ABSTRACT

The word ‘satyricon’ means ‘a recital of lecherous happenings’. The score is prefaced with a quotation from the book:

The overture is very similar in construction and mood to A London Overture. It has seven main sections, containing three principal ideas. The first, the A material, which has two melodic subjects, is the joyous side of the Satyricon, with bouncy rhythms, prominent brass and percussion, the latter picking out fragments of melodies. But most striking is die use of the whip, surely a witty reference on the composer’s part to the whipping scenes in Petronius. The second section has a big, affirmative tune, characterized by falling intervals and brass proclaiming that all is well. Then follows a shortened recapitulation of the A material, this time with jingles, but minus the whip. The centre of the work has a third new tune, a rhapsodic clarinet solo - a reference to the boy Giton, perhaps - over shimmering strings and rippling harp. The swooning melody is taken up first by the flute, and then by the strings, before the A material returns, though this time starting from the second subject. As might be expected, there is a second hearing of die B material, and the overture closes with the vivacious A material, the whip reinstated, the tone entirely joyous. This is Ireland saying, ‘Yes, life is wonderful. Carpe diem'.