Dominic Daula reminds us that the closing date for entries for the second British Music Society Essay Competition 2021 is 30 September 2021
Student researchers are warmly invited to submit entries for this competition. The winning essay will be published in a future edition of British Music, and its author will be awarded a cash prize of £100.
Read the guidelines for the competition
2019 saw the inaugural event which was won by Matthew McCullough from Durham University (pictured). Matthew’s winning entry was A History and Analysis of Gerald Finzi’s Dies Natalis:
‘At a young age, Gerald Finzi suffered the loss of many important figures in his life. These losses had a pernicious effect on Finzi who took refuge in poetry and music, in particular that which explored the fragility of life and transience of time. Finding a personal association with Thomas Traherne’s Centuries of Meditations, Finzi set the text in what would become his Magnum Opus, Dies Natalis.’
Providing a critical analysis of the music, its themes, and the compositional process, as well as a brief history of its publishing and recording, this essay explores how Finzi’s personal connection with the chosen text and his experiences of the period’s Bach revival have combined to create the Cantata, Dies Natalis.
Read the full essay in British Music volume 41, 2019/1
You can find out more about Matthew here.