"Belshazzar's Feast (Walton) Belshazzar's Feast is a cantata by the English composer William Walton. It was first performed at the Leeds Festival on 8 October 1931, with the baritone Dennis Noble, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Leeds Festival Chorus, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. The work has remained one of Walton's most celebrated compositions. Osbert Sitwell selected the text from the Bible, primarily the Book of Daniel, and Psalm 137. The work is dedicated to Walton's friend and benefactor Lord Berners. In the story of Belshazzar's Feast, the Jews are in exile in Babylon. After a feast at which Belshazzar,"
"Belshazzar's Feast (Sibelius) Belshazzar's Feast (), Op. 51, is incidental music by Jean Sibelius to a play of the same name by the journalist, poet and playwright (1868−1927). Sibelius composed in 1906 eight movements, scored for orchestra, with singers also being required in some numbers: In 1907 Sibelius extracted a purely orchestral suite of four numbers, which is much better known than the original score. The first performance of the play and its incidental music was at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki on 7 November 1906, conducted by the composer. It had 21 performances through to January 1907. Extracts from"
"Belshazzar (Handel) Belshazzar (HWV 61) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. The libretto was by Charles Jennens, and Handel abridged it considerably. Jennens' libretto was based on the Biblical account of the fall of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus the Great and the subsequent freeing of the Jewish nation, as found in the Book of Daniel. Handel composed ""Belshazzar"" in the late Summer of 1744 concurrently with ""Hercules"", during a time that Winton Dean calls ""the peak of Handel's creative life"". The work premiered the following Lenten season on 27 March 1745 at the King's Theatre, London. The"
"(baritone), Lahti Chamber Choir, conducted by Osmo Vänskä, as part of BIS Records' Complete Sibelius Edition. Belshazzar's Feast (Sibelius) Belshazzar's Feast (), Op. 51, is incidental music by Jean Sibelius to a play of the same name by the journalist, poet and playwright (1868−1927). Sibelius composed in 1906 eight movements, scored for orchestra, with singers also being required in some numbers: In 1907 Sibelius extracted a purely orchestral suite of four numbers, which is much better known than the original score. The first performance of the play and its incidental music was at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki on 7"
"a wonderful work. On the other hand, the Synod of the Church of England considered its text inappropriate for performance in cathedrals, hence the Three Choirs Festival did not permit its performance until 1957. The Worcester Music Festival barred it until 1975. Belshazzar's Feast (Walton) Belshazzar's Feast is a cantata by the English composer William Walton. It was first performed at the Leeds Festival on 8 October 1931, with the baritone Dennis Noble, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Leeds Festival Chorus, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. The work has remained one of Walton's most celebrated compositions. Osbert Sitwell selected the"
"Belshazzar's Feast (Rembrandt) Belshazzar's Feast is a painting by Rembrandt housed in the National Gallery, London. The painting is Rembrandt's attempt to establish himself as a painter of large, baroque history paintings. The date of the painting is unknown, but most sources give a date between 1635 and 1638. The story of Belshazzar and the writing on the wall originates in the Old Testament Book of Daniel. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar looted the Temple in Jerusalem and has stolen the sacred artefacts such as golden cups. His son Belshazzar used these cups for a great feast where the hand of"
"Belshazzar's Feast (Martin) Belshazzar's Feast is an oil painting by British painter John Martin (1789–1854). It was first exhibited at the British Institution in February 1821 and won a prize of £200 for the best picture. It was so popular that it needed to be protected from the crowds by a railing, and established Martin's fame. In the words of Martin's biographer William Feaver, he ""turned literary references to visual reality"". Martin published mezzotint engravings in 1826 and 1832. The original painting is now held in a private collection; two smaller contemporaneous ""sketches"" are held by the Yale Center for"
