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- Judith Weir
On White Meadows (2020)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by the International Competition “Franz Schubert and Modern Music” 2021, at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
- Mz + pf
- Mezzo-soprano
- 3 min 30 s
- Wilhelm Müller
- English
Programme Note
Recently I have set to music numerous haiku, tanka and other miniature Japanese poetic forms, which combine observation of the natural world with personal revelation. As a result, I’ve begun to see haiku etc everywhere.
Here in this song are five short ‘Japanese poems’ I spotted in a standard English translation of Die Winterreise. These brief verses come from ‘Gute Nacht’, ‘Der Wegweiser’, ‘Letze Hoffnung’, ‘Der stürmische Morgen’ and ‘Der Leiermann’.
The resulting song, On White Meadows, features a thoughtful traveller viewing fields, trees and skies. Around the singer’s wide, extended phrases, the piano creates an ‘open air’ atmosphere.
Programme note by Judith Weir
