Song of Spirits (2016)
SATB
This short piece for chorus and piano is my interpretation of a scene in Percy Shelley’s hidden drama Prometheus Unbound (Act II.iii.54-98), describing spirits travelling down to the abode of Demogorgon.
Partly inspired by the treatment of the Lyke Wake Dirge in Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, I have structured the whole setting so that each verse has roughly the same harmonic progression, but moving down a minor third each and every verse. The phrase ‘Down, down!’ is used as a recurring figure in the music, and the main melody was developed according to the emotional and dramatic properties of the congruent text. I also utilised the phonetic sound of the consonant (n) in ‘Down’ by sustaining it at some points for timbral effect. Overall, I wanted to convey the sense of moving through an uncanny, featureless tunnel to an equally uncanny destination, moving through all the trials and challenges along the way, and finishing on an unsettled note despite the sense of resolution in the tierce di Picardie at the end.
The piece was written for a course in Words and Music as part of my MMus at the University of Aberdeen in March 2016.
PERFORMANCES:
Première: 30 March 2016 - King's College Chapel, University of Aberdeen, Scotland - University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir, Andrew Fowler - piano (dir. Benjamin Cramer)