A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Paradise and the Peri

by George Grove

PARADISE AND THE PERI, the second of the four poems which form Moore's Lalla Rookh, has been several times set to music.

1. 'Das Paradies und die Peri,' by Robert Schumann, for solos, chorus, and orchestra (op. 50) in 3 parts, containing 26 nos. The words were compiled by Schumann himself from the translations of Flechsig and Oelkers, with large alterations of his own. It appears to have been composed shortly before its production at Leipzig, Dec. 2, 1843. In England it was first performed by the Philharmonic Society (Madame Goldschmidt) June 23, 1856. But it had previously been produced in Dublin under the conductorship of Mr. W. Glover, Feb. 10, 1854.^[1]

2. 'A Fantasia-Overture, Paradise and the Peri' (op. 42), composed by Sterndale Bennett for the Jubilee Concert of the Philharmonic Society, July 14, 1862, and produced then. A minute programme of the connexion of the words and music was furnished by the composer for the first performance, and is usually reprinted.

3. A Cantata, for solos, chorus, orchestra and organ, by John Francis Barnett; the words selected from Moore's poem. Produced at the Birmingham Festival Aug. 31, 1870.

[ G. ]

1. See Musical World, March 9. 1878. p. 174.