Guildford
Corporation
J. CROSSLEY CLITHEROE
Director of Music:
TECHNICAL COLLEGE,
GUILDFORD
NOVEMBER,
|6th
SATURDAY,
Concerts
1957
at 7.30 p.m.
Guildford
Municipal Orchestra
Leader: TATE GILDER
PROGRAMME
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PRICE SIXPENCE
PROGRAMME
PIED PIPER
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Schubert
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OVERTURE—ROSAMUNDE
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Parry
INTERVAL
PASTORAL
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Mozart
Clitheroe
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EINE KLEINE NACHT MUSIK
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FESTIVAL
CHOIR
THELMA GODFREY
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Soprano
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Baritone
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Tenor
JOHN NOBLE
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JOHN STODDARD
Conductor
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CROSSLEY CLITHEROE
NOVELLO'S EDITION OF THE WORDS OF ORATORIOS, CANTATAS, &c.
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN
BY
ROBERT BROWNING
SET TO MUSIC FOR TENOR AND BASS SOLI,
CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA
BY
R - PAK YG LLBE
BOOK OF WORDS.
Loxpon: NOVELLO AND COMPANY, LimITED.
The vight of Public Representation and Performance is veserved.
MADE
IN
ENGLAND
,
THE PifB BiEER Oor HAMELIIN.
8
Hamelin Town ’s in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city
;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its walls on the southern side ;
A pleasanter spot you never spied ;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin was a pity.
i B
Rats!
They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks’ own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women’s chats,
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.
I11.
At last the people in a body
To the Town Hall came flocking:
* 'Tig clear,” cried they, ¢ our Mayor’s a noddy ;
And as for our Corporation—shocking
To think we buy gowns lined with ermine
For dolts that can’t or won’t determine
‘What ’s best to rid us of our vermin !
You hope, because you're old and obese,
To find in the furry civie robe ease?
Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking,
To find the remedy we're lacking,
Or, sure as fate, we’ll send you packing!”
At this the Mayor and Corporation
Quaked with a mighty consternation.
IV.
An hour they sat in counecil,
At length the Mayor broke silence :
“Tor a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell;
I wish I were a mile hence!
It ’s easy to bid one rack one’s brain—
I'm sure my poor head aches again
I've seratched it so, and all in vain.
Oh for a trap, atrap, a trap!”
Just as he said this, what should hap
At the chamber door but a gentle tap ?
¢ Bless us,” cried the Mayor, “what ’s that ?
Anything like the sound of a rat
Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!”
V.
“ Come in ! "—the Mayor cried, looking bigger ;
And in did come the strangest figure;
His queer, long coat from heel to head
‘Was half of yellow and half of red;
And he himself was tall and thin,
‘With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,
And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin,
No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin,
But lips where smiles went out and in—
There was no guessing his kith and kin!
YL
He advanced to the council-table :
And, ¢ Please your honours,” said he, *I'm able
By means of a secret charm. to draw
All ereatures living beneath the sun,
That creep, or swim, or fly, or run,
After me so as you never saw !
And T chiefly use my charm
On creatures that do people harm,
The mole, and toad, and newt, and viper:
And people call me the pied piper.”
(And here they noticed round his neck
A scarf of red and yellow stripe,
To matech with his coat of the self-same cheque;
And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying
As if impatient to be playing
Upon this pipe, which at the scarf’s end dangled
Over his vesture so old-fangled.)
“Yet,” said he, ““poor piper as I am,
In Tartary I freed the Cham,
Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats;
I eased in Asia the Nizam
Of a monstrous brood of vampyre bats ;
And, as for what your brain bewilders,
If I can rid your town of rats
‘Will you give me a thousand guilders ?
“One? fifty thousand !’ was the exclamation
Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation
Vokks
Into the street the piper stept,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what magic slept
In his quiet pipe the while ;
Then, like a musical adept,
To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,
And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled
Like a candle flame where salt is sprinkled;
And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
You heard asif an army muttered ;
And the muttering grew to a grumbling ;
And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling,
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.
Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats.
Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,
Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
T"amilies by tens and dozens,
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives—
Followed the Piper for their lives,
From street to street he piped, advancing,
And step for step they followed, dancing,
Until they came to the river Weser
‘Wherein all plunged and perished.
|
1
THE
PIED
PIPER
VIII.
You should have heard the Hamelin people
Ringing the bells tili they rocked the steeple.
“ Go,” eried the Mayor, ¢ And get long poles!
Poke out the nests and block up the holes!
Consult with carpenters and builders,
And leave in our town not even a trace
Of the rats ! "—when suddenly, up the face
Of the Piper perked in the market-place,
With
a
¢ First, if you please, my thousand
guilders !”
IX.
A thousand guilders!
The Mayor looked blue;
So did the Corporation too.
For Council dinners made rare havoe
With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock;
And half the money would replenish
Their cellar’s biggest butt with Rhenish.
“ Beside,” quoth the Mayor with a knowing wink,
“ Qur business was done at the river’s brink :
We saw with our eyes the vermin sink,
And what’s dead can’t come to life, I think,
So, friend, we're not the tolks to shrink
From the duty of giving you something to drink,
And a matter of money to put in your poke ;
But, as for the guilders, what we spoke
Of them, as you very well know, was in joke.
Beside, our losses have made us thrifty ;
A thousand guilders! Come, take fifty!”
X.
