''Canticle III: Still falls the rain'', Op. 55, is a 1954 vocal composition by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

for tenor, horn and piano. It is part of his series ''

Canticles A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy. Catholic Church ...

''.

Composition and premiere

Britten composed ''Canticle III, Still falls the rain: The raids 1940. Night and dawn'', to give its full title, in 1954 for a memorial concert for the pianist

Noel Mewton-Wood Noel Mewton-Wood (20 November 19225 December 1953) was an Australian-born concert pianist who achieved international fame on the basis of many distinguished concerto recordings during his short life. Life and career Born in Melbourne, he studied ...

. The concert was given at

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...

in January 1955. ''Canticle III'' was premiered by

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career starte ...

(

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

Dennis Brain Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served in the Roya ...

(

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

) and the composer on piano.

Source poem

The poem on which ''Canticle III'' is based is by

Edith Sitwell Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess ...

and was first published in 1941. It was written after the raids on London in 1940. The poem is dark, and full of the disillusions of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It speaks of the failure of man, and of the yet unconditional love of God.

Music

The structure of the piece is similar to that of the opera ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmil ...

'' which was premiered a few months before ''Canticle III''. This structure is characterized by the alternation of an instrumental theme-and-variations (in the horn and piano) with six verses of text settings. The final instrumental variation is combined with the concluding text-verse setting. The theme of the variations is presented as an introduction, and consists of a sixteen-bar melody on the horn introducing all twelve notes. The theme has three phrases, the first consisting of five notes, and the second answering it in inversion. The remaining two notes are reserved for the final phrase, which also includes the five-note sequence and inversion from the preceding two phrases.M

son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

lin Lin or LIN may refer to: People *Lin (surname) (normally ), a Chinese surname *Lin (surname) (normally 蔺), a Chinese surname * Lin (''The King of Fighters''), Chinese assassin character *Lin Chow Bang, character in Fat Pizza Places *Lin, Iran, ...

1957. Untitled review of: Britten, Benjamin, ''Canticle III, 'Still falls the rain'' (

) for Tenor, Horn and Piano, Op. 55. ''

Music & Letters ''Music & Letters'' is an academic journal published quarterly by Oxford University Press with a focus on musicology. The journal sponsors the Music & Letters Trust, twice-yearly cash awards of variable amounts to support research in the music fie ...

'' 38, no. 1 (January): 104–105 The text is presented in a free recitative style with very few interventions by the piano, which emphasizes the poetry itself. The horn and tenor unite only at the very end, on a rhythmic unison, when the poem evokes the voice of God. A similar colouristic effect (rhythmic unison of the tenor and the alto) had been used in '' Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac'' to represent the voice of God talking to

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Benjamin Britten 1954 compositions Vocal musical compositions