L’INVITATION AU VOYAGE
Two SATB choirs, with divisi

ADVANCED

 
6 minutes; $4.00/copy

 
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A setting for two choirs of Richard Wilbur’s translation of Charles Baudelaire’s poem. The first choir sings the text in a rather straightforward manner; the second choir acts as accompaniment, beginning as diatonic oscillating figures but becoming wild and improvisatory, symbolizing the narrator’s struggle to achieve rest and tranquility in a busy, chaotic world. Three refrains anchor the piece with the text: “There, there is nothing else but grace and measure, richness, quietness, and pleasure.” This work was commissioned by The Esoterics as part of the prize for their 2007 POLYPHONOS international choral competition.

Text (excerpt) Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), trans. Richard Wilbur (b. 1921): My child, my sister, dream how sweet all things would seem were we in that kind land to live together, and there love slow and long, there love and die among those scenes that image you, that sumptuous weather. . . . There, there is nothing else but grace and measure, richness, quietness, and pleasure.
 

Listen to the piece The Esoterics; Eric Banks, director

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