The ''Tam o' Shanter Overture'', Op. 51 by

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music f ...

is a piece of

programme music Program music or programmatic music is a type of instrumental art music that attempts to musically render an extramusical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience through the piece's title, or in the form of program not ...

based on the famous

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

. It was completed in March

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

. The overture was first performed at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

on 17 August 1955, with the composer conducting the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

. Two months later he supervised the first recording of the work by the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

under his assistant conductor, John Hollingsworth. Despite his many accomplishments in the musical realm, Malcolm Arnold was known for being a drunkard and rather promiscuous, which perhaps was the greatest inspiration for the ''Tam O’Shanter Overture''. The piece is based on an epic poem by Robert Burns which tells of a farmer and drunkard by the name of Tam O’Shanter, a Scotsman, who gets intoxicated with friends in a local tavern while his angry wife waits for him at home. Within the piece, his drunkenness is portrayed by the bassoon theme at the very beginning. On his way back, he stumbles into the Kirk-Alloway (a church) filled with witches and warlocks dancing about. Terrified, Tam scurries away on his horse while being chased by the ghouls. A Scottish theme and Tam's drunkenness reoccur throughout the piece. Two piccolos play a short folk tune randomly throughout. The piece is sprinkled with chromatic runs and scales to portray Tam's hurried scampering as he runs into all sorts of trouble crossing the Brig O'Doon with his beloved horse, a grey mare, named Meg (or Maggie). It is dedicated to John Michael Diack, director of Arnold's then publishing company Paterson Sons & Co.

Selected commercial recordings

*1955

, conductor John Hollingsworth, Philips NBL5021 - US release: Epic LC 3422, 1958 *1956

, conductor

, Columbia SED 5529 *1957 New Symphony Orchestra of London, conductor Alexander Gibson, RCA Victor LSC-2225 *1962

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) () is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s ...

, conductor Alexander Gibson, Waverley YLP 060, SYLP 061 (then Scottish National Orchestra) *1981

, conductor Alexander Gibson, Chandos CHAN 8379 *1993

, conductor

Vernon Handley Vernon George "Tod" Handley (11 November 1930 – 10 September 2008) was a British conductor (music), conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. Early life and education He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mothe ...

*1998

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Th ...

, conductor

Eiji Oue is a Japanese conductor. Biography Oue began his conducting studies with Hideo Saito of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In 1978, Seiji Ozawa invited him to spend the summer studying at the Tanglewood Music Center. There he met Leonard Bern ...

, Reference Recordings RR-82CD *2005

BBC Philharmonic The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...

, conductor

Rumon Gamba Rumon Gamba (born 24 November 1972) is a British conductor. Biography Gamba studied music at Durham University, and then went to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied conducting with Colin Metters, George Hurst and Sir Col ...

, Chandos CHAN 1029

References

It was part of the sound track of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024.

External links

* Concert overtures Compositions by Malcolm Arnold 1955 compositions Adaptations of works by Robert Burns {{classical-composition-stub