Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Paul Mealor
Twilight (for baritone, harp and violin) (2010)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
- baritone, violin and harp
- piano and baritone
- 10 min
- Davidson, Tennyson & Tagore
Programme Note
Twilight is the mystical and magical time between dawn and sunrise, and between sunset and dusk. Sunlight is scattered in the upper atmosphere and illuminates the lower atmosphere; thus, the surface of the Earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark – it is a middle place, a world between worlds.
My short cycle for Baritone, Violin and Harp reflects this special, serene and gentle time. It also touches upon ‘ghostly love’ – the longing for a past love and the remembrance of a deep, undying love. This special, invisible love that exists between life and death, in the twilight of our hearts, is perhaps best reflected in the final song: a setting of the Bengali mystic, Rabindranath Tagore:
You are held in nets of music now, my love,
In webs of music which are vast as air;
The first song is ‘prelude-like’ in its feel and presents differing accounts of time – the
relentless march of time is mirrored by the seamless ‘slowing’ of time when we are
held in deep prayer.
The second song is a folk song. It is gentle and quite, with only minimal accompaniment. The drama here is in the silence and the cyclic repetition of the melodic line, gradually getting quieter until it is only a whisper – a reflection of an echo.
The final song, a romantic love ballad is unashamedly passionate. Here, material from the two previous songs is brought together in rapturous, romantic feelings and the work ends positively, with great hope.
‘Twilight’ was commissioned and premiered by Jeremy Huw Williams with funds
provided by Creative Scotland and is dedicated to the writers, Peter Davidson & Jane
Stevenson with admiration and affection.
My short cycle for Baritone, Violin and Harp reflects this special, serene and gentle time. It also touches upon ‘ghostly love’ – the longing for a past love and the remembrance of a deep, undying love. This special, invisible love that exists between life and death, in the twilight of our hearts, is perhaps best reflected in the final song: a setting of the Bengali mystic, Rabindranath Tagore:
You are held in nets of music now, my love,
In webs of music which are vast as air;
The first song is ‘prelude-like’ in its feel and presents differing accounts of time – the
relentless march of time is mirrored by the seamless ‘slowing’ of time when we are
held in deep prayer.
The second song is a folk song. It is gentle and quite, with only minimal accompaniment. The drama here is in the silence and the cyclic repetition of the melodic line, gradually getting quieter until it is only a whisper – a reflection of an echo.
The final song, a romantic love ballad is unashamedly passionate. Here, material from the two previous songs is brought together in rapturous, romantic feelings and the work ends positively, with great hope.
‘Twilight’ was commissioned and premiered by Jeremy Huw Williams with funds
provided by Creative Scotland and is dedicated to the writers, Peter Davidson & Jane
Stevenson with admiration and affection.