Programme notes for some works by David Byers
Please contact me directly for programme notes for other composers' works.
This initial listing is in alphabetical order, beginning with the first column. Please click on one of the titles to take you to the relevant programme note:
DISTRACTIONS OF THE MIND
for solo piano
Distractions of the Mind was written early in 1998 for the First International Piano Competition of Rencontres Musicales de Gaillard (June 1998) and it is dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
The music is based on a little keyboard work by Thomas Tomkins (1572 - 1656), A Sad Pavan for these Distracted Times, which he wrote when he was 77. Tomkins was the last in a great line of virginalists, and he was writing in what was, by then, an old-fashioned contrapuntal style.
I first got to know the Sad Pavan
in the early 1970s and used it to frame a Belfast concert in which I
commissioned a number of Northern Irish composers to write their own
Pavans. This was a particularly distracted time when the Northern
Ireland troubles were at their worst and the new pieces were a response
to that situation, however removed they might have been as "pure" music.
My own contribution has somehow been mislaid in the intervening years, so it seemed appropriate, 25 years or so later, to revisit Tomkins' piece - particularly given the coincidences of a French piano competition, the 200th anniversary of the ill-fated 1798 Rebellion of the United Irishmen (which uniquely united Presbyterians and Catholics along with support from the French), and that, coincidentally, the Paris Conservatoire is now home to Tomkins' autograph score!
More often than not, it is minds which are described as being distracted rather than times. But the two go hand in hand. Tomkins' distracted times were occasioned by two Civil Wars, the execution of Charles I (just a fortnight before he wrote his Sad Pavan) and the establishment of Cromwell's republican Commonwealth (just a few months later the puritan Cromwell was in Ireland putting Catholic inhabitants of Drogheda and Wexford to the sword - a new order overturning the old, just as Tomkins' musical values and beliefs in a contrapuntal style were being overturned in the world at large by a fashionable new style with an emphasis on a treble part and a bass line).
My own contribution has somehow been mislaid in the intervening years, so it seemed appropriate, 25 years or so later, to revisit Tomkins' piece - particularly given the coincidences of a French piano competition, the 200th anniversary of the ill-fated 1798 Rebellion of the United Irishmen (which uniquely united Presbyterians and Catholics along with support from the French), and that, coincidentally, the Paris Conservatoire is now home to Tomkins' autograph score!
More often than not, it is minds which are described as being distracted rather than times. But the two go hand in hand. Tomkins' distracted times were occasioned by two Civil Wars, the execution of Charles I (just a fortnight before he wrote his Sad Pavan) and the establishment of Cromwell's republican Commonwealth (just a few months later the puritan Cromwell was in Ireland putting Catholic inhabitants of Drogheda and Wexford to the sword - a new order overturning the old, just as Tomkins' musical values and beliefs in a contrapuntal style were being overturned in the world at large by a fashionable new style with an emphasis on a treble part and a bass line).
The parallels with the political debates and bloody
murders in the Ireland of 1798 and those of our own times are all too
obvious. And the wheels of musical fashion also continue to turn!
Distractions of the Mind is a comparatively short work, like A Sad Pavan, and it uses harmonies from Tomkins' piece - passing chords that exist for a moment - along with some of Tomkins' little melodic motives that leap off the page and stick in the mind. Between the opening ornamented lament and the final bare harmonised melody, the music explores memory and obsession, revisiting some of Tomkins' tonal relationships in this very different context and eventually leading to a gentle pavane interspersed with some direct quotations from Tomkins' piece.
Who's to say what the distractions are? I won't! Historic, topical, trivial, political, European, Irish, universal, personal … at the end of the day the music has to stand or fall on its own merits.
No matter, Tomkins would be well pleased that his music stands the tests of time and fashion and distracted minds.
David Byers (Belfast, March 1998)
Distractions of the Mind is a comparatively short work, like A Sad Pavan, and it uses harmonies from Tomkins' piece - passing chords that exist for a moment - along with some of Tomkins' little melodic motives that leap off the page and stick in the mind. Between the opening ornamented lament and the final bare harmonised melody, the music explores memory and obsession, revisiting some of Tomkins' tonal relationships in this very different context and eventually leading to a gentle pavane interspersed with some direct quotations from Tomkins' piece.
Who's to say what the distractions are? I won't! Historic, topical, trivial, political, European, Irish, universal, personal … at the end of the day the music has to stand or fall on its own merits.
No matter, Tomkins would be well pleased that his music stands the tests of time and fashion and distracted minds.
David Byers (Belfast, March 1998)
FIVE STONED CHERRIES
for solo piano
David Byers studied in Belgium with the composer Henri Pousseur in the early 1970s. It was a time of "happenings", one of which was a big choral weekend with newly composed and improvised music, all built around the chanson Cerises d'amour.
That was the start of something … many of David Byers's pieces from these years were built with musical ideas, shapes, and harmonies developed from this melody. This piano work, Five Stoned Cherries, is just such a one.
The piece is dedicated to his composition professor at
the Royal Academy of Music, James Iliff, who lives in a cottage deep in
the Welsh valleys.
The work's subtitle is "a penillion on Cerises d'amour" - a penillion being a sort of improvised Welsh song to a harp accompaniment.
The piano piece sandwiches two sections, in an apparently improvised manner, between three gently meandering harmonic studies, beginning low down and eventually ending high up on the keyboard.
In the score, there's a quotation from an Elizabethan poem as a preface:
Lady, those cherries plenty
Which grow on your lips dainty
Ere long will fade and languish.
Then now, while yet they last them
O let me pull and taste them.
And, at the end, a quotation from a box of Belgian chocolates:
The stones in our cherries have been mechanically removed. Therefore it is impossible to guarantee that all our cherries are stoneless. Be careful. Thank you.
The work's subtitle is "a penillion on Cerises d'amour" - a penillion being a sort of improvised Welsh song to a harp accompaniment.
The piano piece sandwiches two sections, in an apparently improvised manner, between three gently meandering harmonic studies, beginning low down and eventually ending high up on the keyboard.
In the score, there's a quotation from an Elizabethan poem as a preface:
Lady, those cherries plenty
Which grow on your lips dainty
Ere long will fade and languish.
Then now, while yet they last them
O let me pull and taste them.
And, at the end, a quotation from a box of Belgian chocolates:
The stones in our cherries have been mechanically removed. Therefore it is impossible to guarantee that all our cherries are stoneless. Be careful. Thank you.
Five Stoned Cherries has been recorded by Philip Martin.
THREE EPIGRAMS OF JANUS
for solo piano
Many of my works have been sparked into life by the written word. In 1986 in Budapest I came across a volume of The Epigrams of Janus Pannonius,
a 15th century Hungarian writing in Latin, then the language of clerics
and scholars (Latin was the official language in Hungary up to the mid
19th century).
The poems comment on our own times every bit as much as they illuminate Janus's own. My original aim had been to set three of the more witty and erotic epigrams for choir - instead I've been drawn to three of the more serious ones which have provided the starting point or excuse for each of these three little pieces. I hope that they are as economical and emphatic as Janus's poems.
The first is perhaps the most literal musical paraphrase - a mathematical recipe in which a point becomes a line, then a surface and finally a solid cube.
The second and third chart slightly more abstract musical journeys which parallel Janus's poems. The second is a plea to Mars, the God of War, for peace: the poem is like an ancient prayer, invoking the god in all his manifestations; the music incorporates some plainsong in its mix of ideas.
The poems comment on our own times every bit as much as they illuminate Janus's own. My original aim had been to set three of the more witty and erotic epigrams for choir - instead I've been drawn to three of the more serious ones which have provided the starting point or excuse for each of these three little pieces. I hope that they are as economical and emphatic as Janus's poems.
The first is perhaps the most literal musical paraphrase - a mathematical recipe in which a point becomes a line, then a surface and finally a solid cube.
The second and third chart slightly more abstract musical journeys which parallel Janus's poems. The second is a plea to Mars, the God of War, for peace: the poem is like an ancient prayer, invoking the god in all his manifestations; the music incorporates some plainsong in its mix of ideas.
The third epigram reminded me of poems by the often
insane 18th century English poet, William Cowper. A bird is struck dead
by an arrow, but continues to fly - raising paradoxical questions about
the nature of life and death, but leaving the answers to others!
The pieces are dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
David Byers (Belfast, November 1999)
The pieces are dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
David Byers (Belfast, November 1999)
STRUM, STRUM, AND BE HANGED
for baroque cello and pre-recorded sounds
Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, made his first visit to Belfast in October 1791 when he joined with people like Henry Joy McCracken to form the Society of United Irishmen.
He returned the following year for Belfast’s Bastille celebrations, to further the cause of the United Irishmen, and he looked in on the Harpers’ Assembly.
He was not impressed. His diary states: “Believe all the good Irish airs are already written ...”
Then two days later, 13 July, “... The Harpers again. Strum, strum, and be hanged.”
In this little eight-minute piece, the voice of the 18th century cello explores the 1790s in Belfast against an occasionally intrusive contemporary sound world. The 1790s were years of great ferment and idealism which united Catholics and Presbyterians in a common desire for a “prosperity established on civil, political and religious liberty”.
The three movements follow one another without a break.
The first one, Strum, reflects the fervent hopes of the early 1790s inspired by the idealism of the Northern Star newspaper, Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man and the French Revolution.
Then two days later, 13 July, “... The Harpers again. Strum, strum, and be hanged.”
In this little eight-minute piece, the voice of the 18th century cello explores the 1790s in Belfast against an occasionally intrusive contemporary sound world. The 1790s were years of great ferment and idealism which united Catholics and Presbyterians in a common desire for a “prosperity established on civil, political and religious liberty”.
The three movements follow one another without a break.
The first one, Strum, reflects the fervent hopes of the early 1790s inspired by the idealism of the Northern Star newspaper, Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man and the French Revolution.
The second, strum,
offers a remembrance of the Belfast Harpers’ Assembly of 1792, with its
elderly and dying breed of musicians, looking back at a once glorious
tradition – a diversion from the tensions in society and the dangerous
celebration of the fall of the Bastille.
The final movement, be hanged, is a mix of elation and sadness – rebellion and execution. The 1798 Rebellion was a fiasco and amongst those executed was Henry Joy McCracken whose family had been deeply involved with the Harpers’ Assembly.
The piece was written for Jonathan Byers to perform during a solo recital in Malta in May 2005.
David Byers (Belfast, 15 May 2005)
The final movement, be hanged, is a mix of elation and sadness – rebellion and execution. The 1798 Rebellion was a fiasco and amongst those executed was Henry Joy McCracken whose family had been deeply involved with the Harpers’ Assembly.
The piece was written for Jonathan Byers to perform during a solo recital in Malta in May 2005.
David Byers (Belfast, 15 May 2005)
CROOKED LYMBECKS
for orchestra
Lett not your soule (at first with graces fill’d,
And since, and thorough crooked lymbecks, still’d
In many schools and courts, which quicken it,)
It self unto the Irish negligence submit.
