Sheet Music: ScoreSongs for the moon : for soprano and piano / John Peterson.by John Peterson (2016)
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These songs take their texts from several poets who lived in
quite different parts of the world in order to offer a variety of
perspectives on our relationship with the moon.
The meaning of "Alone and Drinking Under the Moon", extracts of
which are taken from a text by Chinese poet Li Po (AD 701-762),
is quite clear: the narrator sits alone in the moonlight,
drinking wine and ruminating about how, in that experiential
moment, the moon appears as their only friend. I have chosen to
set the text in a two quite different ways: the music for the
opening stanza reflects the languid state of someone under the
influence of wine, but also, in the use of a variety of gestures
and textures in the piano music, offers an evocation of being
'amongst the flowers' (the external world). The music of the
second stanza is quite different, offering an interpretation of
the narrator's mental state (the internal world). Here, the
change in perspective is reflected by a change in harmonic
colour, and the narrator's ruminations about singing and dancing
in an intoxicated state are represented by a gradual increase in
rhythmic activity in the piano music that becomes increasingly
chaotic, bringing the singer/narrator to the brink of collapse.
At this point, the music returns to the languid style of the
opening (external) world, bringing both the listener and the
narrator back to reality and back 'amongst the flowers'.
The light of the sun, of course, illuminates the moon allowing us
to see the valleys and the mountainous landscapes as light and
dark shapes on the moon's surface. "Full Moon Rhyme", written by
Australian poet Judith Wright (1915-2000), suggests that these
shapes on the moon's surface can sometimes take on the
characteristics of a recognisable image and, in this case, she
imagines that wild dogs can recognise a 'hare in the moon'. Her
text also infers that the dogs have been chasing a hare (or
rabbit) but that they imagine that it has somehow made good its
escape by leaping up to the moon's surface, and sits there
taunting them. The music, then, entirely reflects
the attitudes of the dogs themselves, imitating at times their
arrogant and determined strut as they think of themselves as
perfectly in control of the situation, while at other times they
appear much less certain but are still menacing and full of
violent potential.
"Moonlight in the Forest", by Finnish poet Aaro Hellaakoski
(1893-1952), offers evocative images of the effects of moonlight
when one is walking through a forest at night. These fleeting
images evoke a dream-like state where moonlight, and the
subsequent shadows that are caused by it, produce a magical and
almost surreal state, creating an impression of the suspension of
both time and place. The piano music offers harmonically rich
chords in the introduction, that make reference to the forest
itself as an atmospheric but somewhat daunting entity, but then
moves to a thinner, flowing texture where the piano music is
written in a register so as to be often above the
soprano's melodic line, placing the singer 'under sleepy
branches'.
The final song, "Prayer to the Young Moon" takes its text from an
indigenous 'hymn' collected by W.H.I. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd in
southern Africa in the early part of the twentieth century. I
have chosen to set this not as a 'hymn', as it is unlikely the
San bushmen would have used that term, but as a rhythmic and
energetic dance, one that celebrates the moon as not only
something special but also an essential part of our lives. The
vocalise sections of this song evoke a point in the celebration
where words themselves are insufficient to express the sense of
wonder about the vitality of the moon and what it offers to our
world.
Published by: Wirripang [979 0 720171 70 8] — 1 score (47p. -- A4 (portrait))
Duration: 18 mins, 45 sec.
Alone and drinking under the moon (6 min., 15 sec.) -- Full moon rhyme (4 min., 20 sec.) -- Moonlight in the forest (4 min.) -- Prayer to the young moon (4 min., 10 sec.).
Commissioned by Wendy Dixon.
First performance by Wendy Dixon, David Miller —
Includes program notes and full texts (in English).
Typeset edition.
ISMN: 979 0 720171 70 8
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