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Blest Pair of Sirens is a short work for choir and orchestra by the English composer Hubert Parry, setting John Milton's ode ''At a solemn Musick''. It was first performed at St James's Hall, London on 17 May 1887, conducted by its dedicatee, Charles Villiers Stanford. The piece is about 11 minutes in duration.〔 ==Background== In the mid 1880s, Parry was struggling to establish himself as a composer. In 1886 he had been disappointed when his one attempt at opera, ''Guenever'', was rejected by the impresario Carl Rosa.〔Dibble, Jeremy. ("Parry, Sir (Charles) Hubert (Hastings)" ) ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press , accessed 28 April 2013〕 Shortly after that setback, Parry was commissioned by Charles Villiers Stanford to compose a piece for the Bach Choir of London, of which Parry was a member.〔("History of the Bach Choir" ), The Bach Choir, accessed 28 April 2013〕 Stanford, one of the first British musicians to recognise Parry's talent, called him the greatest English composer since Purcell.〔Hadow, Sir William, ("Sir Hubert Parry" ), ''Proceedings of the Musical Association, 45th Session (1918–1919)'', pp. 135–147, accessed 18 April 2013 〕 Stanford had originally intended to perform an existing work of Parry's, the 1885 cantata ''The Glories of our Blood and State''. As the concert was to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, it was thought that such lines in the text as "Sceptre and crown must tumble down" made the work unsuitable for the occasion.〔 Asked to write a new piece, Parry turned, at the suggestion of his colleague George Grove, to Milton's ode, which he had been considering setting for many years.〔Allis, p. 57〕 The main item in the concert was the first London performance of Hector Berlioz's Te Deum (1849), dedicated to the queen's late husband, Albert, Prince Consort. Berlioz's work is on an enormous scale, and would have overshadowed any companion piece other than one of the highest quality.〔"Berlioz's 'Te Deum'", ''The Times'', 19 May 1887, p. 10〕 Reviewing the concert, ''The Times'' said of ''Blest Pair of Sirens'': The work was an immediate success, and was quickly taken up by other choirs. The following year it was given alongside Sullivan's ''The Golden Legend'' at the Three Choirs Festival.〔"Literary and other notes", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 24 March 1888, p. 9〕 Recognised as "one of the outstanding English choral works",〔 the work has remained a standard in the choral repertory. Among its higher-profile performances in the 21st century were those by BBC forces at the Last Night of the Proms in September 2010, and by the choirs of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011.〔("Music for the Wedding" ), Royal Wedding 2011, accessed 28 April 2013〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blest Pair of Sirens」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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