And since, and thorough crooked lymbecks, still’d
In many schools and courts, which quicken it,)
It self unto the Irish negligence submit.
A lymbeck was an old-fashioned (actually 13th century!)
word for an alembic, one of the glass vessels or retorts used in the
distillation process.
For many years I kept a copy of a 1599 John Donne poem with a view to using it in a piece. When I finally came to do so, I discovered that I had seriously misunderstood it. I had been misled by a superficial reaction to its title Henrico Wottoni in Hibernia belligeranti (To Henry Wotton making war in Ireland ) and its references to conquering, love for Ireland, shott, boggs, yong death, crooked lymbecks, and Irish negligence. When I finally sat down and read the poem properly (with a dictionary search for “lymbecks”!), it turned out, ironically, to be an intriguing conceit, looking for a simple letter from his friend Henry Wotton; all, in hindsight, clear enough from the closing lines -
This orchestral piece grew out of that misunderstanding. I thought of it as looking at a giant still, complete with crooked lymbecks, and taking cross-sections at different points and perspectives in the distillation process. The 10 minute piece, mainly fast-moving, mixes the straightforward musical language of my annual Christmas carol, complete with its (usually) changing dance metres, with my more usual compositional processes. The musical materials are based on a blend of 12th century organum and discant; the result could be described as a theme and five variations with a coda. The Dorian modality of the opening and closing sections is relieved or disturbed elsewhere by other tonal conflicts.
Crooked Lymbecks was commissioned by Sonorities for the 2001 Festival and supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
It was first performed at the closing concert of Sonorities 2001 on Friday 11 May in the Whitla Hall of Queen’s University by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, conductor Gerhard Markson. The concert was broadcast live on RTÉ’s Lyric FM and on BBC Radio Ulster.
David Byers (Belfast, April 2001)
For many years I kept a copy of a 1599 John Donne poem with a view to using it in a piece. When I finally came to do so, I discovered that I had seriously misunderstood it. I had been misled by a superficial reaction to its title Henrico Wottoni in Hibernia belligeranti (To Henry Wotton making war in Ireland ) and its references to conquering, love for Ireland, shott, boggs, yong death, crooked lymbecks, and Irish negligence. When I finally sat down and read the poem properly (with a dictionary search for “lymbecks”!), it turned out, ironically, to be an intriguing conceit, looking for a simple letter from his friend Henry Wotton; all, in hindsight, clear enough from the closing lines -
I aske not labored letters which should weare
Long papers out: nor letters which should feare
Dishonest carriage: or a seers art:
Nor such as from the brayne come, but the hart.
This orchestral piece grew out of that misunderstanding. I thought of it as looking at a giant still, complete with crooked lymbecks, and taking cross-sections at different points and perspectives in the distillation process. The 10 minute piece, mainly fast-moving, mixes the straightforward musical language of my annual Christmas carol, complete with its (usually) changing dance metres, with my more usual compositional processes. The musical materials are based on a blend of 12th century organum and discant; the result could be described as a theme and five variations with a coda. The Dorian modality of the opening and closing sections is relieved or disturbed elsewhere by other tonal conflicts.
Crooked Lymbecks was commissioned by Sonorities for the 2001 Festival and supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
It was first performed at the closing concert of Sonorities 2001 on Friday 11 May in the Whitla Hall of Queen’s University by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, conductor Gerhard Markson. The concert was broadcast live on RTÉ’s Lyric FM and on BBC Radio Ulster.
David Byers (Belfast, April 2001)
A PLANXTY FOR THE DANCER
for orchestra
A Planxty for the Dancer was commissioned by Belfast City Council for performance at the Last Night of the Belfast Proms in the Ulster Hall on 11 June 1983 when it was played by the Ulster Orchestra, leader Richard Howarth, and conducted by Kenneth Montgomery. Much of it was worked on during a stay in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig in May that year.
The music was a response to the troubled times of that period and, specifically, to a poem by the Belfast-born poet Joseph Campbell (1879-1944). The Dancer is from his 1913 collection Irishry.
The dancer’s face is a white mask of death but his feet move to the merry tone of Silver Tip played by an old fiddler. The people are unanimous in their praise of the dancer’s art,
"Planxty" was a word used by the great Irish harper Carolan as an English word:
He used it in many titles and the sense seems to be as a tribute – so Planxty Irwin is a tribute to Colonel John Irwin of Sligo. One suggestion is that planxty is a corruption of the Irish word slainte meaning “good health”.
Petrie in his Ancient Music of Ireland (1855) contends that planxties are lively in nature, are unsuitable for singing and have an unexpected irregularity in their phrasing.
But he dances there
As if his kin were dead:
Clay in his thoughts,
And lightning in his thread.
"Planxty" was a word used by the great Irish harper Carolan as an English word:
Him, jam! Planxty merriment
Sing, dance, drink his health about!
He used it in many titles and the sense seems to be as a tribute – so Planxty Irwin is a tribute to Colonel John Irwin of Sligo. One suggestion is that planxty is a corruption of the Irish word slainte meaning “good health”.
Petrie in his Ancient Music of Ireland (1855) contends that planxties are lively in nature, are unsuitable for singing and have an unexpected irregularity in their phrasing.
After
a brief opening section, much of that might apply to this short piece! Most of it is a reworking of material from the last movement of
my wind band piece, Caliban's Masque.
David Byers (Belfast, July 2005)
David Byers (Belfast, July 2005)
ON THE NATURE OF GOTHIC
for soprano and small chamber ensemble
Majestic monotony, the patience required is so considerable it becomes a kind of pain, a price paid for the future pleasure.
If the pleasure of change be too often repeated it ceases to be delightful, for then change itself becomes monotonous and we are driven to seek delight in extreme and fantastic degrees of it.
John Ruskin
If the pleasure of change be too often repeated it ceases to be delightful, for then change itself becomes monotonous and we are driven to seek delight in extreme and fantastic degrees of it.
John Ruskin
Lord, make me an instrument of thy Peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
Amen.
Francis of Assisi
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
Amen.
Francis of Assisi
Aiming to write a very simple and direct piece having perhaps some relevance to the present situation in Ulster, I took as a starting point the French chanson Le temps des cerises which, while outwardly a love song, has been associated with freedom and independence since the 19th century.
From this song is derived all the musical material using a strict system of harmonic nets which allows for a use of tonality not easily catered for by dodecaphony. Formally there are three obvious sections following the divisions of the text.
The first performance was given at the Dublin Festival of 20th Century Music on 6 January 1974 by Dorothy Fisher (soprano), Elaine Byers (oboe), Helen Ritchie (clarinet) and David Byers (piano, percussion).
THE MOUNTAINY SINGER
for solo piano and string orchestra
A line's a speech;
So here's a line
To say this pedlar's pack
Of mine
Is not a book -
But a journey through
Mountainy places,
Ever in view
Of the sea and the fields.
With the rough wind
Blowing over the leagues
Behind!
So here's a line
To say this pedlar's pack
Of mine
Is not a book -
But a journey through
Mountainy places,
Ever in view
Of the sea and the fields.
With the rough wind
Blowing over the leagues
Behind!
That’s the preface to Belfast poet Joseph Campbell’s collection The Mountainy Singer (1909).
Campbell (1879-1944) was a poet of immediacy, with a deep love of all things Irish and with an absorption in nature and people. The opening poem of the collection is entitled I am the Mountainy Singer.
Campbell (1879-1944) was a poet of immediacy, with a deep love of all things Irish and with an absorption in nature and people. The opening poem of the collection is entitled I am the Mountainy Singer.
I am the mountainy singer –
The voice of the peasant’s dream.
The cry of the wind on the wooded hill,
The leap of the fish in the stream.
Quiet and love I sing –
The cairn on the mountain crest.
The cailin* in her lover’s arms.
The child at its mother’s breast.
Beauty and peace I sing –
The fire on the open hearth.
The cailleach spinning at her wheel,
The plough in the broken earth.
The voice of the peasant’s dream.
The cry of the wind on the wooded hill,
The leap of the fish in the stream.
Quiet and love I sing –
The cairn on the mountain crest.
The cailin* in her lover’s arms.
The child at its mother’s breast.
Beauty and peace I sing –
The fire on the open hearth.
The cailleach spinning at her wheel,
The plough in the broken earth.
Travail and pain I sing –
The bride on the childing bed.
The dark man labouring at his rhymes,
The ewe in the lambing shed.
Sorrow and death I sing –
The canker come on the corn.
The fisher lost in the mountain loch,
The cry at the mouth of morn.
No other life I sing,
For I am sprung of the stock
That broke the hilly land for bread,
And built the nest in the rock!
The bride on the childing bed.
The dark man labouring at his rhymes,
The ewe in the lambing shed.
Sorrow and death I sing –
The canker come on the corn.
The fisher lost in the mountain loch,
The cry at the mouth of morn.
No other life I sing,
For I am sprung of the stock
That broke the hilly land for bread,
And built the nest in the rock!
*Cailin, young girl.
The Mountainy Singer is dedicated to Adilia Alieva who gave its first performance with the Mikkeli City Orchestra, conducted by Rauf Abdullayev, on 17 February 2005.
The music is based mainly on a piece of 12th century organum which survives in the Benedictine Abbey of St Martial at Limoges. Its text is not a liturgical one:
De monte lapis – a stone is broken off from the mountain but no helping hand is introduced.
An additional medieval chant is used in Dolmen – an Irish melody which survives in manuscript in Trinity College Dublin: Ductu angelico – by angelic direction crossing the sea, he made for Gaul.
The cover illustration (above, right) is by Campbell’s brother John, from Songs of Uladh, 1904.
David Byers (Belfast, 2005)
The Mountainy Singer is dedicated to Adilia Alieva who gave its first performance with the Mikkeli City Orchestra, conducted by Rauf Abdullayev, on 17 February 2005.
The music is based mainly on a piece of 12th century organum which survives in the Benedictine Abbey of St Martial at Limoges. Its text is not a liturgical one:
De monte lapis – a stone is broken off from the mountain but no helping hand is introduced.
An additional medieval chant is used in Dolmen – an Irish melody which survives in manuscript in Trinity College Dublin: Ductu angelico – by angelic direction crossing the sea, he made for Gaul.
The cover illustration (above, right) is by Campbell’s brother John, from Songs of Uladh, 1904.
David Byers (Belfast, 2005)
CHERRIES IN THE ROUND
a loobeen for organ
The melodic and harmonic content of this loobeen is both derived from and determined by one of the traditional melodies associated with the Cherry Tree Carol.
So what is a 'loobeen'?
Edward Bunting, writing in 1840, described it thus:
'The Loobeen is a peculiar species of chaunt, having a very well marked time, and a frequently recurring chorus. It is accompanied by extemporaneous verses.
'The intervention of the chorus after each verse gives time for the preparation of the succeeding one by the next singer, and thus the loobeen goes round, until the chain of song is completed.
