- Tarik O'Regan
The Woven Child (2008)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Commissioned by American Opera Projects
From The Wanton Sublime
- 4va; 3vc
- soprano
- 8 min
- Anna Rabinowitz
Programme Note
The Woven Child was the first segment to be aired from a monodrama based on The Wanton Sublime, a poetry collection by Anna Rabinowitz. In the work presented this evening, the fragmentary nature of Rabinowitz's text is collated into three musical sections: slow-fast-slow. The dual nature of the mysterious 'child', represented by the solo voice and solo viola, is at once alluring and innocent, sometimes contiguously and sometimes concurrently. Whereas the poetry collection deals with the multi-faceted character of Mary, here, especially in the context of Pärt’s L’abbé Agathon, Rabinowitz’s ‘child’ has another light shed upon it. The concept of a ‘divine test’ as expressed in L’abbé recalls, of course, the Binding of Isaac, a story of great significance for Muslims, Jews and Christians. Especially in today’s climate, the urging of the ‘child’ not to ‘unravel’ takes on an unusually prescient meaning.
Text
From The Wanton Sublime
by Anna Rabinowitz
THE SKY ARRIVES
***
And what if a soul
Fall into a body…
And if it gaze into pure light…
And if something grow into life…
As the spider spins its web
she spins him of herself,
AND LEAVES A MEMORY
life-bestower, nurturer,
agent of futurity
oh, woven child
you must not unravel
she webs and warps with finest, strongest yarn
Tarik O’Regan
January 2009
Text
From The Wanton Sublime
by Anna Rabinowitz
THE SKY ARRIVES
***
And what if a soul
Fall into a body…
And if it gaze into pure light…
And if something grow into life…
As the spider spins its web
she spins him of herself,
AND LEAVES A MEMORY
life-bestower, nurturer,
agent of futurity
oh, woven child
you must not unravel
she webs and warps with finest, strongest yarn
Tarik O’Regan
January 2009
Scores
Preview the score