''English Dances'', Op. 27 and 33, are two sets of

light music Light music is a less-serious form of Western classical music, which originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and continues today. Its heyday was in the mid‑20th century. The style is through-composed, usually shorter orchestral pieces and ...

pieces, composed for orchestra 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 ...

in 1950 and 1951.(Burton-Page 2001) Each set consists of four dances inspired by, although not based upon, country folk tunes and dances. Each movement is denoted by the tempo marking, as the individual movements are untitled.

Background

Bernard de Nevers, the head of the composer's then publisher Alfred Lengnick & Co. asked Arnold to write a suite of dances akin to

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

's ''

Slavonic Dances The ''Slavonic Dances'' () are a series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets as Op. 46 and Op. 72 respectively. Originally written for piano four hands, the ''Slavonic Dances' ...

''. This resulted in the first set. The set was premiered on 14 April 1951 by the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

conducted by Sir

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

. After the success of the first set, de Nevers asked for a second set, which the composer completed the following year. The second set was premiered on 5 August 1952 at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

with the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...

under 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 ...

. The first movement of the second set, ''Allegro non troppo'', was used from 1969 to 2008 as the theme music for the long-running UK television programme '' What the Papers Say'', and was used again for the revived version of the programme on BBC Radio Four. Shades and passages of the third movement of the first set, ''Mesto'', are recognisable in the main title of

Maurice Jarre Maurice-Alexis Jarre (; 13 September 1924 – 28 March 2009) allmusic Biography/ref> was a French composer and conductor. Jarre is best known for his film scores, particularly for his collaborations with film director David Lean composing all of ...

's Oscar-winning music for

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor, widely considered one of the most important figures of Cinema of the United Kingdom, British cinema. He directed the large-scale epi ...

's 1965 film '' Doctor Zhivago''. The two pieces are of similar length.

Movements

English Dances, Set I, Op. 27 English Dances, Set II, Op. 33

Instrumentation

The instrumentation for set 1 is piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (glockenspiel, tubular bells, tam tam, side drum, bass drum, cymbals, wood block), harp and strings. The instrumentation for set 2 is piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (glockenspiel, side drum, bass drum, cymbals, tam tam, tambourine, tubular bells) celeste, harp and strings.

Solitaire

In 1956

Kenneth MacMillan Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Ea ...

created the one-act ballet ''

Solitaire Solitaire may refer to: Film and television *'' Le Solitaire'', a 1987 French film * ''Solitaire'' (1991 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Solitaire'' (2008 film), a drama film *''Solitaire'', 2016 Lebanese comedy film with Bassam Kousa *"Solit ...

'' based on the two sets of ''English Dances''. MacMillan created two new pieces for the ballet, the "Sarabande and Polka". It was first performed at

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue, Islington. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre buil ...

London on 7 June 1956.

Ballet sequencing

# Set II, No. 3 # Set I, No. 1 # Set I, No. 2 # Set I, No. 3 # Set I, No. 4 # Sarabande # Polka # Set II, No. 2 # Set II, No. 1 # Set II, No. 4 # Set II, No. 3 (reprise)

Arrangements

*1958 for piano duet by

Franz Reizenstein Franz Theodor Reizenstein (7 June 191115 October 1968) was a Germany, German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his teaching and performing career there. As a composer, ...

*1965 for

Wind band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

by Maurice Johnstone *1984 for

Brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

by Ray Farr

Selected commercial recordings

*1954

and the

latest CD release on

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

468 803-2 (The first recording) *1979

and the

Lyrita Lyrita is a British classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers.Lewis Foreman. ''Recording British Music'' (2024), ch. 17, pp. 223-233 Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for ...

LP and CD: SRCD.201

) (recorded by the composer) *1996

Andrew Penny Andrew Jonathan Penny MBE (born 4 December 1952, Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England) is an English conductor. He has recorded a complete cycle of Malcolm Arnold's symphonies. From 1982 to 2022, he was Musical Director of the ...

conducting the

Queensland Symphony Orchestra Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra in the state of Queensland. The orchestra is based in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's building in South Bank. The Orchestra is funded by private corporations, the ...

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records, which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about ...

8.553526 (''Sir Malcolm Arnold: Dances'')

References

Sources

*Burton-Page, Piers. 2001. "Arnold, Sir Malcolm (Henry)". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

External links

English Dances (Set I) Malcolm Arnold homepage

English Dances (Set II) Malcolm Arnold homepage

Birmingham Royal Ballet's page on Solitaire production
{{Authority control Compositions by Malcolm Arnold 1950 compositions 1951 compositions Light music compositions Orchestral suites