Back

Hide alternative languages

Frederick Delius

Cynara

DCW 66
RT III/5
DCE 15b

Composer: Frederick Delius
Author: Ernest Dowson
Translator: Jelka Delius
Dedicatee: Philip Heseltine
Scribe: Eric Fenby

Cynara is a setting of Ernest Dowson's poem 'Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae', a title itself citing Horace's Odes, IV/1. Originally drafted in 1907, the work was originally intended for Songs of Sunset (also settings of Dowson), but after being omitted from that work was eventually completed with Eric Fenby's aid in 1929. According to Fenby's own account, the work was largely complete when Delius decided to discard it from Songs of Sunset, and only the final bars were completed in 1929 by dictation. The extensive extant sketches in Delius's hand support the account. Both this work and Songs of Sunset take up a four-note motif from Act III of Irmelin (RT, 23).

Is related to:

Songs of Sunset
Irmelin

Composition: Between 1907 and 1929.

Instrumentation:

Orchestra : 2 fl., picc.fl., 2 ob., cor.ingl., 3 cl., cl.b., 3 fg., cfg., 4 cor., 3 tr., 3 trb., tb., timp., xyl., trgl., cym., arp., str.

Soloists: Bar., vl.

Text incipit: 'Last night, ah, yesternight'

Musical incipit for this work

Sources

Sketch material

[Classification: notated music, manuscript, autograph, sketch]

In a notebook, undated material, headed 'Cynara' and 'I cried for madder music'.

GB-Lbl (British Library, London) MS Mus. 1745/2/11/4. Link to external resource

British Library source record

Sketch material

[Classification: notated music, manuscript, autograph, sketch]

Three pages of a notebook of miscellaneous sketches, headed 'Cynara'

GB-Lbl (British Library, London) 1745/2/11/5. Link to external resource

British Library source record

Sketches and drafts

[Classification: notated music, manuscript, autograph]

This manuscript contains, in order i) sketch fragments ii) an early pencil draft (4 pages) iii) further pencil sketches iv) a reduction for voice and piano in the hand of Eric Fenby, with German text added by Jelka Delius v) part of a pencil draft in full score vi) Delius's original draft setting of 'Non sum qualis'.

GB-Lbl (British Library, London) MS Mus. 1745/2/13/4. Link to external resource

British Library source record

Authorised full score

[Classification: notated music, manuscript, score, fair copy, complete]

Scribe: Eric Fenby

Full score, in black ink, in the hand of Eric Fenby. German words added in red ink by Jelka Delius. Manuscript used as the publisher's Stichvorlage.

GB-Lbl (British Library , London) MS Mus. 1745/3/9. British Library source record
Thomas Beecham's copy

Fair copy in Fenby's hand of the previous item, with Beecham's performance indications added in blue pencil throughout.

GB-Lbl (British Library, London) MS Mus. 1745/1/33. British Library source record

Philip Heseltine's piano score

[Classification: notated music, print, piano score]

Arranger: Philip Heseltine

Boosey & Hawkes, London 1931.

Stichvorlage of Heseltine's arrangement for voice and piano, in his hand, with Jelka Delius's German translation (typed). This arrangement was published in 1931 alongside the first edition of the orchestral score.

GB-Lbl (British Library, London) MS Mus. 1745/3/10. Link to external resource

British Library source record

Published score

[Classification: notated music, print, score, first edition, complete]

Boosey & Hawkes, London 1931.

With English and German words, this edition incorporates the markings in Thomas Beecham's copy of the authorised score.

Collected Edition

[Classification: notated music, print, score, later edition, complete]

Editor: Thomas Beecham and Eric Fenby

Boosey & Hawkes, London 1987.

Cynara is included in the Collected Edition volume Songs with Orchestra, Part 2.

Performances

Bibliography

Last changed 2020-10-26T14:17:05+00:00