I wrote a few weeks back about my Mesopotamian month of May
that began with Don Mclean’s Waters of
Babylon. You can check out that post here.
Well the theme of the month was rounded off with the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.
I’m going to assume that Walton needs a little more
introduction than Don Mclean. Either way he was a British composer who life
lasted for most of the twentieth century.
He wrote Belshazzar’s
Feast in 1931. And it is massive. 34 minutes long with an orchestra bigger
than Ben Hur including 2 harps (yah!), massed choir, baritone soloist, an organ
with literally all stops out, and not 1 but 2 off stage brass bands. And just
as well they were off stage as there simply wasn’t any room left on the stage.
The sound of everyone playing was HUGE. Love it!!!
C.B.Rees commented on the man and this work: ‘No man, I
thought, as slim and pale as that could possibly be strong enough to write
music of such savage splendour’. I think that was a compliment.
Anyhoo, it’s roughly in 3 parts- the first has the exiled
Israelites bemoaning their fate by the waters of Babylon (and it’s so hard to
not suddenly start singing the Boney M version here but we can conquer that
catchy tune and keep going. Can’t we??)
So after all the downcast lamenting set by Walton with
brilliant heaviness we finally get to meet Belshazzar. He’s not nice. Not nice
at all. During a wild party he profanes the artefacts of the temple that his
father King Nebuchadnezzar took from Jerusalem.
And he gets his judgement in the form of a ghostly hand that
writes on a wall ‘You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.’
And so he meets his end.
The celebrations surrounding this form the conclusion of the
work.
Here it is on YouTube so grab yourself a coffee and have a
listen. Check out the three sections and how it all fits the story.
PS The lyrics are taken from the Bible so have a read of
Isaiah 13 and 39, Psalm 81 and 137, Revelation 18 and Daniel 5.
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