Eight Songs for a Mad King

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Eight Songs for a Mad King is a monodrama by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies with a libretto by Randolf Stow based on words of George III, written for the South-African actor Roy Hart and the composer's ensemble The Pierrot Players and premiered April 22, 1969.

Lasting half an hour, it is scored for a baritone with an extraordinary command of extended technique covering more than five octaves, and six players:

flute (doubling piccolo)
clarinet
percussion(1): railway whistle/Snare drum/ 2 susp.cymbals /foot cyms/ 2 woodblocks / Bass drum/chains/ratchet/tom-toms/tam-tam/tambourine/rototoms/toy bird-calls/2tpl.bl/ wind chimes/crotales/sleigh bells/glockenspiel/steel bars/crow/didjeridu-
piano (doubling harpsichord & dulcimer)
violin
cello

It is published by Boosey and Hawkes, and the cover [[1]] shows a famous excerpt in which the staves are arranged in the shape of a birdcage's bars.

The eight songs are all based on the tunes played by an actual mechanical organ owned by George III which he used to try and train bullfinches to sing. The action unfolds as a soliloquy by the king, the players being placed on stage in large birdcages, and culminates in his snatching and smashing a violin.

Other exponents of this work have included the American baritone William Pearson, Michael Rippon and Julius Eastman.