Original ballet music in Britain is very much a twentieth-century phenomenon - before 1900 I can only really think of Sullivan who deigned to provide substantial scores for dance with L'Ile Enchantee (1864) and Victoria and Merrie England (1897).
In the twentieth century there was a far greater interest in the genre, with many composers contributing. My favourite composers and (recorded) works are -
Vaughan Williams - Old King Cole (1923) and Job (1930)
Lord Berners - The Triumph of Neptune (1926) and Wedding Bouquet (1937)
Arthur Bliss - Checkmate (1937), Miracle in the Gorbals (1944), Adam Zero (1946) and The Lady of Shalott (1958)
Constant Lambert - Pomona (1927), Horoscope (1937) and Tiresias (1951)
Richard Arnell - Punch and the Child (1947), Harlequin in April (1951), The Great Detective (1953) and The Angels (1957)
Malcolm Arnold - Homage to the Queen (1953), Rinaldo and Armida (1954), Sweeney Todd (1959) and Electra (1963)
It seems a great pity that these fine works no longer command the stage, even though they now indicate a retrospective 'golden age' for British ballet and I would really like to hear more from this period, especially the two substantial scores by Stanley Bate - Perseus (1939) and Highland Fling (1946).
What about RVW's Job ?
It is called a Masque for Dancing but it would certainly be right up there in my estimation as not only one of VW's greatest masterpieces but as one of the finest works ever composed in this country.
I also like Old King Cole-although it is certainly a lesser work.
John McCabe's music for Edward II and the two Arthur Ballets contain very powerful music. Indeed McCabe turned some of the music for Edward II into a (5th) Symphony.
You are quite right, of course, I should have included the VW works - my mind was clearly on other things - I feel an amendment coming on!
::)
It came on!
;D
;D
You might also consider the absolutely delightful and charming music Walton wrote for The Wise Virgins. His music for The Quest is, probably, a little less important.
There is also Alan Rawsthorne's Madame Chrystantheme. :)
I've got the Naxos disc of Walton's ballet music, but have not really warmed very much to The Quest, and as the music of Bach is probably one of my least favourites ( :o), The Wise Virgins also holds little appeal.
But I think that Holbrooke's Aucassin and Nicolette (1935) may well shortly join the list!
;D
Do you have recording details for the Rawsthorne?
???
Rawsthorne's original score for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1955 was 40 minutes long. The Ballet Suite arranged by the composer is a mere 8 minutes worth..that is as recorded by Dutton on CDLX 7203(RLPO/David Lloyd-Jones).
Thanks very much - I'm always susceptible to a bit of Rawsthorne!
;)
Eight minutes out of forty seems a bit stingy, though.
>:(
I forgot to mention, I've just ordered the all-Arnold Cooke Lyrita CD, so I might also have to add Jabez and the Devil (1959) - slap-bang in the middle of the most productive period for British ballet.
;D
Quote from: Albion on Sunday 02 October 2011, 18:12
Thanks very much - I'm always susceptible to a bit of Rawsthorne!
;)
Eight minutes out of forty seems a bit stingy, though.
>:(
I forgot to mention, I've just ordered the all-Arnold Cooke Lyrita CD, so I might also have to add Jabez and the Devil (1959) - slap-bang in the middle of the most productive period for British ballet.
;D
I was listening to the Arnold Cooke 4th Symphony last night in a BBC broadcast from 1979: BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Keefe :)
I had forgotten all about Keefe. He conducted quite a lot of British music for BBC orchestras around that time.
Was also listening-in perfect sound ;D-to Anthony Milner's huge Symphony No.2 with the RLPO under Meredith Davies: a choral symphony composed for the Liverpool Festival of Sacred Music in 1978.
Tonight will be Cooke's Symphony No.5, Fricker's Symphony No.5, Robin Orr's Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3........
