• Ernst Bacon
  • The Enchanted Isle (1945)

  • G Schirmer Inc (World)
  • 2222/4331/timp.perc/str
  • 20 min

Programme Note

A colorful and cheerful suite based on characters and episodes in
Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

Composer note:
The Enchanted Isle is the home of Prospero, Miranda, and Caliban, to which the homeward-bound royal party of the King of Naples has been brought through shipwrecks contrived by Prospero, by aid of magic and arts, and with the help of the spirit Ariel. Here Ferdinand, the king's son, and Miranda, Prospero's daughter, come to love each other, and the royal usurpers, Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso, after some chastisements, are forgiven by the benevolent right Duke of Milan, Prospero.

The score was made from music originally written for productions of Shakespeare's "Tempest" at Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, and later Syracuse University. Its nine numbers characterize leading persons and events of the play, and are interwoven with the element of magic and unreality with which the author covers his thoroughly human story. It will be noted that virtually all of the orchestra's instruments appear soloistically at one time or another. Thus the work can be used as an illustrative guide to the orchestra for young people.

—Ernst Bacon

Movements:
  1. Shipwreck
  2. Ariel
  3. Miranda
  4. Caliban
  5. Ariel and Conspirators
  6. The Shapes
  7. Reapers and Nymphs
  8. Prospero's Farewell
  9. Marriage Blessing



Scores