'Hence its name, signifying literally the "link tune".'
The piece was first performed by Norman Finlay (1947-2012) in June 1975 at a recital in Dun Laoghaire
Edward Bunting, writing in 1840, described it thus:
'The Loobeen is a peculiar species of chaunt, having a very well marked time, and a frequently recurring chorus. It is accompanied by extemporaneous verses.
'The intervention of the chorus after each verse gives time for the preparation of the succeeding one by the next singer, and thus the loobeen goes round, until the chain of song is completed.
'Hence its name, signifying literally the "link tune".'
The piece was first performed by Norman Finlay (1947-2012) in June 1975 at a recital in Dun Laoghaire
THE HARP THAT ONCE
for organ
The harp that once through Tara's halls
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls
As if that soul were fled.
So sleeps the pride of former days,
So glory's thrill is o'er,
And hearts, that once beat high for praise
Now feel that pulse no more.
No more to chiefs and ladies bright
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at night,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives,
Is when some heart indignant breaks,
To show that still she lives.
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls
As if that soul were fled.
So sleeps the pride of former days,
So glory's thrill is o'er,
And hearts, that once beat high for praise
Now feel that pulse no more.
No more to chiefs and ladies bright
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at night,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives,
Is when some heart indignant breaks,
To show that still she lives.
Thomas Moore
ECHOES OF SURVIVAL
for solo piano
Echoes of Survival was written in February 2004 for the Fourth International Adilia Alieva Piano Competition in Gaillard (May 2004) and it is dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
The music was inspired by a book entitled Palimpsest which explored Irish architecture. The word 'palimpsest', then new to me, in that case referred to buildings which over the centuries had changed their usage and had often been considerably altered – but it was still possible to find traces and hints of their earlier usage.
The word is derived from the compound of two Greek words: palin, “again” and psestos,
“rubbed smooth”. Its original reference was to manuscript paper or
parchment which had been reused because of its expense – often with some
traces of earlier writing showing through. A good example is the
palimpsest found in 1906 in Constantinople. Underneath a collection of
prayers was found the complete Greek text of several of Archimedes’ most
famous mathematical writings, one of them previously believed lost.
Echoes of Survival is a sort of musical palimpsest with several layers of juxtaposed musical thoughts. One of my teachers, Henri Pousseur, was writing music in the late 1960s with windows cut in the pages so that each performance was different, depending on the page order and what was revealed in the windows. This little piece applies something similar at the compositional stage – but not necessarily with a consistency of contemporary style or language!
David Byers (Belfast, 29 February 2004)
Echoes of Survival is a sort of musical palimpsest with several layers of juxtaposed musical thoughts. One of my teachers, Henri Pousseur, was writing music in the late 1960s with windows cut in the pages so that each performance was different, depending on the page order and what was revealed in the windows. This little piece applies something similar at the compositional stage – but not necessarily with a consistency of contemporary style or language!
David Byers (Belfast, 29 February 2004)
A FULL MOON
for solo piano
The Moon
The moon climbs and climbs,
Till it is no bigger
Than a moon-penny.
Darkness and the hills lie together
As in a bed,
Sleeping lovers.
Joseph Campbell (1879-1944)
Joseph Campbell's own woodcut illustration (above) was published alongside his poem.
The Moon, by Belfast-born Joseph Campbell, was part of his collection, Earth of Cualann (1917). A Full Moon takes its cue from that poem and from the moon’s wondrous light and its strange powers.
Superstitions abound about the full moon. This eerie night-time brightness (a full moon is ten times brighter than a quarter moon and the brightest object in the night sky) casts an other-worldly spell on the landscape.
It was traditional to give a different name to each full moon across the year, ranging from Wolf Moon and Lenten Moon to Harvest Moon and Hunter’s Moon. There are twelve full moons in most years and one season in ten contains four full moons; the third moon that occurs in such a season is called a Blue Moon.
Superstitions abound about the full moon. This eerie night-time brightness (a full moon is ten times brighter than a quarter moon and the brightest object in the night sky) casts an other-worldly spell on the landscape.
It was traditional to give a different name to each full moon across the year, ranging from Wolf Moon and Lenten Moon to Harvest Moon and Hunter’s Moon. There are twelve full moons in most years and one season in ten contains four full moons; the third moon that occurs in such a season is called a Blue Moon.
The
chances of being bitten by a dog are said to be twice as high during a
full moon. A male child is more likely to be conceived at full moon.
It’s unlucky if a full moon occurs on a Sunday, but lucky if it’s on a
Monday (Moon Day).
The Lunar Society, of which Erasmus Darwin, James Watt and Josiah Wedgewood were members, held its meetings on the Monday nearest to the full moon. Members referred to themselves as Lunatics.
Like my piece A New Moon, A Full Moon is based on the music of an elaborate melismatic Ambrosian chant surviving in the British Library (MS Add. 34209, f.4r), a psalm for the second Sunday in Advent.
A summo caelo egressio
A Full Moon was commissioned by RTÉ lyric fm for the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition (May 2009) and it is dedicated to John O’Conor.
The piece has been published in Piano Album VI, 2009, by the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland (CMC 1023).
David Byers (Belfast, 20 May 2008, Blue Moon)
The Lunar Society, of which Erasmus Darwin, James Watt and Josiah Wedgewood were members, held its meetings on the Monday nearest to the full moon. Members referred to themselves as Lunatics.
Like my piece A New Moon, A Full Moon is based on the music of an elaborate melismatic Ambrosian chant surviving in the British Library (MS Add. 34209, f.4r), a psalm for the second Sunday in Advent.
A summo caelo egressio
… It goeth forth from the uttermost part of the heaven, and runneth about unto the end of it again.
Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei … The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handy-work.
A Full Moon was commissioned by RTÉ lyric fm for the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition (May 2009) and it is dedicated to John O’Conor.
The piece has been published in Piano Album VI, 2009, by the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland (CMC 1023).
David Byers (Belfast, 20 May 2008, Blue Moon)
A NEW MOON
for solo piano
for solo piano
The Welcome
Blessed the Hand
That set a new moon on the hill for me,
And hung the night with stars –
With white festoons of stars –
Looped from the corners of the world.
Joseph Campbell (1879-1944)
Joseph Campbell’s woodcut illustration, used on the title page of this piano piece, was published alongside The Welcome in the Belfast-born poet’s 1917 collection, Earth of Cualann.
Even in 2008, my father, born two years before that collection appeared, believed that the weather changed with the new moon. To many, it signifies the start of a new month, or a Sabbath day of rest, or it’s seen as a symbol of regeneration and renewal.
Even in 2008, my father, born two years before that collection appeared, believed that the weather changed with the new moon. To many, it signifies the start of a new month, or a Sabbath day of rest, or it’s seen as a symbol of regeneration and renewal.
In the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia
there’s “an approximate formula” for determining new moons. Most of it
reads like double Dutch to me, but after all the calculated detail,
there’s a lovely let-out clause:
“Periodic perturbations change the time of true conjunction from these mean values.”
This music is about the clarity and brilliance and wonder and magic of the new moon, but with a few periodic perturbations!
A New Moon is based on the music of an elaborate melismatic Ambrosian chant surviving in the British Library (MS Add. 34209, f.4r). It’s a chant for a psalm for the second Sunday in Advent.
A summo caelo egressio …
It goeth forth from the uttermost part of the heaven, and runneth about unto the end of it again.
Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei …
The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handy-work.
A New Moon was written for the Seventh International Adilia Alieva Piano Competition in Gaillard (June 2010) and it is dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
David Byers, Belfast, March 2008
“Periodic perturbations change the time of true conjunction from these mean values.”
This music is about the clarity and brilliance and wonder and magic of the new moon, but with a few periodic perturbations!
A New Moon is based on the music of an elaborate melismatic Ambrosian chant surviving in the British Library (MS Add. 34209, f.4r). It’s a chant for a psalm for the second Sunday in Advent.
A summo caelo egressio …
It goeth forth from the uttermost part of the heaven, and runneth about unto the end of it again.
Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei …
The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handy-work.
A New Moon was written for the Seventh International Adilia Alieva Piano Competition in Gaillard (June 2010) and it is dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
David Byers, Belfast, March 2008
ON THE PATHLESS OCEAN
song cycle for mezzo soprano and piano
On the pathless ocean was commissioned by the Belfast Titanic Company with funds provided by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
The first performance was given by Rachel Kelly, mezzo-soprano, and Una Hunt, piano, as part of the Titanic Festival of Creative Arts in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast, on 12 April 2012.
The Festival commemorates the centenary of the sinking of the luxurious RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage en route from Southampton to New York. The Olympic-class ship, owned by the White Star Line, was built in Belfast by Harland and Wolff and was the largest passenger liner at that time.
It was a clear night, just two days before the new moon, when the Titanic struck an iceberg 375 miles southeast of Halifax, Novia Scotia, shortly before midnight on 14 April 1912 and sank at 2.20am on 15 April. There were 2,223 people on board and 1,517 lives were lost.
The first performance was given by Rachel Kelly, mezzo-soprano, and Una Hunt, piano, as part of the Titanic Festival of Creative Arts in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast, on 12 April 2012.
The Festival commemorates the centenary of the sinking of the luxurious RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage en route from Southampton to New York. The Olympic-class ship, owned by the White Star Line, was built in Belfast by Harland and Wolff and was the largest passenger liner at that time.
It was a clear night, just two days before the new moon, when the Titanic struck an iceberg 375 miles southeast of Halifax, Novia Scotia, shortly before midnight on 14 April 1912 and sank at 2.20am on 15 April. There were 2,223 people on board and 1,517 lives were lost.
The abbreviation RMS, used as a prefix to the ship’s name, designated the vessel as a carrier of mail under contract to the Royal Mail.
The postcard illustration on the song cycle’s title page was published by Raphael Tuck and Sons.
The postcard illustration on the song cycle’s title page was published by Raphael Tuck and Sons.
The first song, The Islandmen, sets the opening and closing sections of a poem by Richard Rowley, the pen-name of Belfast-born Richard Valentine Williams (1877-1947). This was the first poem in his 1918 collection, City Songs and others. The poem also includes the line which provided the title for this short song cycle.
The following two songs set words by Robin Wilson (1899-1953), a son of the minister of New Row Presbyterian Church, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, and the nephew of the noted Tyrone-born caricaturist David Wilson. Robin Wilson’s full name was Robert Noble Denison Wilson. The first of these two poems is On seeing the old moon in the new moon’s arms from Wilson’s 1927 collection The Holy Wells of Orris which credited the author as R.N.D. Wilson. The second, Landscape with ruins, sets the closing stanza of a poem from Wilson’s 1937 collection Equinox, credited to Robin Wilson.
