusion in a future Newsletter?]

Letter #33: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 31 Jan (in the format 31:1:50),

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 3 45PM 31 JAN 1950.

[once again pages are numbered (to 5) except for the first]

Dear Harold & Margaret,

Thanks for your letter & thoughtfulness. I will certainly send for you both as soon as there is a clearing in the clouds. I have sent the Heine & I should like to see it in print. What pleases me is your information about English translation of Heine for I think his writings on the Theatre [no comma] Art & music are the best of his prose writing - though there are fine things in his books 'Uber Deutschland'. These and his 'Hartzreise' ought to be known here - perhaps they are [the sense here seems to demand were] long ago - for he did have long stops in London in the 1830's . [sic; redundant apostrophe and full stop] & wrote about the Parliamentary debates & from his writing on Charles Keene [sic; 'should be Kean' - MM] in 'Othello' - Heine must have been very familiar or expert with the English language [no full stop but this is the end of the sentence] Until I read Heine I was not aware that George Canning was Prime Minister for only 4 months - preceding his death.

Another matter I had reserved for your visit last Sunday is rather interesting. You remember that I mentioned a letter of mine which appeared in 'Amateur Gardening' last November. Some weeks later another letter appeared in the same journal from a gentleman in Somerset. In it - he said that he & I must have been moving about the Potteries at the same time many years ago. I ought to tell you that before music I had another passion - gardening. My penchant was Holhouse [surely Hothouse!] & Greenhouse Culture. By the time I was 12 . [redundant full stop] I was familiar with most of the hothouses in my immediate neighbourhood & had culture [this should read cultures] of certain orchids, ferns [no comma, but then I am uncertain if there should be one!] stephanotis, Gloxinias & & [I presume &c., &c. is meant] at my finger tips. I had a playmate (occasional) named Repton who lived in a county neighbouring village & he went as an apprentice to the Gardens at Trentham Hall staffed by 70 gardeners under a famous Scotchman named Peter Blair. I worried my father to let me go with Repton - but he said that life in the Bothy [a bothy is a Scottish labourer's cottage] would not suit me. I never heard anything of Repton afterwards. So when I wrote to the gent in Somerset I said his letter suggested that he must have been an apprentice under Peter Blair & did he ever meet with a boy named Repton. In his reply he said that he & Repton grew up together - that he [added afterwards, over the top Repton] eventually specialized in orchid culture & then went to take charge of the orchid houses belonging to Joseph Chamberlain. Perhaps you dont [sic] know that Chamberlain never appeared in Parliament or on a [added afterwards, over the top public] platform without wearing an orchid in his buttonhole. Even more interesting - to me - was the information that the father of the gent in Somerset was chief forrester [sic] to the Duke of Sutherland & he may have been the man who put up that notice I found as a child of 6 when prying round a wood. 'Beware man trap & spring guns' - which I mentioned in a former letter. Now is this not very remarkable - after 60 years. So many things coming back again after having disappeared in the ever rolling on time. Even the famous gardens at Trentham got a shock - for during the South African War [i.e. the 'Boer' War, 1897-1901] the 70 gardeners were dismissed. When I went to live at Trentham in 1910/11 - the gardens were intact, but many of the famous glass houses were in ruins & the head, Peter Blair, was still living in his house in the midst of it all. Those were the spacious days. Even the Vicar of Trentham [no comma] a wealthy man, kept liveried footmen [no comma] a butler and five gardeners and had 10 children. How now! - it all seems unreal and untrue - but, these things were not uncommon in the palatial Victorian days. My reason for writing this to you is just to draw your attention to the fact that the future is unknown to us. No one [sic] living 50 years ago could have had the slightest presentiment of what would happen [added afterwards, over the top in half a century.] You & Margaret may live to see changes in the next 50 years - but you can have no idea now what the ever big rolling wheel of time (what is time?) will reveal. Now I must 'get' & look forward to seeing you both later.

All good wishes from us

Yours Ever

HB

[For this penultimate instalment of the extant letters, I have adopted a different approach to their rendering within the HBS Newsletter. Rather more of the actual text from Letter #36 onwards is concerned with the private affairs of Harold and Margaret Truscott than hitherto, so I have restricted what is included here to matters relevant to HB, his family and interests. Places where I have excised text are marked: [...].

