| Hero and Leander | |
| symphonic poem, op8
?1904-06 Completed by January 1907 at the latest LOST 4 flutes, 4 oboes, cor anglais*, 4
clarinets, bass clarinet*, 4 bassoons, contrabassoon*, 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 5 trombones,
tuba, bass drum, side drum [more than 1], glockenspiel, 4 bells, 2 harps, strings Previewing the concert listed below, the Staffordshire Sentinel, 2 December 1908: »Mr Havergal Brian's orchestral work 'Hero and Leander'... was not the outcome of a period of sustained enthusiam - it did not grow into its present shape as the result of a fever raging at white heat. Quite the contrary - no work of the composer was evolved so slowly. Mr Brian, indeed, was quite three years in finishing his task, only taking up the composition when his mind was entirely in sympathy with his great purpose. He was first prompted to give attention to the subject while examining Lord Leighton's picture of "Hero and Leander" in the Manchester Art Gallery. »The story is, of course, that which Homer relates in his Odyssey. Here, a beautiful priestess of Venus at Sestus, is enamoured of a brave youth named Leander. In order to reach Hero the lover has nightly to swim the Hellespont. One night while he was crossing on his love quest, a storm arose, the wind blew loud, the waves ran high, and in the midst of the storm Hero watching him from her tower imagines she hears the drowning cries of Leander. In her despair she throws herself into the spray and is drowned. To give adequate conceptions of the intensity of the passion and the reality of the tragedy, Mr Brian has used a very large orchestra indeed...« In the Sentinel's review, 4 December 1908: Beecham »ought to have had more time to prepare the work... "Hero and Leander", or "Death of Hero", is a study in emotion; and will not be properly played until the band which instruments it publicly has had at least four rehearsals. As it is understood that Mr Beecham had not had time to devote more than a few minutes' rehearsal to the work, it needs only be said that the tone-poem still awaits fitting baptism. It was, however, clear that Mr Brian has composed a remarkable work, in all likelihood the finest any Staffordshire man has probably created.« In fact, the performance with deficient orchestral parts and conducted from memory by Beecham, who had just lost the score, was a debacle. - after Malcolm MacDonald
Performance 3 December 1908 [first and only
performance] . Victoria Hall, Hanley, UK 990715 Havergal Brian - the official website HOME |
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