Ivor Novello
TWO 1920s NOVELETTES for voice and piano
Goodmusic GM553
And Her Mother Came Too & The Land Of Might-Have-Been for High or Low Voice & Piano edited by Peter Lawson.
Two Ivor Novello songs from the 1920s which can be sung with piano accompaniment or with orchestra. High and low voice versions are included in this copy. The orchestral score and parts are available in the Goodmusic Concert Pops series GMCP029.
These two songs were written in the early 1920s when Ivor Novello was making a name for himself in London, before the era of his immensely popular musicals. They were used in the box office hit film Gosford Park, (2001) with Jeremy Northam playing Ivor Novello and singing.
The high version of And Her Mother Came Too for Tenor in F major, is a whole tone higher than the original version in the key of E flat. The low version for Baritone or Bass in E major, is a semitone lower than the original to prevent a Bass having to go higher than E. There is no reason why a Soprano, Mezzo or Contralto should not sing the song with appropriate changes to various words! The song achieved great popularity after its first performance in October 1921as part of a musical Revue in the Prince of Wales Theatre called A to Z. It is a comic song about an interfering prospective mother-in-law.
The Land of Might-Have-Been dates from an improvisation on the piano by Ivor Novello at an afternoon tea at the composer's flat in the Strand in 1922. The theme caught the attention of those attending to such an extent that Ivor put a title to it and persuaded his close friend, Eddie Marsh, to put words to it. Marsh reportedly sat up all night with a wet towel round his head and took Ivor the result in the morning. It was first performed in the Gaiety Theatre in April 1924 as part of a Musical Play called Our Nell (about Nell Gwynne and Charles II). The song was an instant success; the lyrics are credited to the pseudonym Edward Moore. Marsh was well-known in literary circles and as a top civil servant, notably as Private Secretary to Winston Churchill in various governments including Prime Ministers H.H. Asquith and David Lloyd George. He was knighted upon his retirement in 1937, remaining lifelong friends with Churchil until Marsh’s death in 1953.
Two Ivor Novello songs from the 1920s which can be sung with piano accompaniment or with orchestra. High and low voice versions are included in this copy. The orchestral score and parts are available in the Goodmusic Concert Pops series GMCP029.
These two songs were written in the early 1920s when Ivor Novello was making a name for himself in London, before the era of his immensely popular musicals. They were used in the box office hit film Gosford Park, (2001) with Jeremy Northam playing Ivor Novello and singing.
The high version of And Her Mother Came Too for Tenor in F major, is a whole tone higher than the original version in the key of E flat. The low version for Baritone or Bass in E major, is a semitone lower than the original to prevent a Bass having to go higher than E. There is no reason why a Soprano, Mezzo or Contralto should not sing the song with appropriate changes to various words! The song achieved great popularity after its first performance in October 1921as part of a musical Revue in the Prince of Wales Theatre called A to Z. It is a comic song about an interfering prospective mother-in-law.
The Land of Might-Have-Been dates from an improvisation on the piano by Ivor Novello at an afternoon tea at the composer's flat in the Strand in 1922. The theme caught the attention of those attending to such an extent that Ivor put a title to it and persuaded his close friend, Eddie Marsh, to put words to it. Marsh reportedly sat up all night with a wet towel round his head and took Ivor the result in the morning. It was first performed in the Gaiety Theatre in April 1924 as part of a Musical Play called Our Nell (about Nell Gwynne and Charles II). The song was an instant success; the lyrics are credited to the pseudonym Edward Moore. Marsh was well-known in literary circles and as a top civil servant, notably as Private Secretary to Winston Churchill in various governments including Prime Ministers H.H. Asquith and David Lloyd George. He was knighted upon his retirement in 1937, remaining lifelong friends with Churchil until Marsh’s death in 1953.