I also recorded all the BBC broadcasts of the Havergal Brian symphonies including the 3rd under Stanley Pope, the 15th, the 20th under Vernon Handley and the Violin Concerto with Ralph Holmes.....which I believe may be less easily accessible elsewhere?
Anyway....off topic, sorry!
The two ballet sequences, Gargoyles and Lacryma, spring to mind, in Havergal Brian's opera The Tigers.
Josef Holbrooke wrote 6 ballets:
Pierrot & Pierrette (the suite has just been recorded by Cameo)
Coromanthe (lost)
The Moth and the Flame
The Red Masque
Pandora
Aucassin and Nicolette
seven, if you include the ballet (3 dances) from the opera Bronwen.
Also two Opera-Ballets: The Enchanter and Tamlane
In addition to those already mentioned, a quick trawl for British ballets yielded:
- ADDISON: Carte Blanche
ARNOLD: Soliaire; The Three Musketeers
BERNERS: Luna Park; Cupid & Psyche; Les Sirènes
BRIDGE: In the Shop
BRITTEN: Prince of the Pagodas
CHISHOLM: The Forsaken Mermaid; The Hoodie Craw
COATES: The Enchanted Garden
COOPER, WT: Scarecrow; Ushabue
CURZON: Charm of Youth
DAVIES: Caroline Mathilde
DAVIS, Carl: A Christmas Carol
ELGAR: The Sanguine Fan
FEENEY: Cinderella; Dracula
FRICKER: Canterbury Tales
GORDON: The Rake's Progress
HOLST: The Lure; The Morning of the Year; The Golden Goose
JACOB: Uncle Remus
KNUSSEN: In the Mi(d)st
LAMBERT: The Prospect Before Us (or, Pity the Poor Dancers); Romeo and Juliet
LANCHBERY: The Tales of Beatrix Potter
MULDOWNEY: The Brontës
PARRY: Proserpine
REYNOLDS: 1066 and All That
STANDFORD: Celestial Fire
TOMLINSON: Aladdin
TOYE: The Haunted Ballroom
Apologies if I've included an Irish item.
Wouldn't it be good to hear some of the lesser known of these! Obvioulsy, some have been recorded, and a few are regularly performed - but many are neither.
The Sanguine Fan pops up rarely (LFB, 1976); the music to Parry's
Proserpine had not been played since 1912, until it was aired by the BBC earlier this year; and, according to the CD reviewer at 'allmusic', Holst's
The Morning of the Year and
The Golden Goose haven't been played or performed in decades. Methinks, another case of inordinate devotion to mainstream Russian and French ballet?
Quote from: semloh on Sunday 02 October 2011, 21:06according to the CD reviewer at 'allmusic', Holst's The Morning of the Year and The Golden Goose haven't been played or performed in decades.
Another favourite I ought to have included is Holst - this Hickox disc is superb -
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519p2aHaemL._SS400_.jpg)
The Perfect Fool - Ballet Music (1918-22),
The Lure (1921),
The Golden Goose (1926) and
The Morning of the Year (1926-27)
and somehow I also managed to overlook
this in my initial 'off-top-of-head' list:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51pc1eFgM3L._SS400_.jpg)
From Dusk till Dawn (1917) and
The Truth About the Russian Dancers (1920)
:)
Yes, agree totally - both unreservedly splendid discs.
I see, by the way, that the notes for the Bax - which is utterly charming - mention a ballet by Norman O'Neill entitled Before Dawn, which I don't suppose has seen the light of day for over a century.
Taking the example of Holst, if we can admit choral-ballets (and I don't see why not), another work I would love to see recorded is Granville Bantock's
The Great God Pan (1915). Only Part I, entitled
Pan in Arcady, was published (the remnants appear to have gone into the making of the
Pagan Symphony).
