Frederic Hymen Cowen (1852-1935) - orchestral, choral and dramatic works

[albion]

[lost] = works for which at present there appears to be no surviving performance material
[full score lost] = works for which at present the orchestral score is lost, but for which a piano reduction is extant
* = works for which a printed score is available for download from IMSLP - http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Cowen,_Frederic_Hymen


1860 – Garibaldi; Or, The Rival Patriots, operetta (Cowen's home, London, 4th February 1860)
1866 – Overture in D minor (Covent Garden Promenade Concerts, London, 8th September 1866) [lost]
1869 – Symphony No.1 in C minor (St James's Hall, London, 9th December 1869) [lost]
            Piano Concerto in A minor (St James's Hall, London, 9th December 1869) [lost]
1870 – The Rose Maiden, cantata (St James's Hall, London, November 1870)*
1871 – The Maid of Orleans, incidental music (Brighton Festival, February 1871) [lost]
1872 – Symphony No.2 in F (Liverpool Philharmonic Society, 8th October 1872) [lost]
            Festival Overture (Norwich Festival, 17th September 1872) [lost]
1874 – One Too Many, comedietta (St George's Hall, London, 24th June 1874) [full score lost]
1876 – The Corsair, cantata (Birmingham Festival, 29th August 1876) [full score lost]*
            Pauline, opera (Lyceum Theatre, London, 22nd November 1876) [full score lost]
1878 – The Deluge, oratorio (Brighton Festival, 28th February 1878) [lost]
1880 – Language of the Flowers, Suite No.1 (St James's Hall, London, 27th November 1880)*
            Symphony No.3 in C minor, Scandinavian (St. James's Hall, London, 18th December 1880)*
1881 – Sinfonietta in A (St James's Hall, London, 12th May 1881) [lost]
            Saint Ursula, cantata (Norwich Festival, 13th October 1881) [full score lost]*
            Niagara, overture (Crystal Palace, London, 22nd October 1881) [lost]
1882 – In the Olden Time, suite for string orchestra (Crystal Palace, London, 17th March 1883) [lost]
1883 – Barbaric March (Royal Albert Hall, London, 1883) [lost]
            Deux Morceaux, for orchestra (Crystal Palace, London, 10th November 1883)
1884 – Symphony No.4 in B flat minor, The Welsh (Philharmonic Society, London, 28th May 1884)*
1885 – Sleeping Beauty, cantata (Birmingham Festival, 25th August 1885)*
1886 – March (Folkestone Exhibition, May 1886) [lost]
            Overture in D (Liverpool Exhibition, 11th May 1886) [lost]
1887 – Symphony No.5 in F (Cambridge University Music Society, 9th July 1887)*
            Ruth, dramatic oratorio (Worcester Festival, 8th September 1887)*
1888 – A Song of Thanksgiving, for chorus and orchestra (Melbourne Centennial Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia, 1st August 1888) [full score lost]*
1889 – Saint John's Eve, cantata (Crystal Palace, London, 14th December 1889) [full score lost]*
1890 – Thorgrim, opera (Drury Lane Theatre, London, 22nd April 1890) [full score lost]
            Ode In Memoriam Carl Rosa, for chorus and orchestra (Liverpool, November 1890) [lost]
1892 – The Water-Lily, cantata (Norwich Festival, 6th October 1893)*
1893 – Signa, opera (Teatro dal Verme, Milan, 12th November 1893) [full score lost]
1895 – Harold; or, The Norman Conquest, opera (Covent Garden Theatre, London, 8th June 1895) [full score lost]
            The Transfiguration, cantata (Gloucester Festival, 15th September 1895) [full score lost]*
1896 – In Fairyland, Suite de ballet (Philharmonic Society, London, 6th May 1896)*
            Four English Dances in the Olden Style*
1897 – Commemoration Ode, for chorus and orchestra (Earl's Court, London, 24th May 1897)
            Symphony No.6 in E, The Idyllic (St James's Hall, London, 31st May 1897)*
            The Dream of Endymion, scena for tenor and orchestra (Philharmonic Society, London, 17th June 1897)*
            Concertstück, for piano and orchestra (Philharmonic Society, London, 28th June 1900)*
1898 - Ode to the Passions, for chorus and orchestra (Leeds Festival, 8th October 1898)*
1901 – The Butterfly's Ball, concert overture (Queen's Hall, London, 2nd March 1901)*
            A Phantasy of Life and Love, symphonic poem (Gloucester Festival, September 1901)*
1902 – Coronation March (Philharmonic Society, London, 29th May 1902)*
            Coronation Ode, for soprano, chorus and orchestra (Norwich Festival, 22nd October 1902)
1903 – Indian Rhapsody (Hereford Festival, 9th September 1903)*
            Two Pieces for small orchestra
            Reverie*
1904 – John Gilpin, ballad for chorus and orchestra (Cardiff Festival, 23rd September 1904)*
1905 – A Suite of Old English Dances*
1907 – He Giveth His Belovèd Sleep, for alto, chorus and orchestra (Cardiff Festival, 27th September 1907)*
1910 – The Veil, cantata (Cardiff Festival, 20th September 1910)*
1912 – The Months, twelve miniatures for orchestra*
1914 – The Language of the Flowers, Suite No.2 (Queen's Hall, London, 19th September 1914)
            What Shall We Dance?, for chorus and orchestra
1917 – Monica's Blue Boy, pantomime [incidental music] (New Theatre, London, 1917) [full score incomplete]
            Cupid's Conspiracy, comedy ballet (Coliseum Theatre, London, 31st December 1917)
1918 – The Spirit of Carnival, operetta
1921 – A Comedy Opera
1922 – The Enchanted Cottage, incidental music (Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1922)
1934 – The Magic Goblet: The Luck of Edenhall, ballad for orchestra (BBC Studio, London, 9th June 1934) [lost]
            Miniature Variations (Humoresque) for orchestra (BBC Studio, London, 20th April 1935) [lost]


