Ebenezer Prout

[John H White]

Prout died on 1st December 1909. The English born composer and musical pedagogue was for much of his carreer Professor of music at the University of Dublin. He was a prolific writer of textbooks on musical theory, some of which I've just noticed are still available in modern paper back editions. I would go so far as to say that, in my view, he did for musical theory what Euclid did for geometry many centuries before!
In his writings he was not averse to criticising other composers, both old and new. Thus, he took Raff to task for putting the second subject of the opening movement of the Im Walde Symphony in the sub dominant  instead of the more usual dominant key. Even Scarlatti didn't escape his ire when he complained about the number of consecutive fifths and octaves in one of the latter's sonatas. One can imagine poor old Domenico standing in a corner of Professor Prout's classroom with a dunce's cap precariously perched on top of his wig.
    Prout wrote a few chamber works and I can certanly vouch for his String Quartet in Eb as a delightful work, having just copied the opening movement into my Notewothy score writing software. I'm not surprised that this quartet won him a competition prize as a young man. He also went on to write a number of cantatas, both secular and sacred, together with 4 symphonies, none of which, to the best of my knowledge, have ever been played in recent times, still less recorded. This could represent a challenge to two members of this Forum. How about it Chris Fifield and Martin Anderson?

[Mark Thomas]

By all accounts that I've read, Prout's orchestral and choral music was dry and academic and also outdated for its time, apeing Mendelssohn in the late 19th century. Of course, similar negative criticism of other composers has been disproved once someone has had the guts actually to play their music!

[Martin Eastick]

There was a BBC broadcast given several years ago of Prout's 4th Symphony which I do have on cassette somewhere (very crudely done on a portable cassette player , which was all I had available at the time!) - nevertheless I recall it as a pleasing work, even if rather conservative for its time. Perhaps the BBC still have the recording although they never seem to offer repeats of their old studio broadcasts of interesting repertoire, even from more recent times.

The Clarinet Sonata Op28 is a fine work, and is surely still available on CD, with Colin Bradbury and Oliver Davies. This must be as good a place as any to start a Prout revival! IMHO the early chamber music is variable in quality, but there are some worthwhile pieces - for instance the 2nd Piano Quartet. I also have the full score of  his Op5 Organ Concerto, which looks interesting!

[John H White]

Many thanks, Martin, for that interesting information. Is there any possibility of making copies of your tape sometime please?
      Cheers,
            John.

[Steven Eldredge]

The only thing I really know of Ebenezer Prout are the humorous words he composed for all the fugue subjects of Bach's Well-tempered Clavier. Some of them stick in the mind forever, such as the A minor Fugue, Bk 1:

"On a sandy bank in the river Nile upon a sunny morning, a little hippopotamus was eating bread and jam."

If you know that piece, sing the words to it and see how wonderfully they fit.

Steven in NYC

[John H White]

Many thanks, Steven, for that amusing tit bit. I seem to remember something similar being sung some years ago during a BBC program on Prout. It must have been quite fun being one of his students!
Cheers,
  John.

[Mark Thomas]

Further to Martin's mention of the BBC broadcast of Prout's Fourth Symphony, a kind friend has just sent me a recording of the broadcast. As Martin says, the music is quite tuneful and pleasantly orchestrated. Prout composes with a very delicate sensibility but I can't believe how old fashioned it is. Never mind Mendelssohn (then still a god to many English musicians), it sounds more like Kalliwoda or Potter. Quite amazingly retro for the 1886. The Intermezzo al'Espagnola from the Third Symphony, also broadcast by the BBC, at least sounds as if it might have been written in the 1850s!

I do agree with Martin about the quality of the Clarinet Sonata, a lovely piece.

[John H White]

That sounds brilliant to me Mark! Being old fashioned myself (I reckon I was born that way) I love old fashioned music!
   

