Melodys of Earth and Sky (2020)
(Nine creative transcriptions from the fiddle tune books of poet John Clare)

Melodys of Earth and Sky (2022) for clarinet (Bb, A, Eb & bass) & violin

Nine creative transcriptions from the fiddle-tune books of poet John Clare

1. The Gardengate

2. Young Huzzar

3. Rhapsody: The Storm

4. Morgiana in Ireland

5. Polka

6. I'll Be Married on Sunday

7. Rhapsody: Black E'yd Susan

8. Morgan Rattler

9. Hornpipes  

Melodys of Earth and Sky presents a set of nine creative transcriptions from poet John Clare's books of fiddle-tunes, conceived for a duo of clarinet and violin. They grew out of a words and music event, planned for April 2020 to celebrate the bicentenary of the publication of Clare's Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery.

Clare was a prolific fiddle-player, a habit probably picked up from the many bands of gipsies he encountered. When championed as the 'peasant poet' in the 1820s, his publisher James Hessey gifted him a Cremona violin with a "small supply of strings in case of accidents". Clare was also an avid collector of folksongs, ballads and dances, seeking to capture an oral tradition by 'pricking' down "hundreds of...pleasant tunes familiar to the plough and splashing stream". For all the talk of Clare's illiteracy or famously difficult handwriting, the two notebooks into which he copied down these 263 fiddle tunes are remarkably evocative - of Clare the musician, but also of a lost tradition of rural music-making.

Several factors influenced the instrumentation for Melodys. Modest, stripped back performing resources reflect the authenticity of Clare's fascination for these fiddle-tunes, reinforced by the clarinettist Kate Romano's delight in playing through Bartok's 44 duos for two violins, with her daughter Livvy on violin. Such an intimate, even domestic performing context seemed right for Melodys and right for Clare, but also a direct response to the Covid pandemic period where singing posed a risk to health, and performers needed to be socially distanced.

In Melodys of Earth and Sky, there are no words, only music; since it draws on melodies that Clare collected, it provides Philips with a way of connecting to Clare as a musician, rather than a poet. Lyrics survive for just three of the chosen Melodys, but the work is intended to explore the uncanny way a melody can suggest the memory of words, even once those words have disappeared. There is a sense in these Melodys of shared, communal experience - of melancholy (The Gardengate), innocence (Young Huzzar), foreboding (The Storm), restlessness (Morgiana), inebriation (Polka), a wedding (I'll be married on Sunday), sorrow (Black Ey'd Susan), intrigue (Morgan Rattler), or exuberant joy (Hornpipes). These creative transcriptions aim to unlock these buried memories and reanimate them for a contemporary audience. The words are still there, but they are buried inside the music.

Melodys of Earth and Sky was not conceived to be performed in its entirety, rather as a songbook collection of instrumental pieces that can be dipped into, slotted into a mixed instrumental programme that might include Bartok's Contrasts or Stravinsky's Suite de L'Histoire du Soldat.

Melodys of Earth and Sky has been recorded by Ionel Maciu (violin) and Kate Romano (clarinets) on NMC Recordings (NMC D271).

Julian Philips, March 2022