w19246
| Title | Eight Tagore Songs |
| Contributors |
Derek Ball (composer) Rabindranath Tagore (author) Gabriel Rosenstock (translator) |
| Composition date | 2011 2011 |
| Duration (mins) | 20 |
| Category | accompanied vocal |
| Instrumentation | S Pf (Perc) |
| Commissioned by | |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | |
| Notes | Versions for soprano and piano with and without percussion 1. Éanlaith strae an tsamhraidh 2. Compántas fhánaithe beaga 3. Saintím Inis na Laoithe 4. Nuair a bheidh sreange uile 5. Osclaíonn bachlóg an bhláithín 6. Lá geal gréine 7. Portaireacht gréine 8. Éanlaith Strae arís |
| Programme Note | Rabindranath Tagore was a hugely prolific writer who in 1913 was the first Asian to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. As well as being a poet, novelist and playwright he was a composer and painter. His travels in the West led to his gaining an enthusiastic following world-wide, while at home he was influential in the movement for Indian independence. In the year which marks the 150th anniversary of Tagore's birth, the poet Gabriel Rosenstock set about translating some of his work from English (that being in turn a translation from Tagore's native Bengali) into Irish. The work he chose was Stray Birds, a large series of tiny poetical aphorisms. I and the painter Ian Joyce collaborated with Gabriel on a large multimedia work using these aphorisms, and some of them were turned into songs. Within the framework of a 1-hour score for string orchestra it incorporated song, poetry reading in Irish and English, and film. The 8 songs here are extracted from the original large piece and arranged for singer and piano. The finale is an expansive development of the first song closely based on the finale of the original piece. Two versions are included: one has a percussion part taken from the original piece and that's my preferred option; the other has just singer and piano alone, with the piano trying to compensate for the missing percussion if it's unavoidable absent. The English words here are not Tagore's but a re-translation back from the Irish, motivated by my wish not to have to change the music when making an English version of the songs. An Irish version also exists, as do versions for Baritone and Bass. |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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