Speak gently, tread lightly

SSAA choir

2024

duration: 6'

text: Requiescat by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Tread lightly, she is near 

Under the snow,

Speak gently, she can hear 

The daisies grow.

All her bright golden hair 

Tarnished with rust,

She that was young and fair 

Fallen to dust.

Lily-like, white as snow, 

She hardly knew

She was a woman, so 

Sweetly she grew.

Coffin-board, heavy stone, 

Lie on her breast,

I vex my heart alone 

She is at rest.

Peace, Peace, she cannot hear 

Lyre or sonnet,

All my life’s buried here, 

Heap earth upon it.

In this piece I continue to explore the world of my choral music via the setting of Requiescat by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). The harmonic world of this piece is akin to much of my work, ebbing and flowing gently leading to more tumultuous passages. I wanted to take a lot of sensitivity to the text I used, and particularly hooked onto the first words of the first and third lines, using them to tie the piece together. In my first choral piece, I explored the idea of rebirth, where here I had the opportunity to explore grief after death. A new world opened to me here, my techniques taking on a much simpler, considered sound, the space and breath in my music becoming just as vital as sound itself. I sought to incorporate moments that were so quiet they bordered on silence. This dark, murky, grey spot between silence and sound that must be tread so gently that it is easily broken.