The Rio Grande (Lambert)
Encyclopedia
The Rio Grande is a work by Constant Lambert
, for alto, choir, piano, brass, strings and a percussion section of 15 instruments, needing five players. It was written in 1927, and 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
's Rhapsody in Blue
, although it is very much Lambert's individual conception. The Rio Grande is set to the poem of the same name by Sacheverell Sitwell
, and takes about 15 minutes to perform.
s, ragtime
and Brazil
ian influences, harmonies and rhythms inspired by Duke Ellington
, with a traditional English choral sound. The outer sections are brisk, surrounding a central nocturne. The piano part often plays triplets against duplets, redolent of a rumba
. The coda is based on material from the central section.
The poem refers to a river in Brazil, although there is no Brazilian river called Rio Grande.
The first concert performance was in Manchester
on 12 December 1929 with Sir Hamilton Harty
as piano soloist, and the composer conducting the Hallé Orchestra
. It had its London
premiere the following day, 13 December, at the Queen's Hall
, London
, with the same forces. It was repeated at the subsequent Hallé concert the following month.
The first performance in North America was on 11 February 1930, with Ernest Seitz
and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
.
Later recordings include:
was from "The Thirteenth Caesar, and other Poems":
Constant Lambert
Leonard Constant Lambert was a British composer and conductor.-Early life:Lambert, the son of Russian-born Australian painter George Lambert, was educated at Christ's Hospital and the Royal College of Music...
, for alto, choir, piano, brass, strings and a percussion section of 15 instruments, needing five players. It was written in 1927, and 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
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
, although it is very much Lambert's individual conception. The Rio Grande is set to the poem of the same name by Sacheverell Sitwell
Sacheverell Sitwell
Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th Baronet CH was an English writer, best known as an art critic and writer on architecture, particularly the baroque. He was the younger brother of Dame Edith Sitwell and Sir Osbert Sitwell....
, and takes about 15 minutes to perform.
Style
The Rio Grande combines jazzy syncopationSyncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
s, ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian influences, harmonies and rhythms inspired by Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, with a traditional English choral sound. The outer sections are brisk, surrounding a central nocturne. The piano part often plays triplets against duplets, redolent of a rumba
Rumba
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
. The coda is based on material from the central section.
The poem refers to a river in Brazil, although there is no Brazilian river called Rio Grande.
Premieres
Its first performance was a BBC Radio broadcast on 27 February 1928; the piano soloist was Angus Morrison, to whom the work was dedicated.The first concert performance was in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
on 12 December 1929 with Sir Hamilton Harty
Hamilton Harty
Sir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
as piano soloist, and the composer conducting the Hallé Orchestra
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
. It had its London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
premiere the following day, 13 December, at the Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, with the same forces. It was repeated at the subsequent Hallé concert the following month.
The first performance in North America was on 11 February 1930, with Ernest Seitz
Ernest Seitz
Ernest Joseph Seitz 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 music. His most famous work is The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise, which he co-wrote...
and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
.
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 HartyHamilton HartySir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
(piano), St Michaels Singers, the Hallé OrchestraThe HalléThe Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI... - 14 January 1949: Gladys RipleyGladys Ripley-Early life:She was born in Forest Gate, Essex, the daughter of Alfred and Amy Ripley, and was educated at St. Edmund Roman Catholic School, East Ham, and at Clark's Business College.- Career :...
(alto), Kyla Greenbaum (piano), Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra
Later recordings include:
- Sally BurgessSally BurgessSally Burgess FRCM is a South Africa-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 teaching stagecraft...
(alto), Jack GibbonsJack GibbonsJack Gibbons is an English classical pianist and composer.-Biography:Gibbons was born in England. His father is a scientist and his mother a visual artist. He began his piano studies in Stockton-on-Tees, later continuing in Oxford. He began performing in public at the age of 10...
(piano), Chorus of Opera North, English Northern PhilharmoniaOrchestra of Opera NorthThe Orchestra of Opera North is the orchestra that plays for the English opera company, Opera North....
, David Lloyd-JonesDavid Lloyd-JonesDavid Matthias Lloyd-Jones is a British conductor who has specialised in British and Russian music. He is also an editor and translator, especially of Russian operas.- Biography :...
(conductor) (this recording was nominated for a Gramophone Award and awarded a Penguin Guide 3-star rosette) - Della JonesDella JonesDella Jones , is a Welsh mezzo-soprano, particularly well-known for her interpretations of works by Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Britten.-Life and career:Della Jones was born in Tonna, near Neath, Wales...
(mezzo), Kathryn StottKathryn StottKathryn Stott is a British classical pianist who performs as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Her specialities include the English and French classical repertoire, contemporary classical music and the tango...
(piano), BBC SingersBBC SingersThe BBC Singers are the professional chamber choir of the BBC. As one of six BBC Performing Groups, the 24-voiced choir has been in existence for more than 80 years. The BBC Singers have commissioned and premiered works by the leading composers of the past century, including Benjamin Britten, Sir...
, BBC Concert OrchestraBBC Concert OrchestraThe BBC Concert Orchestra is a British 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 which is not a full-scale symphony orchestra....
, Barry WordsworthBarry WordsworthBarry Wordsworth is a British conductor.From 1989 to 2006, Wordsworth was principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and now holds the title of conductor laureate. From 1990 to 1995, Wordsworth was music director of the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden. He began his second tenure in that post in...
(conductor)
Sitwell's poem
The poem The Rio Grande by Sacheverell SitwellSacheverell Sitwell
Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th Baronet CH was an English writer, best known as an art critic and writer on architecture, particularly the baroque. He was the younger brother of Dame Edith Sitwell and Sir Osbert Sitwell....
was from "The Thirteenth Caesar, and other Poems":
- 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.
- Tile 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.