Rossetti Fragments [David Hamilton]

Rossetti Fragments [David Hamilton]

First line of lyrics: Where are the songs I used to know

Hamilton, David; music (New Zealand, born 1955)

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

1991 [composition]; 2008 [revised version]

David Hamilton

genre: choral music|song

chorus: SATB chorus

instrumentation: orchestra|concert band

initial sharps/flats: one sharp

initial time signature: 4/4

origin: New Zealand

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "The Key-Note"|"'What good shall my life do me?'" ("No hope in life; yet there is hope")|"Another Spring"

Work contains multiple Christina Rossetti texts

Notes about the text: This song is a setting of fragments of three poems. In order, the lyrics include the three first lines of poem "The Key-Note", the last 2 stanzas (17-18) (ll. 49-54) of poem "'What good shall my life do me?'" ("No hope in life; yet there is hope"), where"that others" was added in line 53 of the poem: "Behold your lives [that others] may kindle too;" and the last 5 lines [ll. 20-24] of the poem "Another Spring", where the word "Spring" was replaced by "day."

Composition history: "Commissioned by the Hamilton Music School in 1991 with funding from Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council (now Creative New Zealand) and the Composers Foundation (APRA)" The work "was intended for the entire school to perform: choir, orchestra and symphonic band members. The scoring has some degree of flexibility as I could not be sure in advance who I was writing for. A planned performance of the work at the Bay of Plenty Music School in early 2008, prompted a revision of the work (and the opportunity to put it onto computer). An additional stanza was also added to the second text." ("Rossetti Fragments")

Tempo markings: quarter note = "138 With a strong rhythmic pulse"

Performance instructions: "The piece divides into three sections following the divisions of the text, and begins with an introductory section for the orchestra. The music of the opening choral section returns in a slightly modified form as the final section." ("Rossetti Fragments")

Performance history: Premiered on 25 August 1991 by participants at the Hamilton Music School. The revised version was performed on 27 Apr 2008, Bay of Plenty (BOP) Music School Final Concert. ("Rossetti Fragments")

Format 1: musical score

25 pages; performance time 7 minutes and 15 seconds

Other data reference(s): "Rossetti Fragments." Sounz: Centre for New Zealand Music, https://sounz.org.nz/works/18523?locale=en. Accessed 7 March 2023.

Cataloguer: Mary Arseneau and Roxanne Lafleur, University of Ottawa

Musical score: David Hamilton

Record: CRM-keynote-hamilton

File(s): CRM-keynote-hamilton.pdf

"Copyright © David Hamilton 2008." All rights reserved. The score appears in this archive by kind permission of composer David Hamilton.

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