About the work
“Eight Songs for a Mad King” is a monodrama of about half an hour for male voice and six players by Peter Maxwell Davies. The English text was written by the Australian-born writer Randolph Stow, partly drawing on recorded words of King George III. Davies composed the piece for the actor and singer Roy Hart and his own ensemble, the Pierrot Players; it premiered on 22 April 1969 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, with Hart as the King and the composer conducting.
Plot
The deranged George III tries to teach his bullfinches tunes with a small mechanical organ and sings against them in a ravaged voice. The eight songs form his monologue as he listens to the birds: flute, clarinet, violin and cello embody the birds and traditionally play from inside large cages, while the percussionist is his keeper. The King veers between rage, wit and desolation, and at the climax snatches the violin and smashes it; it remains open whether this is George III speaking or a man who believes he is.
Cultural significance
The starting point was a miniature mechanical organ that played eight tunes and had belonged to George III; Stow was shown it in 1966. The score combines a modernist idiom with pastiche and quotations ranging from Handel to the foxtrot, and demands extreme techniques from the singer, such as chordal singing across more than four octaves. The work is regarded as a classic of music theatre; in 1987 it served as the score for a ballet by Jonathan Taylor at the Dutch National Ballet.