Fritz Hart - Music

Music

Fritz Hart excelled in writing for voices. He wrote 23 operas, of which 18 were composed in Melbourne and 4 in Hawaii. Seven of these were staged in his lifetime in Australia; although none appear to have been staged in Britain. He was interested in the writers of the Celtic Twilight, and used librettos by W. B. Yeats, J. M. Synge, Augusta Gregory, and George Russell (AE). He also set texts by Shakespeare, Edmond Rostand, Molière, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and the Bible.

He wrote 514 songs, of which about half were composed in Melbourne and a quarter each in England and Hawaii; four large choral works, unaccompanied choruses, and part-songs. He was deeply attached to the poetry of Robert Herrick, and set his words 126 times. His choral works used texts by Shelley and Walt Whitman.

He also wrote a symphony (1934), 14 other orchestral works, numerous chamber and solo instrumental works including 2 string quartets and 3 violin sonatas, transcriptions and arrangements.

Selected operas:

• The Land of Heart's Desire (1914)
• Riders to the Sea (1915)
• Deirdre of the Sorrows (1916)
• Ruth and Naomi (1917, Melbourne)
• Malvolio (1918, Melbourne)
• The Fantasticks (1919, Melbourne)
• Deirdre in Exile (1926, Melbourne)
• The Woman who Laughed at Faery (1929, Melbourne)
• St George and the Dragon (1931, Melbourne)
• Even Unto Bethlehem (1943, Honolulu).

Choral works:

• New Year's Eve
• Salve Caput Cruentatum (1925)
• O Gloriosa Domina (1925)
• Natural Magic
• The Gilly of Christ (1927)
• Joll's Credo (1934).