Jane Joseph was a pupil and later associate of the composer Gustav Holst, and was instrumental in the organisation and management of various of the music festivals which Holst sponsored. Many of her works were composed for performance at these festivals and similar occasions. Her early death at age 35, which prevented the full realisation of her talents, was considered by her contemporaries as a considerable loss to English music.
In the words of Gustav Holst: "It was my good fortune to be her teacher in composition. She was the best girl pupil I ever had. From the first she showed an individual attitude of mind and an eagerness to absorb all that was beautiful."
Holst first observed Joseph's potential when he was teaching her composition at St Paul's Girls' School. She began to act as his amanuensis in 1914, when he was composing The Planets, her special responsibility being the preparation of the score for the "Neptune" movement.
During her short professional life she became an active member of the Society of Women Musicians, was the prime mover behind the first Kensington Musical Competition Festival, and helped to found the Kensington Choral Society. She also taught music at a girls' school, where Holst's daughter Imogen was one of her pupils, and became a leading figure in the musical life of Morley College. Two memorial prizes and scholarships were endowed in her name.
Most of Joseph's compositions were never published and are now considered lost. Of her published works, two early short orchestral pieces, Morris Dance and Bergamask won considerable critical praise, although neither became part of the general orchestral repertory.
Bergamask
Inspired by the 17th century Italian Bergamesca, this is a brusque rustic dance. Debussy's Suite Bergamasque is a poetic reference and the piece is not related musically to the Bergamask as such. However Joseph's composition does relate to it quite directly where ostinatos and drones are ever present.
The time signature is 5/4 which allows for the effective use of cross rhythms. The opening theme, played by the woodwind immediately sounds coarse and rustic.
The strings enter with a drone/ostinato played col legno (using the wood of the bow)
The quieter sections present a more lyrical english folk song influence. The overall shape of the piece is basically ABA.
SAMPLE: Bergamask - entire work