''A Song of the High Hills'' is a work for

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

. Composed in 1911, it was first performed under the direction of Albert Coates, at the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on February 26, 1920. That was a concert of the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...

with soloists Maud Willby and Norman Stone, with the newly formed Philharmonic Choir under the direction of its founder

Charles Kennedy Scott Charles James Kennedy Osborne Scott (16 November 18762 July 1965) was an English organist and choral conductor who played an important part in developing the performance of choral and polyphonic music in England, especially of early and modern En ...

making its first public appearance. The piece is symphonic, and uses the chorus mainly as a wordless background. Delius explained that

I have tried to express the joy and rapture felt in the High Mountains and to depict the lonely melancholy of the highest altitudes of the wide expanses. The vocal parts typify Man in Nature.

Sir

Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...

described this as one of Delius's major works ('on an heroic scale, and the inspiration is on an exalted level throughout') and a transitional work, in which Delius moved away from the human sensibilities described in such works as Sea Drift towards a 'certain austerity of manner', attaining 'a magical sequence of sounds and echoes, both vocal and instrumental, all culminating in a great outburst of tone that seems to flood the entire landscape.' '...we have hitherto unfamiliar elements of austerity and impersonality, as if the composer had grown tired of interpreting the joys and sorrows of human beings and had turned to the contemplation of nature only.' Beecham recorded the work on 22 November 1946 with Freda Hart (soprano) and Leslie Jones (tenor), the Luton Choral Society and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a form which reached publication on 78 and 33 rpm records.Beecham 1975 (cited above), M. Walker's discography supplement (p. 237). 78rpm: HMV DB 6470-72, or autocoupling DB 9131-33. 33rpm: HMV ALP 1889.

Notes

Sources

*T. Beecham, ''Frederick Delius'' (New Edition, with discography), (Severn House 1975). *R. Elkin, ''Queen's Hall, 1893-1941'' (Rider & Co., London 1944). *R. Elkin, ''Royal Philharmonic - The Annals of the Royal Philharmonic Society'' (Rider & Co., London 1946). *David Ewen, ''Encyclopedia of Concert Music''. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.

External links

1911 compositions Compositions by Frederick Delius Choral compositions {{classical-composition-stub