Bird of Time: The Music of Swan Hennessy by Axel Klein

In recent years, Ireland's musical landscape has enjoyed a resurgence of interest in its so-labelled 'forgotten' and 'lost' composers of art music. With the rise of concerts, festivals, and literature dedicated to the revival of twentieth-century Irish art music, it is most fitting that an endeavour of scholarly research has been conducted on the mysterious musical identity of Swan Hennessy (1866–1929). Klein, widely regarded as one of the leading authorities on Irish music history, is ideally placed to author this volume. His contribution is a pioneering study which rescues the composer's status from 'undeserved oblivion' and expands on the uniformly increasing cohort of academics exploring a lacuna of compositional (mis)representation within Irish musicological discourse.

Structurally, the volume is substantial in length consisting of nine chapters with the addition of an introduction, afterword, and appendices. It offers a well-balanced documentation of biographical information and analytical studies presented in a chronological timeline. An immediate sense of intrigue is achieved in the introduction through its opening discussion on the scarcity of relevant sources, drawing on the composer's reclusive habits. The lack of birth certificates, educational records, correspondence, and the variants of the composer's name and nationality—combined with the inaccuracies in existing secondary sources (as recognised by the author)—offer insight into the obstacles faced in decoding the composer's enigmatic background. The introduction also includes a rationale for Klein's self-described 'overview approach' to the musicological analysis throughout. Although the approach can be commended for its all-encompassing inclusivity of Hennessey's compositional output and contemporaneous reviews, the varying lengths of commentary may be viewed as a limitation to this vast study and thus invites the potential for further in-depth evaluation of musical examples where less detail is prescribed.

Chapters 1 and 2 showcase the exhaustive degree to which Klein gathered and collated materials from international archives and online databases, hitherto unexplored, in order to construct this first historic overview of Hennessy's genealogical ancestry and early education. A sense of mystery prevails in the chapters' credible identification of various ambivalent aspects pertaining to the composer's youth. Such uncertainties included the name of the school he attended in Oxford, and the reasons which prompted a relocation to Stuttgart, Germany, where he studied for seven years. Given that the composer's educational records were burnt during 'the Great Chicago Fire' of 1871, it is likely that these gaps in his narrative will remain unfilled. Indications of Hennessy's early compositional voice are also outlined in the second chapter. His training at the Konservatorium für Musik, Stuttgart, with music theory teacher Percy Goethchius (1853–1943), is recognised as an important influence shaping his stylistic affinities to late German romanticism. Similarly, a comparative study of his early works portrays characteristics of Schumannian writing detectable in his treatment of formal models, tonalities, and specific choice of titles.

The third chapter distinguishes two distinct gaps in Hennessy's musical biography. It notes the complete absence of reviews, manuscripts, and publications between the periods of 1889–1901 and 1915–1919, and critically contemplates the possibility of how these periods may have impacted his retrospective neglect by posterity. A partial, and plausible, explanation for the first eleven-year silence is attributed to the composer's personal circumstances in enduring a divorce. Klein arouses the reader's curiosity in providing contradictory evidence that Hennessy did in fact continue composing during this period (albeit withdrawn). The conflicted nature of his compositional activity is highlighted through a discussion of his discarded works and renumbered opus titles. Furthermore, the musicological analysis on Hennessy's compositional output approaching this period is visionary in its discovery of stylistic elements—playfulness, formal flexibility, conventional harmony, and a predilection for short pieces—which would characterise his later repertoire.

Chapters 4 and 5 continue to trace the developments in Hennessy's compositional writing. The identification of Variations sur un thème original dans le style irlandais, Op. 12 (ca. 1902) as the composer's first 'Irish' work is a radical realisation given the extent to which an identity of pan-Celticism would later define his output. Klein's analysis recognises the originality of this piano work in its ability to evoke melodic and rhythmic contours derived from traditional Irish music without quoting pre-existing folk melodies. The observation is significant when considering that this particular example predates the commercial expectations faced by the composer in adopting a style aligned with Celtic musical nuances (further detailed in Chapter 6), and consequently provokes the reader to question if his embodiment of Irish idiom is better understood as a manufactured by-product of a collective Breton identity or rather, as an organic compositional instinct fundamentally innate to Hennessy's writing style. These chapters consider an overarching confliction in the composer's failure to solidify a personal compositional voice. Patterns of compositional experimentation, beyond references to Irish traditional music, are noted in his adaptation of humoristic musical satire reminiscent of Satie, as well as his exploration of Spanish devices, as in Eaux Fortes, Op. 24 (1906). Klein's detailed examination of a productive period between 1905–1906 uncovers an indecisiveness between French and German musical nuances and asserts that it was not until 1907 that Hennessy's establishment of a style indebted to French impressionism was finally realised.

