View it on this youtube version
Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (1883 –1953) was an English composer born in London.
Tintagel is his symphonic poem, his best-known work, and for some years the only piece by which he was known. The work was inspired by a visit he made to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall in 1917, and reflects the history and mythology associated with the castle.
In a programme note written in 1922 Bax stated that the piece is “only in the broadest sense programme music”. He aimed, he said, to offer an impression of the cliffs and castle of Tintagel and the sea “on a sunny but not windless summer day”, and to reflect some of the literary and traditional associations of the scene”.
It was premiered in October 1921 by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra conducted by Dan Godfrey.