''The Rio Grande'' is a secular

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

by English composer

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founder and music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton) he was a major figure in th ...

. Written in 1927, it achieved instant and long-lasting popularity on its appearance on the concert stage in 1929. It is an example of symphonic jazz, not unlike the style of

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

's ''

Rhapsody in Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...

'', although it is very much Lambert's individual conception. It combines jazzy

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...

with lithe Latin American dance rhythms that create an air of haunting nostalgia. ''The Rio Grande'' takes roughly 15 to 20 minutes to perform. It was dedicated to Angus Morrison, who played at its first (broadcast) performance. The text is a poem by

Sacheverell Sitwell Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an English writer, best known as an art critic, music critic (his books on Mozart, Liszt, and Domenico Scarlatti are still consulted), and writer on a ...

, first published in his collection ''The Thirteenth Caesar, and other Poems'' (1924). The poem refers to a river in Brazil, although there is no Brazilian river called Rio Grande.Villa-Lobos Website
/ref> No other work of Lambert's achieved the level of popularity achieved by ''The Rio Grande''. It is still performed regularly today, at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

(including the Last Night) and by choral societies in the UK and abroad.

Style

''The Rio Grande'' is scored for alto soloist, mixed chorus, piano, brass, strings and a percussion section of 15 instruments, requiring five players. It combines jazzy

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian influences, harmonies and rhythms inspired by

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

, with a traditional English choral sound. The outer sections are brisk, surrounding a central nocturne, which is introduced by a virtuosic solo piano cadenza with percussion. The piano part often plays triplets against duplets, redolent of a

rumba The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba ...

. The coda is based on material from the central section. Lambert noted in a 1928 article: Music critic

Christopher Palmer Christopher Francis Palmer (9 September 194622 January 1995) was an English composer, arranger and orchestrator; biographer of composers, champion of lesser-known composers and writer on film music and other musical subjects; record producer; and ...

said of this piece that: Angus Morrison, discussing the long cadenza accompanied by percussion, noted that:

Creation

The idea for this piece began when in 1923 Lambert attended

Will Vodery Will Vodery (October 8, 1885 – November 18, 1951) was an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and arranger, and one of the few black Americans of his time to make a name for himself as a composer on Broadway, working largely for Florenz Zi ...

’s Plantation Orchestra. He later wrote: ‘After the humdrum playing of the English orchestra in the first half, it was electrifying to hear Will Vodery’s band in the

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 ...

-like fanfare which preluded the second. It definitely opened up a new world of sound.’ That "new world of sound" is the syncopated jazz sound that he would incorporate in ''The Rio Grande''. While

was clearly a major influence, Vodery's mention shows us that besides Gershwin, the entire jazz and Broadway zeitgeist of the day served as the influence for this piece. Frederick Delius also served as an inspiration. The chorus’s fortissimo opening statement is a direct transcription of the fanfare that appears frequently in Delius' work (the famous "Walk to the Paradise Garden" from ''

A Village Romeo and Juliet ''A Village Romeo and Juliet'' is an opera by Frederick Delius, the fourth of his six operas. The composer himself, with his wife Jelka, wrote the English-language libretto based on the short story "''Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe''" by the Swi ...

'', to quote just one instance, has it in almost every bar). Delius knew much about spirituals from living among African-Americans in Florida.

Premieres

Its first performance was a BBC Radio broadcast on 27 February 1928 from the old BBC Studios at

Savoy Hill Savoy Place is a large red brick building on the north bank of the River Thames in London. It is on a street called Savoy Place; Savoy Hill and Savoy Street run along the sides of the building up to the Strand. In front is the Victoria Embankmen ...

. The piano soloist was Angus Morrison, to whom the work was dedicated.Audiophile Audition
/ref> It was popular enough to be repeated six months later. The first concert performance was in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

on 12 December 1929 with Sir Hamilton Harty as piano soloist, and the composer conducting the Hallé Orchestra. It had its

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 ...

premiere the following day, 13 December, 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 ...

, with the same forces. It was repeated at the subsequent Hallé concert the following month. There was also the first chamber performance, on 15 June 1930 at a party given by the composer

Arthur Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893, in Sydney – 10 April 1960, in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of '' Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the '' Storm Clouds Cantata'' ...

at his house in London (66 Carlton Hill, St John's Wood), for two pianos (Benjamin & Julie Lasdun), Albert Whitehead (alto solo), a choir of six, Lambert on percussion taking the part of five players, and

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

turning the pages.Lloyd, Stephen. ''Beyond the Rio Grande'' (2014), p. 120-1
/ref> The piece was also an international success. The first performance in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(and in North America), was on 11 February 1930, with

Ernest Seitz Ernest Joseph Seitz (29 February 189210 September 1978) was a Canadian composer, songwriter, pianist, and music educator. He published some of his work under the pseudonym "Raymond Roberts" because he did not wish to be associated with popular m ...

and the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto ...

