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
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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
Instrumentation: SATB, SSAA, or TTBB div. unaccompanied
Duration:5minutes
Author/lyricist:Anon 20th century
Language: English
Year: 2011
Licensing: Norsk Musikkforlag
A work about hope in the darkest time of life. The text was written by a Jew hiding in Cologne, Germany, during World War 2 where the text was found scratched onto a wall.
Commissioned by the St. Olaf Festival (Olavsfestdagene) in Trondheim, Norway, and premiered on July 30 by the Nidaros Cathedral Girls' Choir at an event with the bishop of Nidaros Tor Singsås and actress Liv Ullmann. The SATB version was premiered by the Nidaros Cathedral Boys' Choir on November 26, 2011, in Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim. A TTBB version was commissioned and premiered by Chor Leoni and conductor Erick Lichte in 2017. Arrangments for wind ensemble or brass band are also available.
I believe in the sun, even when it's not shining.
I believe in love, even when I feel it not.
I believe in God, even when He is silent.
Anon. 20th Century
