BANTOCK

(Granville Bantock: born in London, August 7, 1868; now living in Birmingham, England)

This tone-poem is noteworthy, aside from its intrinsic quality, for the completeness with which it fulfils the obligations imposed by logic and consistency upon the writer of programme-music. Here is an orchestral work inspired by certain portions of Shelley's poem—a musical illustration of various passages which in themselves contain the imaginative essence of that extraordinary fantasy. But the composer has not been content merely to tell us that his music is a tone-poem "after Shelley"; he has gone further: he has quoted as a preface to the score the precise passages in the poem which suggested his music; and opposite each passage he has placed a key-letter, which refers to a duplicate printed at the beginning of the corresponding illustrative passage in the music. That is to say, he has enabled us to follow him throughout the entire course of his musical exposition, not dubiously and by guesswork, but with certitude and intelligent comprehension. Weare not put to it to decide whether, for example, the mellifluousandantepassage for four horns, in the middle section of the work, is intended as an illustration of the lines in the poem descriptive of the "green and over-arching bower" inhabited by those who had received the Witch's panacea, or of the lines which celebrate the radiance of her beauty: we know precisely what it is intended to represent, and are in a position not only to feel its effect as sheer music, but to appreciate its expressive force.[4]

Prefaced to the score are these excerpts from Shelley's poem; they are quoted here together with an indication of the character of the music which introduces each corresponding section of the tone-poem:

(A)"A lady-witch there lived on Atlas' mountainWithin a cavern by a secret fountain."[A tranquil passage for solo violin, muted.][5]

(A)

"A lady-witch there lived on Atlas' mountainWithin a cavern by a secret fountain."

"A lady-witch there lived on Atlas' mountain

Within a cavern by a secret fountain."

[A tranquil passage for solo violin, muted.][5]

(B)"'Tis said, she was first changed into a vapour,And then into a cloud, such clouds as flit,Like splendour-winged moths about a taper,Round the red west when the sun dies in it;"[A mysterious phrase for solo viola, above trumpets, trombones,and tubapianissimo, with harp arpeggios.](C)"And old Silenus, shaking a green stickOf lilies, and the wood-gods in a crewCame, blithe, as in the olive copses thickCicadæ are, drunk with the noonday dew:And Dryope and Faunus followed quick,Teasing the god to sing them something new,Till in this cave they found the lady lone,Sitting upon a seat of emerald stone."[A solo violin has a wide-arched phrase against sweeping harp arpeggios; astaccatopassage in the wood-wind introduces a lyric theme in the strings—an expansion of the one with which the tone-poem opened.](D)"And every nymph of stream and spreading tree,And every shepherdess of Ocean's flocks,Who drives her white waves over the green sea;And Ocean, with the brine on his gray locks,And quaint Priapus with his company,All came, much wondering how the enwombèd rocksCould have brought forth so beautiful a birth;—Her love subdued their wonder and their mirth."[This section begins, in more sprightly mood, with trills on the solo violin against astaccatofigure in the wood-wind.]

(B)

"'Tis said, she was first changed into a vapour,And then into a cloud, such clouds as flit,Like splendour-winged moths about a taper,Round the red west when the sun dies in it;"

"'Tis said, she was first changed into a vapour,

And then into a cloud, such clouds as flit,

Like splendour-winged moths about a taper,

Round the red west when the sun dies in it;"

[A mysterious phrase for solo viola, above trumpets, trombones,and tubapianissimo, with harp arpeggios.]

(C)

"And old Silenus, shaking a green stickOf lilies, and the wood-gods in a crewCame, blithe, as in the olive copses thickCicadæ are, drunk with the noonday dew:And Dryope and Faunus followed quick,Teasing the god to sing them something new,Till in this cave they found the lady lone,Sitting upon a seat of emerald stone."

"And old Silenus, shaking a green stick

Of lilies, and the wood-gods in a crew

Came, blithe, as in the olive copses thick

Cicadæ are, drunk with the noonday dew:

And Dryope and Faunus followed quick,

Teasing the god to sing them something new,

Till in this cave they found the lady lone,

Sitting upon a seat of emerald stone."

[A solo violin has a wide-arched phrase against sweeping harp arpeggios; astaccatopassage in the wood-wind introduces a lyric theme in the strings—an expansion of the one with which the tone-poem opened.]

(D)

"And every nymph of stream and spreading tree,And every shepherdess of Ocean's flocks,Who drives her white waves over the green sea;And Ocean, with the brine on his gray locks,And quaint Priapus with his company,All came, much wondering how the enwombèd rocksCould have brought forth so beautiful a birth;—Her love subdued their wonder and their mirth."

"And every nymph of stream and spreading tree,

And every shepherdess of Ocean's flocks,

Who drives her white waves over the green sea;

And Ocean, with the brine on his gray locks,

And quaint Priapus with his company,

All came, much wondering how the enwombèd rocks

Could have brought forth so beautiful a birth;—

Her love subdued their wonder and their mirth."

[This section begins, in more sprightly mood, with trills on the solo violin against astaccatofigure in the wood-wind.]

(E)"For she was beautiful: her beauty madeThe bright world dim, and everything besideSeemed like the fleeting image of a shade":[Four horns sing a flowing and tender theme,andante; solo viola and solo 'cello play apizzicatoaccompaniment.](F)"The deep recesses of her odorous dwellingWere stored with magic treasures—sounds of air,Which had the power all spirits of compelling,"[Vigorous descending passages in the strings, againstfortissimochords 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 turretsOf those high clouds, white, golden and vermilion,The armies of her ministering spirits.In mighty legions million after millionThey came, each troop emblazoning its meritsOn 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 gaveStrange 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 graveOf such, when death oppressed the weary soul,Was as a green and over-arching bowerLit by the gems of many a starry flower."[6][The horn theme of section E returns in more elaborate orchestral dress, againstpizzicatoarpeggios and trills in the strings.]

(E)

"For she was beautiful: her beauty madeThe bright world dim, and everything besideSeemed like the fleeting image of a shade":

"For she was beautiful: her beauty made

The bright world dim, and everything beside

Seemed like the fleeting image of a shade":

[Four horns sing a flowing and tender theme,andante; solo viola and solo 'cello play apizzicatoaccompaniment.]

(F)

"The deep recesses of her odorous dwellingWere stored with magic treasures—sounds of air,Which had the power all spirits of compelling,"

"The deep recesses of her odorous dwelling

Were stored with magic treasures—sounds of air,

Which had the power all spirits of compelling,"

[Vigorous descending passages in the strings, againstfortissimochords 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 turretsOf those high clouds, white, golden and vermilion,The armies of her ministering spirits.In mighty legions million after millionThey came, each troop emblazoning its meritsOn meteor flags; and many a proud pavilion,Of the intertexture of the atmosphere,They pitched upon the plain of the calm mere."

"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 gaveStrange 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 graveOf such, when death oppressed the weary soul,Was as a green and over-arching bowerLit by the gems of many a starry flower."[6]

"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, againstpizzicatoarpeggios and trills in the strings.]

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