"in the use of allegory Pedro Calderón de la Barca [1600 – 1681]: considered most prolific of the writers of ""autos""; two well-known autos are ""La cena del rey Baltaza,"" or ""Belshazzar's Feast"" and ""El gran teatro del Mundo"", or ""The Great Theater of the World"" One of Calderón's ""autos"" that is a popular English translation is ""Belshazzar's"" ""Feast"". It relates directly to the Eucharist, sacrilegious behavior, and punishment exacted on Belshazzar for his sinful behavior. Belshazzar – based off Biblical character, but allegorical for humanity Daniel – Biblical historic character, allegoric personification of Wisdom and God’s Judgement Idolatry –"
"one of the most distinctive features of the piece. The Babylonians are characterised in Handel's music not as evil pagans but as happy pleasure-seekers with dance derived foot-tapping tunes. The Jews by contrast are given music of weighty and solemn dignity and the music for the chorus of Persians is marked by nobility and fugal development. The work is notable also for its characterisation through music of the leading roles, especially the dignified and sad figure of the Queen Mother Nitocris, despairing over her son's behaviour. Belshazzar (Handel) Belshazzar (HWV 61) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. The libretto"
"Owain Arwel Hughes Owain Arwel Hughes CBE (born 21 March 1942) is a Welsh orchestral conductor. Hughes was born in Ton Pentre, Rhondda, the son of another successful musician, composer Arwel Hughes. He studied at Howardian High School, Cardiff, University College, Cardiff and the Royal College of Music. He studied conducting under Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink and Rudolf Kempe. He became well known after a rousing televised performance of William Walton's ""Belshazzar’s Feast"", which won the praise of the composer himself. He later hosted a BBC series, ""The Much-Loved Music Show"". He has also made numerous recordings, including works"
"A performance by him at a Three Choirs Festival concert in Worcester in 1932 was the only occasion on which Walton met Elgar, whom he greatly admired. Elgar did not share the general enthusiasm for Walton's concerto. Walton's next major composition was the massive choral cantata ""Belshazzar's Feast"" (1931). It began as a work on a modest scale; the BBC commissioned a piece for small chorus, orchestra of no more than fifteen players, and soloist. Osbert Sitwell constructed a text, selecting verses from several books of the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation. As Walton worked on it, he"
"one a semitone higher than its predecessor. Walton briefly refers back to Schoenberg with a dodecaphonic passage in the second movement, but otherwise the sonata is firmly tonal. Walton's liturgical compositions include the ""Coronation Te Deum"" (1952), ""Missa brevis"" (1966), ""Jubilate Deo"" (1972), and ""Magnificat"" and ""Nunc dimittis"" (1974), and the anthems ""A Litany"" (1916) and ""Set me as a seal upon thy heart"" (1938). One of the best-known and most frequently performed of Walton's works is the cantata ""Belshazzar's Feast"". Written for large orchestra, chorus and baritone soloist, it intersperses a choral and orchestral depiction of Babylonian excess and"
"Belshazzar's Feast (band) Belshazzar’s Feast are an English folk music duo comprising singer/oboist/fiddler Paul Sartin and piano accordionist Paul Hutchinson. The pair have a reputation for slapstick spoken, physical and musical comedy as well as fine musicianship. Sartin and Hutchinson met in the mid-1990s when they were both members of the folk-rock band Life Of Reilly, who existed to write music to satirise the construction of the Newbury bypass. After a few performances they left the band to form a duo. They initially set out working for ceilidhs and social dances, working with caller Andrew Shaw on a project exploring"
"twenty recordings since Harty's 1936 set. William Walton Sir William Turner Walton, OM (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ""Façade"", the cantata ""Belshazzar's Feast"", the Viola Concerto and the First Symphony. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary Sitwell siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education."
