At the Gray Dawn of Day
Song Cycle for Baritone and Piano
Duration: 9”00’
Commissioned by Jeremy Huw Williams and premiered by Jeremy Huw Williams (Baritone) and Timothy Todd Simmons (Piano) on 24 October, 2023 in New Orleans at the Dixon Annex Recital Hall.
This work is inspired by the words of Charlotte Smith, W. B. Yeats and Alexander Pope. The First Swallow by Charlotte Smith was first published in 1807, the year after her death. The poem depicts the springtime return of the swallow and this song cycle is named after Smith’s beautiful words; ‘let my ear your music catch, Low twittering underneath the thatch, At the gray dawn of day’. William Butler Yeats’ evocative and poignant poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree was written in 1888 and was first published in 1890. The final song of the cycle is a setting of a short extract from Alexander Pope’s 1717 narrative poem The Rape of the Lock: Canto two. Through three short movements, this song cycle explores the essence of the atmospheres, colours and images found within each of the poems.
[recording coming soon]