The following two songs set words by Robin Wilson (1899-1953), a son of the minister of New Row Presbyterian Church, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, and the nephew of the noted Tyrone-born caricaturist David Wilson. Robin Wilson’s full name was Robert Noble Denison Wilson. The first of these two poems is On seeing the old moon in the new moon’s arms from Wilson’s 1927 collection The Holy Wells of Orris which credited the author as R.N.D. Wilson. The second, Landscape with ruins, sets the closing stanza of a poem from Wilson’s 1937 collection Equinox, credited to Robin Wilson.
Helen Waddell (1889-1965) was born in Tokyo where her father was a Presbyterian minister and missionary. When the family returned to Belfast, she was educated at Victoria College and Queen’s University, Belfast and then Somerville College, Oxford. The fourth song sets the opening and closing stanzas of a poem from her 1929 collection, Medieval Latin Lyrics. The original Latin poem, Ecce, nocturno tempore (the title used here, In the night, is mine) was likely written by an 8th century Irish scholar or cantor at Malmesbury Abbey.
The penultimate song sets well-known words by Sligo-born Douglas Hyde (1860-1949), the son of a Church of Ireland clergyman, a poet, translator, Celtic scholar, champion of the Irish language and the first President of Ireland (1938-1945). This is his translation of a traditional Irish folk song, My grief on the sea, first published in his Love Songs of Connacht (1893).
The closing song which brings together musical ideas from all of the previous songs is by the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). He wrote his powerful The Convergence of the Twain, subtitled ‘Lines on the loss of the Titanic’, on 24 April 1912 for the souvenir programme of a charity event, the Dramatic and Operatic Matinée, in aid of the Titanic Disaster Fund (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 14 May 1912). The poem was subsequently published in the June 1912 edition of The Fortnightly Review.
David Byers, Belfast, 15 February 2012
The penultimate song sets well-known words by Sligo-born Douglas Hyde (1860-1949), the son of a Church of Ireland clergyman, a poet, translator, Celtic scholar, champion of the Irish language and the first President of Ireland (1938-1945). This is his translation of a traditional Irish folk song, My grief on the sea, first published in his Love Songs of Connacht (1893).
The closing song which brings together musical ideas from all of the previous songs is by the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). He wrote his powerful The Convergence of the Twain, subtitled ‘Lines on the loss of the Titanic’, on 24 April 1912 for the souvenir programme of a charity event, the Dramatic and Operatic Matinée, in aid of the Titanic Disaster Fund (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 14 May 1912). The poem was subsequently published in the June 1912 edition of The Fortnightly Review.
David Byers, Belfast, 15 February 2012
THE RISING OF THE MOON
for solo piano
Murmurs passed along the valley, like the banshee’s lonesome croon,
And a thousand blades were flashing at the rising of the moon.
... whistle up the marchin’ tune
With your pike upon your shoulder at the rising of the moon.
And a thousand blades were flashing at the rising of the moon.
... whistle up the marchin’ tune
With your pike upon your shoulder at the rising of the moon.
This little piece was written for the 3rd International Adilia Alieva Piano Competition in Gaillard in June 2002 and is dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
The cover illustration (shown here on the right) is a late 18th century woodcut by Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The Rising of the Moon is a mid-19th century song celebrating the heroes of the failed 1798 Rising in Ireland – the words written by John Keegan Casey (1845-1870).
My piano piece is based on a melody associated with those words and found in printed ballad sheets, in the Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society and in More Irish Street Ballads (Colm O Lochlainn, 1965).
The piece is neither a comment nor a reflection on the contents of the song, despite the poem’s relevance to the current debate about globalisation versus a much narrower nationalism. If the music is ‘about’ anything, it might be seen to take a cue from the song and deal with ‘expectation’ and conflicting ideals - but on purely musical terms!
David Byers March 2002
The cover illustration (shown here on the right) is a late 18th century woodcut by Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The Rising of the Moon is a mid-19th century song celebrating the heroes of the failed 1798 Rising in Ireland – the words written by John Keegan Casey (1845-1870).
My piano piece is based on a melody associated with those words and found in printed ballad sheets, in the Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society and in More Irish Street Ballads (Colm O Lochlainn, 1965).
The piece is neither a comment nor a reflection on the contents of the song, despite the poem’s relevance to the current debate about globalisation versus a much narrower nationalism. If the music is ‘about’ anything, it might be seen to take a cue from the song and deal with ‘expectation’ and conflicting ideals - but on purely musical terms!
David Byers March 2002
TUBA MIRUM
for organ
Tuba mirum,
commissioned for an organ recital given in St. Paul’s Cathedral,
London, in 1984 by Jonathan Gregory, relies on a large three manual
organ, a reverberant acoustic and an obnoxiously loud tuba stop.
The music was suggested by
the ideas of procession and ceremony, important aspects of the medieval
church.
The constant alternation of versicle and response, verse and refrain, are incorporated along with a simple chant from the Mozarabic liturgy (which developed in Spain and was eventually superseded by the Roman rite).
Short meditative sections reflect the verses of this chant – Deus miserere (Prece from Office for the dead) – which appeal for mercy and for pity for the deceased.
The tuba, which in St. Paul’s appears as a very loud and rather disembodied sound from the opposite end of the building, is intended to evoke the Tuba mirum from the Dies Irae – a wondrous trumpet, heard in the graves of every land and bringing the dead before the throne on the day of judgement.
The constant alternation of versicle and response, verse and refrain, are incorporated along with a simple chant from the Mozarabic liturgy (which developed in Spain and was eventually superseded by the Roman rite).
Short meditative sections reflect the verses of this chant – Deus miserere (Prece from Office for the dead) – which appeal for mercy and for pity for the deceased.
The tuba, which in St. Paul’s appears as a very loud and rather disembodied sound from the opposite end of the building, is intended to evoke the Tuba mirum from the Dies Irae – a wondrous trumpet, heard in the graves of every land and bringing the dead before the throne on the day of judgement.
MAGNIFICAT
for organ
Magnificat was given its
first performance by Norman Finlay on Sunday 26 June 1983 at a recital
in the Cathedral Church of St. Anne, Belfast.
This organ setting loosely
follows the emotions of the biblical canticle and preserves the
traditional sectional treatment. Three main sections (Magnificat anima
mea, Fecit potentiam, Gloria Patri) are separated by two interludes (Et
misericordia, Suscepit Israel) and the piece moves from a quiet opening
built on a hexachord and reflecting an ecstatic and rather private
rejoicing to the more public ceremonial of a procession at the end.
The work is based on material derived from a melody used from about 1560 onwards (and certainly to the end of the seventeenth century) for the Magnificat in English and Scottish Psalters. This melody is heard in paraphrase at the outset and in its entirety in the central section.
The work is based on material derived from a melody used from about 1560 onwards (and certainly to the end of the seventeenth century) for the Magnificat in English and Scottish Psalters. This melody is heard in paraphrase at the outset and in its entirety in the central section.
NE PEREAMUS
for solo harp
Ne pereamus is dedicated to Denise Kelly who commissioned the work and gave it its first performance at Malahide Castle on 13 June 1984 (Music Festival in Great Irish Houses) and a second performance at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin on 1 July 1984.
The three movements bear the titles of poems by Sedulius Scottus (fl. 848-874): Contra Plagam, Ad Hartgarium and Apologia pro vita sua.
I came across these poems in Helen Waddell’s Mediaeval Latin Lyrics (Constable 1929). There was a personal bond with the Irishman going to Liège but, more importantly, his poems seemed to be very human: relevant even to this day when we have plagues and grumbles a-plenty.
According to Helen Waddell, Sedulius ‘was as hearty in his gratitude as in his grumbling, and as sincere in his repentance as he was joyous in his sinning’.
The closing bars of the 3rd movement quote the plainsong refrain, Gloria, laus et honor from the Egerton MS.3307 f.10v British Library, London.
I came across these poems in Helen Waddell’s Mediaeval Latin Lyrics (Constable 1929). There was a personal bond with the Irishman going to Liège but, more importantly, his poems seemed to be very human: relevant even to this day when we have plagues and grumbles a-plenty.
According to Helen Waddell, Sedulius ‘was as hearty in his gratitude as in his grumbling, and as sincere in his repentance as he was joyous in his sinning’.
The closing bars of the 3rd movement quote the plainsong refrain, Gloria, laus et honor from the Egerton MS.3307 f.10v British Library, London.
EPITAPHS
for voices and kitchen sink instruments
The full score and parts of Epitaphs are available to download from the Chamber Music page.
Epitaphs, described as a 'cantatina' was written in March 1969 for performance by fellow composition students at the RAM in London. It was subsequently recorded for an arts programme on Ulster Television. The background at the time was dominated by Vietnam and Biafra; there were unsettling Civil Rights protests at home, but the extent of the eventual 'Troubles' was unforseen.
Epitaphs, described as a 'cantatina' was written in March 1969 for performance by fellow composition students at the RAM in London. It was subsequently recorded for an arts programme on Ulster Television. The background at the time was dominated by Vietnam and Biafra; there were unsettling Civil Rights protests at home, but the extent of the eventual 'Troubles' was unforseen.
The text for Epitaphs is from Design for Death (André Deutsch, 1967), a book by the artist Barbara Jones (1912-1978), who was a close friend (and former wife) of my landlord in London, Clifford Barry, himself an artist. The words are genuine epitaphs from the graves of both humans and their pets.
Combining, as it does, bland euphemisms with the macabre, Epitaphs should be presented in an intensely serious, or even grave, manner.
The full score must be read in conjunction with the individual parts; both score and parts are interpreted visually. The text is spoken as indicated in the score. Each instrument has two or three ‘pieces’ per part. The performer will play one of these (a, b, or c) as specified in the full score. Each line is a pictorial representation of the passing of time and so a space in the notation represents a rest.
Combining, as it does, bland euphemisms with the macabre, Epitaphs should be presented in an intensely serious, or even grave, manner.
The full score must be read in conjunction with the individual parts; both score and parts are interpreted visually. The text is spoken as indicated in the score. Each instrument has two or three ‘pieces’ per part. The performer will play one of these (a, b, or c) as specified in the full score. Each line is a pictorial representation of the passing of time and so a space in the notation represents a rest.
The detailed interpretation of a part and its precise timing is left to the musical judgement of each performer – taking into consideration the dynamic range of fellow performers (balance).
At the end of each ‘piece’, it is necessary to make a noticeable signal (e.g. a nod of the head) at the cued points (indicated by vertical broken lines) so that the appropriate performer will know when to commence his or her ‘piece’.
At the end of each ‘piece’, it is necessary to make a noticeable signal (e.g. a nod of the head) at the cued points (indicated by vertical broken lines) so that the appropriate performer will know when to commence his or her ‘piece’.
The instruments are numbered to save space:
Note: Since 1969, there have been many changes. Woolworth’s has gone (other brands are available); Sainsbury’s egg containers may now be cardboard (improvise with other brittle plastic containers); little wooden bird warblers are more difficult to find (plastic ones will do); incandescent tungsten light bulbs have been phased out, but some do still survive; following decimalisation, sixpenny pieces are probably best replaced with 20p coins. Please improvise as necessary to replicate the imagined sound of the original instruments!
