I am not sure what the fuss is here. It is obvious that in "high"
cultural terms Britain was not in the forefront from the late 18th to the
late 19th centuries. It was also rich in the two previous centuries and
arguably the richest in terms of the twentieth century with almost no
exceptions. This just comes and goes does'nt it? France was no hotbed
to speak of in this respect in the 18th century and has not been a major
leader since the 20s or so. Take Britain since 1880 in terms of "major"
composers: Elgar, Sullivan (Irish of course and far more significant than
the sender below will grant, music of great sophistication and
complexity), Vaughn-Williams, Britten, Bax, Walton, Brian, Holst, Delius,
etc. In fact the recording of twentieth century English music in this
vein is in a positive boom state representing one of the really exciting
developments.
It is obvious too that much energy in music in Britain went into the
writing of hymns and church music as the manifold enthusiasms of
evangelicals and non-conformists had a major impact on British music and
left its mark on people such as Elgar and the like. In popular music
terms the century was rich but perhaps not more so than any other country
in Western Europe. We might have to concede, it was a German and French
time there--so?
sean farrell moran
oakland univ.