FRI APR 21 — 11 A.M.
FREDERICK DELIUS
(1862–1934)
Brigg Fair, an English Rhapsody (1908)
Frederick Delius might be one of the only famous composers who could list “orange
cultivation” under special skills on his resume. Many composers have had professions outside
of music, of course — for example, the Russian composer Alexander Borodin was a chemist
— but Delius moved to a Florida orange grove from Yorkshire, England, because his father
disapproved of a career in music. Better to have a son with a steady job than a starving artist.
This career was not to last, even if it did provide ample opportunities to study music and nature
— Delius moved to Germany after a few years to devote himself to making music full-time.
Recommended Recording:
Delius: Orchestral Works, Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas
Beecham, conducting
However, Delius’s love of the pastoral translated to his music, as we shall hear in this morning’s
Brigg Fair. The piece is based on an English folk song with a rather wistful tune, captured on
a 1905 field recording by Percy Grainger (another famous English composer in his own right).
Grainger later wrote: “Delius’s ‘Brigg Fair’ is not program-music and does not seek to express
any definite plot or action. It merely elaborates the emotional mood of the folk-melody and
its text — a late-summer dream of morning freshness, love, peacefulness, quiet rural jollity, lazy
church bells and the glowing English country-side. Therefore, ‘Brigg Fair’ does not purport to
be a tonal pictorialization of scenes which might take place at an English fair. It consists of a
free, i.e., rhapsodic, set of variations and development of a Lincolnshire folksong which was
discovered at Brigg.” So, in a sense, you’ll be able to add your own story to the musical scene.
“It was on the fifth of August-er, the weather fine and fair,
Unto Brigg Fair I did repair, for love I was inclined.
I rose up with the lark in the morning, with my heart so full of glee,
Of thinking there to meet my dear, long time I’d wished to see.
I looked over my left shoulder to see whom I could see,
And there I spied my own true love, come tripping down to me.
I took hold of her lily-white hand, O and merrily was her heart:
‘And now we’re met together, I hope we ne’er shall part.
For it’s meeting is a pleasure, and parting is a grief,
But an unconstant lover is worse than any thief.
LISTEN FOR:
In this piece, pay attention to the ways in which the different instruments take charge of the
melody throughout the piece:
• The bird-like introduction in the flute
• The main folk song theme in the oboe with pizzicato (plucked) strings
• The following expressive (yet soft and muted) violin theme against wavy woodwind
accompaniment
• The clarinet melody that leads back into the main folk song theme
• A new section with mournful trumpet and trombones and a funerary bell
• The full orchestra and the final return to the folk song
• The final soft oboe theme that fades away into shimmering strings
continued
FRIDAY MORNINGS
FRI APR 21 — 11 A.M.
RICHARD STRAUSS
(1864–1949)
Don Quixote (1897)
is a tone poem: a piece of orchestral music meant to depict or evoke some nonmusical source (a poem, novel, painting, sculpture…). Many tone poems are similar in size and
scale to symphonies, but they represent a freer form (in other words, a tone poem can follow
the shape of a story rather than adhering to traditional structures for the movements). Just like
Brigg Fair, this music should inspire you to imagine the scenes, images, and moods.
Recommended Recording:
Strauss: Don Quixote, Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra, Mstislav
Rostropovich, cello, and Herbert
von Karajan, conducting
This particular tone poem is based on Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes
(published in 1605), about a dashing (if incompetent) knight and his exploits. Like the Brigg
Fair, it does not tell a single, continuous story, but rather, presents a series of vignettes from
the original novel. The solo cello represents Don Quixote; a challenge for cellists to not only
execute all of the technical fireworks, but also convey the character with sensitivity and nuance.
Quixote’s comic sidekick, Sancho Panza, is depicted by solo viola, tenor tuba, and bass clarinet
throughout the piece.
LISTEN FOR:
• The opening pseudo-fanfare (in the flutes and oboes instead of the usual brass), which
instantly gives us a sense that Don Quixote’s sense of reality is slightly askew—in this scene,
he is reading chivalric romances and imagining himself as a medieval knight-errant, a figure
who would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his virtue (be it duels or the
pursuit of a courtly lady love).
• Variation II depicts an episode where Don Quixote encounters a herd of sheep and
believes they are an invading army to subdue. Strauss uses flutter-tonguing in the brass to
mimic the bleating of the sheep — a technique in which performers make a characteristic
“FrrrFrrr” sound.
• Variation VII, in which Don Quixote imagines himself flying through the air to reach a
damsel in distress — depicted by wind machine and wild harp glissandi. And yet, the low
pedal-point (a sustained note) in the bass instruments `tells us that the entire scene is a
dream — literally tethering the two characters to the ground.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION
Before the Concert
1. If Delius and Strauss are not trying to capture a particular plot, and are not relying on traditional structures such as the
symphony, what gives the music its form?
2. Each instrument can portray different characters. What kinds of characters do you associate with each instrument in the
orchestra?
After the Concert
1. Musicologists have described Don Quixote as “gestural.” How can music imitate physical gestures?
2. Does knowing the exact scene get in the way of the music? How would you compare the experience of listening to Don
Quixote (which has a storyline) to Brigg Fair (which is more ambiance than plot)?
Content created by Dana Plank for use in The Cleveland Orchestra’s Friday Morning Concert Guide.