Description
An intense setting of lines from the incandescent Old English poem ‘The Phoenix’, released on Stef’s album Riddle Songs (Delphian Records, 2020). Fire’s interwoven vocal lines convey the affecting combination of horror and reverence that arises in this poem’s magnificent depiction of the mythical Phoenix in its cyclical conflagration. Beginning with a wall of fierce dissonance, and climbing to a vivid polyphonic climax, the fabled narrative also unfolds in moments of gentle reflection and tenderness. Technically demanding, rhythmically complex, and harmonically rich, this piece is suitable for professional and advanced student ensembles, and highly experienced/expert leisure-time choirs, with skilled soloists.
“. . . Less than two minutes into the album and second track ‘Fire’ makes it clear that this is something different: the unexpected full force of Everlasting Voices bending chords around a winding tenor solo, the heat-intensity audible. The arrangement then tracks the demands of the lyric (the Phoenix myth), calming and resolving before building again to agitated repetition as flame engulfs the bird, then into the ambiguous closing hint at resurrection.” – Adrian Ainsworth, ArtMuse London (read the full review)
The Crucial Info
Forces: SSSAATTBB + tenor solo
Duration: c. 5’30”
Texts: Extract from ‘The Phoenix’, a poem in the Exeter Book (Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501)
Date of composition: 2019
Premiere: . . . TBC, post-pandemic!
Recording: Riddle Songs. Stef Conner; Hanna Marti; Everlasting Voices. 2020. Edinburgh, UK: Delphian
Listen
Perusal Score
Texts
Extracts from ‘The Phoenix’, Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, ll. 208b–234a
| . . . Þonne sweġles ġim on sumeres tīd, sunne hātost, ofer sceadu scīneð ond ġesceapu drēogeð, woruld ġeondwlīteð, þonne weorðeð his hūs onhǣted þurh hādor sweġl. Wyrta wearmiað, willsele stȳmeð swētum swæccum, þonne on swole byrneð þurh fȳres fēng fugel mid neste. Bǣl bið onǣled. Þonne brond þeċeð heorodrēorġes hūs, hrēoh ōnetteð, fealo līġ feormað ond fēnix byrneð, fyrnġēarum frōd. Þonne fȳr þiġeð lǣnne līċhoman; līf bið on sīðe, fǣġes feorhhord, þonne flǣsc ond bān ādlēg ǣleð. Hwæþre him eft cymeð æfter fyrstmearce feorh ednīwe, siþþan þā yslan eft onġinnað æfter līġþræċe lūcan tōgædere, ġeclungne tō clēowenne. Þonne clǣne bið beorhtast nesta, bǣle forgrunden heaþorōfes hof; hrā bið ācōlad, bānfæt ġebrocen, ond se bryne sweþrað. . . . |
…When the gem of heaven, the summer sun, Shines high and hot over grove and glade, Surveying the world, illuminating shadows, Then fate is fulfilled as the bird’s home Is imbued with God’s heavenly heat. Each herb is an incipient oven, each flower An expectant blaze. The nest is a nascent fire. With a sudden, sweet scent and bright flash, Both bird and nest burst into flame. The funeral pyre blazes the bird’s body, Engulfing his heart, devouring his home. The fierce yellow flame, savage as the sun, Obliterates the phoenix, flesh and bone, Melts off a multitude of years, gnaws Limbs, sinews, feathers, skin into nothing. Out of this fire of apparent unbeing, The ashes gather into a miraculous ball, A hope of feathers, a hint of song. The noblest nest, the bold bird’s home, Is wholly burned, his bone-case broken, His corpse turned cold. . . . |
Old English text edited by Stef Conner.
Translation reproduced from: Craig Williamson (2017), The Complete Old English Poems, reprinted by kind permission of the University of Pennsylvania Press.
Please contact Stef for more information and/or a license to perform this piece.