"Grand, Grand Overture"", scored for orchestra and vacuum cleaners, and dedicated to US President Hoover. Franz Reizenstein's ""Concerto Popolare"" featured a battle between the soloist, playing the Grieg Piano Concerto, and the orchestra, determinedly playing Tchaikovsky. Sir William Walton conducted a one-note excerpt from his cantata"" Belshazzar's Feast"": the word ""Slain!"" shouted by the chorus. After Hoffnung's death, similar concerts were promoted by his widow, Annetta, and collaborators. Hoffnung learned to play the tuba well enough to play the solo part in the Tuba Concerto by Vaughan Williams in a serious concert at the Festival Hall, and was an active"
"William Walton Sir William Turner Walton, OM (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ""Façade"", the cantata ""Belshazzar's Feast"", the Viola Concerto and the First Symphony. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of a musician, Walton was a chorister and then an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. On leaving the university, he was taken up by the literary Sitwell siblings, who provided him with a home and a cultural education. His earliest work of note was"
"historians have pointed out there are obvious stylistic similarities between portions of ""Intimations"" and William Walton's 1931 cantata ""Belshazzar's Feast"": Intimations of Immortality Intimations of Immortality, Op. 29, an ode for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, is one of the best-known works by English composer Gerald Finzi. It is a setting of nine of the eleven stanzas (all but the seventh and eighth) of William Wordsworth's """", cast as a single continuous movement of 45 minutes duration. Finzi began composing the work in the late 1930s, but did not complete it until 1950, just before it was performed on 5 September"
"As musical director of the choral society in Freetown, Nicholas worked with Adelaide Caseley Hayford, who used her influence to promote Ballanta's further education. He composed a choral work, ""Belshazzar's Feast"", set to a text by Felicia Hemans, that was performed in Freetown in 1919. When Mrs. Caseley Hayford travelled to America, she took that work with her to continue promoting his career. She urged him to join her and sent funds for his journey to the United States. After working with Mrs. Caseley Hayford to produce African pageants in Boston and Philadelphia, Nicholas went to New York, where he"
"Thought sings. Death comes to the feast in a disguise and makes a plea to God to loose his hand in order to kill Belshazzar due to his sacrilegious behavior against the Eucharist on top of his sins of Idolatry and Vanity. Belshazzar demands wine, and Death, being mistaken for a servant, brings him a golden cup of poisoned wine declaring that in the cup is both Life and Death. Belshazzar toasts himself, drinks the wine, and then there are several increasingly loud thunder claps. A hand appears in the clouds and writes nonsense words that neither Idolatry, Vanity, Belshazzar,"
"Fillers"" (Unearthed B008YBADAO)<br> 2014 ""The Whiting’s On The Wall"" (Unearthed B00ISKT5NM) Belshazzar's Feast (band) Belshazzar’s Feast are an English folk music duo comprising singer/oboist/fiddler Paul Sartin and piano accordionist Paul Hutchinson. The pair have a reputation for slapstick spoken, physical and musical comedy as well as fine musicianship. Sartin and Hutchinson met in the mid-1990s when they were both members of the folk-rock band Life Of Reilly, who existed to write music to satirise the construction of the Newbury bypass. After a few performances they left the band to form a duo. They initially set out working for ceilidhs and"
"Belshazzar's feast Belshazzar's feast, or the story of the writing on the wall (chapter 5 in the Book of Daniel) tells how Belshazzar holds a great feast and drinks from the vessels that had been looted in the destruction of the First Temple. A hand appears and writes on the wall. The terrified Belshazzar calls for his wise men, but they are unable to read the writing. The queen advises him to send for Daniel, renowned for his wisdom. Daniel reminds Belshazzar that his father Nebuchadnezzar, when he became arrogant, was thrown down until he learned that God has sovereignty"
"the two composers became lifelong friends (they had met briefly in 1923). Clark played an even greater role in Walton's ""Belshazzar's Feast"": he was its progenitor. On 21 August 1929 he asked Walton for a work suitable for broadcasting, written for a small choir, soloist, and an orchestra not exceeding 15 players. Walton later thanked Clark for bringing ""Belshazzar's Feast"" to the attention of Sergei Prokofiev, who showed some interest in it. His friend John Ireland introduced Alan Bush to Clark, who was responsible for having many of Bush's works broadcast between 1929 and 1936. On 3 March 1930, Edward"
"Elijah (oratorio) Elijah (), Op. 70, MWV A 25, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn. It premiered in 1846 at the Birmingham Festival. It depicts events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings of the Old Testament. This piece was composed in the spirit of Mendelssohn's Baroque predecessors Bach and Handel, whose music he loved. In 1829 Mendelssohn had organized the first performance of Bach's ""St Matthew Passion"" since the composer's death and was instrumental in bringing this and other Bach works to widespread popularity. By contrast, Handel's oratorios"