[kansasbrandt]

Here is something kindly provided me by Mr. Roy Stanley, Librarian at the University of Dublin.  The title of the article is Ebenezer Prout in Theory and Practice.  It was written by Rosemary Firman in Brio Volume 41, No.2 pp 15-37.  I thought you all might like the section called Prout in practice which talks in some detail about his compositions.  I'll just cover the main points as the entire section might be overly long for this format.

Prout In Practice: Prout was not a prolific composer, but between 1861 and 1891 he produced a steady stream of compositions and a good proportion of which were published.  His output included: 4 symphonies, 2 orchestral suites, 2 overtures, 2 organ concertos, 7 cantatas, an organ sonata, a comic opera (Love and Taxation), chamber music, church music, and songs.  Many of his later works were written for specific choirs and orchestras and, in general, the impetus to compose appears to have come from external pressures, rather than artistic need....In the 1890's, his work on treatises took over and he virtually gave up composition.

One of the more interesting early works is the Organ Concerto in E minor, op. 5, dedicated to George Grove and performed by John Stainer at a Crystal Palace concert with great success...it was published by Augener in 1872.  In three movements, it is a rare example of a concerto for organ and orchestra by a British composer at this period.  It is unusual...for its strange fusion of baroque and early romantic idioms.  The principle material of the first movement is a fairly unremarkable piece of Victoriana, but, as the movement develops, the influence of Bach is found in broken arpeggio pedal passages...and the finale also features demanding solo pedal passages with octave leaps.

Prout's four symphonies, composed between 1873 and 1886, were all performed at the Crystal Palace and are startling for their conservatism at the time, although their style is typical of Prout as a whole.  The musical language and orchestration are perfectly controlled, but they are those of an earlier era - that of Beethoven and Mendelssohn.  This lack of originality, together with a tendency to select rather dull subject matter with perfectly balanced phrases, makes it unlikely that they will be revived.  The Third Symphony, op. 22 is the most successful.  It was composed for the Birmingham Festival of 1885 and was published in full score by Novello.  Its third movement is an attractive intermezzo "a l'espagnol" which is occasionally played today as a piece of light music...the movement is stylistically assured and satisfyingly coherent....His Suite de Ballet (1890) is an appealing work with folk-like touches enhanced by the use of a triangle and tambourine.

---Here Ms Firman goes on to state that his seven secular cantatas were marred by a combination of bad libretti and set to a "formula of set pieces in predictable styles".  She states that these were probably composed to satisfy "the insatiable demand during the second half of the 19th Century from choral societies for new works".  Firman further speaks of the fact that Prout wrote relatively quickly citing the fact that his Symphony No. 2 was composed in one month's time; his Fourth seemingly only took two weeks (sounds a bit like old Anton G. doesn't it???).  Back to Ms Firman now---

So composition came easily to him.  He had an excellent understanding of how music worked, of the theory of harmony, counterpoint, form and instrumentation.  He had an amazing memory and the ability to work quickly to meet deadlines....He had all of the tools and tricks of composition at his fingertips.  However, it becomes clear, once one starts to play and listen to the music, that he LACKED A NATURAL MUSICALITY AND THE ABILITY TO CREATE SOMETHING FRESH (my capitals here, bwb).  Although familiar with Brahms and Wagner, he uses the musical language of Mozart, early Beethoven, and Mendelssohn, with a touch of Bach thrown in from time to time.  Although interested in contemporary developments, he clearly had no desire to try them out for himself but was comfortable with working withing the constraints of the orchestration, style, and harmonic language of fifty years earlier.  He could imitate but not produce anything new.

[Mark Thomas]

Absolutely fascinating Brandt. Thanks very much for this.

[kansasbrandt]

Glad to do it! 

By the way, Mark, I'd like to thank you again here for the Prout CD 

[Justin]

Further to Martin's mention of the BBC broadcast of Prout's Fourth Symphony, a kind friend has just sent me a recording of the broadcast.

Just uploaded a much higher quality version of the recording, which includes the radio announcer's biographical description of Prout and the work.