''Tintagel'' is a

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music ...

. It is his best-known work, and was for some years the only piece by which the composer was known to many concert-goers. The work was inspired by a visit Bax made to

Tintagel Castle Tintagel Castle () is a England in the Middle Ages, medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island adjacent to the village of Tintagel (Trevena), North Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The site was possibly occupied in the Ro ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

in 1917, and, although not explicitly programmatic, draws on the history and mythology associated with the castle.

History

During the late summer of 1917 Bax, together with the pianist

Harriet Cohen Harriet Pearl Alice Cohen CBE (2 December 189513 November 1967) was a British pianist. Biography Harriet Cohen was born in London. Her younger sister was the singer Myra Verney (1905-1993) and she was a distant cousin of the pianist Irene Scha ...

, with whom he was having a passionate love affair, spent six weeks in

. They visited

which inspired the composer to write a symphonic poem. The piece was fully sketched during October 1917 and orchestrated between then and January 1919. It is dedicated to Cohen.Foreman, p. 150 In a programme note written in 1922 Bax stated that the piece is "only in the broadest sense programme music". He aimed, he said, to offer an impression of the cliffs and castle of Tintagel and the sea "on a sunny but not windless summer day", and to reflect some of the literary and traditional associations of the scene. ''Tintagel'' was premiered in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

on 20 October 1921 by the

Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

conducted by Dan Godfrey. ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' was an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular'', but in 1844 he sold it to Alfr ...

'' reported:

Structure

In Bax's published analysis: At this point, Bax writes, he sought to convey a sense of stress and to conjure up the dramatic legends of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

and

King Mark Mark of Cornwall (, , , ) was a sixth-century King of Kernow (Cornwall), possibly identical with King Conomor. As Mark or Marc (''Marc'h''), he is best known for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and the husband of Ise ...

. "A wailing chromatic figure is heard and gradually dominates the music", at which point Bax quotes a theme from

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's ''

Tristan and Isolde Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Of disputed source, usually assumed to be primarily Celtic, the tale is a tragedy about ...

'' (a work set in and off the coast of Cornwall). There follows what Bax called "a great climax suddenly subsiding", which is followed by a passage intended to convey the impression of "immense waves slowly gathering force until they smash themselves upon the impregnable rocks". The theme of the sea is repeated, and the work ends with the return of the opening image of "the castle still proudly fronting the sun and wind of centuries".

Recordings

When Bax's music underwent a decade and more of neglect after his death in 1953, ''Tintagel'' was alone among his works in retaining a firm place in the repertoire.Foreman, Lewis
"Bax, Sir Arnold"
Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, retrieved 7 October 2015 By 2014 the work had received fifteen recordings.Parlett, Graham
"Discography"
The Sir Arnold Bax Website, retrieved 8 October 2015 The earliest was made for

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

in 1928, with New Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eugene Goossens; it was the only recording made during the composer's lifetime, and, at 2015, is by some way the fastest performance on record, playing for 12 minutes 10 seconds.Notes to reissue on Dutton CD CDBP 9779, OCLC 172986239 In the view of ''

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' the benchmark recording is that by 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 ...

conducted by

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 1943 ...

, first issued in 1967. That recording plays for 15 minutes.Notes to EMI CD 0094637998359, OCLC 858233401

Notes

References

Webber, Christopher: ''TINTAGEL on Record, A Survey (2007)''
* * {{authority control 1919 compositions Arthurian music Symphonic poems by Arnold Bax Tintagel