World premiere

Façade is a work unlike any other: a form of ‘entertainment’ in which poetry is recited rhythmically as an integral part of a musical structure, striking a balance between avant-garde, humour and references to folk tradition. Edith Sitwell’s experimental poems, set to music by William Walton in 1922, startled the audience at the premiere, who had never heard such a fusion of words and music before. Today, more than a century later, those sounds resonate at Mittelfest, entertaining and amazing audiences once again.

Programme

William Walton (1902-1983)               

Façade – An entertainment

1. Hornpipe
2. En Famille
3. Mariner Man
4. Long Steel Grass
5. Through Gilded Trellises
6. Tango-Pasodoble
7. Lullaby for Jumbo
8. Black Mrs Behemoth
9. Tarantella
10. A Man from a far Country
11. By the Lake
12. Country Dance
13. Polka
14. Four in the Morning
15. Something lies beyond the Scene
16. Waltz
17. Swiss Jodelling Song
18. Scotch Rhapsody
19. Popular Song
20. Fox Trot (Old Sir Faulk)
21. When Sir Beelzebub

Façade 2 – A Further Entertainment

1. Flourish
2. Came the Great Popinjay
3. Aubade – Jane, Jane
4. March
5. Madam Mouse Trots (Dame Souris trotte grise dans le noir- VERLAINE)
6. The Octogenarian
7. Gardener Janus Catches a Naiad
8. Water Party
9. Said King Pompey