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- Piers Hellawell
The Pear Tree of Nicostratus (2001)
- Peters Edition Limited (World)
This narrative work for 4 voices, string orchestra and narrator is an unusual fusion of cantata and ballad, welded together by spoken narration. Boccaccio’s tale from his Decamerone tells a raunchy story of how a young chatelaine conspires with her amour to outwit his boss, who is her elderly lord Nicostratus. The work was commissioned by the Kaustinen New Music Days 2002 for the Hilliard Ensemble, and first given by them and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra at the festival in January 2002. It was later given on a 2004 UK tour by the Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Paul Watkins; in both cases the composer narrated.
- Ct,2T,B + str
- Countertenor, Tenor, Tenor, Bass
- 20 min
Programme Note
The cantata The Pear Tree of Nicostratus was written for the Hillard Ensemble. It was premiered by them, with the Keskipohjanmaan kamariorkesteri and Juha Kangas, in January 2002, at the Kaustinen Chamber Music Festival, which commissioned it for the occasion. The narration part was taken by the composer.
The work’s libretto, by the composer, tells a humorous story from the Decamerone of Boccaccio. “I had wanted to make semi-dramatic settings of some stories in this great collection for 20 years, and I settled upon the tale of Lydia, clever and lusty wife of the ageing lord Nicostratus.” Lydia seeks to seduce Pyrrhus, faithful servant to Nicostratus, but he suspects a test of loyalty, and so sets her stern trials of her love – which include killing the master’s favourite sparrow-hawk, and extracting one of his teeth. Lydia shows alarming ingenuity in passing these tests, before using a pear-tree to convince Nicostratus that she and Pyrrhus have no wicked ambitions: Pyrrhus climbs the tree as the couple sit below, and pretends to see a vision of them making love. Nicostratus, affronted, then climbs the tree himself to test this vision, whereupon Lydia and Pyrrhus give him something to see, disporting at the foot of the tree. Nicostratus is convinced the tree must be causing the feverish ‘delusion’, and that his wife is free of such improper desire.
“I like the challenge of telling a vivid story without theatrical action; to me the concert is akin to radio drama, where the listener supplies the scene through the imagination. I set the story as a traditional parade of short arias (for Hilliard Ensemble members), chorus comments (for them à 4) and string pieces. The story is briefly told through the piece by a narrator, over string accompaniment. In the arias, Lydia was sung by Rogers Covey-Crump, Pyrrhus by Gordon Jones and Nicostratus by David James.”
Piers Hellawell 2003