related works
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
sopr-m fl hp vl vla vc
La belle dame sans merci : for high voice and piano, 1994 / text: John Keats, Maarten Altena
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and piano
Scoring:
high pf
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and piano
Scoring:
zang pf
Thränen im Auge : for voice and piano / Sem Dresden; words by Ernst von Wildenbruch
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and piano
Scoring:
medium pf / high pf
composition
Pole star : for bass/baritone and piano, 1987 / poem by Archibald MacLeish, Jochem Slothouwer
Author(s):
Macleish, Archibald
(Text writer/Librettist)
Slothouwer, Jochem
(Composer)
Description:
Program note (English): Pole Star, one of the strongest and gloomiest poems by the American poet Archibald McLeish, was written in 1935. In expressive, evocative language the poet foresees the approaching catastrophe of the western world. All hope is placed on that one star that remains motionless in the firmament: the pole star, the star of love. The composition follows the poem closely, in structure (three times four verses) as well as in content, alternating between contemplation, despair, anger and hope. The unifying element is the passacaglia form. - JOCHEM SLOTHOUWER