"Nightingale" [Sally Whitwell]

"Nightingale" [Sally Whitwell]

First line of lyrics: Where sunless rivers weep

Part of: "The Birds"

Whitwell, Sally; music (Australian, born 1974)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)

genre: song|song cycle

solo: soprano

instrumentation: piano

origin: Australia

female composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "Dream-Land"

Place in the larger work: The second song of three in the song cycle called "The Birds," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include 1. "Skylark"; 2. "Nightingale"; 3. "Linnet."

Composition history: "I lived for a couple of years in a little top floor Art Deco apartment in Sydney’s Kings Cross. There were always birds sitting on my window sill because of the huge Jacaranda tree outside. I was at a bit of a crossroads in my life at that time, and would spend at least an hour daily walking in the neighbourhood, along those twisting, sloping streets and slowly eroding sandstone staircases so typical of Sydney’s harbourside suburbs. On the wall by such a staircase very close to my home was a tiny red spray painted bird with little music notes emanating from his beak. His was a constant presence in my life, I really rather liked him. | Birds seemed to be making appearances everywhere in my life at that time, which I took as some kind of message from the universe. I was reading quite a lot of Christina Rossetti that year too, enjoying her writings about birds and all that they symbolised for her; beauty and sadness, hope and joy. There was a quiet optimism in her words, sometimes veiled but always present, which propelled me to write this song cycle T​he Birds.​"

Recordings: "The Birds: 2. Nightingale." Performance by Sally Whitwell, piano, Alexandra Oomens, soprano. 2015. Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/track/0eqdzNKOC4VM3qFvNbyR0u?si=fe21d0e423ff4231.

Format 1: musical score

Other data reference(s): "Composer." Sally Whitwall, http://sillywhatwell.weebly.com/composer.html. Accessed 10 March 2022.
"The Birds." Sheet Music Plus, https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/the-birds-digital-sheet-music/20934055. Accessed 15 March 2022.

Cataloguer: Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa

Record: CRM-dreamland-whitwell

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