"Feast"" and ""The Death of Minnehaha"", Delius's ""Songs of Farewell"", Handel's ""Israel in Egypt"", Holst's ""The Hymn of Jesus"", Vaughan Williams's ""Serenade to Music"" and Walton's ""Belshazzar's Feast"". Some of these have been reissued on compact disc, including both Gerontius sets, three of the ""Messiah"" recordings, one of the ""Elijahs"", and ""Belshazzar's Feast"". As a concerto accompanist, Sargent recorded with, among many others, Fritz Kreisler, Artur Schnabel, Jascha Heifetz, Albert Sammons, Clifford Curzon, David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, Paul Tortelier, and Jacqueline du Pré. His pre-war recordings with Schnabel of the Beethoven piano concertos have been reissued on compact disc. His"
"Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 4 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early romantic period. Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. His best-known works include his Overture and incidental music for ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"", the ""Italian Symphony"", the ""Scottish Symphony"", the overture ""The Hebrides"", his mature Violin Concerto, and his String Octet. His ""Songs Without Words"" are his most famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism"
"Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO). BFC has also made 10 appearances at the BBC Proms since its first Proms performance in 1986 and two of its many recordings of classical works have been nominated for Grammy awards. As of September 2017, the chorus has performed 616 works in 513 concerts and 86 recording sessions at 98 different venues. It has worked with 107 orchestras, 155 conductors, 724 soloists and 111 other choirs. BFC was formed by the Hungarian-born conductor Laszlo Heltay for the 1968 Brighton Festival specifically for a performance of Sir William Walton's large-scale cantata Belshazzar's Feast, conducted by the composer"
"Alexander's Feast (Handel) Alexander's Feast (HWV 75) is an ode with music by George Frideric Handel set to a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton. Hamilton adapted his libretto from John Dryden's ode ""Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music"" (1697) which had been written to celebrate Saint Cecilia's Day. Jeremiah Clarke (whose score is now lost) set the original ode to music. Handel composed the music in January 1736, and the work received its premiere at the Covent Garden Theatre, London, on 19 February 1736. In its original form it contained three concertos: a concerto in B flat major in 3"
"La damnation de Faust La damnation de Faust (English: ""The Damnation of Faust""), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a ""légende dramatique"" (dramatic legend). It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 6 December 1846. The French composer was inspired by a translation of Goethe's dramatic poem ""Faust"" and produced a musical work that, like the masterpiece on which it is based, defies easy categorisation. Conceived at various times as a free-form oratorio and as an opera (Berlioz"
"in a more elaborate staging on 10 August 2012 at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. Notes Sources Ciro in Babilonia Ciro in Babilonia, ossia La caduta di Baldassare (Cyrus in Babylon, or The Downfall of Belshazzar) is an azione sacra in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Francesco Aventi. It was first performed at the Teatro Comunale, Ferrara during Lent, 1812. The exact date of the premiere is unknown but is believed to be 14 March. During Lent it was the custom for Italian opera houses either to close or to stage works on themes from the"
"Christmas Oratorio The Christmas Oratorio (), , is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a now lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The date is confirmed in Bach's autograph manuscript. The next performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The ""Christmas Oratorio"" is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The author of the text is unknown, although a"
"and is based on the Biblical story of the overthrow of the Babylonian king Belshazzar by the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great. In a concert form, the work's UK premiere took place on 30 January 1823 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. The quasi-opera premiered in the United States on 7 July 2012 at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts as part of the Festival, starring contralto Ewa Podleś in the title role, tenor Michael Spyres as Baldassare (Belshazzar), and soprano Jessica Pratt as Amira, with Will Crutchfield conducting. Performances with the same principal singers opened"
"The Epic of Gilgamesh (Martinů) Gilgameš (English: The Epic of Gilgamesh) is an oratorio by Bohuslav Martinů composed 1954–1955 near Nice in France and premiered in 1958 in Basel, Switzerland, with a title and text in German, as ""Das Gilgamesch-Epos"". The text comprises a sectional portrait of the original ""Epic of Gilgamesh"" in three parts. The premiere of the oratorio took place on 24 January 1958 with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Basel Chamber Choir conducted by Paul Sacher. The United Kingdom premiere in 1959 was conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, who had been very impressed with it on"
"Dinner Party"". The famous 40-voice motet ""Spem in alium"" by English composer Thomas Tallis, is a setting of a text from the Book of Judith. The story also inspired oratorios by Antonio Vivaldi, W. A. Mozart and Hubert Parry, and an operetta by Jacob Pavlovitch Adler. Alessandro Scarlatti wrote an oratorio in 1693, ""La Giuditta"", as did the Portuguese composer Francisco António de Almeida in 1726; ""Juditha triumphans"" was written in 1716 by Antonio Vivaldi; Mozart composed in 1771 ""La Betulia Liberata"" (KV 118), to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio. Arthur Honegger composed an oratorio, ""Judith"", in 1925 to a"