The Singer's Dance

In this stand-alone movement from "The Wound in the Water", we are awed at the powerful landscape around us, sky, water, earth, and we are reminded of the beauty of our common global home that we need to take better care of.

​Commissioned for the Opening Concert of St. Olav Festival, Trondheim, Norway (Olavsfestdagene) in 2016 and premiered by Conspirare, soprano soloist Elin Manahan Thomas and conductor Craig Hella Johnson.

DETAILS:

• Instrumentation: SATB or SSAA & piano (opt. strings)
• Duration: 3,30 minutes
• Author/lyricist: Euan Tait
  
• Language: English
• Year: 2016
• Licensing: Santa Barbara Music Publishing

THE TEXT

The leaves have fallen away, and dance

to the wind-song in the garden,

and through new naked trees, we see

the two great rivers in their beauty

and restless power.  The driven clouds

burn like comets in our aerial ocean,

​

the air is alight with the cries of birds

flocking southwards like the music

once exiled from the heart, yet our hearts

erupt and here, on this wind-driven hill

we are drawn to the centre of the dance,

and we know we are helplessly singing, 

seeking whatever in us we cannot stop,

the song ceaseless, leaping, our utter yes.

​by Euan Tait