I've got a copy of the vocal score (see below) and it looks like a really fine example of Bantock's mature writing, with a huge unaccompanied Choral Prelude (
Invocation to Pan) along the lines of
Atalanta in Calydon, and vocal parts for Pan (bass), Echo (soprano), A Shepherd (tenor) and The Moon (contralto) -
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb393/albion22/th_pan.jpg)
:)
Quote from: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 18:08
Rawsthorne's original score for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1955 was 40 minutes long. The Ballet Suite arranged by the composer is a mere 8 minutes worth..that is as recorded by Dutton on CDLX 7203(RLPO/David Lloyd-Jones).
Just come across the ASV two-disc set entitled
Tribute to Sir Fred which has Rawsthorne's complete 44-minute score for
Madame Chrysanthème played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Barry Wordsworth ...
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Feb04/Sir_Fred_Tribute_CDWLS273.jpg)
... and ordered it from Amazon
:)
A post from an outsider.
As it is not often recorded, I don't know how often is performed, so I don't know if I may add Walton Facade (ballet-orchestral version). I could see the ballet in Torino some years ago (by the way the conductor was Andrea Quinn, who later conducted in my city Elgar Second Sym. , and later recorded a Raff CD).
The music of Facade (orchestral version) is for me occasion of a little "nostalgia trip" as I bought a recording by Fistoulari on my first visit to London (1967); and , years later, again in London another LP by Kostelanetz (only one suite).
Lord Berners: by chance I could attend a ballet evening at the Royal Opera House, C.G. (1982 or 1983) featuring also "A wedding bouquet". (Star of the evening -and not in the Lord Berners ballet- was the famous Merle Park).
Another composer we've missed out is Rutland Boughton (1878-1960):
Death Dance of Grania (1912) - extant in manuscript parts
Mystic Dance of the Grail (1913) - lost
Snow White (1914) - extant in manuscript score
Pandora's Box (1914) - lost
The Death of Columbine (1918) - extant in manuscript score
May Day (1926-27) - published by Curwen, 1929
His exquisite Symphony No.2, Deirdre (1926-27) started life as a three-act ballet for Ninette de Valois before the idea was dropped. He completed the original ballet version on 17th March 1926, marking the score "St. Patrick's Day, and an end of all my romantic music". Luckily this wasn't to be the case.
:)
A reviewer of a symphony release of Sallinen remarked that the music (as sometimes used to be said of Tchaikovsky) sounded balletic; this seemed to be - nothing negative, just descriptive - true in some way - if not balletic, at least somehow dramatic, programmatic, unusually narrative - about the Boughton Deirdre symphony (having heard it- quite a few times- before I learned its genesis...)
(Definitely not negatively meant; I was and remain enthralled- enraptured?-... quite taken... by the piece.)
What is remarkable about
Deirdre is that Boughton conceived it in (loosely) symphonic form and only had to cut 67 bars - so the metamorphosis results in a highly satisfying independent concert work.
To add to the list of desiderata, I'm always glad to hear more Cyril Scott and there are ballets in his catalogue too -
The Incompetent Apothecary, A Breughel Comedy (1923) - published Schott (1923)
Masque of the Red Death (1930) - ms?
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Sunday 02 October 2011, 20:00
Josef Holbrooke wrote 6 ballets:
Pierrot & Pierrette (the suite has just been recorded by Cameo)
Coromanthe (lost)
The Moth and the Flame
The Red Masque
Pandora
Aucassin and Nicolette
seven, if you include the ballet (3 dances) from the opera Bronwen.
Also two Opera-Ballets: The Enchanter and Tamlane
I've got scores for
The Wizard (aka
The Enchanter),
The Moth and the Flame and
The Red Masque - all this music looks and sounds fascinating in piano reduction. Let's hope that more will be revived!
:)
Quote from: Albion on Monday 03 October 2011, 09:04Just come across the ASV two-disc set entitled Tribute to Sir Fred which has Rawsthorne's complete 44-minute score for Madame Chrysanthème played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Barry Wordsworth ...
