''Dies Natalis'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: "Natal Day" or "Day of Birth"), Op. 8, is a five-movement solo

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

composed in 1938–1939 by the twentieth-century English composer

Gerald Finzi Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice and ...

(1901–1956). It is a solo vocal cantata scored for a solo soprano or tenor accompanied by string orchestra, and features settings of four texts by

Thomas Traherne Thomas Traherne (; 1636 or 1637) was an English poet, Anglican cleric, theologian, and religious writer. The intense, scholarly spirituality in his writings has led to his being commemorated by some parts of the Anglican Communion on 10 October ...

(1636/37–1674), a seventeenth-century English

Metaphysical poet The term Metaphysical poets was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose work was characterised by the inventive use of metaphysical conceit, conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spo ...

, priest and theologian.

History

''Dies Natalis'' is a

for solo voice and string orchestra. The opening introductory orchestral movement is followed by four movements for accompanied voice in which Finzi set mystical texts by the seventeenth-century English poet

(1636/37–1674). Finzi selected three of Traherne's poems, prefaced by prose drawn from the opening three sections of the Third Century in ''Centuries of Meditations''. Written from 1938–1939, the score was published in 1946. Finzi conducted the work at the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...

in 1946. The first recording of ''Dies Natalis'', sponsored by the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

, was one of only two recordings of Finzi's music made in his lifetime. Two of the three sessions took place in October 1946, and the third on 29 January 1947.McVeagh, Diana. ''Gerald Finzi: His Life and Music''. Boydell Press, 2005: p. 150 For Finzi it was an unfortunate experience: the soprano soloist was

Joan Cross Joan Cross (7 September 1900 – 12 December 1993) was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on ...

, whom he disliked for being an opera singer, and for her close connection to

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 ...

, whose work he disliked. The conductor

Boyd Neel Louis Boyd Neel O.C. (19 July 190530 September 1981) was an English, and later Canadian conductor and academic. He was Dean of the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto. Neel founded and conducted chamber orchestras, and cont ...

was ill for one of the three sessions, and Finzi had to take over. His biographer, Diana McVeagh, suggests it may have been for the "Rhapsody", which was recorded on a particularly cold day - the coldest day in 50 years - and Joan Cross said afterwards, "I don't think I did justice to that piece, alas!". In 1964, his son

Christopher Finzi Christopher "Kiffer" Finzi (12 July 1934 — 28 November 2019) was a British orchestral conductor. He was the son of composer Gerald Finzi and artist Joyce Black (known as Joy Finzi). Background Born in Hampstead, London in 1934, Finzi was th ...

conducted the work for its second recording with the soloist Wilfred Brown.McVeagh, Diana. "A Finzi Discography" ''Tempo'' (New Series), March 1981, 136: pp. 19-22. Brown had first sung ''Dies Natalis'' in 1952 under the composer's baton. Finzi's biographer,

Diana McVeagh Diana McVeagh (born 6 September 1926, Ipoh) is a British author on classical music. She has written a biography of Gerald Finzi and several books on Edward Elgar. McVeagh studied at the Royal College of Music in the 1940s and was assistant editor ...

, describes Brown's interpretation in the recording as "among his finest: intelligent, poetic, and informed with his acute but gentle feeling for words."

Movements

The work is in five movements: # "Intrada" # "Rhapsody" (Recitativo stromentato) # "The Rapture" (Danza) # "Wonder" (Arioso) # "The Salutation" (Aria) N.G. Long has analysed Finzi's setting of the texts.

Texts of sung movements

The following are the texts of movements 2,3, 4 and 5.

Rhapsody

Will you see the infancy of this sublime and celestial greatness? I was a stranger, which at my entrance into the world was saluted and surrounded with innumerable joys: my knowledge was divine. I was entertained like an angel with the works of God in their splendour and glory. Heaven and Earth did sing my Creator's praises, and could not make more melody to Adam than to me. Certainly Adam in Paradise had not more sweet and curious apprehensions of the world than I. All appeared new, and strange at first, inexpressibly rare and delightful and beautiful. All things were spotless and pure and glorious. The corn was orient and immortal wheat, which never should be reaped nor was ever sown. I thought it had stood from everlasting to everlasting. The green trees, when I saw them first, transported and ravished me, their sweetness and unusual beauty made my heart to leap, and almost mad with ecstasy, they were such strange and wonderful things. O what venerable creatures did the aged seem! Immortal cherubims! and the young men glittering and sparkling angels, and maids strange seraphic pieces of life and beauty! I knew not that they were born or should die; but all things abided eternally. I knew not that there were sins or complaints or laws. I dreamed not of poverties, contentions or vices. All tears and quarrels were hidden from mine eyes. I saw all in the peace of Eden. Everything was at rest, free and immortal.

