(Concert continued)
Totentanz (Paraphrase on the Diee
Irae). for piano and orchestra
8.52 app. Symphonic Poem: Hunnenschlacht
Hunnenschtacht was suggested by a huge fresco painted by Kaulbach, depicting the onslaught of Attila and his Huns against the Christian legions of Theodoric in the fifth century. According to legend, the battle raged so fiercely that when evening came the survivors believed they saw the spirits of those who had fallen continuing the conflict among the clouds. In the music the opposing forces are represented by easily identifiable themes, that of the Christians being based on the Gregorian chant Crux fidelis. As the battle rages the chant grows more prominent, suggesting the Cross shining in the heavens and the ultimate triumph of Christianity.
Harold Rutland
Sixth of a series of programmes devised by Humphrey Searle