- Ballata is the first of two movements encompassing Opus 160 (the second movement is called “Ballabile”).
- Stanford wrote Ballata and Ballabile for cello and orchestra in 1918 with young British cellist Beatrice Harrison in mind. Harrison premiered a version of the work for cello and piano in 1919 with Hamilton Harty at Wigmore Hall in London. The orchestral premiere of the work did not occur until 1988.1
- Ballata and Ballabile has been described as a cello concerto with a missing first movement, given the structure of the slow “Ballata” and dance-like “Ballabile,” as well as the expansive scope of the work as a whole.2
Sources
- Jeremy Dibble, Notes in accompanying booklet, Stanford: The Complete Works for Cello & Orchestra performed by Gemma Rosefield and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Manze, Hyperion 67859, 2011, compact disc.
- Christopher Howell, “Stanfordian Thoughts: A periodical series of reflections on recorded and unrecorded works by Stanford,” MusicWeb International (2018), accessed November 17, 2025, https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Nov/Stanfordian_thoughts_7.pdf.
Cut IDs
27448