The Piper’s face fell, and he cried,
¢ No trifling ! I can’t wait! beside,
I've promised to visit by dinner time,
Bagdat, and accept the prime
Of the Head Cook’s pottage, all he ’s rich in,
For having left, in the Caliph’s kitchen,
Of a nest of scorpions no survivor—
‘With him I proved no bargain-driver,
With you, don’t think I'll bate a stiver !
And folks who put me in a passion
May find me pipe after another fashion.”
XI.
“ How ? " cried the Mayor, * d’ye think I'll brook
Being worse treated than a cook ?
Insulted by a lazy ribald
‘With idle pipe and vesture piebald ?
You threaten us, fellow ? Do your worst,
Blow your pipe there till you burst!”
XII.
Once more he stept into the street;
And to his lips again
Laid his long pipe of smooth, straight cane;
And ere he blew three notes (such sweet,
Soft notes as yet musician’s cunning
Never gave the enraptured air),
There was a rustling, that seemed like a bustling
Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,
Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering.
OF HAMELIN.
And, like fowls in a farmyard where barley is
scattering,
Out came the children running.
All the little boys and girls,
With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
The wonderful music with shouting and laughte,
XIII.
The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood,
As if they were changed into blocks of wood.
Unable to move a step, or ery
To the children merrily skipping by—
But how the Mayor was on the rack,
And the wretched Council’s bosoms beat,
As the Piper turned from the High Street
To where the Weser rolled its waters
Right in the way of their sons and daughters|
However, he turned from South to West,
And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,
And after him the children pressed ;
Great was the joy in every breast—
¢ He never can cross that mighty top !
He’s forced to let the piping drop,
And we shall see our children stop!”
When lo! as they reached the mountain-side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed ;
And the Piper advanced and the children
followed,
‘
And when they were all in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast.
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XIV.
Alas, alas for Hamelin !
There came into many a burgher’s pate
A text which says, that heaven’s gate
Opes to the rich at as easy rate
As the needle’s eye takes a camel in !
The Mayor sent East, West, North, and South,
To offer the Piper, by word of mouth,
‘Wherever it was men’s lot to find him,
Silver and gold to his heart's content,
If he’d only return the way he went,
And bring the children behind him.
But when they saw ’twas a lost endeavour,
And Piper and dancers were gone for ever,
The better in the memory to fix The place of the children's last retreat
They called it, “ Pied Piper’s Street ’—
And opposite the place of the cavern
They wrote the story on a column,
And on the great church window painted
The same, to make the world acquainted
How their children were stolen away,
And there it stands until this very day.
RoBERT BROWNING
MODERN CHORAL SUITES
GEORGE DYSON
Four Songs for Sailors
Vocal Score 3s. 0d.
1. To the Thames (Sir John Denham)
2. Where lies the land ? (A. H. Clough)
3. Sea Music (Longfellow)
4. A wet sheet and a flowing sea (A. Cunningham)
“ Settings for S.A.T.B., Strings and optional Drums, Trumpets and Trombones . . . . Sir George Dyson has always shown considerable skill at musical
landscape-painting, and there are in these songs many effects—always
inherently musical—which help to convey the sea-pictures suggested by the
poems. There are few difficulties and many opportunities for the good
choir.”
Musical Opinion
Full score and orchestral parts available on hire.
Time of performance approxim‘ately 11 minutes.
Vocal Score 2s. 0d.
Three Songs of Innocence
1. Piping down the valleys wild (William Blake)
ALEC ROWLEY
¥
2. Little lamb
%
3. Holy Thursday
Settings for female voices (S.S.A.) with piano accompaniment, of moderate
difficulty only. Time of performance approximately 6 minutes.
ERIC H. THIMAN
1oeO1
A Spring Garland
Vocal Score 3s. 6d.
Spring, the sweet Spring (Thomas Nash)
It was a lover and his lass (Shakespeare)
The peaceful western wind (Thomas Campion)
Spring goeth all in white (Robert Bridges)
Spring bursts today (Christina Rossettt)
An Easter carol (1Tth Century)
“ Six songs for S.A.T.B., Strings, Flute and Piano. Dr Thiman’s facile but
very attractive style of choral writing is ideally suited to a theme of this
nature . . . . there are plenty of subtle harmonic changes, easy to sing but
vocally effective; an independent, well-conceived accompaniment, and a
general refinement and restraint of expression which go far to emphasize
that these are pari-songs, as far above the common run of their kind
as, say, Stanford’s songs are above Victorian ballads.” Musical Opinion
Full score and orchestral parts available on hire.
Time of performance approximately 18 minutes.
F. W. WADELY
Old English Suite
Vocal Score 3s. 0d.
1. Oranges and Lemons
2. The Oak and the Ash
3. The Two Sisters
For S.A.T.B. chorus and orchestra. The accompaniment is so arranged that
it may be performed by strings and piano. The full score and orchestral
material are available on hire. Time of performance approximately 12
NOVELLO
75 (1951)
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SATURDAY, 23rd NOVEMBER
7.30 p.m.
GUILDFORD HOUSE
(In association with the Guildford Concertgoers’ Society)
RECITAL
‘Mood in Music’
Mezzo-soprano
ELIZABETH HAWES
Pianoforte
ELIZABETH HARDING
These two artists, each with many distinctions in
her own sphere, offer a programme of excellently
chosen music, and present it with great charm
SUNDAY, Ist DECEMBER
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230 p.m.
ODEON THEATRE
Overture—Water Music
Violin Concerto
‘Italian’ Symphony
Handel
Brahms
Mendelssohn
CAMPOLI
Conductor: CROSSLEY CLITHEROE
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