(Granville Bantock: born in London, August 7, 1868; now living in Birmingham, England) TONE-POEM, "THE WITCH OF ATLAS" [3] 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. We are not put to it to decide whether, for example, the mellifluous andante passage 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' 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 tuba pianissimo, with harp arpeggios.]
(C) "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; a staccato passage 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 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 a staccato figure in the wood-wind.]
(E) "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 a pizzicato accompaniment.]
(F) "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, against fortissimo chords 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 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 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, against pizzicato arpeggios and trills in the strings.]
PRELUDE, "SAPPHO"[7] This is an orchestral preface to nine fragments from Sappho set to music for contralto and orchestra, and "indicating," says the composer, "emotional moods of the Greek poetess as an introduction to her songs." The verses set to music by Mr. Bantock are (1) the famous Hymn to Aphrodite, and the fragments beginning as follows: (2) "I loved thee once, Atthis, long ago";[8] (3) "Evening, thou bringest all"; (4) "Stand face to face, friend"; (5) "The moon has set"; (6) "Peer of Gods he seems"; (7) "In a dream I spake"; (8) Bridal Song—"O fair, O lovely!" (9) "Muse of the golden throne." [9] The Prelude is constructed of themes taken from certain of the songs to which it serves as an introduction. It opens with harp-chords, in the manner of an improvisation, derived from the setting of the ninth Fragment: "Muse of the golden throne,
O raise thy strain...." This is repeated; then follows, after some intervening measures, an expressive phrase sung by violins, 'cellos, horn, and bassoon, which, in the setting of the fifth Fragment, accompanies the words: "I yearn and seek, I know not what to do,
And I flutter like a child after her mother." There is a crescendo, leading to a fortissimo proclamation by the trumpet of a theme from the ninth Fragment ("Muse of the Golden Throne"), followed by the impassioned theme (for violins and trumpet) which, towards the close of the fifth Fragment, underscores the lines: "Yea, Eros shakes my soul, yea, Eros,
A wind on the mountain falling on the oaks." This leads directly into a climactic outburst for full orchestra, on a theme borrowed from the sixth Fragment: "Dare I to love thee?" A languishing passage follows (strings, wood-wind, and horns), taken from the setting of the words (in the sixth Fragment): "Sight have I none, nor hearing, cold dew bathes me,
Paler than grass I am, and in my madness
Seem as one dead." There is a brief crescendo, then the conclusion, of gradually subsiding intensity. The music is almost note for note that of the seventh Fragment: "Delicate Adonis is dying; what shall we do?
Beat your breasts, maidens, and rend your tunics!
Ah, for Adonis!
The Dawn shall see thee no more,
Nor dark-eyed Sleep, the daughter of Night,
Ah, for Adonis!" [10]
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