Bacchanale
Orgiastic musical composition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bacchanale is an orgiastic musical composition,[1] often depicting a drunken revel or bacchanal.
Examples include the bacchanales in Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah, the Venusberg scene in Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser,[1] Danse générale (Bacchanale) from Maurice Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, and Grande bacchanale des saisons in Alexander Glazunov's The Seasons.[citation needed] John Cage wrote a Bacchanale in 1940, his first work for prepared piano.[2] The French composer Jacques Ibert was commissioned by the BBC for the tenth anniversary of the Third Programme in 1956,[3] for which he wrote a bacchanale.[citation needed]
In 1939, Salvador Dalí designed the set and wrote the libretto for a ballet entitled Bacchanale, based on Wagner's Tannhäuser and the myth of Leda and the Swan.[4]
Bacchanale (1954) was written by composer Toshiro Mayuzumi for 5 saxophones (soprano, 2 alto, tenor, baritone), timpani, percussion (4), piano, celesta, harp, and strings.[citation needed] The previous year, he had written a Bacchanale for orchestra.[5]
"Bacchanale" is also a track composed by Greek musician Vangelis on his album Heaven and Hell.
Florent Schmitt's Dionysiaques for Band, Op. 62, No. 1 (1913) is a masterpiece of instrumental drunkenness.
