Sunny Fields for symphony orchestra

Blagoje Bersa (1873 – 1934) is one of the most important Croatian musical composers and teachers. He studied in Zagreb with Ivan Zajc and at the Vienna Conservatory with Robert Fuchs and Julius Epstein. In 1919 he returned to Zagreb, where he worked as a composition teacher at the Music academy. The symphonic poem "Sunny Fields" was composed by Bersa while he was living abroad, in Vienna. Remembering his native country, he often thought of his own birthplace on the sunny Adriatic coast, amidst the Mediterranean beauty of the Dalmatian countryside. The fusion of this memories and longings is expressed in the wxuberant music of "Sunny Fields". The author himself wrote a programme commentary describing the content of "Sunny Fields when the work was first performed in 1920: "Dalmatia. A summer midday. Strong sunshine, sultry weather. - Peasant are working and singing. - It is twelve o'clock! Bells are ringing. A magnificent sunny "Gloria" (trumpets and trombones from the gallery above. - The peasants are singing drowsily. Overcome, they lie down to rest. Afternoon peace. Tranquillity and serenity. The distant sound of shepherd's flutes."