Leaning over the rail of the ship with a glass of chilled
vin blanc in my hand, I slipped past the beautiful Corsican town of Bonifacio.
This wonderfully sited village, high up on the cliffs at the southern end of
Corsica is justly famous as a tourist attraction. I thought of Trevor Duncan’s
idyllic short tone poem -The Girl from Corsica and wondered if this was where she
came from? Out of interest, Bonifacio is the setting of Guy de Maupassant's
macabre short story, ‘A Vendetta’ which is well worth reading. It certainly
does not reflect the beauties of the Corsican coast...
Anecdotally, Trevor Duncan (real name Leonard Charles Trebilco 1924-2005) met a certain Mademoiselle on holiday
one year. The history books do not tell us if the tryst took place in Corsica,
the Auvergne where she lived or maybe even the Isle of Wight. Apparently, she
was half-French, half-Corsican, but may herself have been on holiday in
England. The relationship between them, so Duncan insisted, was ‘spiritual’ but
it is obvious from even the least attentive hearing of the music that she made
a considerable impression on him! The same lady inspired another wonderful
tone-picture from Duncan’s pen, St
Boniface Down. This work
‘celebrates a silent walk along the ridge of St. Boniface Down; it was followed
by a beautiful correspondence for some weeks.’ I posted about this in June
2008.
The Girl from Corsica was composed around 1959 and is wistful work packed full
of sultry and sensual beauty. Wherever Trevor Duncan met her, he has transposed
the setting to the ‘sunny south.’ In fact, there is even a hint of North Africa
about this music. So maybe, like Webster’s Dictionary, Duncan was Morocco-Bound
when he met this bewitching young lady? The work ends ‘suspended on an
unresolved chord’ so who knows what the true story really was?
The tune was used in the serial The
Scarf, by Francis Durbridge
(1959) which was a murder mystery.
The Girl from Corsica has been recorded several times. A shortened version was made
popular by Ron Goodwin in his Adventure Album issued
in 1966. Guild Light Music Classics has issued it on The Golden Age of
Light Music, A Trip to the Library, with The New Concert Orchestra conducted by Cedric Dumont
(GLCD5164). The full version, a full minute
and a half longer is available on Hyperion CA 67148 with Ronald Corp conducting
The New London Orchestra. Another great recording is on the retrospective of
Trevor Duncan’s music, performed by Andrew Penny and the Slovak Radio
Symphony Orchestra on Marco Polo 8.223517. Once again this is the long
version.
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