Robert Goulder. Three pieces for SATB Choir. Bugles Sang I Saw His Round Mouth's Crimson Beauty

Transcription

1 Robert Goulder BGLES SANG Three ieces or SATB Choir les Sang I Saw His Round Mouth's Crimson Beauty December 01

2 1. les Sang les sang, saddening the evening air, And bugles answered, sorrowul to hear. Voices o boys were by the riverside. Slee mothered them; and made the twilight sad. The shadow o the morrow weighed on men. Voices o old desondancy resigned. Bowed by the shadow o the morrow, slets The dying tone o receding voices that will not return. The wailing o the high ar-travelling shells And the dee cursing o the rovoking. The monstrous anger o our tacitum guns The majesty o the instults o their mouths. Wilred Owen Comoser's notes This set o choral ieces sets three mid-war oems by Wilred Owen. The oems and my settings work as a comlete tri-artite narrative, with the irst iece (les Sang) describing the war-time atmoshere and setting the scene; the middle iece (I Saw His Round Mouth's Crimson) as the dramatic death o a solider; and the inal iece (Beauty) roviding a calm, heavenly atermath to the soldier's death. For this irst iece, I highlight the dichotomy that Owen's text resents between sadness and drama within the context o the war-time atmoshere. The irst eight lines reer rimarily to slee, sladness and resignation, but the modd switches suddenly to ideas o wailing, cursing, anger and insults. The ace o my setting o the irst eight lines is very slow and sacious, with interludes between verses, and long melismas on certain words which should be erormed with great exression. The last our lines come quickly in hurried seech-rhythm, also building u in textural density radily. I have organised the choir into a 'subject + narrator' ormat which means that rather than assigning, or examle, the line 'Voices o boys were by the riverside' to the soranos or trebles who have the highest voices, the to line sings something else while the tenor solo narrates with these words. Similarly the tenors sing 'The wailing o the high ar-travelling shells' whilst the to three artsemulate the sound o this wailing.s

3 . I Saw His Round Mouth's Crimson I saw his round mouth's crimson deeen as it ell, Like a sun in its last dee hour; Watched the magniicent recession o arewell, Clouding, hal gleam, hal glower, And the last slendour burn the heavens o his cheek. And in his eyes The cold stars lighting In dierent skies Wilred Owen Comoser's notes The majority o the drama in this work takes lace in this middle movement. It deicts the bloody death o a solider, and is the most shocking and literal o the tree texts - ocussing entirely on the descrition o the man's ace during the rocess o death. The recurring ostinato attern rovides an under-current o discomort and agitation, as well bringing out the continuity o the irst ive lines o the text. The sorano solo o the last three lines is a rearation or the siritual eace o the third movement ater the horror o this movement. Rhythmic elements in this iece should be cris and clearly deined, consonants exaggerated. Whisered lines serve to introduce a sinister, other-wordly quality to the texture, distorting the words and inducing ear and uncertainty.

4 . Beauty Full oem The beautiul, the air, the elegant Is that which leases us, says Kant, Without a thought o interest or advantage. I used to watch men when they soke o beauty And measure their enthusiasm. One, An old man, seeing a setting sun, Praised it a certain sense o duty To the calm evening and his time o lie. I know another man that never says o a beauty, But o a horse; Men seldom seak o beauty, beauty as such, Not even lovers think about it much. Women o course consider it or hours In mirrors; A shranel ball - ust where the wet skin glistened when he swam - Like a ully-oened sea-anemone. We both said 'What a beauty! What a beauty, lad' I knew that in the lower he saw hoe O living on, and seeing again the roses o his home. Beauty is that which leases and delights, Not bring ersonal advantage - Kant. But later on I heard A canker worked into the crimson lower And that he sank with it. And laid it with the anemones o Dover. Extracted words Beauty Beautiul Enthusiasm Living Pleases Hoe Home Roses Fair Elegant Advantage Calm Sun Delight Lie Flower Canker Sank Wilred Owen Comoser's notes This inal iece o the set is a retrosective overview o the joys o lie rom the ersective o death.through requent use o words which are themselves objecively ositive, Owen creates a sense o lase otimism in this oem. The ositivity is abrutly quenched in the last our lines as the lower - the symbol o hoe - dies, and the man dies with it. The two key words which Owen uses in this inal assage are 'canker' and 'sank' which, crucially, are assonant with one another. I have extracted the words which contribute to the otimism o the bulk o the oem, as well as isolating the two words which disband this, and ordered them by vowel-sound. The iece begins with the closed 'oo' sounds as in 'beauty' and 'enthusiasm' and gradually oens outwards into the oen 'ah' sound o 'calm' and 'delight'. As the assonances oen out, the vocal tessitura o the choir exands to a climax. The words themselves should not necessarily be intelligible because the ositivity o the oem is masked. The ocus should be on alignment o assonances, and on the general trajectory

5 1. les Sang Soranos Altos Sorrowul, emty q = c 80 distant - # n - les sang - les sang sad - 'ning the - les sang sad - 'ning the - Tenor 1 # - - les sang sad - 'ning the Basses # - # - les sang sad - 'ning the Reduction q = c 80 b # n ##

6 6 S. 6 And And bug bug # - les ans - wered - les ans - wered # # # eve - ning air ans - wered # eve - ning air n # eve - ning air # n eve - ning air # # # # # n # #

7 S. 1 A # j j # j j sor-row-ul to hear and the bug - les 7 <# j j # # sor-row-ul to hear Ó # # Ó sor-row-ul to hear # j j # Ó sor-row-ul to hear # # Ó sor-row-ul to hear sor-row-ul to hear # A <# # # ## # # # # # # # # # Ó Ó