As the title to this part suggests, there is a portentous and gloomy aspect that characterizes all the correspondence from the year 1950. Illness and impending doom seem to stalk the pages, and in consequence there is little discussion of matters musical. This is compensated for by the many references to HB's personal circumstances at the time, not least with respect to the affairs of his children and grandchildren.]

Letter #34: no envelope survives; letter dated 16.2.50 (this date format first appeared in Letter #31).

[As with Letter #28, the first page is unnumbered, thereafter the pages are numbered 2-4]

Dear Harold & Margaret

Thanks for your letter. I am very pleased that there is a chance of your Violin & Piano Sonata [cf note to Letter #24] being lauc launched. Persevere & try to induce any influence you can obtain in its favour [no full stop] A performance would be a great mental stimulation for you. As regards Heine - I agree so far, but he has an uncanny original way of stating the obvious - only Shaw & perhaps Newman equal him for that little ironical mixture which flavours all his work, but which, from reading him from youth upwards [missing comma] seems unforced & natural to him.

[It is unclear if a new paragraph should begin at this point - a change of page.]

I sent the Heine translation to the address you gave on the 31st Jany [i.e. January] last & have received no acknowledgment of it. There was irregularity at the P.O [no full stop] at the beginning [no full stop also] The girl clerk who made out the registration slip took such a time over it that I went to another part of the P.O. Counter to get a Postal Order. When I returned for the registration slip the girl looked blank & when I asked for it she said 'Oh, I've given it to him' - indicating a man (?) who followed me in the P.O. After scrutinizing the slip the man (?) handed it to me without any apology. If you are in touch with the 'Musical Digest' [it is clear from Letter #35 that 'Music Survey' is meant; cf Letter #32] you might be kind enough to enquire if my registered packet ever reached its destination. As regards the sick boy [no full stop, but a colon would seem most appropriate here; the illness of various relatives was previously raised in Letter #32] The last news from Africa was a slightly more optimistic & we are awaiting letters which we may get on the next mail. The T.B. patient - is just the same & recovery cannot take pl begin until an operation has taken place & that cannot happen until certain preliminaries have transpired & - the recovery will be slow. It is nice to have your feelings on these matters but it seems fatalistic for some disturbance to be ever in the atmosphere - the only way is to bear it - one cannot dodge it. The strangest circumstance is that this sick disturbance coincides with the devildom of the Cranz business & other things. [?New paragraph]

How are you shaping with that analysis? Did you get a further & longer time from Trinity College? I should prefer you to do the thing entirely off your own bat, but if you want my help I will gladly give it. By the way - I sent you sometime [sic] ago a quote from Virgil [Letter #18] & I said I wanted to know something more about it. I discovered that it was from Virgil's 'Georgics' [missing comma] a work praising country life which Virgil wrote at the request of the Emperor Augustus.

Very kindest greetings to you both from us

Yours ever

HB

I have replied hurriedly at once because of your question re the 'Musical Digest'.

Letter #35: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 23:2:50,

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 6 30PM 23 FEB 1950.

[envelope marked in pencil Play your piano sonata by HT on the obverse. Three-and-a-half bars of a theme in ?A major, 6/8 time, treble clef are sketched in pencil on the reverse, with the marking Allegretto Fugue?]

Dear Harold & Margaret,

Many thanks for your letter & I am pleased to say that Hans Keller [(1919-85); founding co-editor with Donald Mitchell of 'Music Survey'] did write to say he had received the Heine stuff. Yes - I should prefer not to interfere in any way with your analysis of the Gothic [no quotation marks] & should much prefer for you to finish your draft of it & then come over her [here is clearly meant] (both of you of course) & then you can read it & also play your Piano Sonata. [Cf Note to letter #22] I want to hear your interpretation of it. We should not be as free perhaps here (as my daughter Jean may be at home who makes regular visits to the hospital) [HB here uses square parentheses; to avoid confusion with those marking editorial interpolations I have rendered these as curved ones. Jean is of course Jean Furnivall] as on your previous visits - but that is a guess & you might even be happier. Anyhow I shall look forward to your both coming soon & I may have much to tell you. We have been hoping to get a house or flat near to you - but for the moment it seems off. All the best to you both from us.

HB

Letter #36: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 22:3:50,

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 3 45PM 22 MCH 1950.