The Rapture

Sweet Infancy!
O heavenly fire! O sacred Light!
How fair and bright!
How great am I
Whom the whole world doth magnify! O heavenly Joy!
O great and sacred blessedness
Which I possess!
So great a joy
Who did into my arms convey? From God above
Being sent, the gift doth me enflame,
To praise His Name.
The stars do move,
The sun doth shine, to show His Love. O how divine
Am I! To all this sacred wealth
This life and health,
Who rais'd? Who mine
Did make the same! What hand divine!

Wonder

How like an angel came I down!
How bright are all things here!
When first among His works I did appear
O how their glory did me crown!
The world resembled His Eternity
In which my soul did walk;
And every thing that I did see
Did with me talk. The skies in their magnificence
The lovely, lively air,
O how divine, how soft, how sweet, how fair!
The stars did entertain my sense;
And all the works of God, so bright and pure,
So rich and great, did seem,
As if they ever must endure
In my esteem. A native health and innocence
Within my bones did grow,
And while my God did all His Glories show,
I felt a vigour in my sense
That was all Spirit. I within did flow
With seas of life, like wine;
I nothing in the world did know
But 'twas Divine.

The Salutation

These little limbs, these eyes and hands which here I find,
This panting heart wherewith my life begins;
Where have ye been? Behind what curtain were ye from me hid so long?
Where was, in what abyss, my new-made tongue? When silent I, so many thousand, thousand years
Beneath the dust did in a chaos lie, how could I smiles, or tears,
Or lips, or hands, or eyes, or ears perceive?
Welcome, ye treasures which I now receive. From dust I rise and out of nothing now awake,
These brighter regions which salute my eyes,
A gift from God I take, the earth, the seas, the light, the lofty skies,
The sun and stars are mine: if these I prize. A stranger here, strange things doth meet, strange glory see,
Strange treasures lodged in this fair world appear,
Strange, all, and new to me: But that they mine should be who nothing was,
That strangest is of all; yet brought to pass.

Recordings

* Decca AK 1645-7 (rec. 1946-47):

; Boyd Neel Orchestra;

, conductor * World Record Club SCM 50 (HMV HQS 1260) (rec. 1964): Wilfred Brown;

English Chamber Orchestra The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationall ...

;

, conductor"Gramophone Records: ''Dies Natalis''" (1964). ''The Musical Times'', 105 (1457): p. 531. * Argo ZRG 896 (rec. 1979):

Philip Langridge Philip Gordon Langridge (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)Millington (7 March 2010) was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio. Early life Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educ ...

;

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

;

Richard Hickox Richard Sidney Hickox (5 March 1948 – 23 November 2008) was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music. Early life Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family. After attending the Royal Gram ...

, conductor * Hyperion CDA 66876 (rec. 1996):

John Mark Ainsley John Mark Ainsley (born 9 July 1963) is an English lyric tenor. Known for his supple voice, Ainsley is particularly admired for his interpretations of baroque music and the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the course of his career, he has g ...

; Corydon Orchestra; Matthew Best, conductor * Philips 454 438-2 (rec. 1996):

Ian Bostridge Ian Charles Bostridge CBE (born 25 December 1964) is an English tenor, well known for his performances as an opera and lieder singer. Early life and education Bostridge was born in London, the son of Leslie Bostridge and Lillian (née Clark). ...

;

Academy of St Martin in the Fields The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner founded the orchestra as "The Academy of ...

;

Sir Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conducting, conductors". Gramophone (magazine), Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another com ...

, conductor * Naxos 8.570417 (rec. 2007): James Gilchrist;

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

; David Hill, conductor * Wigmore Hall Live WHLIVE 0021 (rec. 2007): Toby Spence; Scottish Ensemble * Chandos CHAN 10590 (rec. 2009):

Susan Gritton Susan Gritton (born 31 August 1965) is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss. Life a ...

;

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

;

Edward Gardner Edward Gardner may refer to: * Edward W. Gardner (1867–1932), American balkline and straight rail billiards champion * Edward Joseph Gardner (1898–1950), U.S. Representative from Ohio * Ed Gardner (1901–1963), American actor, director and wr ...

, conductor * Harmonia Mundi USA HMU 807552 (rec. 2011):

Mark Padmore Mark Padmore (born 8 March 1961) is a British tenor appearing in concerts, recitals, and opera. He was born in London on 8 March 1961, and raised in Canterbury, Kent, England. Padmore studied clarinet and piano prior to his gaining a choral ...

;

Britten Sinfonia Britten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in the ...

; Jacqueline Shave, director

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Gerald Finzi 1939 compositions Christmas cantatas