1. Bengal Flute
2. Indian bird warbler
3. Indian bird warbler
4. Woolworth’s egg slicer (minus the plastic half), plucked with a plastic ball point pen top
5. Two bayonet cap incandescent light bulbs (the prongs held between thumb and index finger)
6. Egg whisk plus a glass jar for 6a
7. Six pieces of wood of increasing length, suspended on a string
8. Tin with nineteen tacks
9. Sainsbury’s plastic egg container (cut in half) plus a comb and a 6d coin
2. Indian bird warbler
3. Indian bird warbler
4. Woolworth’s egg slicer (minus the plastic half), plucked with a plastic ball point pen top
5. Two bayonet cap incandescent light bulbs (the prongs held between thumb and index finger)
6. Egg whisk plus a glass jar for 6a
7. Six pieces of wood of increasing length, suspended on a string
8. Tin with nineteen tacks
9. Sainsbury’s plastic egg container (cut in half) plus a comb and a 6d coin
Note: Since 1969, there have been many changes. Woolworth’s has gone (other brands are available); Sainsbury’s egg containers may now be cardboard (improvise with other brittle plastic containers); little wooden bird warblers are more difficult to find (plastic ones will do); incandescent tungsten light bulbs have been phased out, but some do still survive; following decimalisation, sixpenny pieces are probably best replaced with 20p coins. Please improvise as necessary to replicate the imagined sound of the original instruments!
MOON IS OUR BREATHING
for chamber ensemble (and second version for orchestra)
In 1981 I wrote Moonshadows, a song cycle for mezzo soprano and chamber ensemble, which used poems by the Belfast-born poet Joseph Campbell (1879-1944) and I have returned to Campbell’s poetry for this piece.
Symbols of light, such as the moon and the sun, figure prominently in Campbell’s poetry; his poems are outstanding for their simplicity and sincerity, their lyricism, their clarity of image and economy of symbolic allusion.
The form and content of the piece were suggested by Campbell’s poem Antiphon: At Bealtaine (Earth of Cualann, 1917).
Symbols of light, such as the moon and the sun, figure prominently in Campbell’s poetry; his poems are outstanding for their simplicity and sincerity, their lyricism, their clarity of image and economy of symbolic allusion.
The form and content of the piece were suggested by Campbell’s poem Antiphon: At Bealtaine (Earth of Cualann, 1917).
A
gentle refrain increases in intensity as it first introduces, then
intersperses and finally concludes a sequence of four songs. Each song
is based on a Campbell poem with strong coloured images: green buds;
mirror of blood; cold and white; a green field and a bloody dream.
The piece exists in two versions: the original chamber music setting for string quintet, wind quintet and percussion; and this revised version for a performance given by the Ulster Orchestra, conducted by Simon Joly, in March 1989.
The work was commissioned by Colman Pearce for a concert given as part of Carroll’s Summer Music series by the Ulysses Ensemble, conducted by Colman Pearce, on 21 May 1985.
David Byers, January 1989.
The piece exists in two versions: the original chamber music setting for string quintet, wind quintet and percussion; and this revised version for a performance given by the Ulster Orchestra, conducted by Simon Joly, in March 1989.
The work was commissioned by Colman Pearce for a concert given as part of Carroll’s Summer Music series by the Ulysses Ensemble, conducted by Colman Pearce, on 21 May 1985.
David Byers, January 1989.
The illustration, by Joseph Campbell's brother, John Campbell, first appeared in Four Irish Songs by Charlotte Milligan Fox, published in 1906 by Maunsel and Co., Ltd, Dublin.
MOONSHADOWS
for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble
Tarot cards spell out the moon as the reflected light of subconsciousness - implying dreams, intuition and deception.
As a symbol, the moon is the common property of so many across the world. For the Irish it was something special: one of the two great festivals of ancient times, that of November Eve, was sacred to the moon. "O moon; leave us well as thou has found us!" was a prayer to the new moon.
Something of this superstition along with layers of symbolism is found in the poetry of Joseph Campbell who was born in Belfast in 1879.
Moonshadows, a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble, sets nine poems by Campbell which contrast naivety with intuitive reflections.
The 20 minute work, commissioned by the Sonorities Festival, was written for performance by Linda Hirst with Lontano, directed by Odaline de la Martinez, at Sonorities, Northern Ireland's Festival of 20th Century Music, April 1981.
The first complete performance was given by Elaine Barry with Lontano at the St Bartholomew's Festival, London, on 24 June 1982.
As a symbol, the moon is the common property of so many across the world. For the Irish it was something special: one of the two great festivals of ancient times, that of November Eve, was sacred to the moon. "O moon; leave us well as thou has found us!" was a prayer to the new moon.
Something of this superstition along with layers of symbolism is found in the poetry of Joseph Campbell who was born in Belfast in 1879.
Moonshadows, a song cycle for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble, sets nine poems by Campbell which contrast naivety with intuitive reflections.
The 20 minute work, commissioned by the Sonorities Festival, was written for performance by Linda Hirst with Lontano, directed by Odaline de la Martinez, at Sonorities, Northern Ireland's Festival of 20th Century Music, April 1981.
The first complete performance was given by Elaine Barry with Lontano at the St Bartholomew's Festival, London, on 24 June 1982.
OUT OF THE NIGHT
orchestra
Out of the night was commissioned for its USA tour in 1991 by the Ulster Orchestra Society Limited with the financial assistance of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The first performance was given in Binghamton, New York State, on 25 January 1992 when the Ulster Orchestra was conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier.
The cover illustration for Out of the night is by John Campbell. It was first published in Songs of Uladh, Herbert Hughes's 1904 collection,
published in Belfast by William Mullan and in Dublin by M.H. Gill
and Co. There it illustrated a song entitled The Festival of Tears.
There were two things which gave this piece its initial impetus.
One was Seamus Heaney’s poem The Given Note, published in his 1969 collection, Door into the Dark; the other was the forthcoming bicentenary of the 1792 Belfast Harpers’ Festival when the remnants of a then dying tradition, ten Irish harpers and one Welsh harper, played and sang for three days while a young church organist, Edward Bunting, transcribed as much of the music as he could.
These harpers were the sorry remnants of what, centuries earlier, had been the aristocratic and respected musicians of the Gaelic courts.
Half-remembered medieval music of the bardic poets was now reshaped or more often replaced by the fashionable Italianate music of the 17th and 18th centuries and published by Bunting in piano arrangements for 19th century drawing rooms.
Out of the night seeks to give meaning to something dimly recognised, half-remembered; an interpretation always open to misinterpretation. On a purely musical level, it is a quest for Heaney’s ‘spirit music’ in the recesses of one of Bunting’s tunes.
David Byers, October 1991.
One was Seamus Heaney’s poem The Given Note, published in his 1969 collection, Door into the Dark; the other was the forthcoming bicentenary of the 1792 Belfast Harpers’ Festival when the remnants of a then dying tradition, ten Irish harpers and one Welsh harper, played and sang for three days while a young church organist, Edward Bunting, transcribed as much of the music as he could.
These harpers were the sorry remnants of what, centuries earlier, had been the aristocratic and respected musicians of the Gaelic courts.
Half-remembered medieval music of the bardic poets was now reshaped or more often replaced by the fashionable Italianate music of the 17th and 18th centuries and published by Bunting in piano arrangements for 19th century drawing rooms.
Out of the night seeks to give meaning to something dimly recognised, half-remembered; an interpretation always open to misinterpretation. On a purely musical level, it is a quest for Heaney’s ‘spirit music’ in the recesses of one of Bunting’s tunes.
David Byers, October 1991.
SAINT COLUMBA AND THE CRANE
tuba and pre-recorded tape
This Nō play for tuba and pre-recorded tape is dedicated to Hilary Bracefield.
Helen Waddell’s gentle story of Saint Columba and the Crane from her collection of Beasts and Saints, Constable and Co. Ltd., 1934, is translated from Adamnan’s Vita S. Columbae which was written about 690.
I associate ornithological cranes with those birds frequently depicted in Chinese water colours. The resulting juxtaposition of East and West seemed to highlight both the dichotomy and the universality of the story with its contrasts and inter-relationships between the concerned monk and the exhausted bird from the North of Ireland.
The piece is based on a Japanese kagura melody which has been preserved in flute notation and which dates from the later Heian period (897-1185).
The pre-recorded tape/CD uses the sounds of traditional flutes from around the world.
The performance should be simply presented, preferably in darkened surroundings with a single spotlight on the tuba player.
The piece was commissioned by Sonorities, Northern Ireland's Festival of 20th Century Music, for a workshop performance given on 27 April 1985 by Melvyn Poore.
David Byers, Belfast 1985.
Helen Waddell’s gentle story of Saint Columba and the Crane from her collection of Beasts and Saints, Constable and Co. Ltd., 1934, is translated from Adamnan’s Vita S. Columbae which was written about 690.
I associate ornithological cranes with those birds frequently depicted in Chinese water colours. The resulting juxtaposition of East and West seemed to highlight both the dichotomy and the universality of the story with its contrasts and inter-relationships between the concerned monk and the exhausted bird from the North of Ireland.
The piece is based on a Japanese kagura melody which has been preserved in flute notation and which dates from the later Heian period (897-1185).
The pre-recorded tape/CD uses the sounds of traditional flutes from around the world.
The performance should be simply presented, preferably in darkened surroundings with a single spotlight on the tuba player.
The piece was commissioned by Sonorities, Northern Ireland's Festival of 20th Century Music, for a workshop performance given on 27 April 1985 by Melvyn Poore.
David Byers, Belfast 1985.
ECCE ORFEO - TOCCATA e MADRIGALE
for orchestra
In Greek Legend, and as recounted by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, Orpheus was the bard in ancient Thrace whose playing on the lyre or lute "made trees and the mountain tops that freeze, bow themselves when he did sing."
When his wife Euridice died, he went to Hades to bring her back; his playing so impressed Pluto that he allowed Euridice to follow Orpheus out of Hades - on condition that Orpheus wouldn't look back at her.
He did - and Euridice had to return to Hades. Orpheus's grief so infuriated the Thracian women that they tore him to pieces. His severed head sang on ... and with the help of Phoebus, Orpheus "passed beneath the earth" and found happiness with Euridice.
When his wife Euridice died, he went to Hades to bring her back; his playing so impressed Pluto that he allowed Euridice to follow Orpheus out of Hades - on condition that Orpheus wouldn't look back at her.
He did - and Euridice had to return to Hades. Orpheus's grief so infuriated the Thracian women that they tore him to pieces. His severed head sang on ... and with the help of Phoebus, Orpheus "passed beneath the earth" and found happiness with Euridice.
The legend has fascinated writers, dramatists and composers over the
years. Monteverdi, Gluck, Liszt, Offenbach, Stravinsky and Harrison
Birtwistle, amongst others, have all written music inspired by Orpheus.
