A bacchanale is an orgiastic musical composition,[1] often depicting a drunken revel or bacchanal.

Examples include the bacchanales in Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah, the Venusberg scene in Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser,[1] "Danse générale (Bacchanale)" from Maurice Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloé," and Tableau 4, the Bacchanale in Alexander Glazunov's The Seasons. John Cage wrote a Bacchanale in 1940, his first work for prepared piano.[2] The French composer Jacques Ibert was commissioned by the BBC for the tenth anniversary of the Third Programme in 1956,[3] for which he wrote a Bacchanale.

In 1939, Salvador Dalí designed the set and wrote the libretto for a ballet entitled Bacchanale, based on Wagner's Tannhäuser and the myth of Leda and the Swan.[4]

Bacchanale (1954) was written by composer Toshiro Mayuzumi, for 5 saxophones (soprano, 2 alto, tenor, baritone), timpani, percussion (4), piano, celesta, harp, and strings. The previous year, he had written a Bacchanale for orchestra.[5]

"Bacchanale" (1975) is also a track composed by the Greek musician, Vangelis, on his Heaven and Hell (Vangelis album) album.

References

Works cited

  • Anon. 1956. "Third Programme Anniversary: Music Commissioned for the Occasion". The Times, issue 53570 (Friday, Jun 29 June): 11, col C.
  • Kanazawa, Masakata. 2001. "Mayuzumi, Toshirō". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
  • Kennedy, Michael. 2006. "Bacchanale". The Oxford Dictionary of Music, second edition, revised, Joyce Bourne, associate editor. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198614594.
  • Pritchett, James, and Laura Kuhn. 2001. "Cage, John". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
  • Terry, Walter. 1976. Ballet Guide.
  • Vangelis. 1975. Bacchanale. Heaven and Hell (Vangelis album)


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