William Boyce - Overture to Peleus and Thetis

Peleus and Thetis - A Masque
William Boyce

I. Overture

Allegro - Largo - Gavot - Larghetto - Gavot

Peter Holman
Opera Restor'd

This is remarkable as it is one of, if not the earliest use of the Italian sinfonia form by an English composer, being composed before 1740, possibly as early as 1733. This is yet more evidence that Boyce was not just one of the many imitators of Handel, but at the very forefront of musical development in London in the early-mid 18th Century. If written before 1738 as now seems likely, Peleus and Thetis could have prompted the revival of other older texts such as Milton's Comus by Arne (long a bitter and inferior rival of Boyce) and L'Allegro by Handel, which in turn had a large influence on Boyce's Solomon.

Boyce eases us into the (then) new and unfamiliar form with a brief saccadic opening, hinting at the older French overture before launching into a rhythmically vital and attractive subject, with plenty of contrapuntal interplay between the two upper parts. The soli sections in this and subsequent movements are not so much borrowed from the concerto grosso form as a textural device, cf. the later Secular Masque overture where the opposite is the case. The second movement is languid and sorrowful, interrupted by "inconclusive" cadences, it's tempting to wonder if Boyce was painting a musical picture of the scene the curtain raises to, of Prometheus chained for eternity to the summit of Mount Caucasus with his tormentor.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Boyce
• William
• Opera
• Masque
• Peleus
• Thetis
• Prometheus
• Overture
• Baroque
• Peter
• Holman
• Restor'd

[grantco1313]

Hi CrazyCello, I think the biggest thing with Greene to keep in perspective is that he was a whole generation older than Boyce so much of what his students did originated from Greene's adaption of the Italian style. And though his music is probably less academic that Boyce I don't think feeble would be the word to use. He often has greater melodic content. I also question where you would have heard or much Greene to know his music is feeble and counterpoint weak?

[TheCrazyCello]

@grantco1313 I've played a fair bit of Greene - mostly keyboard works and anthems. I feel his counterpoint is not very assured at all. Lots of awkward 2nd inversion chords and uneven phrasing wrt dissonance. It just doesn't sit very naturally. Some of the anthems are very pleasant, but again many are plagued by similar problems, awkward turns of harmony etc. His music just doesn't have the robustness of say (bringing it back to this recording) Boyce. In my opinion of course!

[NaturalBornHedonist]

Sounds like teleman !!!

[TheCrazyCello]

Er.. in what way?

[grantco1313]

@TheCrazyCello Yeah, I guess like I said "feeble" just probably wouldn't be the word I'd use :-) Unfortunately almost none of Greene's bigger works have been recorded yet. For me there's a beauty in awkward, uneven phrasing and dissonance. So along the same lines though I certainly admire Purcell I'm more interested to hear works by Locke and Blow :-)

[grantco1313]

@violatione I think a lot of that has to do with where in the baroque time line a composer is. Boyce and his contemporaries like Geminiani, Avison etc. were the last vestiges of the baroque style before the onslaught of classical so their music does have a bit of an influence upon and influence sound. But as more "lesser known" composers get recorded we find that the GREAT composers weren't quite as unique as we first thought. Purcell is great but less unique when Blow and Locke are heard..

[grantco1313]

@TheCrazyCello Of course one can't really discount the influence of Boyce's teacher Maurice Greene...

[TheCrazyCello]

@TheCrazyCello Boyce's original voice is heard in the subtleties he lays on top of this foundation, which are more evident in his exception ability at setting words and painting musical pictures, so this is generally more evident in his vocal works, A keen sense of drama still pervades the instrumental overtures to those works, such as this. I feel that a Boyce overture is often more representative of what's to follow, in mood and character, than those by some other composers.

[TheCrazyCello]

@nabetz I have to agree. Boyce's sound is quite distinctly English as well. Obviously he was influenced by Handel. In London at that time, you were either inspired by Handel or you rebelled, there was no real middle ground. But Boyce retains his individuality and is also very strongly influenced by Purcell. You can hear a french flavour in the almost dance-like quality of his instrumental writing. But the rhythmic robustness and almost stodginess of the harmonic writing are idiomatically English

[nabetz]

@violatione Au contraire. Having played and listened to a great deal of Boyce (as well as Bach, Corelli, Vivaldi, D. Scarlatti, and others), it's become pretty transparent to me that Boyce, as well as pretty much every other composer capable of a modicum of original thought, has his own sound. Once you know what someone does in their music, it's really hard to mistake them for anyone else. Same goes with performers, btw.