杰拉爾德·拉斐爾·芬濟（Gerald Raphael Finzi，1901-1956）是英國作曲家，以其合唱作品而聞名，儘管他也創作器樂和管弦樂作品。芬濟出生於倫敦，早年因父親和三兄弟的去世而遭遇悲劇，這也為他的音樂作品奠定了一種輓歌般的基調。他接受私人教育，師從歐內斯特·法拉爾（Ernest Farrar）和愛德華·貝爾斯托（Edward Bairstow）學習音樂。後來，他向R. O. 莫里斯（R. O. Morris）學習對位法，並結識了古斯塔夫·霍爾斯特（Gustav Holst）、阿瑟·布利斯（Arthur Bliss）和拉爾夫·沃恩·威廉士（Ralph Vaughan Williams）等英國音樂界的傑出人物，他們幫助他在皇家音樂學院獲得了教職。
芬濟最終定居在英國鄉村，在那裡他專心於作曲和蘋果種植，甚至拯救了瀕臨滅絕的稀有英國蘋果品種。他還收藏了大量英國詩歌和18世紀英國音樂的圖書。在1930年代，他的成熟風格逐漸形成，尤其是在清唱劇《誕生》（Dies Natalis）中。他是一位其他作曲家的擁護者，尤其是艾弗·格尼（Ivor Gurney），他幫助整理和編輯了格尼的作品。1939年，他創立了紐伯里弦樂團（Newbury String Players），這是一個業餘樂團，他一直指揮到去世，演奏18世紀音樂和當代作品。
1951年，芬濟被診斷出罹患霍奇金淋巴瘤。儘管生病，他仍繼續作曲，他的《大提琴協奏曲》（Cello Concerto）在他於1956年9月27日去世的前一晚首演。
芬濟的音樂風格常被描述為典型的英國風格，其特點是抒情的旋律、對歌詞敏感的處理以及受都鐸復調音樂和巴赫對位法影響的獨特和聲語言。他經常探討童年的純真被成人經歷所腐蝕的主題，以及存在的脆弱和短暫。
芬濟的15首著名作品
以下是傑拉爾德·芬濟經常被提及的15首音樂作品：
《誕生》，作品8（為聲樂和弦樂團創作的清唱劇）
《大地、空氣與雨》，作品15（為男中音和鋼琴創作的歌曲集）
《大提琴協奏曲》，作品40
《單簧管協奏曲》，作品31
《看哪，那全然、最終的犧牲》，作品26（合唱讚美詩）
《田園詩》，作品10（為鋼琴和弦樂團創作）
《五首小品》，作品23（為單簧管和鋼琴創作）
《不朽的啟示》，作品29（為男高音、合唱團和管弦樂團創作的頌歌）
《獻給聖塞西莉亞》，作品30（為男高音、合唱團和管弦樂團創作的慶典頌歌）
《讓我們戴上花環》，作品18（莎士比亞文本的歌曲集）
《地上平安》，作品39（為女高音、男中音、合唱團和弦樂團創作的聖誕場景）
《上帝已昇天》，作品27，第二號（讚美詩）
《一個年輕人的勸告》，作品14（為男高音和鋼琴創作的歌曲集）
《浪漫曲》，作品11（為弦樂團創作）
《宏大幻想曲與觸技曲》，作品38（為鋼琴和管弦樂團創作）
Gerald Raphael Finzi (1901-1956) was a British composer, best known for his choral works, though he also composed instrumental and orchestral pieces. Born in London, Finzi faced early tragedy with the deaths of his father and three brothers, which contributed to an elegiac tone often found in his music. He was privately educated and studied music with Ernest Farrar and Edward Bairstow. Later, he took a course in counterpoint with R. O. Morris and became acquainted with prominent figures in British music like Gustav Holst, Arthur Bliss, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, who helped him secure a teaching post at the Royal Academy of Music.
Finzi eventually settled in the English countryside, where he devoted himself to composing and apple-growing, even saving rare English apple varieties from extinction. He also amassed a significant library of English poetry and 18th-century English music. During the 1930s, his mature style developed, notably in the cantata Dies Natalis. He was a champion of other composers, particularly Ivor Gurney, whose works he helped to catalog and edit. In 1939, he founded the Newbury String Players, an amateur orchestra he conducted until his death, performing both 18th-century music and contemporary works.
In 1951, Finzi was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Despite his illness, he continued to compose, and his Cello Concerto was premiered the night before his death on September 27, 1956.
Finzi's musical style is often described as quintessentially English, characterized by lyrical melodies, a sensitive approach to text setting, and a unique harmonic language influenced by Tudor polyphony and Bachian counterpoint. He often explored themes of the innocence of childhood corrupted by adult experience, and the fragility and transience of existence.
Here are 15 of Gerard Finzi's frequently mentioned musical works:
Dies Natalis, Op. 8 (Cantata for voice and string orchestra)
Earth and Air and Rain, Op. 15 (Song cycle for baritone and piano)
Cello Concerto, Op. 40
Clarinet Concerto, Op. 31
Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice, Op. 26 (Choral anthem)
Eclogue, Op. 10 (for piano and string orchestra)
Five Bagatelles, Op. 23 (for clarinet and piano)
Intimations of Immortality, Op. 29 (Ode for tenor, chorus, and orchestra)
For St. Cecilia, Op. 30 (Ceremonial ode for tenor, chorus, and orchestra)
Let Us Garlands Bring, Op. 18 (Song cycle to Shakespeare texts)
In Terra Pax, Op. 39 (Christmas scene for soprano, baritone, chorus, and strings)
God is gone up, Op. 27, No. 2 (Anthem)
A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14 (Song cycle for tenor and piano)
Romance, Op. 11 (for string orchestra)
Grand Fantasia and Toccata, Op. 38 (for piano and orchestra)