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- Judith Weir
Ox Mountain Was Covered By Trees (1990)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Also available for soprano, conter-tenor and piano
(1997)
- 2222/2000/str
- soprano, counter-tenor/pf
- Soprano, Countertenor, Baritone
- 5 min
- Mencius (Chinese, 3rdC B.C.)
Programme Note
This short cantata, a setting of a text from Mencius, a third century BC commentary on Confucius, was originally written for soprano, counter tenor and baritone soloists and chamber orchestra. It was written for a concert given by Kent Opera in the Marlow Theatre, Canterbury on 30 September 1990, to celebrate the company’s twenty years of work, and to mark its closure after the sudden removal of its Arts Council subsidy. The original soloists were Jacqueline Fugelle (soprano), Michael Chance (counter tenor) and Andrew Shore (baritone), and the Kent Opera Orchestra was conducted by Ivan Fischer.
Mencius’ text reads as follows:
‘Ox Mountain was covered by trees, but it stands by a populous city. The people climbed up with their axes and choppers; they cut the wood down, and the mountain lost its vegetation.
Yet even so, there came the night breeze. Rain and dew moistened it: green shoots began to grow. Cattle and sheep grazed there. After some time, the mountain was gaunt and bare. People who see it barren today imagine it always treeless.
Who knows that the woods were tampered with, hewn with axes, beaten with clubs? The trees are lopped, day after day; how will the mountain flourish?
Confucius said these words: “Hold on and it will remain. Let go and it disappears. One never knows the time it comes. One never sees where it has gone.” In making his remarks, perhaps he referred to the heart.’
The version for soprano, counter tenor and piano, was made in 1997 for a concert given by Deborah York, Michael Chance and Julius Drake on 30 September 1997 in the Wigmore Hall, London.
© Judith Weir
Mencius’ text reads as follows:
‘Ox Mountain was covered by trees, but it stands by a populous city. The people climbed up with their axes and choppers; they cut the wood down, and the mountain lost its vegetation.
Yet even so, there came the night breeze. Rain and dew moistened it: green shoots began to grow. Cattle and sheep grazed there. After some time, the mountain was gaunt and bare. People who see it barren today imagine it always treeless.
Who knows that the woods were tampered with, hewn with axes, beaten with clubs? The trees are lopped, day after day; how will the mountain flourish?
Confucius said these words: “Hold on and it will remain. Let go and it disappears. One never knows the time it comes. One never sees where it has gone.” In making his remarks, perhaps he referred to the heart.’
The version for soprano, counter tenor and piano, was made in 1997 for a concert given by Deborah York, Michael Chance and Julius Drake on 30 September 1997 in the Wigmore Hall, London.
© Judith Weir
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Ox Mountain was Covered by Trees (Judith Weir)
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