Sullivan, Arthur

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Sullivan, Arthur

Overture di Ballo for orchestra

25,00 

Arthur Seymour Sullivan

Overture di Ballo

(b. London, 13 May 1842; d. London, 22 November 1900 )

Preface
Arthur Sullivan had been a chorister at the Chapel Royal when he entered the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 14, studying piano with William Stearndale Bennett and composition with John Goss. Such was the impression he made that the Royal Academy arranged for him to spend a year at Mendelssohn’s Königliches Konservatorium der Musik in Leipzig, where he studied under Julius Rietz and Carl Reinecke; Edvard Grieg was a fellow classmate. Back in England, Sullivan gained a commission from the 1864 Birmingham Festival that resulted in The Masque at Kenilworth. It was successful, and with the reputation gained from his Irish Symphony and Cello Concerto (both 1866) he was approached by the Birmingham authorities in 1869, this time for an orchestral overture for the 1870 Festival. 1870 was a momentous year for Sullivan, for it was then that he met William Schwenk Gilbert, and a partnership began that resulted in many enduring stage works.

Sullivan took his time over the Birmingham commission, arguing about his fees for so that he did not begin writing until mid-May (the concert was to be on 31 August). In the event the work proved a great success. Sullivan conducted and afterwards wrote to his mother that “The Overture was a great success last night, and on the strength of it they are to have my portrait in the local illustrated paper tomorrow with a short notice. It went beautifully and everyone who spoke to me seemed delighted”. More performances quickly followed, including a “guest” performance at the Beethoven Festival at the Crystal Palace, performances of all the master’s symphonies and concertos in honour of his centenary. It travelled abroad, too, in 1870, being introduced in New York.

It is a near-perfect work, combining grace and sparkle with memorable tunes and rhythms. It is in three sections: a polonaise, a waltz and a gallop, and it is probably the composer’s best-loved non-Gilbert work. However, Sullivan did leave us two puzzles.

The first is the title. Overture di Ballo is in no known language; ‘overture’ is English and ‘di ballo’ Italian. Sullivan’s autograph gives this title, but it has been crossed out in pencil and “Overtura di Ballo” substituted. This in fact was the title Sullivan used in his private correspondence and his diary. But when the first published version appeared in 1881 (for piano duet) it was called “Ouvertura di Ballo”. In the end, Novellos reverted to the first title for the published score, which is reproduced here. But no Italian would say ‘overture’, ‘overtura’, or ‘ouverture’; they would say “Sinfonia di Ballo”. It is all very confusing.

(There was a later parallel with Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Sinfonia Antartica of 1954. RVW initially called it Sinfonia Antarctica – which is Italian and Latin; it should be either Sinfonia Antartica or Symphonia Antarctica. When this was pointed out by his publishers, the composer replied, “I think we will stick to ‘Antarctica’, even if it is bad Italian. It ought to be good and it is their fault if it is not”. He did eventually allow it to be published with the correct Italian.)

The second problem is a more practical one. Sullivan’s orchestra is a standard ‘Brahmsian’ one, except that the composer writes for two unusual instruments: the ophecleide and the serpente, both wooden instruments played with a brass instrument mouthpiece. It does seem that both were used at the first performance, but very soon both were obsolete. When Novellos published the score in 1889 (after Sullivan had revised it, cutting 124 bars from the waltz section) neither instrument was common, and Sullivan authorized both to be substituted by tubas. But this is not as satisfactory an option as to use a tuba for the ophecleide and a contra-bassoon (often playing an octave higher) for the serpente. Sullivan himself endorsed this solution.

Sullivan’s fame rests on his light operas, but with the Overture di Ballo he showed that he was capable of extended orchestral works of great charm.

Phillip Brookes, 2016

For performance material please contact Novello, London. Reprint of a copy from the collection Phillip Brookes, Roxas City.

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