|
Caliban Fragments and Aria (1991) |
mezzo-soprano and ensemble
The short text for this piece is taken from Act III of Shakespeare's The Tempest and is given below.
In a play about the opposition of nature and art (civility and baseness), the themes are exquisitely brought together in this evocative passage where the monster Caliban, a representative of the natural world, muses on the wonders of Prospero's art. Music, as well as permeating Prospero's magic isle, also appeals to the beast who lacks reason.
Rather than being merely a short vocal setting of nine lines of verse, I have used the text to permeate, like Prospero's magic isle, the whole texture and sound world of the piece. Fragmenting the original passage like a scattered jigsaw puzzle, isolated words and sentences gradually transform into a coherent formulation of the original text, culminating in a complete setting of this beautiful poetry.
The piece is scored for mezzo-soprano and a large chamber ensemble of piccolo, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, horn, two trumpets, trombone, harp, two percussion, four violins, two violas, two 'cellos and doublebass.
© Simon Bainbridge
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,
That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak'd,
I cried to dream again.