Audio Sample
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Performance by Barry Ryan, Jeanell Carrigan from the CD Letters from a Black Snake |
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CD
Letters from a Black Snake / songs by George Palmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Library shelf no. CD 3037 [Available for loan]
Score
Letters from a black snake / music: George Palmer ; words: Ned Kelly.
Library shelf no. 783.88547/PAL 1 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
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.
Work Details
Year: 2007
Instrumentation: Baritone voice, piano.
Duration: 22 min.
Contents note: I : To Sergeant Babington -- II. They know I have been wronged -- III: Bullock Creek -- IV : The murder -- V : In conclusion.
Commission note: Commissioned by Ernst & Young.
Subjects
- Inspired by: Visual arts works
- In the form/style of: Song Cycles
Performances of this work
24 Sep 2023: at Festival of Art Song (Sydney Conservatorium of Music).
30 Apr 2019: at The songs of George Palmer (Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium of Music). Featuring Barry Ryan, Jeanell Carrigan.
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