Chapter 6 describes a drastic change in direction for Hennessy. By situating the composer in the wider context of his French contemporaries, a comparative study assesses the exceedingly infrequent performances of his music despite many positive reviews. Also noted is the pivotal impact of the Association des Compositeurs Bretons (1910), a French society founded to represent composers of Breton descent. The extensive supplementation of ephemera is striking in capturing the level to which Hennessy's compositions benefitted from increased performance in the concerts arranged by this society. In reappraising his output from this era, Klein's analysis is innovative, not least for recognising that Hennessy's compositional identity underwent stylistic change, but also for identifying the specific Celtic nuances which would reshape and redefine the composer's musical language.

A theme of biographical anomaly persists throughout these middle chapters. The composer's elusive geographical movement is especially highlighted as an irregularity which suffers from a lack of available sources. Such incoherencies include his unexplainable Parisian connection, his decision to remarry in London despite living in Paris at the time (1909), and the untraceable nature of his visits to Ireland. Klein's authorship is considerate in aiding the reader's inquisition to unravel these uncertainties insofar as contextualising gaps unknown. Although tentative, his critical analysis demonstrates an extraordinary ability to connect disparate information seamlessly. Several examples support this statement: his discovery of a Parisian address on the manuscript cover of Sonate en fa (style irlandais), Op. 14 forms the genesis for his postulation surrounding the composer's permanent residency in Paris by 1903, and equally, his identification of specific melodies borrowed from Stanford's edition of the Petrie Collection stimulates his argument that the composer may have visited Ireland ca. 1908. In offering these informed interpretations on the covert nature of Hennessy's travels, the volume effectively responds to the gaps in a biography which would otherwise remain unwritten.

Chapters 7 and 8 largely evaluate the impact of war upon the composer's career. Hennessy's second period of silence between 1915–1919 is addressed from this perspective, though once again restricted by the limitations of unobtainable sources. His evacuation to Switzerland and his father's declining health are also acknowledged as factors to have interrupted his compositional output. Most fascinating is Klein's discussion on nationality as a phenomenon to have shaped the composer's contemporaneous reception in a post-war era. The author proposes that the earlier works in his oeuvre, being rooted in late German romanticism, would have been abhorred in an anti-German musical climate. Similarly, the advantages of Hennessy's American passport are considered, but as a somewhat redundant sense of identity given that the composer had not returned to the U.S. since leaving at the age of twelve. His lack of patriotic works in a period consumed by political aversion is also highlighted as detrimental to his critical reception. However, the author presents one exception of a work, Deuxième quatuor à cordes, Op. 49 (1920), which acclaimed much prominence through its dedication to hunger-striker Terence MacSwiney, subsequently re-establishing the composer's identity as one of great Irish affiliation. Klein's critical assessment of this period is thought-provoking in its contemplation of how these contrasting perceptions of Hennessy's nationality both advanced and hindered the appreciation of his music.

The final chapter presents a shift in focus documenting the composer's pursuit to market his music in later life. Although this chapter details the various promotional mechanisms undertaken by a more mature Hennessy, it is perhaps most impressive in its persuasive delivery of reasons to have brought about his posthumous neglect. Two causes are particularly noteworthy: that a rise in French nationalism accounted for reduced interest in alternative musical trends, such as that of Hennessy's Celtic sentiment, and that his controversial public criticisms on jazz, Schönberg, and other avant-garde musical approaches likely curtailed the full potential of his audience. Klein's astute analysis renders contradictions in the latter through his identification of the composer's experimentation with ragtime, foxtrot, and similar rhythms indicative of jazz music. Such evidence challenges the reader in absorbing how Hennessy's inconsistent compositional style, private disposition, and conflicted sense of nationality affected the circulation of his music. The afterword affirms that this complex sense of identity is a concept central to the author in his appropriation of six contrasting summaries each written from the various national viewpoints to have influenced Hennessy's diverse musical legacy. These overviews are unique in contextualising the relationship between the composer's conflicted sense of identity and his varied contemporary reception.

Overall, this volume credits Klein's thoroughness as an academic. His extensive pool of sources, critical analysis, and musical insights all attest to this. As the first comprehensive overview on the composer, the volume is transformative in (re)positioning Hennessy into the light of the present day and inspires similar scholarly investigation of other 'forgotten' Irish musical narratives waiting to be uncovered. It is the first of its kind to compile an annotated catalogue of the composer's works, a discography, bibliography, and similar documentation of relevant primary sources deeming it a most valuable addition to the virtually non-existent body of literature on Hennessy. With its wide-ranging exposition and a narrative steeped in mystery, Klein's volume will undoubtably be of interest to specialists and non-specialists alike.