Worldes Blis

Last updated

Worldes Blis is a motet for orchestra by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies. It was first performed at The Proms on 28 August 1969 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. [1]

In western music, a motet is a mainly vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from the late medieval era to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margaret Bent, "a piece of music in several parts with words" is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the 13th to the late 16th century and beyond. The late 13th-century theorist Johannes de Grocheo believed that the motet was "not to be celebrated in the presence of common people, because they do not notice its subtlety, nor are they delighted in hearing it, but in the presence of the educated and of those who are seeking out subtleties in the arts".

Orchestra large instrumental ensemble

An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which mixes instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as violin, viola, cello, and double bass, as well as brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments.

Peter Maxwell Davies English composer and conductor

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was an English composer and conductor. In 2004 he was made Master of the Queen's Music.

Contents

Composition

Davies composed Worldes Blis between 1966 and 1969. It has a duration of roughly 40 minutes and is composed in one continuous movement. The composition is based on an eponymous 13th-century plainsong, "Worldes Blis." [1]

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession. A movement is a section, "a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena".

A unit of a larger work that may stand by itself as a complete composition. Such divisions are usually self-contained. Most often the sequence of movements is arranged fast-slow-fast or in some other order that provides contrast.

13th century Century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 through December 31, 1300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Common Era. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages, and after its conquests in Asia the Mongol Empire stretched from Eastern Asia to Eastern Europe.

Plainsong is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. Though the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches did not split until long after the origin of plainsong, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for an orchestra comprising two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, two timpanists, five percussionists, two harps, chamber organ, and strings.

Western concert flute transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood

The Western concert flute is a transverse (side-blown) woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, flute player, or (rarely) fluter.

Piccolo small flute musical instrument

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. This gave rise to the name ottavino, which the instrument is called in the scores of Italian composers. It is also called flauto piccolo or flautino.

Oboe musical instrument of the woodwind family

Oboes are a family of double reed woodwind instruments. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. Oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. A soprano oboe measures roughly 65 cm long, with metal keys, a conical bore and a flared bell. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed at a sufficient air pressure, causing it to vibrate with the air column. The distinctive tone is versatile and has been described as "bright". When oboe is used alone, it is generally taken to mean the treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglais, or oboe d'amore

Reception

World premiere

Worldes Blis generated considerable notoriety upon its 1969 premiere when the performance caused most of the audience to leave the concert hall. [1] The music critic Tom Service described the event to be "as near as the Royal Albert Hall has ever come to a riot". [2] Davies himself later recalled, "Most of the audience walked out, and most of those who stayed booed." [3] Nevertheless, in 2015 the music critic Andrew Clements of The Guardian declared it one of the ten best Proms premieres. [4]

Tom Service British classical music presenter and journalist

Tom Service is a British writer, music journalist and television and radio presenter, who has written regularly for The Guardian since 1999 and presented on BBC Radio 3 since 2001. He is a regular presenter of The Proms for Radio 3 and has presented several documentaries on the subject of classical music. Since 2018, he has been Professor of Music at Gresham College.

Royal Albert Hall concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, which has held the Proms concerts annually each summer since 1941. It has a capacity of up to 5,267 seats. The Hall is a registered charity held in trust for the nation and receives no public or government funding.

<i>The Guardian</i> British national daily newspaper

The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and took its current name in 1959. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, the Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The Scott Trust was created in 1936 "to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of the Guardian free from commercial or political interference". The Scott Trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to project the same protections for The Guardian as were originally built into the very structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to benefit an owner or shareholders.

Later performances

The work has since received a more favorable response from audiences and critics alike. Reviewing a 1992 performance by Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony, Bernard Holland of The New York Times wrote:

Leonard Slatkin American conductor and composer

Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor, author and composer.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony is the second-oldest professional symphony orchestra in the United States, preceded only by the New York Philharmonic. Its principal concert venue is Powell Hall.

Bernard Holland is an American music critic. He served on the staff of The New York Times from 1981 until 2008 and held the post of chief music critic from 1995, contributing 4,575 articles to the newspaper. He then became the National Music Critic, reviewing concerts, festivals and hall openings worldwide.

It is 40 minutes long and follows its own path in its own time. For its first quarter-hour, quietness reigns: lapping and overlapping string lines underneath, transformations of 13th-century monody expressed through horn and high trumpet solos. Worldes Blis, depending on your point of view, is courageous in the face of short attention spans, or else it is indifferent to the casual listener's expectations.

The tension and release of an older harmony exist as cells, but larger phrases sail above tonality. The rejection is not an angry one; indeed, Worldes Blis is very interested in making the symphony orchestra sound beautiful. As its unbroken line rises like an incoming tide, Mr. Maxwell Davies introduces series of drones: first a calm, prolonged sound, then a querulous squealing and finally ringing bells and percussion. Worldes Blis stands to itself, respectfully asking attention but declining to advertise for it.

