The Planets

The second of our three subscription concerts.

Delius: Paris - Song of a Great City

Elgar: Sea Pictures (Mezzo-Soprano Rebecca Hart)

Holst: The Planets.

Delius was very fond of Paris. He lived there for about a decade at the end of the nineteenth century, during which time he met his future wife. His orchestral nocturne (full title: Paris, A Night Piece – The Song of a Great City), completed in 1900, is impressionistic, rather than being a portrait.

Written at the same time as Delius was writing his Song of a Great City, Sea Pictures is a song cycle in which Elgar sets to music poems by five different poets, the second of whom was his wife. Besides all being about the sea, the five songs are connected musically: elements of the vocal line of the first song are used in the other four. To perform these songs we look forward to welcoming mezzo Rebecca Hart, a French-Australian from Sydney currently based in London. She recently graduated from Royal Academy Opera, a two year post-graduate scheme for outstanding singers at the Royal Academy of Music.

The final piece in this concert has become a great favourite, a staple of the concert repertoire. Written during WWI by Gustav Holst, The Planets owes its origin to a discussion, while on holiday with Arnold Bax and others, about astrology. Holst was a teacher by profession who enjoyed composing, and this suite of seven movements is very much his magnum opus. Holst was a modest and shy man, and the publicity resulting from The Planets was something he found difficult to deal with. However, the public have loved the piece ever since its first performance; let us be grateful to the composer!