Page 387 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
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escape from catalonia: the composing experience of roberto gerhard
rearrange works when different resources were available and while he was
finding his feet in a new country. As part of his university fellowship he was
under no pressure to compose to order and had no teaching commitments.
One notes in this connection that the ballet Don Quixote, which was
composed originally in 1940 and developed into a number of suites and a
final full orchestral version over the next few years, falls exactly into this
category. He derived its plot from the novel by Cervantes and incorporat-
ed into it many Spanish rhythms and Spanish-sounding melodies. At the
same time, however, it has themes which are treated in a serial manner
throughout the ballet. The main theme of the Introduction to the ballet,
for example, uses the twelve-note row that he devised for the work, but in
order to give the melody a “Spanish” character he added various “passing
notes”, in effect disguising the twelve-note basis for the theme.16 Don Quix-
ote was soon joined by another Spanish related ballet, Alegrías: Divertimen-
to flamenco of 1942. The ballet Pandora was composed in the years 1942–43
and first performed in Cambridge in 1944. The music has a strong expres-
sionist sound, but still has some melodic motifs that sound Spanish.17 Like
many pieces of this time it exists in a number of different versions, suggest-
ing adjustment to new performing situations or a desire to refine and devel-
op new techniques.
There were many settings of Spanish words, including the Cancionero
di Pedrell, an arrangement for soprano and chamber orchestra of eight Cat-
alan folksongs collected by Pedrell, in tribute to his teacher, first performed
in 1942. Gerhard’s major tribute to Pedrell, however, came in 1941, the cen-
tenary of his birth, with the three-movement Symphony Homenaje a Pe-
drell (“Homage to Pedrell”) for orchestra which used themes from Pedrell’s
unperformed opera La Celestina of 1904. Gerhard offered the work to the
BBC for performance in 1941, but it was not accepted. Gerhard then with-
drew the work, but subsequently allowed the first performance in 1954 of
the third movement, now entitled Pedrelliana. The complete work was res-
cued posthumously from the manuscript scores as the original parts of the
first two movements had gone missing. It was first performed with cuts in
1972 and subsequently recorded complete.18 The composer himself also paid
tribute verbally to Pedrell at about the time of the original composition:
16 Details are given in the booklet for the recording of the orchestral suite from the bal-
let on ASD 613 and ALP 2063 (London: EMI, 1965).
17 These are noted by David Drew in “Gerhard’s Pandora,” Tempo, 184 (March 1993):
14–17.
18 On the British Chandos label CHAN 9693 (Colchester, UK: Chandos Records, 1998).
385
rearrange works when different resources were available and while he was
finding his feet in a new country. As part of his university fellowship he was
under no pressure to compose to order and had no teaching commitments.
One notes in this connection that the ballet Don Quixote, which was
composed originally in 1940 and developed into a number of suites and a
final full orchestral version over the next few years, falls exactly into this
category. He derived its plot from the novel by Cervantes and incorporat-
ed into it many Spanish rhythms and Spanish-sounding melodies. At the
same time, however, it has themes which are treated in a serial manner
throughout the ballet. The main theme of the Introduction to the ballet,
for example, uses the twelve-note row that he devised for the work, but in
order to give the melody a “Spanish” character he added various “passing
notes”, in effect disguising the twelve-note basis for the theme.16 Don Quix-
ote was soon joined by another Spanish related ballet, Alegrías: Divertimen-
to flamenco of 1942. The ballet Pandora was composed in the years 1942–43
and first performed in Cambridge in 1944. The music has a strong expres-
sionist sound, but still has some melodic motifs that sound Spanish.17 Like
many pieces of this time it exists in a number of different versions, suggest-
ing adjustment to new performing situations or a desire to refine and devel-
op new techniques.
There were many settings of Spanish words, including the Cancionero
di Pedrell, an arrangement for soprano and chamber orchestra of eight Cat-
alan folksongs collected by Pedrell, in tribute to his teacher, first performed
in 1942. Gerhard’s major tribute to Pedrell, however, came in 1941, the cen-
tenary of his birth, with the three-movement Symphony Homenaje a Pe-
drell (“Homage to Pedrell”) for orchestra which used themes from Pedrell’s
unperformed opera La Celestina of 1904. Gerhard offered the work to the
BBC for performance in 1941, but it was not accepted. Gerhard then with-
drew the work, but subsequently allowed the first performance in 1954 of
the third movement, now entitled Pedrelliana. The complete work was res-
cued posthumously from the manuscript scores as the original parts of the
first two movements had gone missing. It was first performed with cuts in
1972 and subsequently recorded complete.18 The composer himself also paid
tribute verbally to Pedrell at about the time of the original composition:
16 Details are given in the booklet for the recording of the orchestral suite from the bal-
let on ASD 613 and ALP 2063 (London: EMI, 1965).
17 These are noted by David Drew in “Gerhard’s Pandora,” Tempo, 184 (March 1993):
14–17.
18 On the British Chandos label CHAN 9693 (Colchester, UK: Chandos Records, 1998).
385
