ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a broad concept of spirituality, and why it is relevant to the study of Rubbra’s music. It traces the development of a critical view of Rubbra’s music as ‘spiritual’ through the writings of Arthur Hutchings, Wilfrid Mellers, Hugh Ottaway, Elsie Payne, Ralph Scott Grover, Leo Black, John Pickard and Stephen Town, amongst others. Comparing these writings with similar responses to the music of Rubbra’s older contemporaries, Holst, Howells and Vaughan Williams, does Rubbra’s output form part of a twentieth-century spiritual tradition in British music? An exploration of Rubbra’s own thoughts about the process of musical composition, as expounded in his writings, talks and interviews from the 1950s–60s, uncovers some anomalies, especially the tension between spontaneity and control. Finally, the book’s main contextual themes are outlined – Rubbra’s engagement with Theosophy and dance during the 1920s–30s, his attraction to Eastern thought and culture, his love of nature and expression of nature mysticism, his enthusiasm for the writings of Teilhard de Chardin, his changing perception of the figure of Christ, and his response to the feminine – along with the approach to be taken to Rubbra’s music, via the complementary routes of analysis and interpretation.
