Stories of Symphonic Music A Guide to the Meaning of Important Symphonies, Overtures, and Tone-poems from Beethoven to the Present Day — Edition Insights

wer all spirits of compelling,"

[Vigorous descending passages in the strings, against _fortissimo_ chords of the full orchestra, introduce a theme of animated character announced by trumpets, trombones, tuba, horns, wood-wind, and strings.]

(G) "And then she called out of the hollow turrets Of those high clouds, white, golden and vermilion, The armies of her ministering spirits. In mighty legions million after million They came, each troop emblazoning its merits On meteor flags; and many a proud pavilion, Of the intertexture of the atmosphere, They pitched upon the plain of the calm mere."

[The animated theme continues in the full orchestra. Later, an extended harp passage leads into the succeeding section.]

(H) "To those she saw most beautiful, she gave Strange panacea in a crystal bowl. They drank in their deep sleep of that sweet wave, And lived thenceforward as if some control, Mightier than life, were in them; and the grave Of such, when death oppressed the weary soul, Was as a green and over-arching bower Lit by the gems of many a starry flower."[6]

[The horn theme of section E returns in more elaborate orchestral dress, against _pizzicato_ arpeggios and trills in the strings.]

This is an orchestral preface to nine fragments from Sappho set to music for contralto and orchestra, and "indicating," says the composer, "emotional moods of the Greek poetess as an introduction to her songs." The verses set to music by Mr. Bantock are (1) the famous Hymn to Aphrodite, and the fragments beginning as follows: (2) "I loved thee once, Atthis, long ago";[8] (3) "Evening, thou bringest all"; (4) "Stand face to face, friend"; (5) "The moon has set"; (6) "Peer of Gods he seems"; (7) "In a dream I spake"; (8) Bridal Song--"O fair, O lovely!" (9) "Muse of the golden throne."[9]

The Prelude is constructed of themes taken from certain of the songs to which it serves as an introduction. It opens with harp-chords, in the manner of an improvisation, derived from the setting of the ninth Fragment:

"Muse of the golden throne, O raise thy strain...."

This is repeated; then follows, after some intervening measures, an expressive phrase sung by violins, 'cellos, horn, and bassoon, which, in the setting of the fifth Fragment, accompanies the words:

"I yearn and seek, I know not what to do, And I flutter like a child after her mother."

There is a crescendo, leading to a _fortissimo_ proclamation by the trumpet of a theme from the ninth Fragment ("Muse of the Golden Throne"), followed by the impassioned theme (for violins and trumpet) which, towards the close of the fifth Fragment, underscores the lines:

"Yea, Eros shakes my soul, yea, Eros, A wind on the mountain falling on the oaks."

This leads directly into a climactic outburst for full orchestra, on a theme borrowed from the sixth Fragment:

"Dare I to love thee?"

A languishing passage follows (strings, wood-wind, and horns), taken from the setting of the words (in the sixth Fragment):

"Sight have I none, nor hearing, cold dew bathes me, Paler than grass I am, and in my madness Seem as one dead."

There is a brief crescendo, then the conclusion, of gradually subsiding intensity. The music is almost note for note that of the seventh Fragment:

"Delicate Adonis is dying; what shall we do? Beat your breasts, maidens, and rend your tunics! Ah, for Adonis! The Dawn shall see thee no more, Nor dark-eyed Sleep, the daughter of Night, Ah, for Adonis!"[10]

[3] Without opus number. The score was published in 1903.

[4] It is intended to point out here that the composer has realized that a piece of elaborate orchestral programme-music is as authentic and legitimate a fusion of literary and musical modes of expression as is the song, the opera, or the oratorio; that a full knowledge of its subject-matter is as essential in the one case as in the others, and as little to be satisfied, in most instances, by a knowledge of the title alone. Mr. Bantock has appreciated that certain things in his music were conceived in a particular way not primarily in obedience to a musical design, but as an expression of a definite mood or picture or idea; and that he owes it to his hearers not to set his music before them without giving them at the same time full and definite information as to what it is intended to express.

[5] A mute is an implement placed over the bridge of a stringed instrument to give a veiled and softened quality to the tone.

[6] Those who may wonder concerning the precise significance of Shelley's poem--"unrivalled as an Ariel-like flight of fairy fancy," affirms his most succinct biographer--should turn to the poet's ironical prefatory verses addressed "To Mary, On Her Objecting to the Following Poem Upon the Score of Its Containing No Human Interest."