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1. Fanfares and choruses
2. Dance
3. Lullaby
4. A Celebration Fugue
5. The Ballad of St Brendan

  • 2(pic).2.2.2/2.2.2+btbn.0/2perc/hp/str
  • 15 min

Programme Note

In 1967 Peter Dickinson commissioned an opera libretto from the distinguished poet John Heath-Stubbs (1918-2006). The opera was never completed but, in 1980, when Dickinson was commissioned to write a work for Elisabeth Söderström and Solna Brass of Sweden, he turned back to the sketches and developed a six-movement suite which was premiered in Stockholm on 31 October 1982 and recorded shortly afterwards. The story tells of two unicorns discovered in a remote part of Africa. The two countries, Eastland and Westland, want to obtain specimens for research because of the magical properties of their horns, so they mount rival expeditions. The teams capture one animal each. The Westland technique was to charm a unicorn to sleep through the sound of a young girl singing – the Lullaby. Eastland used a dancer who tricked a unicorn into impaling itself on a tree trunk – the Dance. The Westland singer and the Eastland boy dancer manage to fall in love but they cannot continue to meet because of their separated countries and ideologies. But they manage to escape along with the unicorns to an earthly paradise, the legendary Island of St. Brendan - described in The Ballad of St. Brendan.

In 2017 Peter Dickinson recomposed The Unicorns as a five-movement Suite for Orchestra.

More Info

  • Dickinson premiere and Berners rarity at Snape
    • Dickinson premiere and Berners rarity at Snape
    • 15th August 2023
    • Peter Dickinson's orchestral suite The Unicorns receives its World Premiere at Snape Maltings, Suffolk, on 23 August 2023 in a concert dedicated to the composer's memory that also features a rarely heard work by Lord Berners.
  • Peter Dickinson (1934-2023)