Sheet Music: ScoreLetters from a black snake / music: George Palmer ; words: Ned Kelly.by George Palmer (2007)
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Product details
This song cycle was commissioned by Ernst & Young to mark the
opening of a major retrospective of the works of Sidney Nolan,
perhaps Australia's best-known artist, and was performed at the
New South Wales State Art Gallery and the National Gallery of
Victoria. The text is taken from the letters of Ned Kelly,
Australia's most notorious bushranger, who was hanged in
Melbourne Gaol in 1880. Nolan identified himself with Kelly and
painted a series of pictures of episodes in Kelly's saga which
have become icons of Australian art.
The first of the five songs is a short note written by Ned at the
age of 15, seeking the help of a police sergeant in finding work
and introduces himself as the persona 'the black snake' which is
how the townspeople are beginning to characterise him. The last
is a letter to the Governor of Victoria, written hours before Ned
was hanged, in which Ned asks for the release of his mother from
prison and requests that he be buried in consecrated ground. The
letters reveal Ned as an intelligent and resourceful man, despite
a lack of formal education. He can be lyrical, even poetic, and
the next moment almost incoherent with rage.
Published by: Australian Music Centre — 1 facsimile score (33p. -- A4 (portrait))
Duration: 21 mins, 51 sec.
I : To Sergeant Babington -- II. They know I have been wronged -- III: Bullock Creek -- IV : The murder -- V : In conclusion.
Commissioned by Ernst & Young.
Typeset edition.
ISMN: 979-0-720162-41-6
Related products
This work is also available in the following products:
CD: Letters from a Black Snake / songs by George Palmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
- Browse other works for Baritone with piano
- Browse other works by George Palmer
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