List of works
| Date | First performance | Score status | |
|---|---|---|---|
Orchestral works |
|||
Rapunzel for Orchestra |
1928 | Lost | |
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in G min |
1932 - 4 | 1936 Albert Sammons / Constant Lambert / BBC |
Extant | Chamber Music |
Quartet in One Movement |
1926 | 1926 | Lost |
Violin Sonata no1 |
1931 | 1931 Albert Sammons / William Murdoch? |
Lost |
Violin Sonata no 2 in B flat |
1933 | 1933 Albert Sammons / Guirne Creith |
Lost |
Three Satirical Preludes (piano) |
Lost | ||
Ballade (piano) |
Lost | ||
A Portrait Gallery (piano) |
Lost | ||
Vocal music |
|||
| Madrigal (SATB) Words from Davison’s Poetical Rhapsody |
1929 - 1930 | Extant | |
| First Love Song | c1938 | Extant | |
| † My Ship and I Words by RL Stevenson |
publ: 1956 |
Extant | |
| † The Lamb Words by William Blake |
publ: 1956 Boosey’s Modern Festival Series No 96 |
Extant | |
| † Where Go the Boats (two-part song) Words by RL Stevenson |
publ: 1956 Boosey’s Modern Festival Series No 180 |
Extant | |
Stage work |
|||
| Ballet ‘Quest for Sita’ Based on ‘Heart of Jade’ by Salvador de Madriaga |
1955 -8 | Lost |
† Composed and published under the name of Guirne Javal
How was the score of the Violin Concerto found?
The manuscript of the Violin Concerto, written between 1932 -34, came to light in 2006 through the diligence of a British musicologist - Brian Collins - whose interests lie in British music of the early 20th century. A friend of Brian’s, knowing his field of work, brought him a score to look at. He had bought it as a curiosity for £2 in an unremarkable piano-dealer’s shop in south-east London - although how it got there remains a mystery.
The score is in manuscript and had been professionally bound, with stitched in signatures; the work is dedicated to the great English violinist Albert Sammons. There are conductor’s markings on the score and according to Eric Wetherell, the biographer of Albert Sammons, the work was premiered by the BBC at a studio performance in 1936; according to BBC documentation, in performance it lasted 25 minutes. The score of the concerto disappeared thereafter and was believed lost.
From the conductor’s markings, Brian Collins believes that the conductor at the first performance was Constant Lambert, composer, author, conductor, musical director and one of the most significant figures in British music of his generation.
Guirne Creith was also present at the Retirement Dinner for the famous violist Lionel Tertis in 1937 where she joined such luminaries as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sir Thomas Beecham.