Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we anticipate April Fool’s Day with Knudage Riisager’s ballet “Slaraffenland” (usually translated as “Fool’s Paradise”). Inspired by Bruegel’s painting “The Land of Cockaigne,” the scenario imagines a Promised Land “where roasted pigeons fly around in the air with knives and forks in their backs, and the streets are paved with marzipan and chocolate.”
Riisager was born in 1897 to Danish parents living in Estonia. He studied music at Copenhagen University and then in Paris with Albert Roussel. Though he was a prolific composer, with some 400 works to his name, including symphonies, concertos, chamber music and songs, he is probably best known, if at all, for his ballet music.
Tune in Sunday at 10 pm ET, with a repeat Thursday at 11 pm ET, at wwfm.org.