- Date: 1866
- Composer: Arthur Sullivan
- Period: Post-Romantic (1870-1909)
Review
By 1866, Sullivan was one of England's most prominent rising young composers, though still better-off in critical recognition than in financial. The Norwich Festival commissioned an overture from him for performance in October. In an unsettling twist of fate, while he planned to write something lively, he found himself instead composing such a gloomy piece that during September, he seriously considered giving up the commission. On September 23rd, his father, with whom he had enjoyed a particularly close and loving relationship, and who had encouraged him throughout his life, died of an aneurysm. Sullivan was devastated by this loss.Adding the subtitle In Memoriam, he reworked the overture, allowing it to express his desolation, and between October 1 and October 10, completed it in its new format. During his lifetime, it was considered his orchestral masterpiece.
It opens with a hushed, faintly processional theme from the timpani and basses, which leads to a mournfully lyrical melody in the winds, soon elaborated upon by more brass and the strings, adding a more stately mood. This brief opening ends with the timpani and brasses returning, and the violins add a new theme, which in its controlled agitation is reminiscent of passages in Mozart's Requiem. The control is soon lost in a sweeping, restless series of repeated phrases, in which the interplay, almost conversation, of the different orchestral parts occasionally hints at Rossini overtures. There is an oddly ominous effect in the lower brass instruments as they seem to advance in a subdued but triumphant progression. Sullivan makes powerful use of several different themes throughout, an effect which though it sometimes makes the individual sections seem disjointed, also provides a glimpse of his melodic invention and ability to create a mood with just a few phrases. The first lyrical melody returns for the sweeping conclusion in which the agitated strings are finally fully joined to the almost hymn-like brass, as if proclaiming a religious faith overcoming grief in the face of loss. ~ Anne Feeney, All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
Albums with Excerpt Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas [Box Set] | 2001 |
| Sullivan: Sacred and Secular Music |
