Lord Berners
LE POISSON D’OR for orchestra
Goodmusic Concert Classics GMCL250
Catalogue Number: GMCL250
Difficulty level: E What's this?
ISMN: 9790222341197
Download Available What's this?
Orchestration: 2 Flutes (2nd db.Piccolo), 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets in Bb, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns in F, 2 Trumpets in Bb, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani
Percussion (3 players: Triangle, Clash Cymbals, Bass Drum, Glockenspiel, Xylophone). Harp
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
Le Poisson D’Or for piano was written in 1915, under the composer’s birth name of Gerald Tyrwhitt, in Rome, where he was an Honorary Attache at the British Embassy. In September 1918, due to the death of an uncle, Gerald Tyrwhitt became the 14th Baron Berners and the authorship of his music was changed to Lord Berners. Berners had been receiving occasional composition lessons from Stravinsky and playing his pieces to him. This piece was Stravinsky’s favourite and when it was published in 1919, Berners dedicated it to him. Stravinsky referred to him as the best British composer of his time and his music as 'amateur in the best sense'. Berners was, at that time, amongst the most avant garde of British composers, though in later years he would mellow somewhat from his more youthful spikey discordancy.
Lord Berners was something of a dilettante and was equally at home painting and writing books… for Le Poisson D’Or he wrote a programmatic poem in French, which, in translation reads:
Gloomy and lonely, the goldfish circles in his crystal bowl.
He dreams of a little companion, beautiful and bright like a twenty Franc coin…
But alas! Some ill-intentioned fool throws him a crumb of bread.
The image disappears in the murky water.
The goldfish joylessly swallows the crumb and continues to turn, gloomy and lonely in his crystal bowl. Peter Lawson
Duration 4 minutes
A PACK includes a full score plus all wind, brass and percussion parts and strings 4/4/3/4/2.
Percussion (3 players: Triangle, Clash Cymbals, Bass Drum, Glockenspiel, Xylophone). Harp
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
Le Poisson D’Or for piano was written in 1915, under the composer’s birth name of Gerald Tyrwhitt, in Rome, where he was an Honorary Attache at the British Embassy. In September 1918, due to the death of an uncle, Gerald Tyrwhitt became the 14th Baron Berners and the authorship of his music was changed to Lord Berners. Berners had been receiving occasional composition lessons from Stravinsky and playing his pieces to him. This piece was Stravinsky’s favourite and when it was published in 1919, Berners dedicated it to him. Stravinsky referred to him as the best British composer of his time and his music as 'amateur in the best sense'. Berners was, at that time, amongst the most avant garde of British composers, though in later years he would mellow somewhat from his more youthful spikey discordancy.
Lord Berners was something of a dilettante and was equally at home painting and writing books… for Le Poisson D’Or he wrote a programmatic poem in French, which, in translation reads:
Gloomy and lonely, the goldfish circles in his crystal bowl.
He dreams of a little companion, beautiful and bright like a twenty Franc coin…
But alas! Some ill-intentioned fool throws him a crumb of bread.
The image disappears in the murky water.
The goldfish joylessly swallows the crumb and continues to turn, gloomy and lonely in his crystal bowl. Peter Lawson
Duration 4 minutes
A PACK includes a full score plus all wind, brass and percussion parts and strings 4/4/3/4/2.
