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Work
Add to wishlist2004
- for a cappella SSAATB choir
- By:
- Duration:
- 07' 00"
- Contents:
- Three Songs: 1. Over the Back; 2. Bread; 3. Frost
Samples
 | Score (124k) | Pages 1, 4 and 9 | © Anthony Ritchie |
Availability
- This work has 2 scores and a recording
Programme Note
Widow’s Songs (2004) consist of three settings of poems by Cilla McQueen, taken from her cycle of poems called ‘Rope’. They attempt to describe thoughts and feelings of a woman grieving for her dead husband. In the process, surrounding images and activities seem to take on extra meaning. In the second song, for example, making bread becomes too difficult to do because of the memories it stirs. The style of the songs is intimate and aims to exploit the beauty of the voice to evoke feelings. Widow’s Songs is one of several works by Ritchie inspired by Cilla McQueen’s poems, including an opera called The Trapeze Artists and the well-known song Dogwobble.
- Text Note:
- Poems by Cilla McQueen
- Commissioned:
- Commissioned by Tower Voices New Zealand with funding assistance from Creative New Zealand and premiered at the Otago Arts Festival 2004
- Funders:
Performance History
 |
08 Oct 2004 |
Performed by Tower Voices New Zealand cond. Karen Grylls; Otago Festival, Glenroy Auditorium, Dunedin |
| Karen Grylls Voices New Zealand | ||
| 26 Oct 2008 |
Performed by Musica Sacra choir and Christchurch’s Jubilate Singers |
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| Musica Sacra | ||
| 29 Mar 2009 |
Performed as part of the Asian-Pacific Contemporary Music Festival in Tongyeong Arts Centre, Main Hall, Korea |
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