Who composed the 1912 tone poem 'On Hearing the First Cuckoo of Sping’?
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is a tone poem composed in 1912 by Frederick Delius; it was first performed in Leipzig on 23 October 1913. It is the first of "Two Pieces for Small Orchestra", the second piece being "Summer Night on the River", although these have for many years existed separately on recordings and in the concert hall. The piece opens with a slow three-bar sequence; its first theme is an exchange of cuckoo calls, first for oboe, then for divided strings. The second theme is scored for first violins,
Common cuckoo <poem> Summer has arrived, Sing loudly, cuckoo! The seed is growing And the meadow is blooming, And the wood is coming into leaf now, Sing, cuckoo! </poem> In England, William Shakespeare alludes to the common cuckoo's association with spring, and with cuckoldry, in the courtly springtime song in his play "Love's Labours Lost": In Europe, hearing the call of the common cuckoo is regarded as the first harbinger of spring. Many local legends and traditions are based on this. In Scotland, Gowk Stones (cuckoo stones) sometimes associated with the arrival of the first cuckoo of spring. "Gowk" is an old