“THE DESERT”

Southland Times, Issue 21821, 26 September 1932, Page 8

“THE DESERT”

MALE CHOIR RECITAL. NEXT SATURDAY EVENING. In view of the performance of Felicien David’s symphonic ode "The Desert” by the combined Invercargill and Royal Dunedin male choirs and Invercargill Orchestral Society next Saturday evening in the Civic Theatre, a brief description of this impressive work should prove interesting to intending patrons. Felicien Cesar David, a pioneer in the modem school of French music, composed “The Desert” in the year 1844. In the thirties of last century he travelled for some years in the East, through Constantinople, Smyrna, Egypt and the Holy Land. The results of his youthful impressions of this tour will be evident in the work to be presented next Saturday, "The Desert” a symphonic ode for male voices with orchestral accompaniment. When first presented in Paris, it was received with delirious applause. It consists of three parts, subdivided into several vocal and orchestral movements, each introduced by lines of descriptive recitation. The subject is the mighty desert itself with all its gloom and grandeur. On this background is depicted a caravan in various situations—at one time singing a hymn to Allah in fanatical devotion; at another, battling frantically with the terrible sirnoon; and again calmly resting in the evening by the cooling fountain of the oasis. The monotony of the vast sandy plain is indicated by a long sustained C natural in the orchestra’s parts. The opening prayer to Allah, the Dance des Almees and the Chant of the Muezzin (which calls the faithful to morning prayers and which is allotted to the tenor soloist) founded on genuine Arabic melodies, are given with a vividness and descriptive power rarely equalled. The introduction to the final section depicts a typical sunrise in the desert. It is a very picturesque piece of musical delineation. "The Desert,” to be given next Saturday evening, is the only work in all of the composer’s output which can be said to have survived. David wrote many operas, symphonies, pianoforte pieces, songs and church music, but all alike are covered with the dust of decades. "The Desert” alone keeps the memory of the composer green. "David indeed,” said Francis Hueffer, "is almost the only composer of his country who can lay claim to genuine local colour. His Arabs are Arabs, not Frenchmen in disguise.”