Knowledge (XXG)

The Quest (ballet)

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by some woman or other whose name I cannot remember, but it was a difficult scenario. The music was composed under adverse conditions and was written more or less as one writes for the films, first come first served! So some of the ideas were not too bad and some better not mentioned but as it had to
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Near the Palace of Pride, three knights Sansloy (Lawless), Sansjoy (Joyless) and Sansfoy (Faithless) dance to compete for the hand of Duessa (Falsehood). St George enters and kills Sansfoy in fight. He leaves with Duessa. Una enters, still searching for St George, then falls asleep. Archimago enters
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If not top-class Walton, the score breathes the atmosphere of the theatre with an ease that augured well for an opera. Incidentally, the suite opens with the direction "allegro malizioso", the malice this time not being directed at a lover who had discarded him but at the magician in the ballet who
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Outside the House of Archimago, St George and Una are lost in a storm and fall under the spell of Archimago, who transforms his female servant into an evil alter ego of Una. Spirits flutter menacingly about. St George is duped into thinking Una has been seduced by Archimago's servant, and he leaves
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is scored for three flutes (two doubling piccolos), two oboes (one doubling cor anglais), two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, one tuba, two harps, and percussion comprising timpani, glockenspiel, xylophone, tam-tam, cymbals and suspended cymbal, bass drum, side
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In the Palace of Pride the Seven Deadly sins display themselves: first Sloth and then Gluttony, Wrath, Lechery, Avarice, Envy and finally Pride (as Queen). St George enters with Duessa. Sansjoy follows him and they fight. Duessa takes Sansjoy's side and is horrified when he is killed. St George,
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in London and then taken out on tour. It was well received at the premiere, and, despite the composer's reservations, was a success, being given 93 performances over the next two years. The ballet historian Geraldine Morris suggests that the work fell out of favour after the war because of its
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led by Pride appear in Scene 3 and holiness returns in the fifth and final scene with Faith, Hope and Charity. Walton's music, composed in great haste, followed the scenario carefully, though without great enthusiasm on his part. A slow and painstaking writer as a rule, he called on
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in 1943. Two versions of the score exist: one for the small orchestra for which Walton wrote (because of wartime constraints), and a posthumously constructed version rescored for an orchestra of the larger size usually favoured by the composer. The ballet, with a scenario by
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to create a new ballet for the Sadler's Wells company. By 1943 the company was performing mostly away from London, taking ballet round the country, with its dancers, orchestra and backstage staff heavily depleted by wartime conscription.
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should be seen by everyone, "for as the curtain falls one is tempted to cry with Shakespeare: 'God for Harry, England and St George'". After 1945 the work dropped out of the repertoire and Ashton's choreography is now lost.
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in 1970. For this suite, about 13 minutes in length, Tauský − with Walton's approval − added extra instruments in the orchestral parts, bringing the originally small orchestra up to more Waltonian proportions.
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In the late 1980s, the musical scholar Christopher Palmer reconstructed the five-movement ballet score, further amplifying the original sparer orchestration. This version was recorded by the
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Near the Palace of Pride Sansloy is mourning his two brothers. Archimago enters, still disguised as St George, and Sansloy kills him. St George enters, kills Sansloy and is reunited with Una.
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edited the original score for a new recording, restoring some passages cut by Walton (and Palmer), and largely reverting to the smaller orchestral forces of the 1943 score.
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be done quickly as Freddy only had limited leave, it had to be done that way – 45 mins' music in less than 5 weeks. It was not much of a success from anyone's point of view.
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St George brings Una to the House of Holiness. After pledging himself to England he bids farewell to his beloved and departs on his quest, to climactic music.
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drum, snare drum, tambourine, castanets, triangle, wood block, temple blocks, whip, tubular bells, sleigh bells, and piano, celeste and strings.
