Forced Freedom
Emily Daymond surveys the Eton schoolboy’s self-assessment of his music while a teenager reacting partly to his composition teacher giving him only fugue and canon assignments.
At Eton Hubert’s music was addressed
By him in daily entries in his log,
One scholar notes. Young eye and mind assessed
Them: fugues and canons then became a slog.
Perhaps this was because he found one far
“Too hard” or maybe it was just because
The focus was too tight. No door ajar
Allowed some other forms without the laws
Of contrapuntal lines. He tried his hand
In “free orchestral” overture-like style
For one. He “scribbled away” in command
Of this one fugue attempting to beguile
The strictness. Grabbing canons by the beard,
He grew and triumphed. Hubert persevered.