Mai-Dun is an orchestral work composed in 1921 by John Ireland (1879–1962). He called it a symphonic rhapsody; another description might be tone poem. In 1931, he arranged it for piano four hands.
In British Celtic, "Mai-dun" means "great hill". Ireland's piece is a musical evocation of a notable iron age fort: Maiden Castle, Dorset, nearby the house of the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) whose name for the place Ireland adopted.
It has been said that, "ancient sites with echoes of the supernatural, including the Channel Islands, inform some of Ireland’s few orchestral pieces"; and of Mai-Dun itself that, "it is a strong piece, aggressive at times, resourcefully scored, and Ireland’s imagination was ignited by the largest hill-fort in England, dating from 3000BC, and its violent history."
A typical performance takes about 12½ minutes.
References
- "List of works – J to M". The John Ireland Trust. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
- Mai-Dun: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- ^ "John Ireland". The Gramophone. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
- John Ireland: Mai-Dun, symphonic rhapsody for orchestra at AllMusic. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
Further reading
- Richards, Fiona (2020). "John Ireland's Mai-Dun: Composite Influences." In Michael Allis and Paul Watt, eds., The Symphonic Poem in Britain, 1850-1950 (Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press), pp. 278-304. ISBN 978-1-78327-528-1
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