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had laid a spell on St George. There is a lightly scored and lilting siciliana, a long flute solo which has characteristic Waltonian wry charm.
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Ashton chose to create what he later called "a piece of wartime propaganda", depicting the triumph of good over evil. He chose a story from
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disillusioned, sees the Palace of Pride and Duessa for what they are, and to a dissonant climax he leaves the scene.
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The ballet music takes about 40 minutes in performance. The performing edition of the score published by the
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Not much to be said for it ... The subject, not very inspiring, had been concocted from Spenser's
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The score was lost for several years after the war, but the music scholar and critic
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extracted a four-movement suite from the score, which Tauský premiered at the
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By the 1940s Walton was an established composer, known for works including a
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tracked it down to a London warehouse. With Walton's approval the conductor
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wartime "propagandist, patriotic elements". One critic wrote in 1943 that
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as Una, the personification of Truth. Her alter ago, played by
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Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research
631:"Visionary Dances: Ashton's Ballets of the Second World War" 152:, was Duessa, "the scarlet whore", embodying Falsehood. The 215:
Walton's score follows the five-scene plot of the ballet.
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Palmer, Christopher (1990). Notes to Chandos CD CHAN 8871
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Lloyd-Jones, David (2002). Notes to Naxos CD CD 8.555868
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Percival, John. "Finding the paradox of Oscar Wilde",
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disguised as St George, wakes Una and leaves with her.
523:, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 December 2020 1107: 1089: 1036: 927: 911: 880: 770: 719: 800:Improvisations on an Impromptu of Benjamin Britten 323:in June 1961. Walton recorded the suite with the 180:The ballet was premiered on 7 April 1943 at the 412:Priory, Hugh (2002). Notes to Naxos CD 8.555868 688: 8: 165:to help with the orchestration. He wrote of 695: 681: 673: 531: 529: 408: 406: 393: 355:used Walton's music for a ballet about 503:Richardson, Philip. "The Sitter Out", 490: 488: 486: 429:, Vol. 31, no. 2 (2008), pp. 175–210 7: 476:, 8 April 1943, p. 5; "New Ballet", 207:and edited by John Eric Floreen and 614:. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1098:Variations on an Elizabethan Theme 871:Variations on a Theme by Hindemith 375:. (For the main section, Walton's 14: 1077:A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table 629:Morris, Geraldine (Winter 2008). 472:, 8 April 1943, p. 4; "The New", 55:Background and first performances 1172:Works based on The Faerie Queene 1127: 1126: 1058: 339:. Ten years later the conductor 1067:In Honour of the City of London 468:"A New Sadler's Wells Ballet", 1152:Compositions by William Walton 807:Johannesburg Festival Overture 130:, the costumes and scenery by 16:Ballet score by William Walton 1: 333:London Philharmonic Orchestra 47:. It was first given by the 1157:Ballets by Frederick Ashton 1188: 978:The Foreman Went to France 854:Spitfire Prelude and Fugue 351:In 1972 the choreographer 1123: 710: 647:10.3366/E0264287508000170 593:, 23 February 1972, p. 11 507:, No. 392, 1943, p. 356, 325:London Symphony Orchestra 134:and the music by Walton. 82:used for his 1931 ballet 553:Kennedy, pp. 123 and 301 72:and the "entertainment" 668:(subscription required) 470:The Manchester Guardian 450:Morris, pp. 169 and 171 441:Morris, pp. 170 and 180 431:(subscription required) 295:writes of the music of 205:Oxford University Press 92:Walton worked with the 63:, three concertos, the 1055:Façade – Entertainment 480:, 21 April 1943, p. 10 383:References and sources 369:Sadler's Wells Theatre 96:and Ashton was in the 1167:1943 ballet premieres 834:Prelude for Orchestra 821:Partita for Orchestra 49:Sadler's Wells Ballet 24:is a ballet score by 985:The First of the Few 893:Sinfonia Concertante 738:Troilus and Cressida 713:List of compositions 571:Kennedy, pp. 122–123 400:Kennedy, pp. 329–334 291:Walton's biographer 321:Royal Festival Hall 128:Doris Langley Moore 35:Doris Langley Moore 1045:Belshazzar's Feast 1037:Other compositions 992:Went the Day Well? 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Index

William Walton
Frederick Ashton
Doris Langley Moore
The Faerie Queene
Edmund Spenser
Sadler's Wells Ballet
symphony
cantata
Belshazzar's Feast
Façade
Frederick Ashton
Façade
Second World War
Army Film Unit
Royal Air Force
Kenneth Clark
Air Ministry
The Faerie Queene
Elizabethan
Edmund Spenser
Doris Langley Moore
John Piper
Robert Helpmann
Saint George
Margot Fonteyn
Beryl Grey
Seven Deadly Sins
Roy Douglas
Ernest Irving
New Theatre

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