He Saw a Skull (2009) 6'
Commissioner: Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen and Ars Nova Copenhagen
First Performer: Ars Nova Copenhagen, Paul Hillier, conductor, Royal Opera House, Copenhagen, Denmark, February 1, 2009
Instrumentation: SATB, 12 voices
Special Features:
Program note:
He Saw a Skull is written for a chorus of 12 voices. The chorus is divided into four groups of three voices, with each group singing major and minor harmonies that are approached by glissando. The text is taken from a short saying by Rabbi Hillel found in the Talmudic tractate Pirkei Avot: He saw a skull floating on the water. He said to the skull, “Because you drowned others, they drowned you. And they who drowned you will themselves be drowned.”
He Saw a Skull was written for Paul Hillier and the Danish group Ars Nova Copenhagen.
––Michael Gordon
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