. It was first heard in New York on 29 January 1931 given by Hugh Ross and the Schola Cantorum with

Colin McPhee Colin Carhart McPhee (March 15, 1900 – January 7, 1964) was a Canadian-American composer and ethnomusicologist. He is best known for being the first Western composer to make a musicological study of Bali, and developing American gamelan along w ...

as the piano soloist. The following April

Serge Koussevitzky Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevit ...

included it in the 50th anniversary season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. On 28 August 1945, aged just 23, the pianist

Kyla Greenbaum Kyla Betty Greenbaum (5 February 1922 - 15 June 2017) was a British pianist and composer, the younger sister of conductor and composer Hyam Greenbaum. She gave the first UK performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto in 1945 and the firs ...

first appeared as a soloist at the

in a performance of ''The Rio Grande''. It became her calling card, with Lambert saying that he preferred her interpretation to that of Hamilton Harty. She played it again at the Proms on 15 August 1951 with the composer conducting, just days before his death.

Recordings

The composer made two recordings of ''The Rio Grande'' as conductor, both of which have held their place in the catalogue: * 11 January 1930: Albert Walter Whitehead (male alto; also seen as A. W. Whitehead, and Alan Whitehead), Sir Hamilton Harty (piano), St Michaels Singers, the Hallé Orchestra. * 14 January 1949: Gladys Ripley (alto), Kyla Greenbaum (piano), Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra. Later recordings include: * Jean Allister (contralto) and

Eileen Joyce Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG (died 25 March 1991) was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years. Her recordings made her popular in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly during World War I ...

(piano) with the B.B.C. chorus and the B.B.C. orchestra conducted by

Sir Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

, B.B.C. Prom, broadcast 'live' from the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

, London on Saturday, 12 September 1959 * Jean Temperley (mezzo-soprano),

Cristina Ortiz Cristina Ortiz (born April 17, 1950, in Bahia) is a Brazilian pianist. Biography Born in Bahia, Brazil, Cristina Ortiz began her studies in her home country before moving to France with Magda Tagliaferro. Soon after finishing her studies in Par ...

(piano), the London Madrigal Singers, the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

André Previn André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...

(conductor), Angel Records, 1974. *

Sally Burgess Sally Burgess FRCM (born 9 October 1953) is a South African-born British operatic lyric mezzo-soprano, opera director, and educator. She has been a Fellow and Professor of Vocal Studies at the Royal College of Music since 2004, as well as teachi ...

(alto),

Jack Gibbons Jack Gibbons (born 2 March 1962) is an English classical composer and virtuoso pianist. Biography Gibbons was born in England. His father was a scientist and his mother a visual artist. He began his piano studies in Stockton-on-Tees, later ...

(piano), Chorus of Opera North,

English Northern Philharmonia The Orchestra of Opera North (or English Northern Philharmonia as recording name) is the orchestra that plays for the Opera North. It was founded as the English Northern Philharmonia, and changed its name during the period when Steven Sloane was O ...

, David Lloyd-Jones (conductor) (this recording was nominated for a Gramophone Award and awarded a Penguin Guide 3-star rosette) *

Della Jones Della Jones is a Welsh mezzo-soprano, particularly well known for her interpretations of works by Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Britten. Early life Jones was born in Tonna, near Neath, Wales. She attended Neath Grammar School for Girl ...

(mezzo), Kathryn Stott (piano),

BBC Singers The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British ...

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth (born 20 February 1948, Worcester Park, Surrey, U.K.) is a British conductor. Wordsworth is Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Ballet and has had a long relationship with company. He was first appointed as Assistant Cond ...

(conductor).

The poem

: By the Rio Grande : They dance no sarabande : On level banks like lawns above the glassy, lolling tide; : Nor sing they forlorn madrigals : Whose sad note stirs the sleeping gales : Till they wake among the trees and shake the boughs, : And fright the nightingales; : But they dance in the city, down the public squares, : On the marble pavers with each colour laid in shares, : At the open church doors loud with light within. : At the bell's huge tolling, : By the river music, gurgling, thin : Through the soft Brazilian air. : The Comendador and Alguacil are there : On horseback, hid with feathers, loud and shrill : Blowing orders on their trumpets like a bird's sharp bill : Through boughs, like a bitter wind, calling : They shine like steady starlight while those other sparks are failing : In burnished armour, with their plumes of fire, : Tireless while all others tire. : The noisy streets are empty and hushed is the town : To where, in the square, they dance and the band is playing ; : Such a space of silence through the town to the river : That the water murmurs loud - : Above the band and crowd together; : And the strains of the sarabande, : More lively than a madrigal, : Go hand in hand : Like the river and its waterfall : As the great Rio Grande rolls down to the sea. : Loud is the marimba's note : Above these half -salt waves, : And louder still the tympanum, : The plectrum, and the kettle-drum, : Sullen and menacing : Do these brazen voices ring. : They ride outside, : Above the salt-sea's tide. : Till the ships at anchor there : Hear this enchantment, : Of the soft Brazilian air, : By those Southern winds wafted, : Slow and gentle, : Their fierceness tempered : By the air that flows between.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Grande 1927 compositions Compositions by Constant Lambert Compositions for piano, chorus and orchestra Choral compositions Concertos Jazz compositions