Cusins, William George - Les Travailleurs de la Mer (1869)

[Reverie]

Cusins, William George (1833 - 1893)

The least explored period in British music is that leading up to what is called the English musical renaissance. These were the years dominated by Cipriani Potter, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, William Sterndale Bennett, George MacFarren, Julius Benedict and Arthur Sullivan, and out of which came the important figures of Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford, Frederic Hymen Cowen and Alexander Mackenzie. They in turn would be succeeded by a pair of mavericks: Edward Elgar and Frederick Delius, the talented Edward German and Granville Bantock, and a younger generation that included Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst and Arnold Bax.

Part of the explanation for this flowering of musical art lay in the existence of the Philharmonic Society of London (now the Royal Philharmonic Society). Founded in 1813, it presented usually eight concerts each year, gaining sufficient prestige to commission new works from Beethoven (the Ninth, or Choral, Symphony), Mendelssohn (Italian Symphony), and Saint-Saens (the Third, or Organ, Symphony). One of the Philharmonic Society's most important characters was William George Cusins, who conducted it from 1867 until 1883, introducing much new music, including the first British performances of Berloz's Romeo et Juliette and Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem.

Cusins was primarily a pianist, having begun his musical career as a singer in the Chapel Royal ay St James's Palace, but soon moving to Brussels to study at the Conservatoire. He entered the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 14 and was appointed (at 15) organist at Queen Victoria's private chapel at Windsor Castle. He became a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1851, and the main conductor of the Philharmonic Society in 1867. In 1870 he was appointed Master of the Queen's Music, a post he held until his death (he was knighted in 1892).

These two overtures are among the very few orchestral works that Cusins wrote. A symphony (1892) and concertos for piano and violin represent the rest of his orchestral output. Both overtures were written for Philharmonic Society concerts. Les Travailleurs de la Mer dates from 1869 and is in effect a tone poem based on Victor Hugo's novel of that name. It is suitably dramatic in a similar mid-19th Century style to Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys of 1878. It was in fact the second overture to be performed, being played at the seventh concert of the 1878 Philharmonic season, on 12 June, conducted by the composer.

LINK: Les Travaileurs de la Mer (1869) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMUpizQFo0

I'm left wondering if 1869 is the correct date (even though I have checked it) as this music sounds like it is from the 20th century. It's quite remarkable!

[Gareth Vaughan]

The 2 concert overtures are remarkable - and splendid pieces of music. Well worth performing and recording, IMHO. He was no slouch as a composer. The full score of his oratorio "Gideon" survives: now that would be worth hearing, I suspect.  I have been looking for the performance material for Cusins' piano concerto for some time, but without success - only the printed piano part seems to have survived. If anyone knows where the orchestral parts are (probably still in MSS) I would be very grateful if they could let me know.

[semloh]

Listening to Les Travailleurs de la Mer I was constantly reminded of Stanford. I think it's a fine piece, written with confidence and verve. Thank you for drawing attention to Cusins.

[Alan Howe]

This link tells us that the two Concert Overtures, 'Les Travailleurs de la Mer' and 'Love's Labour's Lost' were published by Stanley Lucas, Weber and Company, in 1875:
https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Two_Concert_Overtures_1_Les_Travailleurs.html?id=Wj47qSeVCJMC&redir_esc=y

[pcc]

According to the old 1908 Catalogue of Printed Music in the British Museum, materials for Cusins' Piano Concerto are in the British Library, Additional 34539, 34540, and 34543. The first volume is the autograph score, the second is a fair copy of the same, and the last is the piano part in Cusins' hand. I noticed this concerto some years ago and remarked on this forum that the last movement seemed to be an unexpectedly jolly tarantella, and that Cusins must have had some serious piano chops. (I think he was related to and studied with Lucy Anderson, possibly the greatest early Victorian pianist and the first woman pianist to play for the Philharmonic Society.)

Fiona Palmer's excellent Conductors in Britain 1850-1914 - Wielding The Baton At The Height Of Empire contains an informative chapter contrasting Cusins' experience conducting the London Philharmonic Society's concerts with Julius Benedict's tenure leading the Liverpool Philharmonic. (I'm currently working on a Benedict biography - he really was an extraordinary man and musician.) Cusins seems to have been a well-intentioned though rather untalented conductor, and later in his career as Master of the Queen's Music he kind of ticked-off the Royal Household, but he seems to have written some interesting music. I'm looking forward to hearing his overture.