Russian Suite

Composer: BAX, Sir Arnold
  • Bax compiled the Russian Suite in 1919 as symphonic interludes for ballets produced at the Alhambra Theater in London by Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929), Russian ballet producer and founder of Paris-based company Ballets Russes.1
    • Bax was familiar with the Ballets Russes dancers and productions: he attended all 6 of their London seasons in the 1910s.2

Movements

  1. Gopak
  2. Nocturne
  3. In a Vodka Shop
  • “In a Vodka Shop” was originally composed for piano in 1915. The manuscript was dedicated to Bax’s lover, pianist Harriet Cohen, under a code name (“to Tania”).3
    • This became the 3rd movement of Bax’s Russian Suite in 1919, arranged and orchestrated by Bax.4
  • Though the manuscript was dedicated to Cohen, the published edition of this piece was dedicated to English pianist Dame Myra Hess (1890-1965)5, who performed its premiere.6

Sources

  1. Lewis Foreman, “Bax, Sir Arnold,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed July 18, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000002380.
  2. Ibid.
  3. David Parlett., ed., “Baxworks: 1915-1919,” Baxworks: Music by Sir Arnold Bax, Complete Listing by David & Graham Parlett, accessed July 18, 2019, http://www.davpar.eu/bax/bax2024.html.
  4. Foreman, “Bax, Sir Arnold,” Grove Music Online.
  5. David Parlett., ed., “Baxworks: 1915-1919,” Baxworks: Music by Sir Arnold Bax, Complete Listing by David & Graham Parlett, accessed July 18, 2019, http://www.davpar.eu/bax/bax2024.html.
  6. Lewis Foreman, liner notes to Arnold Bax: Symphony no. 5, Russian Suite, The London Philharmonic, Bryden Thomson, Chandos 8669, CD, 1989.

Cut IDs

17045 17046 17047