w19004
| Title | Imagined Corners (revised edition) |
| Contributors |
John McLeod (composer) John Donne (author) |
| Composition date | 2010 2010 |
| Duration (mins) | 0 |
| Category | accompanied choral |
| Instrumentation | SATB Org |
| Commissioned by | Carlisle Festival with the support of the Ida Carroll Trust |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | |
| Notes | The original version of this score is for SATB choir, brass quintet and organ. |
| Programme Note | The amazing poetry of John Donne has always fascinated me and so when a commission came from the Carlisle Festival for a new choral piece with brass and organ, I started to read again his Holy Sonnet 'At the bright earth's imagined corners'. Many poems try to describe what the end of life will be like, but this one goes even further - it describes what the end of death will be like after the world has ended. The poem begins with angels blowing their trumpets to bring the dead back to life to reunite their souls with their bodies and ends with an allusion to the crucifixion of Christ. The form of the sonnet dictated its musical structure. Written in the style of a Petrach sonnet as opposed to a Shakespearean sonnet, the piece is divided into two sections - the first eight lines and the final six. In the first 8 lines, the speaker calls for the Last Judgment and in the final six he changes his mind and decides to repent instead. The colourful Biblical allusions and religious symbolism would have been easier for the people to understand in Donne's time, because he lived in a more exclusively Christian culture. Nevertheless, this is a poem of striking imagery which conjures up a profound message today - as much as it did in the time of Donne. John McLeod 2010 |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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