Voices from a Churchyard

Description

Voices from a Churchyard The title and first three section headings are derived from Thomas Hardy’s poem, ‘Voices from Things Growing in a Churchyard’. The melancholic first section represents a little girl, who once danced like a bird and has now become the daisies growing above her grave. The more vigorous second section imagines a bachelor, who has become ‘like leaves on a wall,’ while the deceased person depicted in the more extended third section – Thomas Voss – has grown into a yew tree. The title of the final section recognises both the departed of the Hardy poem and the departure from the churchyard.
Musically, the four sections are contrasted in terms of tonality, meter and rhythm, but each is derived from the same group of notes: the first four notes played by the oboe. In the same way that the poem considers people of past generations, so the music, in part, looks back to music of earlier periods. The rhythm of the second section hints at musical hunts, while the third section is intended to resemble a chorale prelude, and includes truncated quotes from a well-known hymn tune. The final section includes recollections of previous material, with some alterations. No break is intended between the different sections. LW