Façade (poem)

"Façade" [Also spelt Facade in many sources] is a series of poems by Edith Sitwell. Sitwell began to publish some of the "Façade" poems in 1918, in the literary magazine 'Wheels'. In 1922-3 many of them were given an orchestral accompaniment by Sitwell's protegé William Walton, and it is in this form that "Façade" is best known.

Edith Sitwell's published "Façade" poems

The final list of poems collected under this title (in "Collected Poems", 1930) is:

*The Drum
*Clowns' Houses
*Said King Pompey
*The Bat
*Lullaby for Jumbo
*Trio for Two Cats and a Trombone
*Madame Mouse trots
*Four in the Morning
*Black Mrs Behemoth
*The Wind's Bastinado
*En Famille
*Country Dance
*Mariner Man
*The Octogenarian
*Bells of Grey Crystal
*When Cold December
*Came the Great Popinjay
*Fox Trot
*Polka
*Mazurka
*Jodelling Song
*Scotch Rhapsody
*Waltz
*Popular Song
*By the Lake
*The Avenue
*Water Party
*The Satyr in the Periwig
*Dark Song
*"I do like to be beside the Seaside"
*Hornpipe
*Something lies beyond the Scene
*When Sir Beelzebub.

The Sitwell-Walton "Façade"

In the Sitwell-Walton "Façade" there are several poems such as 'Through Gilded Trellises,' 'A Man from a far Country' (from Sitwell's "The Sleeping Beauty)," and 'Tarantella' (never formally published by Sitwell) that do not feature in her published edition of "Façade." As the performing version frequently recited in public and recorded for the gramophone by Dame Edith included the Tarantella, it must be assumed that she did not require the musical version to adhere strictly to the text of the published poems.

The usual version of the Sitwell-Walton "Façade" consists of:

* Fanfare (Instrumental)
* Hornpipe
* En Famille
* Mariner Man
* Long Steel Grass (Trio for Two Cats and a Trombone)
* Through Gilded Trellises [from The Sleeping Beauty]
* Tango-Pasodoble (I do like to be beside the Seaside)
* Lullaby for Jumbo
* Black Mrs Behemoth
* Tarantella
* A Man from a far Country [from The Sleeping Beauty]
* By the Lake
* Country Dance
* Polka
* Four in the Morning
* Something lies beyond the Scene
* Waltz
* Swiss Jodelling Song
* Scotch Rhapsody
* Popular Song
* Fox Trot (Old Sir Faulk)
* When Sir Beelzebub.

Walton's instrumental ensemble consists of flute/piccolo; alto saxophone; trumpet; clarinet/bass clarinet; cello (may be divided between 2 players); and percussion (1 player).

Walton's later additions

In the 1970s, Walton released some further numbers, under the title "‘Façade Revived’", later revising, dropping and adding numbers, as "Façade II". When the most comprehensive edition of the Sitwell-Walton versions was released in 1993 (on a CD featuring the voice of "Façade" expert Pamela Hunter with the Melologos ensemble) the number of poems had risen to 42. Pamela Hunter recites all these poems on the 1993 CD, including the few for which Walton did not compose an accompaniment.

* Madame Mouse trots
* The Octogenarian
* Aubade – Jane, Jane
* The Wind's Bastinado
* Said King Pompey
* Lullaby for Jumbo
* Small Talk I
* Small Talk II
* Rose Castles
* Hornpipe
* Trio for Two Cats and a Trombone (Long Steel Grass)
* When Sir Beelzebub.
* Switchback
* Bank Holiday I
* Bank Holiday II
* Springing Jack
* En Famille
* Mariner Man
* Came the Great Popinjay
* Ass-Face
* The Last Gallop
* The White Owl
* Gardener Janus
* Mazurka
* Trams
* Scotch Rhapsody
* Fox Trot
* Four in the Morning
* Popular Song
* By the Lake
* Black Mrs Behemoth
* Waltz
* Jodelling Song
* Polka
* Daphne
* A Man from a far Country
* Country Dance
* March
* Through Gilded Trellises
* "I do like to be beside the Seaside" (Tango-Pasodoble)
* Tarantella
* Something lies beyond the Scene

Three Songs

Walton set three selections from "Façade" as art-songs for soprano and piano, to be sung at full voice rather than spoken rhythmically. These included:

* Daphne
* Through Gilded Trellises
* Old Sir Faulk

Ashton's "Façade" ballet

Walton expanded some of his settings of the poems turning them from chamber accompaniments into full orchestral numbers (without voice). Walton’s music was used for a ballet by Frederick Ashton in 1931, and uses the following numbers:

* Scotch Rhapsody
* Valse
* Tango-Pasodoble
* Yodelling Song
* Country Dance
* Polka
* Noche Espagnole
* Popular Song
* Old Sir Faulk
* Tarantella

elected discography

itwell-Walton version

*Dame Edith Sitwell, Sir Peter Pears (reciters), English Opera Group Ensemble, Anthony Collins

Expanded Sitwell-Walton version

*Pamela Hunter (reciter), Melologos Ensemble, Silveer van den Broeck [Notes by Pamela Hunter to CD listed above, 1993]

Walton’s ballet version

*Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Anatole Fistoulari
*Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton

Three Songs

*Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano, Richard Amner, accompanist, on the album "A Portrait of Kiri Te Kanawa

Others

*Philip Glass wrote a piece intended for his Koyaanisqatsi film score, which ultimately wound up instead on Glassworks, called "Facade" from Edith Sitwell

References

*Collected Poems, Edith Sitwell, London, Gerald Duckworth & Co, 1950, with introductory essay by Jack Lindsay

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=698 'The Jazz Age'] , lecture and concert by Chamber Domaine given on the 6th of November 2007 at Gresham College, including Walton's Façade (available for audio and video download).