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- John Tavener
The Whale (1966)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by the London Sinfonietta for its inaugural concert
- 2(pic,afl)22(bcl)2(cbn)/4331/timp.8perc(cel)/hp.amp pf.grand org.Horg/str(no vn)/tape
- SATB
- mezzo soprano, bass, speaker
- 32 min
- English
Programme Note
This was the first idea which came to me: these notes and the rhythmic interversions form the basis of a fantasy on the Biblical allegory ‘Jonah and the Whale’. A fantasy which grew around the text from the Vulgate, and at times moved so far from it that I decided to call the piece The Whale.
Sanctus bells was another sound from which the piece grew, and a chance purchase of some bells proved their pitches and intervals to be relevant to the music.
Ideas were very abundant in the first stages of The Whale, and I owe a great deal to the constant enthusiasm and encouragement shown at this and at all times by David Lumsdaine.
The ‘fantasy’ grew and perhaps at times nearly ‘swallowed’ the biblical text; so the swallowing of Jonah became almost ‘literal’ in a musical sense.
The sections which are pure ‘fantasy’ in The Whale are informed by a deliberate monotony, and are always characterised by a rather dry ‘drum-beat’. These sections occur three times in the piece, first at the beginning, then at the middle of the ‘Melodrama and Pantomime’, in a very soft bell-like passage representing the storm, and finally towards the end of the prayer when Jonah is in the belly of the Whale.
The Whale was a very exciting musical experience for me, and the composition of it took over a year with only a few interruptions. It may be of superficial interest to note that I visited Cornwall at the height of winter in an abortive attempt to see a real whale.
The Whale seems musically a long way from me now, but it was something that I had to write and if its youthful exuberance seems excessive, I still stand by it.
I completed The Whale fifteen years ago in Tythe Barn, the home of Lady Birley to whom the work is dedicated.
John Tavener
Revised August 1983
Sanctus bells was another sound from which the piece grew, and a chance purchase of some bells proved their pitches and intervals to be relevant to the music.
Ideas were very abundant in the first stages of The Whale, and I owe a great deal to the constant enthusiasm and encouragement shown at this and at all times by David Lumsdaine.
The ‘fantasy’ grew and perhaps at times nearly ‘swallowed’ the biblical text; so the swallowing of Jonah became almost ‘literal’ in a musical sense.
The sections which are pure ‘fantasy’ in The Whale are informed by a deliberate monotony, and are always characterised by a rather dry ‘drum-beat’. These sections occur three times in the piece, first at the beginning, then at the middle of the ‘Melodrama and Pantomime’, in a very soft bell-like passage representing the storm, and finally towards the end of the prayer when Jonah is in the belly of the Whale.
The Whale was a very exciting musical experience for me, and the composition of it took over a year with only a few interruptions. It may be of superficial interest to note that I visited Cornwall at the height of winter in an abortive attempt to see a real whale.
The Whale seems musically a long way from me now, but it was something that I had to write and if its youthful exuberance seems excessive, I still stand by it.
I completed The Whale fifteen years ago in Tythe Barn, the home of Lady Birley to whom the work is dedicated.
John Tavener
Revised August 1983
Media
The Whale: 1. Documentary
The Whale: 2. Melodrama And Pantomime
The Whale: 3. Invocation
The Whale: 4. The Storm
The Whale: 5. The Swallowing
The Whale: 6. The Prayer
The Whale: 7. In The Belly
The Whale: 8. The Vomiting
Scores
Preview the score