Vocal score:  'pencil sketches completed 29 May 1952, ink copy completed 24 July 1952'.
Full score dated: 1 Sep 1952 (overture), 29 Sep 1952 (scene 1), 11 Oct 1952 (scene 2), 4 Dec 1952 (scene 4)

4 flutes (1 also picc), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons (1 also contra), 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, 2×3 timpani, bass drum, 3 side drums, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, castanets, tam-tam, bells, xylophone, glockenspiel, celesta, 2 harps, strings

100 minutes

Text: The Cenci (1819), Percy Bysshe Shelley, abridged by the composer

Overture   [262 bars] (13:45)
Scene 1 [Shelley: Act 1, scene 1]:  An apartment in the Cenci palace, Rome  [180 bars] (8:40)
Scene 2 [Shelley: Act 1, scene 2]:  A garden of the Cenci palace, Rome  [142 bars] (7:40)
Scene 3 [Shelley: Act 1, scene 3]:  A magnificent hall in the Cenci palace, Rome:  A banquet  [218 bars] (10:20)
Scene 4 [Shelley: Act 4, scene 1]:  An apartment in the Castle of Petrella (among the Apulian Appenines) [263 bars] (13:00)
Scene 5 [Shelley: Act 4, scenes 2-4]:  Before the Castle of Petrella  [303 bars] (15:45)
Scene 6 [Shelley: Act 5, scene 1]:  An apartment in Orsino's palace, Rome  [110 bars] (6:10)
Scene 7 [Shelley: Act 5, scene 2]:  The Hall of Justice, Rome  [173 bars] (9:45)
Scene 8 [Shelley: Act 5, scene 4]:  A hall of the prison  [286 bars] (14:50)

Total [1937 bars] (99:55)

Timings from complete performance 12 December 1997

United Music Publishers Limited

Derived works

Preludio tragico  for orchestra - the overture to the opera (14´) [a] 13:37
Flourish  for 4 trumpets
Fanfare  for brass and percussion - from Scene 3 (Banqueting scene)  [arr MacDonald]  (2½´)
Fanfare  for brass and percussion - from Scene 7 (Hall of Justice)  [arr MacDonald]

[a] Walker

Articles

The Cenci from within - Martin Anderson
Fearful and monstrous - Martin Anderson
My experiences of conducting The Cenci - James Kelleher
The fanfares - Malcolm MacDonald
details MM's arrangement of the two Fanfares
Two interpretations of The Cenci (1) - William Newman
Two interpretations of The Cenci (2) - William Newman
Two interpretations of The Cenci (3) - William Newman
Two interpretations of The Cenci (4) - William Newman
Two interpretations of The Cenci (5) - William Newman
5 part series contrasting and comparing the settings of Shelley's poem by Brian and Bertold Goldschmidt (Beatrice Cenci)

Performances

Complete opera

12 December 1997 [first concert performance] . Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
sponsored by the Havergal Brian Society
Helen Field (sop) Beatrice Cenci
David Wilson-Johnson (bar) Count Cenci
Inga Jonsdottir (alto) Lucretia
Stuart Kale (ten) Cardinal Camillo/An officer
Justin Lavender (ten) Orsino/Bernardo
Jeffrey Carl (bar) Giacomo/Savella/1st judge/2nd judge
Nicholas Buxton (ten) Marzio/3rd guest/A cardinal
Devon Harrison (bass) Olimpio/Colonna/A guest
Serena Kay (sop) 1st guest/2nd guest
The Millennium Sinfonia, conductor James Kelleher

Derived works

Preludio tragico
24 September 1976 [first performance/live BBC Radio 3 broadcast] . invitation concert at Alexandra Palace, London
New Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Harry Newstone

Fanfare from scene 3  [arr wind and percussion by Malcolm Macdonald]
4 October 1974 [first performance] (performed twice)
University of Illinois Wind Ensemble, conductor Robert Gray

Fanfare from scene 7
18 November 1980 . St John's Smith Square
Kensington Symphony Orchestra, conductor Leslie Head

Commercial recordings

Derived works

Fanfare from scene 3 [arr MacDonald]
London (Decca)
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, conductor Howard Snell

Preludio tragico

25/26 June 2009, City Halls, Glasgow / Toccata Classics

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conductor Garry Walker

Toccata Classics TOCC 0113

See also Discography

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