ABSTRACT
Gerald Finzi's choral ode, Intimations of Immortality, for tenor solo, mixed chorus, and orchestra, premiered at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, England, on 5 September 1950. Finzi first met the older composer in 1926 when he moved to London to study with R. O. Morris, the eminent pedagogue of counterpoint and historical musicology. Finzi had intended to dedicate Intimations of Immortality to Vaughan Williams proof of the extraordinary nature of their friendship but, in the end, it was Adeline, living long enough to hear it broadcast in 1950, who received the honor. Intimations of Immortality begins with a haunting, nostalgic orchestral introduction that summarizes the salient themes. The introduction is an evocative essay with placid and plangent moments interrupted suddenly by manifestations of the Intimations of Immortality. This extraordinary moment is remarkably like that found in An Oxford Elegy, where Vaughan Williams fuses the end of The Scholar-Gipsy with the beginning of Thyrsis.
