Description
Writing under a characteristically eccentric pseudonym – Prosdocimus de Beldemandis senior – Peter Warlock’s Four Cod-pieces were written in 1917 and are amongst his earliest compositions. Originally they were to form part of a rather grand-scale music hall ballet although after four numbers the plan petered out and before long the whole thing was shelved.
The first movement, Dance, is subtitled “pretty-pretty, with subdued lights & bevy of punks capering”. This is followed by Orientale, which was to have a ‘Tahiti-Timbuctoo’ setting. Next comes Beethoven’s Binge (subtitled ‘Der Beethoven-Bummel, or The Bard Unbuttoned’) which is an irreverent, hilarious send-up of the opening of the great composer’s Fifth Symphony. The last of the set – The Old Codger – is a ragtime spoof of themes from Franck’s Symphony in D minor with tempo directions such as ‘Rather slow but very sure. Like a barn dance, or perhaps a cab-horse’ and ‘Elephantasticamente (ma non troppo)’.
