The language of the birds. A comedy by Adolf Paul. Only Authorized English Translation. Scenic Music by Jean Sibelius.

Adolf Paul. Introduction by Henry C. Shelley

Published by Alfred Montgomery Curwen Press, London, United Kingdom, 1922

About this Item

First English edition. Published by Alfred Montgomery, London, 1922. Printed at the Curwen Press. Hardback. Marbled paper covered boards over cloth spine. 71 pages. Weighs 109 grams. Roughly 4 x 6.5 inches. Spine ends rubbed and boards worn with loss to paper covering and knocks to edges. Few marks and foxing to endpapers else contents clean and complete. Binding sound. Adolf Georg Wiedersheim-Paul (1863?1943) was a Swedish writer of novels and plays. He lived most of his adult life in Berlin, Germany, where he was a friend of Swedish writer August Strindberg, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, Norwegian painter Edvard Munch and Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Paul is depicted in one of Edvard Munch?s paintings, The Vampire. The painting shows a red-haired woman bending her head over the neck of a man hiding his face in her lap. In 1886, he began studying music at the Music Academy in Helsinki and became a friend of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Both studied with the famous Italian composer and pianist Ferruccio Busoni, who brought them to Germany when he moved there from Helsinki in 1889. Collaborating with Sibelius, Paul discovered he was better at composing plays and novels than music and after a concert in Helsinki in 1891 focused on his writing. The Language of the Birds was completed in 1911 and published the same year. In March 1911 Paul sent a telegram to Jean Sibelius asking for music for a new play that was to be performed at the Munich Hoftheater. The result was incidental music to Die Sprache der Vögel (The Language of the Birds). Sibelius composed it for large orchestra and gave it the name Hochzeitzug [sic] (Wedding March). For potential theatre use he also gave instructions concerning the use of smaller orchestral forces. The world première performance of the play took place on Sunday 10 September 1911 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Three days before the première, Paul wrote to Sibelius: ?Heartfelt thanks for your beautiful music, which I heard for the first time today. As the stage is small, we have only forty people in the procession, so we?ve had to ?abort? the music ? otherwise we would have needed to engage several hundred extras, and that isn?t possible.? Therefore Sibelius?s music was played at rehearsals, but not during the production itself. The Language of the Birds has been performed in central Europe and England, but Sibelius?s music has never been performed together with the play. Please do not hesitate to get in touch should you require any more information.

Seller Inventory # 001073

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The language of the birds. A comedy by Adolf Paul. Only Authorized English Translation. Scenic Music by Jean Sibelius.
• Publisher: Alfred Montgomery Curwen Press, London, United Kingdom
• Publication Date: 1922
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket