'Sir Beelzebub'

from Faηade

General Information – Performing Forces – Manuscript – Publication – Arrangements – Recordings – Text

General Information:

Text:
Dame Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)
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Performing Forces:

Manuscript:

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Recordings:

Text:

When
Sir
Beelzebub called for his syllabub in the hotel in Hell
            Where Proserpine first fell,
Blue as the gendarmerie were the waves of the sea,
            (Rocking and shocking the bar-maid).
Nobody comes to give him his rum but the
Rim of the sky hippopotamus-glum
Enhances the chances to bless with a benison
Alfred Lord Tennyson crossing the bar laid
With cold vegetation from pale deputations
Of temperance workers (all signed In Memoriam)
Hoping with glory to trip up the Laureate's feet,
                    (Moving in classical metres) …
Like Balaclava, the lava came down from the
Roof, and the sea's blue wooden gendarmerie
Took them in charge while Beelzebub roared for his rum.
                    … None of them come!

— Dame Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)

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