8 8 S # 8 # j j j # j j n # j j # j j ans-wered sor - row ul sor - row ul to hear the bug - les the bu - the bug - les 9 j j 8 # j j n j b j j j # sor - row - ul to hear the bug - les ans - wered sor - row ul to hear to solo 9 Ó # 8 # n # Voi - ces o boys were by the ri - ver-side # 8 # j # j # n b n # # j # # # n Ó 9 8 #

9 S. # w bug-les sor - - # w hear the bu # # j # w Slee twi - light sad j w Slee twi - light sad other T1s to uer T solo cont. n # # # j n j # j w Slee mot -hered them and made the twi - light sad T1 T # w # # ẇ # # n w Slee # w # w Slee w w Slee # # # Ó # # # b # # j # # #w w #ww # #w

10 10 S. 8 j Sor-row-ul to hear j Sor-row-ul to hear j # j j the bug-les j # j j the bug-les all T1 # j j # j j # The T # # nw sha-dow o the mor row weighed on men the j j j # j # nw sha- o the mor row weighed on men the # # n sha- o the mor row weighed on men the # nw # # j bug-les # j bug-les bug-les # j j # j j # # nw The sha-dow o the mor row weighed on men # # # ## j # j j # # # nw #

11 S. B # Ó b b n Ó # # Voi -ces o old des - on - dan - cy re - # # n b b Voi -ces o old des - on - dan - cy re - j j 11 # Ó sang sang # # # # n j Voi -ces o old des - on - dan - cy re - Ó # Ó sang n Ó sang Ó sang solo The # b bug - les sang oco glissando b # b the # # # bug-les sang sad - den-ing the eve-ning ## Ó n # b B # b # n b b bb b bb b b # b # # # nn n j

12 1 S. 1 nw j b j sign'd mm Slet The dy - ing w # j b j sign'd Slet The dy - ing w sign'd # Slet Slet b j j b j j Bowed by the sha dow o the mor row Slet j j j j j j # j w Bowed by the sha o the mor row Slet j b oco gliss sha o the mor row Slet # # w air Slet ww j b j The dy - ing b # # j # n b # # # j # b j j b j

13 S. 7 C ( + ) # j j # # nn # j j j tone o re- ce - ding voi - ces that will not re-turn tone o re- ce - ding voi - ces that will not re-turn ( + ) # j j # # nn # j j j 1 ( + ) # w w w w ( + ) Ó m Ah ww w ( + ) b Ah # # w # w # w m Ah ( + ) m ( + ) Ah # n # n # bn # # # j j # # nn # j # j # n j tone o re- ce - ding voi - ces that will not re-turn Ah m ( + ) # n # # n C nn# # # nn # # j # # # nn # # # n j

14 1 S. m Ah Ah bw b b b Ah hah hah hah hah hah hah # Ó # n # # n b b n hah hah bn # # # n hah # n. hah # # n# n# # n hah hah hah hah b # # n j j # # n j - les sang bug - les sang b n # n b n # # - les sang! bn n b b n # n - les sang! n b b b n b n b n Ó # - les ans - b b b # # Ó b - les ans -

15 # n. bbbb n D n # # 1 hah hah hah Ah! Ah! S. n n hah hah Eh! # # b Eh! # # n hah hah hah hah Oh! bug # n j j # # n # # n j j - les sang -les sang! # Ó Oh! j b b j j j b n j - les sang! The - les sang! wai - ling o the high ar tra-vel-ling # # Ó wered! - les ans - wered! b j j j j # wered! - les - les sang - les sang D

16 16 8 # 8 (+) # # S. Ah! 8 (+) Ah! Ah! Eh! Eh! Eh! Oh! shells (+) Oh! (+) Oh! ronounced 'ta-ki-tum' Ta - ci-tum ta - ci-tum ta - ci - (+) r And the dee # 8 # # 8 8 ( + ) r r 8 # R R R cur - sing o the ro-vo - king r r j. r r j. r r # j j # j The j j 8 j j j j crim-son crim-son crim - son crim - son crim-son # # j j (+) # 8 n j n j - les sang cur - sing dee cur - sing dee 8 8

17 61 # # # 17 S. Ah! Ah! Ah! Eh! Eh! Eh! # # # Oh! Oh! Oh! j r r j r r j r r j r r j r r j r r j r r j tum mon ta - ci - tum ta - ci-tum Ta -ci-tum ta -ci-tum ta -ci - tum ta - ci-tum ta - ci-tum # R # R R R R - strous an - ger o our ta - ci-tum guns The ma - je - sty o the #.. #... #.. R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R Ta -ci-tum ta - ci-tum ta -ci - tum ta - ci-tum ta - ci-tum Ta -ci - tum ta -ci-tum ta -ci- R R R R crim j j j j j j - son crim - son crim - son crim - son crim - son crim - son j b j j b cur - sing dee cur - sing dee cur - sing dee

18 18 6 # # S. Ah! Ah! Eh! Eh! # # Oh! Oh! r r j. r r j. r r j. r r j. r r j. Ta - ci - tum ta - ci - tum ta - ci - tum ta - ci - tum ta - ci - tum r j j in tum crim cur - sults o their mouths #... #.. R R R R R R R R ta - ci - tum ta - ci tum - Ta - ci - tum ta - ci - tum j j j j - son crim - son crim - son crim - son j b j - sing dee cur - sing

19 S. 67 solo - les sang - les 19 - les sang - les sang - les sang - les sang # # # # # - les sang - les sang b # # - les sang # les les les les - les sang - les # - les sang - les n n n # ## n # ## bn # b