Romanza

My Romanza for cello and orchestra was completed in February 1968 and was written in response to a commission from the Brighton Festival Society for a new work for Jacqueline du Pré. A Romanza is an instrumental aria and I decided to use this form of composition rather than the more conventional concerto form which poses special well-nigh insoluble problems for the composer of our time. My composition is in one continuous movement although other types of movement such as a scherzo for the orchestra alone, and later a lento which is a cello cadenza accompanied by cellos, basses and harp, are incorporated within it. The opening melody 26 bars long, forms the basic material for the whole composition. It is developed in a variety of ways and returns in the final section of the composition in a heavily ornamented manner which was influenced by the ornamentation in some of Chopin’s Nocturnes. The solo cellist plays almost continuously throughout the work and the accompanying orchestra consists of a wind section without bassoons, 2 horns and single brass, percussion (including the rare Lion’s Roar), harp and reduced strings.

Alexander Goehr, 1968