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Feb04/Sir_Fred_Tribute_CDWLS273.jpg)
... and ordered it from Amazon
:)
There is a companion volume to this release -
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/Oct01/Tribute_to_madam.jpg)
this tribute to Dame Ninette de Valois contains the complete ballets
Checkmate by Arthur Bliss,
The Prospect Before Us by Constant Lambert (arranged from the music of William Boyce),
The Rake's Progress by Gavin Gordon and
The Haunted Ballroom by Geoffrey Toye.
Quote from: Albion on Monday 03 October 2011, 09:04
Just come across the ASV two-disc set entitled Tribute to Sir Fred which has Rawsthorne's complete 44-minute score for Madame Chrysanthème played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Barry Wordsworth ...
I absolutely love this, though of course three of the four composers aren't British....still, I just adore the lavish piano and orchestra arrangement of the Liszt...
Quote from: Albion on Sunday 02 October 2011, 18:12I've just ordered the all-Arnold Cooke Lyrita CD, so I might also have to add Jabez and the Devil (1959) - slap-bang in the middle of the most productive period for British ballet.
;D
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51v8zLYeRJL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Well, it came in the post today - what a splendid disc it is! I was immediately taken with the Concerto for String Orchestra with its vigour and muscularity (why are there so many
great British works for strings alone?) and the ballet suite from
Jabez and the Devil makes me really want to hear the whole score complete. I enjoyed the 3rd Symphony (on the Havergal Brian Lyrita disc) as well, but this particular CD is a must-have, I would say.
;D
Oh, forgot to mention,
Tribute to Sir Fred also came today (in the fastest delivery from an Amazon trader I've ever experienced) - so it's ballet-mania here (must get the Arnell, Arnold, Lambert and Bliss discs out again as well ...)
:o
Think that I might try my hand at an 'Arnold Cooke' thread ;D ;D
Quote from: Albion on Monday 03 October 2011, 09:04Quote from: Dundonnell on Sunday 02 October 2011, 18:08Rawsthorne's original score for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1955 was 40 minutes long. The Ballet Suite arranged by the composer is a mere 8 minutes worth..that is as recorded by Dutton on CDLX 7203(RLPO/David Lloyd-Jones).
Just come across the ASV two-disc set entitled Tribute to Sir Fred which has Rawsthorne's complete 44-minute score for Madame Chrysanthème played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Barry Wordsworth ...
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Feb04/Sir_Fred_Tribute_CDWLS273.jpg)
The full ballet score is highly enjoyable - Rawsthorne at his most appealing with strong melodies, bright scoring (xylophone, celeste and piano prominent at times) and plenty of vitality. Unfortunately, I don't think that Sanctuary Classics are with us any longer, but copies seem to be available from traders on you know where - it's well worth seeking out, and not just for Rawsthorne or British Ballet completists, even though the couplings may not appeal to some.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tribute-Sir-Fred-Alan-Rawsthorne/dp/B0000Y37N8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317918161&sr=8-1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tribute-Sir-Fred-Alan-Rawsthorne/dp/B0000Y37N8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317918161&sr=8-1)
;)
Quote from: Albion on Monday 03 October 2011, 17:18[Rutland Boughton's] exquisite Symphony No.2, Deirdre (1926-27) started life as a three-act ballet for Ninette de Valois before the idea was dropped. He completed the original ballet version on 17th March 1926, marking the score "St. Patrick's Day, and an end of all my romantic music". Luckily this wasn't to be the case.
:)
According to the (customarily) excellent notes that Dutton supply with their discs, Erik Chisholm went the other way and his 1939
Ossian Symphony (No.2) -
was quarried by the composer for his wartime ballet
The Earth-Shapers ('a symphonic ballet in a prologue and two acts'), which was premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Glasgow, on 28th [...] of November 1941.
Any other examples (in British ballet) of the composer making similar genre-bending transcriptions from symphonic to ballet or vice versa?
???