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Wild Nights (1993) |
soprano, clarinet, viola, piano - 7'
Commissioned by The Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth, England with funds provided by The Holst Foundation, London. First performance: 22 May, 1993, The Barbican Theatre, Plymouth. Mary Wiegold, soprano with the Composers Ensemble (director, John Woolrich). Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) spent most of her quiet life in and around the small New England town of Amherst, Massachusetts. She was virtually unknown as a poet during her lifetime, never married, and hardly travelled beyond the town bounds. The title Wild Nights is taken from the first line of her poem, Wild Nights-Wild Nights written about 1861 at the beginning of the American Civil War. The second poem, How Slow the Sea, used at the end of this song, is only three lines long and dates from about 1883, near the end of her life. In this setting of Wild Nights-Wild Nights the complete poem is sung three times, each setting depicting a different mood and mental state of its author. In the first, the soprano is seated as if thinking these erotic lines to herself. During the interlude she rises, moves slowly toward the piano and accompanies herself (stroking the strings) quietly singing to an imaginary lover. Finally she turns in an emotional outburst and sings her words loudly and passionately with full ensemble. How Slow the Wind, an unfinished poem, reduces the temperature as a quiet introspective postlude.The Dickinsons and my family, the Montagues, were founders of the small village of Hadley, Massachusetts (near Amherst) in 1649. They intermarried several times and in one of those unions Emily Dickinson and I share a common great, great grandfather, John Montague (b. Hadley, Massachusetts in 1655).© 1993 Stephen Montague
Poems:
Wild Nights-Wild Nights!
Wild Nights - Wild Nights!
Were I with thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile-the Winds-
To a Heart in port-
Done with the Compass-
Done with the Chart!
Rowing in Eden-
Ah, the Sea!
Might I but moor-Tonight
In Thee!
How Slow the Wind
How slow the Wind
how slow the sea-
how late their Feathers be!