SKU: HL.14008392
ISBN 9780711936942.
The story centres on the English princess Caroline Mathilde (1751-1775), sister of George III, who at the age of 15 was sent to Denmark to marry the 17-year-old eccentric and schizophrenic Danish King, Christian VII. The ballet portrays her unhappy marriage, the King's growing madness and her fatal love-affair with Struensee, the King's influential physician, which leads to their arrest, his execution and her exile, at the age of 20, separated from her two young children. In keeping with the period, and perhaps also with the traditions of Romantic ballet, the music is relatively simple in harmony and form, and most of the action is conveyed in set-piece dances. The suite, which consists essentially of the second half of Act I, begins with one of these, a bristling interplay of wind and string ensembles in D major, portraying in the ballet a curious nuptial game with the king and princess on movable pedestals. The slow music that follows has to do with the king's healing by Dr. Struensee and the new queen's unquiet reverie (oboe and cor anglais solos). Then the suite, like the act, is capped by a pair of pas-de-deux, the first savage and bizarre for the royal couple, the second rich and passionate for the queen and the miracle-working doctor. Score (miniature). Duration c. 25mins.
SKU: HL.14020965
ISBN 9780711936959.
The story centres on the English princess Caroline Mathilde (1751-1775), sister of George III, who at the age of 15 was sent to Denmark to marry the 17-year-old eccentric and schizophrenic Danish King, Christian VII. The ballet portrays her unhappy marriage, the King's growing madness and her fatal love-affair with Struensee, the King's influential physician, which leads to their arrest, his execution and her exile, at the age of 20, separated from her two young children. This suite begins with the act's opening number: a boisterous, stamping dance to which the people rudely mock Queen Caroline Mathilde and her lover Struensee. After this comes a dark Adagio, The Conspiracy, in which the theme passes like persuasion from mouth to mouth, its variations suggesting the different attitudes of the conspirators, firmly controlled by the brass-driven gestures of the Queen Dowager. The conspiracy then works itself out at a court masked ball, from which the suite includes two dances: a gavotte, and a slow, lubricious passacaglia that is a pas de deux for Caroline Mathilde and Struensee. The Arrest comes with a gathering rush of music that envelops the King, the Queen and Struensee, leading to a vociferous climax in which they are held apart. In The Execution, slow white music for wordless female voices, harp and low strings is interrupted by pathetic, alienated outbursts from the King. The suite ends, as does the ballet, with a quiet adagio lament for clarinets and alto flute as the Queen goes into exile. Score. Duration c. 33mins.
SKU: HL.14019741
ISBN 9780711935921. 7.0x10.0x1.19 inches.
A ballet in two acts which premiered on the stage of the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, on 14th March 1991. Based on the true story of the sister of George III, Caroline Mathilde (1751-1775), who at the age of 15 was sent to Denmark to marry the 17-year-old eccentric and schizophrenic Danish King, Christian VII. The ballet portrays her unhappy marriage, the King's growing madness and her fatal love-affair with Struensee, the King's influential physician, which leads to their arrest, his execution and her exile, at the age of 20, separated from her two young children.Written for full symphony orchestra and female chorus. Duration c. 2hrs 25mins.
SKU: HL.14021002
ISBN 9780711955103. 9.0x12.0x0.054 inches.
Two dances for flute and harp from Peter Maxwell Davies' ballet Caroline Mathilde. A new instrumentation restores this linked pair of dances from Davies's second full-length ballet, Caroline Mathilde based on the story of the eighteenth-century British princess sent in marriage to Denmark, to the eighteenth-century milieu of the work's setting and musical world. The period manners - a gavotte in the first dance, a gigue at the start of the second - are typically overlaid with the composer's Scottishness. In general the harp has an accompanying role, but it comes forward alone in the second movement, which ends with bravura from both instruments. These two dances were first performed in September 1993 at the Northlands Festival by David Nicholson and Eluned Pierce. Score and flute part. Duration c. 5mins. Harp part edited by Elune Pierce.
