Main content
This programme will be available shortly after broadcast

A journey to Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite

Sara Mohr-Pietsch plots a course towards Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch plots a course towards Peter Warlock's most enduring work - the Capriol Suite. Warlock (a pseudonym for Philip Heseltine), was a British composer and critic in the 1920s, who died tragically young. He was a lifelong champion of the music of his friends Frederick Delius, Béla Bartók and Bernard van Dieren, but also drew inspiration from 16th Century composers such as Carlo Gesualdo and John Dowland.

His Capriol Suite, published in 1926 for piano duet is now best known in his version for string orchestra. The suite is named after a character mentioned in a dancing manual by the 16th Century French musician Thoinot Arbeau. Warlock takes six tunes found in Arbeau's "Orchésographie" and uses them as a basis to create new music in his own inimitable style.

Along the way, you can hear other pieces by composers who used pseudonyms, like Augusta Holmès, Jelly Roll Morton and Mrs Philharmonica. You can also hear works by Mozart, Ravel and Dobrinka Tabakova which draw on music from the past. And there's more music for string orchestra in the shape of Grieg's Holberg Suite.

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say: 'Ask ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Sounds to play Music Map.'

Release date:

1 hour, 29 minutes

On radio

Sun 12 Oct 2025 13:30

Broadcast

  • Sun 12 Oct 2025 13:30