My two little Orpheus pieces take Ovid's story and Monteverdi's opera as their starting point.
The Toccata is a prelude marking the death of Orpheus: not the regal flamboyant opening toccata of Monteverdi's opera but a "touching" as of stones in the hands of the Thracian women.
The Madrigale takes words from the chorus at the end of Act One of Monteverdi's opera - Ecco Orfeo (Behold Orpheus - so sad a short time ago, now so happy) - and applies them to a later episode: Orpheus is walking with Euridice in Hades after his death and recognising places he's been before. The music is based on a short phrase of recitative from Orfeo when Orpheus first learns of Euridice's death - Addio terra, addio cielo, e sole, addio (Farewell earth, heaven and sun) - and it is quoted in the opening pages.
These orchestral pieces were commissioned by the Ulster Youth Orchestra with financial assistance from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
David Byers
My two little Orpheus pieces take Ovid's story and Monteverdi's opera as their starting point.
The Toccata is a prelude marking the death of Orpheus: not the regal flamboyant opening toccata of Monteverdi's opera but a "touching" as of stones in the hands of the Thracian women.
The Madrigale takes words from the chorus at the end of Act One of Monteverdi's opera - Ecco Orfeo (Behold Orpheus - so sad a short time ago, now so happy) - and applies them to a later episode: Orpheus is walking with Euridice in Hades after his death and recognising places he's been before. The music is based on a short phrase of recitative from Orfeo when Orpheus first learns of Euridice's death - Addio terra, addio cielo, e sole, addio (Farewell earth, heaven and sun) - and it is quoted in the opening pages.
These orchestral pieces were commissioned by the Ulster Youth Orchestra with financial assistance from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
David Byers
THE JOURNEY OF THE MAGI
string quartet
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
T.S.Eliot (The Journey of the Magi)
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
T.S.Eliot (The Journey of the Magi)
The Journey of the Magi was written towards the end of 1990 for the Britten String Quartet. At the time I had just revised Canto, a flute piece first written twenty years earlier and I was preoccupied with how my writing had changed and continues to change over the years. This, alongside the idea of a new work marking seventy years of the BMS, seems to have encouraged the idea of retrospection.
In 1981 I wrote a work for the Arditti String Quartet which also had a T S Eliot title, At the Still Point of the Turning World. This piece had contrasted calm and bustle, aiming to achieve some sort of co-existence between the two.
In 1981 I wrote a work for the Arditti String Quartet which also had a T S Eliot title, At the Still Point of the Turning World. This piece had contrasted calm and bustle, aiming to achieve some sort of co-existence between the two.
Detail from a mosaic, c.526 AD, in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy.
Photo by Nina Aldin Thune.
Photo by Nina Aldin Thune.
Nine years on, the musical processes have become simpler, more direct and my concerns are perhaps best summed up in the adage, "To travel hopefully is better than to arrive”.
The calm and bustle of the earlier work are replaced by an attempt to reconcile the inevitability of journeys, whether of musical progressions or of life itself, and the supposed freedom of the individual with his unique ability to shape his own destiny.
The music is based on a plainsong melody taken from the twelfth century liturgical drama The Play of Herod. The words set to it in the original play (Herod questioning the Magi) seemed to carry resonances with so many current concerns.
Quae rerum novitas
The calm and bustle of the earlier work are replaced by an attempt to reconcile the inevitability of journeys, whether of musical progressions or of life itself, and the supposed freedom of the individual with his unique ability to shape his own destiny.
The music is based on a plainsong melody taken from the twelfth century liturgical drama The Play of Herod. The words set to it in the original play (Herod questioning the Magi) seemed to carry resonances with so many current concerns.
Quae rerum novitas
What novelty or cause prompted you to attempt an unknown journey?
Where are you going? Of what race are you?
What is your home? Do you bring peace or war?
Where are you going? Of what race are you?
What is your home? Do you bring peace or war?
The
shape of the piece is best explained as three songs (for cello, for
viola, and for two violins respectively) enclosed by four refrains. All
seven sections are variations on the plainsong melody and the final
refrain comes closest to being a statement of the original plainsong.
The Journey of Magi was commissioned by the Belfast Music Society to mark its 70th anniversary. The commission was made possible with financial assistance from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
The Journey of Magi was commissioned by the Belfast Music Society to mark its 70th anniversary. The commission was made possible with financial assistance from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
PIBROCH: DUNFERMLING RUNE
a pipe tune for the organ
This piece is based on the Common tune Dunfermline (‘Dunfermling’ in the Scottish Psalter of 1635) said, to have been written by the ‘good and meike’ John Angus (c.1515 - c.1597), a precentor of Dunfermline Abbey, who joined the early reformers.
The psalm tune only once appears as such (and fleetingly at that!) – but it provides a wealth of melodic and harmonic ideas which form the substance of the piece.
The theme (urlar) is presented with much decoration as if by a Gaelic precentor and, if this analogy is to be pursued, the first variation is a rendition by a large but subdued congregation – droners and all.
The next variation is the psalm "in reports" with some "lining" from the precentor.
A pedal solo introduces the third variation, a strongly martial and Presbyterian approach in which only a few graces survive.
The penultimate variation (faburden) is a return to the gently "graced" atmosphere of the opening. This is followed by a simplified restatement of the theme (siubhal) which provides a bridge passage into the final variation (creanluidh) for full organ.
Dunfermling Rune was given its first performance by Norman Finlay on 13 July 1978 at a recital in Dunfermline Abbey.
David Byers, July 1978
The theme (urlar) is presented with much decoration as if by a Gaelic precentor and, if this analogy is to be pursued, the first variation is a rendition by a large but subdued congregation – droners and all.
The next variation is the psalm "in reports" with some "lining" from the precentor.
A pedal solo introduces the third variation, a strongly martial and Presbyterian approach in which only a few graces survive.
The penultimate variation (faburden) is a return to the gently "graced" atmosphere of the opening. This is followed by a simplified restatement of the theme (siubhal) which provides a bridge passage into the final variation (creanluidh) for full organ.
Dunfermling Rune was given its first performance by Norman Finlay on 13 July 1978 at a recital in Dunfermline Abbey.
David Byers, July 1978
WILLIAM COWPER: HIS DELIGHT
chamber ensemble
William Cowper: His Delight is based on the tune Newtoun from the Scottish Psalter of 1635. The tune became somewhat altered over the years. It's now known as London New, and it's often sung to a hymn of William Cowper (pronounced Cooper): God moves in a mysterious way.
William Cowper (1731-1800) was a humanitarian poet concerned with simple everyday things.
He was a humorist, well able to write an ode On THE DEATH of Mrs. (now Lady) Throckmorton’s BULFINCH (sic), and also a hymn writer who expressed himself in an unusually personal way (O for a closer walk with God).
Cowper’s constitution, however, was unable to match his intellectual questionings and the emotional stresses of the new evangelical thinking then current in England.
Throughout his life, likely marriages failed to materialise because of his periods of depression and madness – all at odds with the light-hearted warmth and humanity of his verse.
This work, for three spatially separated instrumental groups, was suggested by the paradoxical nature of William Cowper and in particular his relationship to the society of his time.
He was a humorist, well able to write an ode On THE DEATH of Mrs. (now Lady) Throckmorton’s BULFINCH (sic), and also a hymn writer who expressed himself in an unusually personal way (O for a closer walk with God).
Cowper’s constitution, however, was unable to match his intellectual questionings and the emotional stresses of the new evangelical thinking then current in England.
Throughout his life, likely marriages failed to materialise because of his periods of depression and madness – all at odds with the light-hearted warmth and humanity of his verse.
This work, for three spatially separated instrumental groups, was suggested by the paradoxical nature of William Cowper and in particular his relationship to the society of his time.
SOUNDING THE CITY: THE RIVER LAGAN
for orchestra and brass band
The Lagan is a river I’ve known all my life, from schooldays - when it was appallingly dirty and its smell was only bettered by that of the markets with their lorry-loads of frightened cattle! - to now, when it’s become a symbol of regeneration.
This orchestral piece is a short journey in my time-travelling bubble up the Lagan; a day-dream, perhaps hinting at a few sights and sounds and buildings and events across the years.
This orchestral piece is a short journey in my time-travelling bubble up the Lagan; a day-dream, perhaps hinting at a few sights and sounds and buildings and events across the years.
The music is based on a traditional tune, often sung to the old ballad Belfast Town (also known as Mary of the Lagan Side),
No.45 in the Sam Henry Collection. Having provided all the melodic and
harmonic material, it finally reveals itself in the closing bars.
It would have been good to use the song My Lagan Love, but I’ve always been led to believe that the Lagan in that song was actually in Donegal! Can someone please confirm if that’s correct?
David Byers, 13 October 2002, Belfast
It would have been good to use the song My Lagan Love, but I’ve always been led to believe that the Lagan in that song was actually in Donegal! Can someone please confirm if that’s correct?
David Byers, 13 October 2002, Belfast
Another fine illustration by John Campbell, first published in Songs of Uladh, Herbert Hughes's 1904 collection.
TRIPTYCH
for viola and piano
From the Penn Libraries, Philadelphia (call number: Inc B-720), this is a hand-coloured woodcut illustration of Ulysses' return to Penelope, from an incunable German translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel of Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris, printed by Johannes Zainer at Ulm, ca. 1474.
This copy, from Kladcat's photostream on Flickr, is used courtesy of a Creative Commons Licence.
This copy, from Kladcat's photostream on Flickr, is used courtesy of a Creative Commons Licence.
As the title suggests, Triptych was conceived visually and is in three main sections.
The central Madonna is the mythological Penelope undergoing temptation; The Departure of Ulysses is the first side panel and The Return is the second side panel or closing section.
Beethoven’s warning words also apply in this instance, “More an expression of feeling rather than a painting”.
The Departure is based on material derived from a succession of minor 7ths and major 6ths. The central section falls into two parts, based on perfect 5ths and minor 6ths, and perfect 5ths and major 3rds respectively. The Return is based on major and minor 3rds.
Musically, Thomas Moore would have described the work as a Melologue: “that mixture of recitation and music which is frequently adopted in the performance of Collin’s Ode on the Passions”.
The central Madonna is the mythological Penelope undergoing temptation; The Departure of Ulysses is the first side panel and The Return is the second side panel or closing section.
Beethoven’s warning words also apply in this instance, “More an expression of feeling rather than a painting”.
The Departure is based on material derived from a succession of minor 7ths and major 6ths. The central section falls into two parts, based on perfect 5ths and minor 6ths, and perfect 5ths and major 3rds respectively. The Return is based on major and minor 3rds.
Musically, Thomas Moore would have described the work as a Melologue: “that mixture of recitation and music which is frequently adopted in the performance of Collin’s Ode on the Passions”.
SEGUE
soprano and chamber ensemble
Segue is a song cycle which uses lullabies and poems to contrast the blissful ignorance of a babe-in-arms with the troubles (real and imaginary) of the juvenile and adult world.