Holland further observed, "Braced by Mr. Slatkin's introductory remarks, Friday's audience bore Worldes Blis diligently, sensing that a reward was in the offing." [5]

Reviewing a 1993 performance by Davies and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael White of The Independent called it "an orchestral juggernaut whose slow, massive progression from transparent austerity to sonic barrage made such tough demands on its initial 1960s audience that it acquired a reputation as a concert-killer." He added, "Wednesday's was a rare hearing and still tough, but perhaps with more appeal for 1990s ears attuned to slow massivity through Tavener, Gorecki and the holy minimalists. This reading by the RPO certainly revealed more radiant qualities than I remembered, and Davies clearly thinks the time is right to relaunch it." [6] Ivan Hewett of BBC Music Magazine similarly remarked, "Worldes Blis is a very private piece which spins itself broodingly out of the opening plainsong melody, announced by a solo trombone. Over the next 40 minutes it gradually accumulates a darkly intense energy and momentum that's discharged in the final climax." [7]

Recording

A recording of the work performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Davies was released on CD through Naxos Records in January 2013. The disk also features Davies's Piano Concerto. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

Joan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by The New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world. After gaining recognition for her first orchestral composition, Sequoia (1981), a tone poem which structurally depicts a giant tree from trunk to needles, she has gone on to compose a variety of instrumental works including Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, which is something of a response to Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, the Island Prelude, five string quartets, and an assortment of other tone poems. Tower was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players, which commissioned and premiered many of her early works, including her widely performed Petroushskates.

Thomas Adès British composer, pianist and conductor

Thomas Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor.

Christopher Chapman Rouse is an American composer. Though he has written for various ensembles, Rouse is primarily known for his orchestral compositions, including a Requiem, eleven concertos, and five symphonies. His work has received numerous accolades, including the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Rouse was the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic from 2012 to 2015.

Stuart MacRae is a Scottish composer.

Jean Rivier was a French composer of classical music.

Alan Feinberg is an American classical pianist. He has premiered over 300 works by such composers as John Adams (composer), Milton Babbitt, John Harbison, Charles Ives, Steve Reich, and Charles Wuorinen, as well as the premiere of Mel Powell's Pulitzer Prize winning Duplicates. He is an experienced performer of both classical and contemporary music and is well known for recitals that pair old and new music.

Gavin Sutherland is a conductor, composer/arranger and pianist. He is currently Music Director for English National Ballet.

Raymond Yiu, born 1973; is a composer, conductor, jazz pianist and music writer.

Alissa Firsova Russian-British musician

Alissa Firsova is a Russian-British classical composer, pianist and conductor.

Charlotte Bray is a British composer.

Symphony No. 2 (Davies) symphony by Peter Maxwell Davies

The Symphony No. 2 by Peter Maxwell Davies was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in celebration of its centenary, and was composed in 1980. Seiji Ozawa conducted the world premiere with the BSO on 26 February 1981 at Symphony Hall, Boston.

Symphony No. 3 (Davies) symphony by Peter Maxwell Davies

The Symphony No. 3 by Peter Maxwell Davies was composed in 1984 on a commission from the BBC Philharmonic, who gave the world premiere on 19 February 1985, at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, with Edward Downes conducting.

Symphony No. 1 (Davies) symphony by Peter Maxwell Davies

The Symphony No. 1 by Peter Maxwell Davies was composed between 1973 and 1976, and is dedicated to Sir William Glock, "as a mark of friendship and of appreciation of his work for contemporary music in his years as music controller at the B.B.C.". It was commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, which gave the premiere of the symphony at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 2 February 1978, with Simon Rattle conducting.

The Third Essay, Op. 47, is a short orchestral work composed by Samuel Barber in 1978. The score is dedicated to Audrey Sheldon.

Graham Whettam was an English post-romantic composer.

Seeing is a concerto for solo piano and orchestra by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for the pianist Emanuel Ax, with financial contributions from philanthropists Lillian and Maurice Barbash. It was premiered at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City May 6, 1999, with Leonard Slatkin conducting Emanuel Ax and the New York Philharmonic. The piece is dedicated to Emanuel Ax.

The Piano Concerto is a concerto for solo piano and orchestra in three movements by the Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. The work was jointly commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, the BBC, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, and Radio France. It was premiered February 1, 2007 in Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, with Salonen conducting the pianist Yefim Bronfman and the New York Philharmonic. Salonen dedicated the piece to Yefim Bronfman.

Trumpet Concerto (Davies)

The Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra is a composition for trumpet solo and orchestra by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies. The work was commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra for its then principal trumpeter John Wallace. It was given its world premiere by Wallace and the Philharmonia Orchestra under the conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli in Hiroshima on 21 September 1988.

The Piano Concerto is a composition for solo piano and orchestra by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies. The work was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and was completed on 24 September 1997. The piece is dedicated to the pianist Kathryn Stott, who premiered the work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the composer at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall on 7 November 1997.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Whitehouse, Richard (2013). Maxwell Davies, P.: Piano Concerto / Worldes Blis (CD liner). Naxos Records . Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  2. ↑ Service, Tom (20 August 2012). "A guide to Peter Maxwell Davies's music". The Guardian . Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  3. ↑ Wallace, Helen (17 July 2015). "Six unexpected Proms moments: We take a look at when not all went as planned at the Albert Hall…". BBC Music Magazine . Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  4. ↑ Clements, Andrew (11 September 2015). "10 of the best: Proms premieres". The Guardian . Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  5. ↑ Holland, Bernard (November 23, 1992). "Review/Music; Very Different Worlds Of 2 Composers' Works". The New York Times . Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  6. ↑ White, Michael (13 March 1993). "MUSIC / More than an average wind-up". BBC Music Magazine . Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  7. ↑ Hewett, Ivan (20 January 2012). "Maxwell Davies: Worldes Blis; The Turn of the Tide; Sir Charles His Pavan". BBC Music Magazine . Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  8. ↑ David, Nice (2013). MAXWELL DAVIES, P.: Piano Concerto / Worldes Blis (CD liner). Naxos Records . Retrieved April 23, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.