Set to Music for Soli, Chorus and Orchestra
By GRANVILLE BANTOCK
(Special Broadcast Version arranged by The
COMPOSER)
First Maiden ; Second Maiden ; Third
Maiden
Chorus of Female Slaves, Attendants,
Priests, Soldiers and Villagers
THE WIRELESS CHORUS
THE B.B.C. ORCHESTRA
(Section D)
Conducted by STANFORD ROBINSON
SIR GRANVILLE BANTOCK has cast the Song of Solomon in dramatic form, using the Authorized Version of the Bible, with slight variations, and adding several of the Psa]ms, as Choral Interludes at the ends of the Scenes.
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 throe 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 : 1. The Women's Apartment in the King's Palace. Noon.
11. 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 longs 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.
(For the words of 'The Song of Songs,' see page 11.)