Manet Res (2007)
Genre / ジャンル
Song
Instrumentation / 編成
high voice and piano
Duration / 演奏時間
7 minutes
Text / テクスト
Text in Latin by Lucretius
Other information / 他の情報
Score available for purchase (pdf or printed copy) from the Canadian Music Centre.
Programme Note
Manet Res (‘The Thing Itself’) is a setting of twelve lines from Titus Lucretius Carus’ 1st-century BCE epic poem of science and philosophy De Rerum Natura (‘On the Nature of Things’). The text expresses a proto-humanist view about religion, its roots and its dangers (which Lucretius identifies as the ‘false terror’ of death which causes greed and bloodshed). Mostly, however, De Rerum Natura is about the wonder of nature, and the pleasure of calmly, rationally appreciating it, without ascribing its myriad beauties and terrors to any supernatural beings (the most pious thing one can do is to ‘survey all things with a tranquil mind’).
The music, following the thrust of the text, is restless, disjointed, unsettled, somewhat angry, but very precise. It explores the idea of fast rhythms without an audible pulse. As the piece progresses, the singer and piano become more and more independent, both in terms of pitch and rhythm, ending finally with three very different simultaneous textures: a long held note in the bass, extremely fast material in the highest octave of the piano, and the singer singing the very first lyrical melody in the middle range.
Manet Res was written for the tenor Erik Enqvist in April 2007.
The music, following the thrust of the text, is restless, disjointed, unsettled, somewhat angry, but very precise. It explores the idea of fast rhythms without an audible pulse. As the piece progresses, the singer and piano become more and more independent, both in terms of pitch and rhythm, ending finally with three very different simultaneous textures: a long held note in the bass, extremely fast material in the highest octave of the piano, and the singer singing the very first lyrical melody in the middle range.
Manet Res was written for the tenor Erik Enqvist in April 2007.