I recently reviewed the
new Dutton Epoch CD (CDLX 7276 ) of Dan
Godfrey Encores. One of the treats on this disc was Ina Boyle’s ‘The Magic
Harp’: Rhapsody for Orchestra. The work
was given its first performance on 16 December 1920 with Sir Dan Godfrey
conducting. It was played a number of
times in succeeding years.
Ina Boyle (1889-1967)
was a pupil of Ralph Vaughan Williams and this is reflected in this stunningly
beautiful work. The Rhapsody received a Carnegie Award in 1919 and then taken
up by Dan Godfrey in the following year. It proudly stands alongside Stanford’s
Irish Rhapsodies and Hamilton Harty’s With
the Wild Geese, for evoking the mood of the Emerald Isle. This magical
piece achieves its success by eschewing the sentimentality of the Moore’s Irish
Melodies but manages to create a mood that evokes history, myth and landscape.
It is a masterpiece.
The other day, I found
a programme note for the work in the Bournemouth Library: it is worth posting
here.
‘The Rhapsody is based
on the following note by Eva Gore-Booth [1] to her poem ‘The Harper’s Song of
the Seasons.’ The Durd Alba (the wind
among the apple trees) was the magical harp of the ancient gods of Ireland. It
had three strings – the iron string of sleep, the bronze string of laughter,
and the silver string, the sound of which made all men weep. These three
strings were supposed to evoke the three seasons into which the year was then
divided.’
After a short
introduction, consisting of the ‘Magic Harp’ motif, followed by fragments of
themes to be used later, comes the first of the three chief sections of the
work, ‘molto lento e sostenuto’[2], descriptive of the frozen sleep of the
earth in winter. The theme is given by the lower strings. – later brief phrases
of flute and oboe suggest a gleam of wintry light, which quickly fades away.
This is followed by an episode, ‘pui mosso’[3], leading to the second section,
allegro leggiero e animato [4], illustrative of the gradual awakening of earth,
the bursting forth of bud and blossom, and the light winds of summer. After a
central portion, ‘meno mosso tranquillo’[5], the solo woodwind against a
background of harp and sustained strings, the allegro is resumed working to a
climax. This is interrupted when at its height by the ‘Magic Harp’ motif, the
allegro is broken off, and the music dies down, leading, after a pause to the
third section, ‘adagio ma non troppo’, and a lament for the fragile and fleeting
loveliness of spring. A repetition of the ‘Harp’ motif brings the rhapsody to
an end’.
Ina Boyle’s The Magic Harp: Rhapsody for Orchestra
can be heard on YouTube
Footnotes
I have given the
English terms for the musical directions. I had an email from somebody telling
me that I must not assume everyone understands the terminology!
[1]
Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth (1870-1926) was an
Irish poet and dramatist, and a committed suffragist, social worker and labour
activist. (Wikipedia)
[2] Very slow and smoothly
[3] Faster
[4] Fast, lightly and lively
[5] Slower and calmly
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