Threnody (2006)
Threnody (2006)
A song-cycle of WWII poems by Gascoyne, Thomas, Lewis, Keyes & Hill
- Spring MCMXL
- A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London
- Raiders’ Dawn
- War Poet
- September Song
22′
Ten, fl, cl, pno, vln, vcl
Score is available to purchase here.
PROGRAMME NOTE
Threnody is a setting of five Second World War poems for tenor and mixed ensemble, each poem being separated by an instrumental interlude. I had set Geoffrey Hill’s September Song a year earlier and had long felt like it didn’t quite work as a stand alone piece, that it needed other works to make more sense of this dark setting. I chose four more poems from the Faber Anthology Second World War Poems (Ed. Hugh Haughton, Faber, 2004), making sure that these poems complimented but differed suitably from the Hill. In choosing these poems I wanted to make sure that they were written originally in English and not translations, as I wanted the immediacy of these words to ring true not to be diluted by both time and the will of a translator.
The work is in a rough linear form, matching the progression of seasons highlighted in the poems; we begin in spring (with its traditional associations of new life and creation) and end with autumn and the onset of winter. Although each separate movement is governed by its individual harmonic group, a chord is present throughout (G-Ab-C-D) which finally comes to prominence in the final movement.
The interludes which separate each poem have three functions: firstly they act as a harmonic ‘bridge’ between the movements gradually moving from one harmonic group to another: secondly they act as a more aural ‘bridge’ between the movements, commenting and ornamenting phrases and motives from one movement, introducing phrases from the next: thirdly they prove a necessary change in mood (and texture) to the previous movement, the overall tone is dark and melancholic therefore a sudden change in tone is often quite welcome.
The work is dedicated to my father, who died in 2001; he was a lifetime enthusiast of all things WWII and in many ways an unofficial scholar of the war. Although happy to read countless fiction books on the war, he did not approve of war poetry as often the meaning would not be easily understood; with matters concerning something with such magnitude as a world conflict the cold, hard facts should be instantly understandable. The idea of setting these poems to music would have infuriated him even more; though the notion of remembrance, reverence and sympathy which I hope is present in Threnody would have appealed to him greatly.
PAC