The sequence of seven short movements is played without a break and alternates three traditional lullaby texts with stanzas from poems by Nora Hopper, W.B. Yeats and Katherine Tynan.
The work is based on a sequence of intervals derived from the chanson Le Temps des Cerises. This sequence, in turn, has generated harmonic nets which give the work its particular sound world.
Segue was commissioned by Concorde with funds provided by the Irish Arts Council. The cycle is dedicated to the composer’s wife in celebration of the birth of a son.
The sequence of seven short movements is played without a break and alternates three traditional lullaby texts with stanzas from poems by Nora Hopper, W.B. Yeats and Katherine Tynan.
The work is based on a sequence of intervals derived from the chanson Le Temps des Cerises. This sequence, in turn, has generated harmonic nets which give the work its particular sound world.
Segue was commissioned by Concorde with funds provided by the Irish Arts Council. The cycle is dedicated to the composer’s wife in celebration of the birth of a son.
DRAGONS - A Little Organ Book for St. George
organ
This little set of not too serious pieces was written in
January 1979 for the rebuilt organ of St. George’s Parish Church, High
Street, Belfast and was given its first performance by Norman Finlay.
The work is based on material derived from the tune Newtoun from the Scottish Psalter of 1635. Each movement (except the outer ones) explores two intervals.
The work is based on material derived from the tune Newtoun from the Scottish Psalter of 1635. Each movement (except the outer ones) explores two intervals.
Kingdom of Bhutan – stamp for the Lunar new year of the Dragon, 2000.
In the early 19th century, composer Samuel Wesley published Twelve (really Thirteen) Pieces.
With inflation, devaluation and recession, Dragons consists of eight (really seven) pieces.
The movement titles are:
With inflation, devaluation and recession, Dragons consists of eight (really seven) pieces.
The movement titles are:
Ye dragons and ye deeps
... and with his spikes
an old flame (the Dragon that cried)
Gonrad’s Quadrille
Puff the magic
no smoke without
dragging on ...
... and on (Ye dragons and ye deeps)
... and with his spikes
an old flame (the Dragon that cried)
Gonrad’s Quadrille
Puff the magic
no smoke without
dragging on ...
... and on (Ye dragons and ye deeps)
AT THE STILL POINT OF THE TURNING WORLD
string quartet
With the realisation that recent pieces had been increasingly romantic, this piece for string quartet provided the opportunity to reappraise the artefacts of my musical vocabulary.
Extra-musical stimuli which helped to shape the piece were provided by Christopher Simpson’s The Analogy of Musical Concords to the Aspects of the Planets (in The Division Viol, 1659) and Burnt Norton from T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets; this latter being the source of the title.
The Quartet is in one movement.
It was commissioned for the Arditti Quartet by the Dublin Festival of 20th Century Music and was performed by the Quartet on 7 January 1982.
Extra-musical stimuli which helped to shape the piece were provided by Christopher Simpson’s The Analogy of Musical Concords to the Aspects of the Planets (in The Division Viol, 1659) and Burnt Norton from T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets; this latter being the source of the title.
The Quartet is in one movement.
It was commissioned for the Arditti Quartet by the Dublin Festival of 20th Century Music and was performed by the Quartet on 7 January 1982.
RH pic from Christopher Simpson's The Division Viol, 1659
IN NOMINE
organ
In Elizabethan times it became fashionable to base works
on the in nomine section of the Sanctus from Taverner’s Mass Gloria tibi
Trinitas and such a work was called an In nomine.
John Taverner himself set the trend by making a keyboard transcription of this section of his Mass and the resulting fashion lasted until the end of the seventeenth century.
Writing of the Taverner piece, Francis Routh has suggested that the plainsong which is given in long notes in the alto part ‘presents a certain structural unity and implied harmonic richness of the melodic contour, with an apex in the second half. Thus was Taverner able to avoid that structural fragmentation, which, together with a lack of tonal variety, is the besetting problem of the organ composer – of this, or indeed of any period’.
John Taverner himself set the trend by making a keyboard transcription of this section of his Mass and the resulting fashion lasted until the end of the seventeenth century.
Writing of the Taverner piece, Francis Routh has suggested that the plainsong which is given in long notes in the alto part ‘presents a certain structural unity and implied harmonic richness of the melodic contour, with an apex in the second half. Thus was Taverner able to avoid that structural fragmentation, which, together with a lack of tonal variety, is the besetting problem of the organ composer – of this, or indeed of any period’.
That statement seems to be both a recipe and a challenge!
This specific In nomine should be played on uncoupled and quietly voiced flute stops of closely matching quality.
II should ideally be a little softer than I (e.g. I Gt. 8’ Stopped Diapason, II Sw. 8’ Lieblich Gedackt). In many cases appropriate pedal stops of the required pitch may best be coupled from the Choir.
The work was written for Norman Finlay who gave the first performance on 1 July 1980 in the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, as part of the First Dublin International Organ Festival.
This specific In nomine should be played on uncoupled and quietly voiced flute stops of closely matching quality.
II should ideally be a little softer than I (e.g. I Gt. 8’ Stopped Diapason, II Sw. 8’ Lieblich Gedackt). In many cases appropriate pedal stops of the required pitch may best be coupled from the Choir.
The work was written for Norman Finlay who gave the first performance on 1 July 1980 in the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, as part of the First Dublin International Organ Festival.
VERSES
organ
Prelude: the perpetual round; In nomine; Mr. Finlay’s Fancy
In Elizabethan times, the term ‘Verse’ was
interchangeable with ‘Voluntary’ or ‘Fancy’ and simply meant an organ
piece – the derivation being from the custom of alternating organ and
chant in the Latin rite.
The titles of these verses are also Elizabethan: a reference to some of the compositional procedures therein and not meant to refer to any other piece with the same title.
The titles of these verses are also Elizabethan: a reference to some of the compositional procedures therein and not meant to refer to any other piece with the same title.
The Prelude’s ‘round’ is a tightly organised sequence of notes which creates circles of melodic material; the music moves from self-conscious statement to total absorption.
A more private but equally ecstatic mood is contained in the In nomine. This is based (as was traditional) on the in nomine section of the Sanctus from John Taverner’s Mass Gloria tibi Trinitas.
Mr. Finlay’s Fancy provides an appropriately toccata-like tailpiece.
A more private but equally ecstatic mood is contained in the In nomine. This is based (as was traditional) on the in nomine section of the Sanctus from John Taverner’s Mass Gloria tibi Trinitas.
Mr. Finlay’s Fancy provides an appropriately toccata-like tailpiece.
The In nomine was premièred by Norman Finlay at the First
Dublin International Organ Festival, 1 July 1980, and he gave the first
performance of the complete work, Verses, at the Heiliggeistkirche, Heidelberg,
Germany on 11 July 1982.
The first Irish performance, also given by Norman Finlay, was in St. Michael’s Church, Dun Laoghaire, on 17 July 1983. On that occasion, the score was slightly adapted for an organ restricted to a compass of four and a half octaves (i.e. to top G only).
The first Irish performance, also given by Norman Finlay, was in St. Michael’s Church, Dun Laoghaire, on 17 July 1983. On that occasion, the score was slightly adapted for an organ restricted to a compass of four and a half octaves (i.e. to top G only).
DECADOPHONY
duet for two organs
The score of Decadophony is prefaced by some lines written in 1692 by Nicholas Brady about the organ (courtesy of Henry Purcell!):
... by thy Laws of true proportion join'd
Made up of various Parts one perfect Harmony.
Wondrous Machine!
Made up of various Parts one perfect Harmony.
Wondrous Machine!
Dodecaphony is a term applied to composition with twelve notes.
Decadophony is an arguably less painful infection - metric and, just occasionally, imperial.
The music is in ten sections - a conceit rather than compulsive enumeration for the listener - and any sign of decadence (defined as cultural demoralisation) is unintentional!
Decadophony was commissioned by the 4th Lord Dunleath (1933-1993) for the tenth anniversary of Music in May and is dedicated to him.
Decadophony is an arguably less painful infection - metric and, just occasionally, imperial.
The music is in ten sections - a conceit rather than compulsive enumeration for the listener - and any sign of decadence (defined as cultural demoralisation) is unintentional!
Decadophony was commissioned by the 4th Lord Dunleath (1933-1993) for the tenth anniversary of Music in May and is dedicated to him.
The illustration above is © Marcus Patton and it was the centrepiece of a poster he designed for a BBC Invitation Concert in the Ulster Hall, Belfast, on 2 November 1993 with Jane Watts, organ, and the Ulster Orchestra, cond. James Lockhart.
EPIPHANIES
suite for unaccompanied violin
This piece, like two other contemporaneous works (William
Cowper: His Delight and Dragons), is based on a melody from the Scottish
Psalter of 1635: in this case the tune known as Martyrs.
There are five short movements: not variations on the tune but explorations of different aspects of the melody; a look at conventional musical material out of its ‘normal’ context.
Epiphanies was premièred at the 1980 Dublin Festival of 20th Century Music by Thérèse Timoney.
There are five short movements: not variations on the tune but explorations of different aspects of the melody; a look at conventional musical material out of its ‘normal’ context.
Epiphanies was premièred at the 1980 Dublin Festival of 20th Century Music by Thérèse Timoney.
CALIBAN'S MASQUE
for wind band
For many years I have prized a copy of Sir J. Noel Paton's Compositions from Shakespeare's Tempest (1845).
When invited to write a piece for the Western Youth Wind Orchestra several factors seemed to gel simultaneously:
(i) Paton's drawings,
(ii) the Masque which occurs in Act IV of The Tempest, or in my case an anti-masque in which (according to Grove V) 'the antimasquers move more romantically and picturesquely and the music reflects accurately the intention of the text, which generally began with a classical subject and then ridiculed it through the portraiture of some antipathetic contemporary aspect of low life or common rumour',
(iii) the inconsistent and pathetic character of Caliban, a 'savage and deformed slave'.
In the score, each of the three movements is prefaced by the appropriate Paton illustration and the relevant Tempest quotation.
When invited to write a piece for the Western Youth Wind Orchestra several factors seemed to gel simultaneously:
(i) Paton's drawings,
(ii) the Masque which occurs in Act IV of The Tempest, or in my case an anti-masque in which (according to Grove V) 'the antimasquers move more romantically and picturesquely and the music reflects accurately the intention of the text, which generally began with a classical subject and then ridiculed it through the portraiture of some antipathetic contemporary aspect of low life or common rumour',
(iii) the inconsistent and pathetic character of Caliban, a 'savage and deformed slave'.
In the score, each of the three movements is prefaced by the appropriate Paton illustration and the relevant Tempest quotation.
Peruvian painting on glass
'The foul Witch, Sycorax, who with age and envy was grown into a hoop' is a movement in which, time permitting, the ideas might recur endlessly.
