MusicUpClose - Britain at War: the lads that will never be home

Prof Barbara L. Kelly on Britain’s musical response to the Great War, which includes Holst, Vaughan Williams, Ivor Gurney, Roger Quilter, Cyril Scott, Franck Bridge and John Ireland

This session is devoted to Britain’s musical response to the Great War. The response took many forms, such as the large-scale forces of Holst’s The Planets. Today we will focus on songs, many of which will be familiar. Some were by composers who fought and died during the war, including Butterworth’s moving A Shropshire Lad set to poems by A. E. Housman, which foretells the sacrifice the young composer and many others were to make. It is from these songs that we take the title of tonight’s session: the Lads that will never be old. We will also look at songs written and performed during the war by such familiar names as Vaughan Williams, Ivor Gurney, Roger Quilter, Cyril Scott, Franck Bridge and John Ireland. The Conway Hall is the home of the Ethical Society. Its concert series, which began in 1887, is among the longest-running in the UK. The Conway Hall archive reveals that concerts continued throughout the war period as a symbol of London’s resilience. The programme includes some works performed at the Society concerts exactly 100 years ago. Join Barbara Kelly and musicians from Trinity Laban Conservatoire for an evening of live music, reflection and discussion.

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