Commercial recordings:

Symphony No.3, Scandinavian (Marco Polo 8.223273)
Symphony No.6, The Idyllic (Classico CLASSCD684/ Membran 233316)
Concertstück, for piano and orchestra (Hyperion CDA67837)
The Butterfly's Ball, concert overture (Marco Polo 8.223273)
Indian Rhapsody (Marco Polo 8.223273)

Downloads:

Pauline, opera (excerpt)
Language of the Flowers, Suite No.1 (excerpt)
Deux Morceaux, for orchestra
Four English Dances in the Olden Style (excerpts)
The Butterfly's Ball, concert overture (abridged)
Language of the Flowers, Suite No.2 (excerpt)
Monica's Blue Boy, pantomime [incidental music] (excerpt)

Unfortunately, many missing scores compound the problem of properly re-assessing Cowen (especially with regard to the mature operas) and it certainly cannot be said that he is adequately represented by the recordings that are available.

For a man who was a collector of fine first editions and kept an immaculate library it is ironic that his own autographs (especially the early ones, but also two works first performed in BBC broadcasts in the 1930s) are now elusive: although Cowen acknowledged that several had disappeared during his lifetime, possibly the others were casualties of enemy action during World War Two.

[Dundonnell]

Impressive work, John   You HAVE been busy

One minor suggestion. Might it be an idea to add a note of those works available either on cd or from this site

The Symphony No.3 "Scandinavian", Indian Rhapsody and Concert Overture "The Butterfly's Ball" are on a Marco Polo cd, the Symphony No. 6 "The Idyllic" on a Classico cd, and the Concertstuck for piano and orchestra on the recent Hyperion release.

That certainly leaves Symphonies Nos. 4 "The Welsh" and 5 available for someone to record

[albion]

Might it be an idea to add a note of those works available either on cd or from this site

Duly done - unfortunately it took no time at all to compile ...

[Dundonnell]

Thanks, John

[parkermusic]

Yes, your observation about the missing scores compounding the difficulties of reassessing Cowen's music is definitely true. When I was writing my Ph.D on Cowen, I really did feel that my hands were tied in getting a real feel for his orchestral touch, which many commentators mentioned as a feature of his compositions during his lifetime. There is little doubt that his deft orchestrating skills sometimes lifted music that was in many ways banal. One only had the extant orchestral pieces like the Butterfly's Ball, Indian Rhapsody, the dance suites, the Phantasy of Life and Love, Concertstuck, the 4 later symphonies and a few other bits to give an impression of what his orchestral sound was really like. The few extant, if not always fantastic, recordings helped too, so when one was looking at the operas and the cantatas one really just had to imagine what he might have done. Even worse is the loss completely of many of the early works, and even more astonishingly the last two orchestral pieces, i.e. The Magic Goblet/The Luck of Edenhall and the Miniature Variations. I still live in hope that some of them may resurface, but may be the Second World War claimed some of them and the horrific policies of some of our publishing houses that allowed original manuscripts to be lent out willy-nilly and sometimes just thrown away after publication, their job seemingly having been done!

[Reverie]

SYMPHONY NO 4 "THE WELSH" (1884)

The only one of the six symphonies never to have been recorded.  It is known as the Welsh as some of it was composed in Wales. Apart from that the work has little to do with Wales.

1. Allegro vivace non troppo
2. Lento tranquillo
3. Scherzo. Allegro molto vivace
4. Finale. Allegro moderato

LINK TO SYMPHONY NO 4:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OtPmp5z_tc

[Mark Thomas]

Wonderful, Martin, thank you for giving us the opportunity to hear this often-mentioned symphony, but I only know of recordings of symphonies Nos.3, 5 and 6. Have Nos.1 and 2 been recorded? I thought they were lost.

[eschiss1]

The list at the top of this thread does indeed give symphonies 1 and 2 as "lost", so I imagine not. I know of no news changing that list in that direction personally (not that I would)...

[Reverie]

Thanks for the correction (both of you) 

[Alan Howe]

Wonderful indeed, Martin - thanks so much. Quite a quirky start, I thought. More anon.

[Mark Thomas]

Another attractive symphony by Cowen. To me it's perhaps the most individual of the four extant symphonies; the melodic quirkiness in the first movement which Alan mentioned is also present in the outer sections of the Scherzo and the slow movement is lovely, if more anonymous. The finales of the other three Cowen symphonies all seem to lack the inspiration of their earlier movements, but he seems to have kept the standard up in The Welsh. The symphony isn't a lost masterpiece, but it's an enjoyable and very competent piece of work for a 32-year old and, yet again Martin, we're in your debt.