The Garden of Fand
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The Garden of Fand (1916) is a tone poem by the English composer Arnold Bax. It was inspired by an Irish mythical figure, Fand, the wife of the lord of the ocean. The work does not portray the events of the mythical tale, but evokes Fand's island. The composer had been greatly influenced by Celtic culture in his earlier works, but described this one as his last in that vein.
The work was complete in piano score shortly before the First World War, and orchestrated in 1916. It was premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frederick Stock on 29 October 1920,[1] and first performed in Britain on 11 December 1920 by the British Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Adrian Boult.[2]
Bax was a great admirer of Celtic culture, including Irish myths, in which the garden of Fand is the sea. The old saga The Sick-bed of Cuchulain tells of a hero, Cuchulain, who is seduced away from home and duty by the Lady Fand, wife of Manannan, lord of the ocean. Cuchulain's wife, Emer, pursues him and persuades Fand to release him. Manannan shakes his "Cloak of Forgetfulness" between Cuchulain and Fand, and each forgets the other completely.[1] Bax did not depict the original story in his symphonic poem, but painted a picture of a ship, cast ashore on Fand's enchanted island. The crew are drawn into Fand's eternal world of dancing and feasting, as the rising sea overwhelms the island, and the garden of Fand is lost from sight.[3]
In a preface to the score states that “The Garden of Fand is the sea” and sets out the legend of Cuchulain, before noting “this tone-poem has no special relation to the events of the above legend”.[4] The composer described the work to his partner, Harriet Cohen, as "the last of my Irish music".[1]
