Set to Music for Six Solo Voices,
Chorus in Five Parts, and Orchestra
By GRANVILLE BANTOCK
Relayed from tho Fyfio Hall
The words used in this version are given on page 533.)
THE WIRELESS Chorus
(Chorus-Master : STANFORD ROBINSON )
THE WIRELESS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(Leader : S. KNEALE KELLEY )
Under the direction of Sir HAMILTON HARTY
THE Song of Songs is Bantock's most recent composition on a large scale. He has put into the form of a dramatic work the Song of Solomon, using the Authorized Version of the Bible, with slight variations, and adding several of the Psalms, as ' Choral Interludes ' at the end of each Scene.
The characters are the Shulamite (Soprano), the First Attendant (Mezzo-Soprano), the Second Attendant (Contralto), the Shepherd (Tenor), the King (Bass), the Watchman (Bass). and three Maidens (Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, and Contralto). The Chorus represents Female Slaves, Attendants, Priests, Soldiers and Villagers. There is also a Mystic Choir (which sings the Choral Interludes), and Dancers are introduced.
The work, which treats the song, not symbolically, but literally, as a story of the constancy of love, is cast in five Scenes, thus : I, The women's apartment in the King's Palace. Noon. II. The same. Night. III. The same. Morning. IV. The same. Evening. , V. At the foot of a watch-tower among the vineyards of Lebanon. Dawn.
The story, in this interpretation, is that the King (said to have been Solomon), seeing the Shulamite working in the vineyard, and being attracted by her great beauty, has had her brought to his Palace, where he keeps her in honourable captivity. She resents the restraints imposed upon her, and tongs for her Shepherd lover, whose voice is often heard outside, and whom the Shulamite also sees in a vision. After seeking in vain to win her love, the King relents and releases her.