In this vein, Scheherazade, the daughter of the Grand Vizier, persuaded her father to allow her to marry the Sultan who, convinced of the duplicity and infidelity of all women, had slain each of his wives after the first night of marriage. Through a clever practice of nightly storytelling Scheherazade won over the Sultan, who spared her life, causing peace to fall on the land and the realm to become safe from losing any more of its young women. Such is the background to Rimsky-Korsakov’s musical depiction of four of the 1001 tales with which Scheherazade beguiled her husband. Hansel and Gretel in Humperdinck’s opera found other ways of dealing with evil intentions, while Saint-Saëns mocked the fear of dying in his “Danse Macabre” depicting Death as a violinist appearing every Hallowe’en playing his fiddle as skeletons rise from their graves and dance until dawn.
Much less dramatic was the second of our May programmes. Debussy in his “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” conjures up the image of a Faun – a half-man and half-goat figure of Greek mythology – drifting off to sleep filled with colourful dreams and wakening to luxuriate in sensual memories. Sibelius’ Violin Concerto marks a turning point in the composer’s struggles with alcoholism and the financial needs to meet his responsibilities as a father of three. Illustrating the beauty of light amid so much wintery darkness of his native land, the character of the piece also has been compared to the character of Nordic people, offering a fascinating window into the inner world of Sibelius’ fellow countrymen. Many performers who have approached the task of bringing the concerto to life have defined it as a piece about both actual nature and human nature. In 1785 (age 29), Mozart dedicated a set of six new string quartets to his friend and mentor Josef Haydn, 34 years his senior. Upon attending the premiere of the new quartets with Leopold Mozart, his protégé’s father, Haydn told him: “before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name.” Some accolade, but something many of us have long since come to know! We played just the 2nd of the set of six.
These and all our musical offerings for May may be listened to by clicking on the links below.
Bill Squire
Humperdinck - Prelude to Hansel and Gretel
Rimsky- Korsakov - Scheherazade
Schumann - Cello Concerto
Saint-Saens - Danse Macabre
Session Notes 23rd May
Debussy - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Sibelius - Violin Concerto
Handel - Let the Bright Seraphim
Mozart -String Quartet No. 15