[The paper is coloured lilac and thinner in quality than HB's usual writing paper. The ink is still green. The whole letter appears to be drafted in a single paragraph.]

Dear Harold & Margaret,

I am really very sorry for you both in such a peck [the unit of measure seems clearly meant here, rather than peak] of trouble and, you will have to fight to get out of it, for we live in a changing world in which nobody seems to care, things which do change sometimes have a fantastic appearance. When I told you that we had missed a chance of coming to live near you - we were refused an offer we made of £150 p.a. (inclusive) [inclusive of rates, I presume] at the top of a house which was originally the servants [no apostrophe] quarters. We were told the price for the servants [sic] quarters was £200 p.a. exclusive. I ask you! £50 a year more than the whole house was let for - before the war. Thus doth war spread his devastation. I tell you this because you may have wondered why I did not call to see you. Well, Mrs B went over one day & I followed the next & neither of us were away any longer than it takes to get to Sydenham & back. We did not even call to see my son Michael who lives very near. Nothing has happened with the Cranz business. I've not heard anything since a letter I told you of months ago. [Letters #18 ff.] As regards the family. My son in law [sic] who suffers from T.B. went into hospital on Monday for the big operation - removal of ribs - which must be a dreadful business - because the surgeon dare not use an anaesthetic. Meanwhile my daughter [written over the top his wife] is here again for some months while her husband gets better from the operation. The eldest daughter in Africa is just now in Johannesburg with her twins consulting a specialist. She is coming to England in July next. Perhaps you will be all the more comfortable when those work men [sic] have done their job. My eldest son had "war damage" workmen in his house for two years & they have [unreadable word crossed through] only just recently got rid of the last workmen. One hears of the same sort of thing in other affairs which suggests that something has snapped in daily life what [which could be meant here, but if so the i is not dotted and the h is crossed like a 't'!] seems irrecoverable & irreparable. [...]

Yours Ever

HB & from Mrs B

[As to the nature of the "changing world", cf HB's remarks in a letter dated 4.ii.1946 to Walter Allum, quoted by Nettel in 'Havergal Brian - the man and his music' (Dobson, 1976): "We are in a greatly changing world and I'm afraid I've little sympathy for it. I've lived a long time and this is the worst time of any."]

Letter #37: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 7.4.50,

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 5PM 7 APR 1950.

Dear Harold & Margaret,

I have been hoping that Margaret's visit to King's College Hospital resulted in a solution of her trouble & should like to hear what actually happened. Both Mrs B & I are much concerned about your troubles - so do try & find time to let me know if your troubles persist or have gone.

All the best to you both

Yours ever

HB

[Despite the importuning tone of Letter # 37 - a signal indication of the depth of intimacy between HB and HT - it is over five weeks before the next letter. From the contents of Letter #38 there does not appear to be any gap in the correspondence. In a letter dated 22.ii.94 to the present annotater, Margaret Truscott put this relationship in a different perspective: "The odd thing is that I don't think that Harold and Havergal Brian really knew each other as closely as the letters would seem to imply." In a telephone conversation two days later, she confirmed that the contact between the two composers was conducted mainly by post. "They were never really friends and never saw each other other on a regular basis." Although HB's son Michael lived close to the Truscotts in Sydenham, the Truscotts never knew his address. The letters then preserve from HB's side both the essence and the bulk of the relationship.]

Letter #38: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 14:5:50,

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 1PM 15 MAY 1950.

[envelope marked in pencil Margaret's illness - "Gothic" analysis by HT. On the reverse HT marked LEKEU FANTAISIE 3.0 P.M. THURSDAY. BRUSSELS 484. The lilac paper is again used. The ink is still green. The letter is laid out like a small booklet across three unnumbered pages, but which read round the outside first, with one page on the inside.]

My dear Harold & Margaret,

[...] Until I had your letter I had not heard from you since you wrote informing me you were trying for a post in B'ham [Birmingham,cf Letter #39 below] Have you heard what your chances are? The trouble here is no different than when I last mentioned it to you. My daughter's husband is still waiting for the [written over the top his] operation. But - we hope - as you must hope about your own trouble - that it will soon improve. It would be distressing to imagine that it was to continue for ever. [...] perhaps it would be expedient if you postponed your analysis of the 'Gothic' until your troubles are at an end. This I leave entirely to you - naturally I shall be very glad when you have done it - but there are interferences which cannot be escaped. Best of luck & greetings to you both from us

Yours Ever

HB

Letter #39: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 25:5:50,

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 1PM 25 MAY 1950.

