Ballade in d minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 4

Composer: COLERIDGE-TAYLOR, Samuel

“Twelve minutes of darkly passionate music exploiting most aspects of the violin’s capacities reflect Coleridge-Taylor’s understanding of the instrument.”1

  • Coleridge-Taylor wrote Ballade for Violin and Orchestra in 1895, when he was around 20 years old and studying at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford.
  • Coleridge-Taylor dedicated the work to “my friend Miss Ruth Howell,” a violinist and fellow student at the RCM.
  • The Musical Times wrote the following excerpt about Ballade for Violin and Orchestra, specifically for a performance of a violin/piano arrangement of the piece:
    • “Violinists will find the Ballade an attractive piece by reason of its freshness and earnestness of expression… That a student-composer, yet unknown to fame, should be able to get such a high-class work printed reflects no small credit on English publishers generally, and is very encouraging to young writers.”2

Sources

  1. Geoffrey Self, “Coleridge-Taylor and the Orchestra,” Black Music Research Journal 21, No. 2 (2001): 264, https://doi.org/10.2307/3181605.
  2. Catherine Carr, “The music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912): a critical and analytical study,” (PhD Thesis, University of Durham, 2005), https://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2964/1/2964_987-vol1.pdf?UkUDh:CyT.

Cut IDs

27274