''Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree'' is a set of

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individua ...

, with

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the co ...

, for orchestra composed in 1939 by Jaromír Weinberger. It premiered under the direction of Sir

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 194 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on October 12, 1939. The work is based on an English popular song of the period,Anne Gilchrist concludes that it is "a version of an old English tune called 'Go no more a-rushing,' which was arranged for

virginals The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...

William Byrd William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and those on the continent. He ...

and

Giles Farnaby Giles Farnaby (c. 1563 – November 1640) was an English composer and virginalist whose music spans the Transition from Renaissance to Baroque in instrumental music, transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period. Life Giles Farnaby was ...

—by the latter under the title of 'Tell mee, Daphne.' ... So 'Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree' is really an Old English—perhaps originally a dance—tune, preserved traditionally and lately modernized." which Weinberger is said to have mistaken for a folk song, and opens with the theme presented without preliminaries. Seven variations follow: *Her Majesty's

Virginal The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...

*The

Madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number ...

ists *The Dark Lady *The Highlanders *

Pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depict ...

e * Mr. Weller, Senior, Discusses Widows With His Son, Samuel Weller, Esquire *

Sarabande The sarabande (from es, zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance c ...

The fugue, which ends the work, has an eight-bar subject which finally joins contrapuntally with the original theme of the piece. There are contemporary recordings of the work by The Cleveland Symphony Orchestra under Artur Rodzinski on Columbia (CBS) and by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under

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 ...

(HMV, issued in the USA by Victor).

Notes and references

*David Ewen, ''Encyclopedia of Concert Music''. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959. *Anne G. Gilchrist, "'Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree': The Adventures of a Tune." ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 81 (March 1940), pp. 112–113. 1939 compositions Variations Compositions by Jaromír Weinberger Compositions for symphony orchestra {{classical-composition-stub