In the autumn of 1894 Edward and Alice Elgar enjoyed a holiday in
Upper Bavaria, mostly at Garmisch. Upon their return to England,
Alice wrote a set of six poems with words “adapted from the
Volkslieder and Schnadahüpfler”, and Edward duly set them
to music. These six songs, collectively entitled From the
Bavarian Highlands, were dedicated to Mr and Mrs Slingsby
Bethell, the proprietors of the Garmisch pension where the Elgars
had stayed. Composed in 1895, we sing them in their original form
with piano accompaniment.
Garmisch is just a few miles from the border with Austria, and over
that border, just a few years later, Gustav Mahler composed his
Rückert-Lieder. These five songs exist in both full orchestral
and piano accompanied versions by Mahler, and it is the latter that
our Musical Director has adapted as a choral arrangement. Another
classic of the period, Morgen! by Richard Strauss, is also
hear in a choral version by our Musical Director.
Back in England, an almost exact contemporary of Elgar, Ethel Smyth,
was also obsessed with the music of Austria and Germany, and her
opera, Der Wald, is full of Wagnerian intent, and begins with
a wonderful choral prologue, with woodland spirits and a natural
storyline.
Completing the programme is Cursch-Bühren’s mixed choir arrangement
of the original male-voice chorus version of Johann Strauss II’s
The Blue Danube.Programme:
Northampton Bach Choir
Conductor - Lee Dunleavy From the Bavarian Highlands
- Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Rückert-Lieder - Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) arr. Lee Dunleavy
Prologue from Der Wald - Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
An der schönen, blauen Donau - Johann Strauss II (1825-99)
Morgen! - Richard Strauss (1864-1949) arr. Lee Dunleavy |
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