Eurydice for Solo Clarinet

From the Publisher

Euridyce is the first of three pieces based on works by the great Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, each work being in a different medium, though all are text-based. It is derived from the following text, entitled A Variation on Lines by Pope. (This beautiful text is inscribed on a series of six large stones installed in a garden in Provence. The stones are set in a sea of lavender, representing water.)

Euridyce the woods; Euridyce the floods
Euridyce the snows; Euridyce the mountain-tops
Euridyce the stars; Euridyce the groves
Euridyce the swifts; Euridyce the nightingales
Euridyce the clouds; Euridyce the oaks
Euridyce the rocks

The first two lines, and the last line, occur in Alexander Pope's Ode on St Cecilia's Day.
The piece is in eleven sections divided into pairs with a single one on the end. Each section begins with a refrain - Euridyce - followed by differently characterised music for the woods, the clouds etc. Sometimes this is quasi-onomatopoeic (as in the swifts, the nightingales), representational (the floods, the stars), or more subtly allusive.

Euridyce was written to a private commission and was first performed by Andrew Sparling at St Giles Church, Cripplegate, on October 13th 1995.
Copyright Gabriel Jackson

Performance duration (approx): 9'00

Item Details

Instrumentation

• Part 1: Bb Clarinet