[envelope marked in pencil (Gothic) Bantock analysis - (opera?)

"Know all about it by now". by HT. The letter is written on a single sheet of lilac paper, with continuations of text along the vertical edge of both sides. New paragraphs occur more frequently than usual, but some are clearly not intended. I have accordingly laid them out without intervening blank lines.]

Dear Harold & Margaret,

Thanks for the letter & enclosure [...]. I like the programme notes - they are of splendid unconventional quality. I once had a similar enthusiasm as you evince for these 18th Century composers for Johann Christian Bach but - I failed to find anyone else who even had the slightest knowledge of or interest in his music. You seem well supported with your 18th Century composers. [There is no indication which composers are being referred to, nor to the occasion for which HT's programme notes were written.] I should imagine that you know all about the 'Gothic' by now & it is a pity that you continue to be hindered from writing your analysis of it.

At the same time it is as well to look ahead: ie [no intervening full stops] - how do you propose to dispose of it when written up?

I've no wish to dishearten you - but - some years before his death Sir Granville Bantock wrote a long analysis of my opera with over 2 dozen music extracts. It would have made a small book - which was perhaps the reason it was refused by 'Musical Times' - its length. Bantock worked at that opera as long as you have worked at the Gothic [no quotation marks] & I dont [no apostrophe] know what happened to his writings. I felt sorry for him when he showed me the letter of refusal. I certainly knew where [here the text runs along the vertical edge of the back page] I stood & was not surprised. There cannot be any change here for a long time - but as soon as the sickness trouble has improved I will arrange for us to meet. [...]

[Here the text runs along the vertical edge of the front page; new paragraph assumed.] Let me know the results of your school applications. I am surprised you heard nothing from Birmingham.

All good wishes from us to you both. Yours ever HB

Letter #40: addressed to HT sent from HB dated 13:7:50,

postmarked Harrow, Middx, 1PM 13 JLY 1950.

[HB's letter is written on his standard blue paper.]

Dear Harold & Margaret,

[...]. As regards coming here or even sending I am sorry that both are out of the question until I write to you & say 'all clear'. My second daughter is still here until her husband can leave the hospital. He was operated on last Monday. In September my youngest daughter is due here: & in February my eldest daughter - and - I am much occupied in trying to complete some sketches before the overcrowding begins. [These sketches presumably refer to either HB's opera 'Turandot' or possibly the Ninth Symphony.] I find it difficult to work in heat - more so this year than hitherto. The Cranz business remains where it was when I answered your last question months ago and I am not allowing it to worry me. Of the 'Tinkers [no apostrophe] Wedding' overture & the B.B.C. I know no more than you - neither am I bothering about it.

As my father once remarked -

'In a world of liars - who tells the truth?'

I hope you will complete your symphony & when I am free - I shall expect to see the score. Meanwhile every good wish to you both for the [...] future from us.

Yours ever

HB

[The Truscott symphony referred to is probably the Symphony in E major, originally designated by HT as

no. 2, and which has now been recorded (in December 1993) by Marco Polo for release later this year. HB's reference to it as being unfinished is puzzling since the two complete scores of this three-movement work - one in its original piano guise - are both dated August 1949 - January 1950, i.e. six months previously; it may be then that a fourth movement was at this time being contemplated (if so no trace remains). HT had written at least part of two now-lost symphonies in the 1930s as well as starting two others during the war years. The first of these, in A minor, dates from 1943 and was to be dedicated to Herbert Howells, but gives out after 19pp of full score. The second wartime symphony was begun in 1945, in the key of E minor. It also was never completed but exists in two full scores, the second, later, of which runs for 60pp and is inscribed "For Harry Newstone". In a worklist compiled by a friend of HT's in circa 1966 this E minor fragment was catalogued as "No. 1", dated "1945-51". It may therefore be the work HT had made reference to in his previous letter. The Trio is the work in A major for flute, violin and viola given its first public performance during the 75th. birthday recitals mounted by the Society at the BMIC in October 1989.]