Work
Anthem for Doomed Youth
for tenor solo, SAATB choir, and chamber orchestra
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About
Anthem for Doomed Youth was written for a ‘war and peace’ themed concert to be performed on ANZAC Day 2014 by Auckland Choral. This work was written to follow another contemporary piece - an incomplete requiem setting, and the request was for something simple and beautiful to complement the more angular and dissonant requiem. The work is broadly in three sections, with a faster middle section where the text refers to the sounds of war, and the bugles '…calling for them from sad shires'. The scoring of this work matches that of the requiem, hence the unusual forces: three wind, percussion and strings. Of particular note is the percussion part which picks up on the reference to bells in the opening line of the poem - surely one of the most evocative of sounds.
Text note
Text by Wilfred Owen
Performance history
Performed by Derek Hill (tenor), Auckland Choral and Piper's Sinfonia, and conducted by Uwe Grodd.