'Be not afeard, the Isle is full of noises, / Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not' is a sort of rondo in which the episodes become increasingly longer and a recurring subject is replaced with snippets from John Banister's setting of Ariel's song Full Fathom Five from a 1667 production of The Tempest.
After thoughts of Caliban's mother Sycorax and the airy spirit Ariel, the last movement is Caliban's own:
'But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i' th' mire,
Nor lead me like a firebrand in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid 'em ...'
'Be not afeard, the Isle is full of noises, / Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not' is a sort of rondo in which the episodes become increasingly longer and a recurring subject is replaced with snippets from John Banister's setting of Ariel's song Full Fathom Five from a 1667 production of The Tempest.
After thoughts of Caliban's mother Sycorax and the airy spirit Ariel, the last movement is Caliban's own:
'But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i' th' mire,
Nor lead me like a firebrand in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid 'em ...'
PHOLYPONY
wind quintet
Subtitled ‘a game for wind quintet’ this piece is,
nonetheless, non-competitive and was written for a composition workshop
in Dublin in 1975.
The players are provided with twelve inter-related sections and, following a specified procedure, they (the players) determine the order of performance. Because of the rules laid down (i.e. the actual game), this order will always involve repetition of some, if not all, of these sections; so the overall shape or structure of the piece is highly variable - though always subject to limits as to which section may follow which.
The players are provided with twelve inter-related sections and, following a specified procedure, they (the players) determine the order of performance. Because of the rules laid down (i.e. the actual game), this order will always involve repetition of some, if not all, of these sections; so the overall shape or structure of the piece is highly variable - though always subject to limits as to which section may follow which.
The piece is prefaced with some lines from W.B. Yeats:
I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wove it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.
(Responsibilities, 1914)
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat;
But the fools caught it,
Wove it in the world’s eyes
As though they’d wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there’s more enterprise
In walking naked.
(Responsibilities, 1914)
THINGUMMY-JIG
for wind quintet
Thingummy-jig began life as a straightforward arrangement for wind quintet of The Favorite Overture to Peleus and Thetis As Perform’d with Universal Applause at the Theatre ROYAL Crow Street [Dublin] by T. Cooke, based on the version for piano published in Dublin by [Maurice] Hime’s Musical Ciculating Library, 34 College Green, Dublin.The British Library gives Hime’s publication of Cooke’s overture as likely being in 1802, the year of the first performance of Cooke's work.
That arrangement of Cooke’s overture was premièred by the Ulster Soloists’ Ensemble at a St Patrick’s Night concert at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in 1971.
That arrangement of Cooke’s overture was premièred by the Ulster Soloists’ Ensemble at a St Patrick’s Night concert at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in 1971.
The score was completely revised, reworked, rewritten, re-envisioned, re-everythinged in Liège in January 1973, becoming much more than an arrangement! Subsequently, with some minor editing, the handwritten score and parts were digitised using music notation software in May 2012.
T. Cooke was the Dublin born composer, singer, teacher, orchestral leader and conductor.
For more details on Thomas Simpson Cooke's overture please see the feature, Cooking with traditional Irish dance tunes on this website.
T. Cooke was the Dublin born composer, singer, teacher, orchestral leader and conductor.
For more details on Thomas Simpson Cooke's overture please see the feature, Cooking with traditional Irish dance tunes on this website.
For one of
his benefit nights at Drury Lane Cooke played on the flute, oboe, clarinet,
horn and bassoon, plus the violin, cello, double bass and piano! Years
earlier, in 1803, he had shown off in the same manner in Dublin, this
time on flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, viola, cello, pedal harp and
piano.
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857) described ‘the modest and diffident Mr Tom Cooke, who played on eight different instruments for his own benefit. I am sure it was neither benefit or pleasure to anyone else. This person writes new overtures to all the operas which are imported to our stage, beginning generally with chords, and ending with an Irish jig, and this he calls composition.’
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857) described ‘the modest and diffident Mr Tom Cooke, who played on eight different instruments for his own benefit. I am sure it was neither benefit or pleasure to anyone else. This person writes new overtures to all the operas which are imported to our stage, beginning generally with chords, and ending with an Irish jig, and this he calls composition.’
In Thingummy-jig I have endeavoured to capitalise on Cooke’s wit and versatility. The work is dedicated to Dorothy Byers.
All of Cooke’s original material, including repeats, has been retained, with the exception of some 14 bars of cadential meandering at the end of the introduction (headed Adagio Maestoso by Cooke). The main body of the work (beginning at letter E in my score) is entitled Medley and marked Allegro. The short coda, also marked Allegro in the original, was entitled Bugle Horn by Cooke. The permission of the Trustees of the British Library is acknowledged for the use of the original pianoforte arrangement (g.1 37.22).
All of Cooke’s original material, including repeats, has been retained, with the exception of some 14 bars of cadential meandering at the end of the introduction (headed Adagio Maestoso by Cooke). The main body of the work (beginning at letter E in my score) is entitled Medley and marked Allegro. The short coda, also marked Allegro in the original, was entitled Bugle Horn by Cooke. The permission of the Trustees of the British Library is acknowledged for the use of the original pianoforte arrangement (g.1 37.22).
STRANGE HELLS
for choir and solo cello
Strange Hells was commissioned by the Ulster Youth Choir, conductor Greg Beardsell, for a concert with David McCann, cello, in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, on 8 August 2014, marking the centenary of the outbreak of World War I.
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Strange Hells - the poem texts.pdf Size : 278.658 Kb Type : pdf |
I have chosen three poems
by soldiers who experienced the dreadful realities of war, serving in
the trenches. Each poet offered a revealing and unexpectedly different
perspective. The texts of the poems are given in the PDF on the left.
The Australian, Frederic Manning, recalled his wartime existence in a remarkable novel, Her Privates We. His short poem, Grotesque, is one of bitterness and disillusionment. War’s suffering cannot be concealed by patriotic songs – my cue to base the setting on one of the popular soldiers’ songs of the day.
In contrast, is the remarkable humanity of Francis Ledwidge’s poem, written on the wooden cross of a fallen German officer at Ypres in July 1917, shortly before Ledwidge himself was killed. Here was an Irishman from Co Meath, serving in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, seeking the good in everyone, whatever side they were on. Ledwidge was an Irish nationalist, a friend of Thomas MacDonagh who had been executed by the British for his part in the Easter Rising of 1916. The disillusioned Ledwidge fought on, united with the British against the greater foe.
The simple setting is based on a troped introit, Multae tribulationes justorum (Many are the afflictions of the just), from the 10th century Mass for St Kilian. Kilian, born in Mullagh, Co Cavan, was a 7th century missionary to the Franks (the predecessors of the Germans and Dutch) at Würzburg. He was martyred there around 690 and is the patron saint of Würzburg Cathedral.
The E flat major chord is a nod to the river in Wagner's Das Rheingold!
In contrast, is the remarkable humanity of Francis Ledwidge’s poem, written on the wooden cross of a fallen German officer at Ypres in July 1917, shortly before Ledwidge himself was killed. Here was an Irishman from Co Meath, serving in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, seeking the good in everyone, whatever side they were on. Ledwidge was an Irish nationalist, a friend of Thomas MacDonagh who had been executed by the British for his part in the Easter Rising of 1916. The disillusioned Ledwidge fought on, united with the British against the greater foe.
The simple setting is based on a troped introit, Multae tribulationes justorum (Many are the afflictions of the just), from the 10th century Mass for St Kilian. Kilian, born in Mullagh, Co Cavan, was a 7th century missionary to the Franks (the predecessors of the Germans and Dutch) at Würzburg. He was martyred there around 690 and is the patron saint of Würzburg Cathedral.
The E flat major chord is a nod to the river in Wagner's Das Rheingold!
The third poem, Strange Hells, is by the composer and poet Ivor Gurney. He enlisted with a Gloucester regiment, even though there were already signs of mental illness. He survived the Somme, but was gassed at Passchendaele in April 1917. A couple of months after his discharge from the army in October 1918, Gurney set one of Francis Ledwidge's poems, Desire in Spring, while he was on holiday in Cornwall.
Such joy was short-lived. His mental state deteriorated (he suffered from schizophrenia) and he was committed to an asylum in 1922, dying there in 1937. Strange Hells, dating from 1922, reflects on the camaraderie of war and the terrible sense of post-war rejection, isolation and the lack of a clear identity. The landscape Gurney had fought for is now an inhospitable one. Again, there’s a reference in this poem to music: a popular war-time song whose title, After the war, simply meant ‘never’.
Such joy was short-lived. His mental state deteriorated (he suffered from schizophrenia) and he was committed to an asylum in 1922, dying there in 1937. Strange Hells, dating from 1922, reflects on the camaraderie of war and the terrible sense of post-war rejection, isolation and the lack of a clear identity. The landscape Gurney had fought for is now an inhospitable one. Again, there’s a reference in this poem to music: a popular war-time song whose title, After the war, simply meant ‘never’.
Strange Hells was commissioned by the Ulster Youth Choir with funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Small Grants Programme, a programme awarded through the National Lottery.
David Byers, Belfast, 17 July 2014
David Byers, Belfast, 17 July 2014
KILIAN'S TROPE
for String Quartet
Kilian’s Trope is a bagatelle, a gloss, for string quartet, based on a sequence from the Graduale Herbipolense, printed in Würzburg in 1583.
Over 20 years earlier, the Council of Trent had banned all tropes and most sequences from the Proper and the Ordinary of the Mass.
Despite that, the sequence Adoranda, veneranda was included in the Herbipolense in honour of the 7th century Irish missionary St Kilian from Co Cavan.
That chant, from the Mass for St Kilian, is said to be by the 14th century Johannes Galliculus, and it provides the basis for this little tribute to Raymond Warren.
Over 20 years earlier, the Council of Trent had banned all tropes and most sequences from the Proper and the Ordinary of the Mass.
Despite that, the sequence Adoranda, veneranda was included in the Herbipolense in honour of the 7th century Irish missionary St Kilian from Co Cavan.
That chant, from the Mass for St Kilian, is said to be by the 14th century Johannes Galliculus, and it provides the basis for this little tribute to Raymond Warren.
Kilian and his companions, Colman and Totnan, were based in Würzburg where they converted Duke Gozbert and many of his subjects to Christianity. Unfortunately, Kilian informed the Duke that he had been in contravention of the scriptures when he’d married his brother’s widow, Geilana.
One day, while the Duke was away, the angry (and unconverted) Geilana had all three missionaries beheaded in the main square of Würzburg.
Kilian's Trope was first performed by the Ligeti String Quartet (Mandhira de Saram, Patrick Dawkins (violins), Richard Jones (viola) and Val Welbanks (cello)) on Wednesday 17 July 2019 in the Harty Room, Queen's University, Belfast in a concert celebrating Raymond Warren at 90.
The illustration is of Eadwine, a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury. It’s from the heavily illuminated 12th century Eadwine Psalter now belonging to Trinity College, Cambridge (Accession No. R.17.1, f.283 verso).