Selected Songs of Ian Venables as Influenced by Ivor Gurney: An Historical Musicology Analysis

The purpose of this study is to draw attention to the importance of Ian Venables' art songs that are based on Ivor Gurney's poems. In this study, I analyze and evaluate Gurney's poetry and how Venables' compositional style seems to have been influenced by Gurney's musical style in the setting of Gurney's poems. It is noteworthy that Ivor Gurney's poems were not just written as songs by little-known composers, but by others such as Gerald Finzi and Ian Venables, both of whom can be considered leaders in their field in their own time. Therefore, even though there is not a plethora of songs based on Gurney's poetry, the quality of those poems has attracted the attention of composers who know art songs deeply. First, my research contributes valuable contextual information to the study of the six featured songs, all based on poems by Ivor Gurney. Each poem can be traced back to a specific time in Gurney's life, reflecting his various societal positions and physical and mental conditions. By analyzing Gurney's experiences and apparent state of mind during the period he wrote each poem, I establish a historical context for these selected poems, which serve as an essential starting point for meaningful analysis and study of the related songs. Second, British composer Ian Venables' fame and performances of his art songs have primarily remained in England. Beyond contributing to scholarly research on Ivor Gurney's influence on Ian Venables, I intend to promote and facilitate further research into Venables' art songs. Finally, my research will expand the scope of how Ian Venables' songs are known, thus making his art songs more accessible and performable to a broader audience.