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- Cheryl Frances-Hoad
The Glory Tree (2005)
- Cadenza Music (World)
The Glory Tree is inspired by Shamanic rituals and practices, and uses Old English poems from the 6th-8th Centuries as its text.
- S/cl[bcl]/pf/vn.vc
- 15 min
Programme Note
Commissioned by Kreisler Ensemble and premiered by Natalie Raybould and the ensemble, conducted by Matilda Hofman at the Purcell Room in June 2005.
The Glory Tree is inspired by Shamanic rituals and practices, and uses Old English poems from the 6th-8thCenturies as its text.
I had done quite a bit of work on shamanism at University, and had always thought it would make a good subject for a dramatic song cycle – a Shaman is essentially a tribal witch doctor and a ‘master of the spirits’, whose powers protect the local people from hostile and evil presences around them, which could otherwise cause illness and other things such as a bad harvest.
If a person does fall ill, it is assumed that their body has been possessed by a hostile spirit, and the Shaman must perform rituals to exorcise it: this involves the Shaman going into a deep trance, letting his spirit escape from his body and travelling to either the heavens or the underworld to converse with the Gods and persuade them to let the sick person be freed of the intruding spirit. These trances can last from only a few minutes to as long as three days, and are characterised by an all-consuming and overwhelming ecstasy that is provoked by the ascension to the sky or by the descent to Hell. I found this very inspiring, along with the fact that in Shamanism, the Shaman is often thought to be an equal to the Gods, as his spirit is able to travel up to converse, influence and bargain with the them.
Before a person can become initiated as a shaman, their spirit must travel to the three most important destinations in the spirit world, namely up to the heavens, across the sea, and down to the underworld, and it is these three journeys that the main three movements of the piece are based on. When I was researching shamanism, I came across a book that suggested that shamanic elements could be found in some Anglo Saxon poetry, and although this is debatable it gave me the perfect excuse to use excerpts from poems such as The Dream of the Rood and Judith as my texts, as I loved the magical and otherworldly sound of the language.
The piece is in five continuous movements, with the 1st, 3rdand 5thbeing the journeys to heaven, across the sea, then down to Hell, and the 2ndand 4thsongs use the texts of Rune poems to link the three levels of the world – in the 2nd song, Icy Hail falls from the heavens and turns into water, and in the 4th, a boat travels across the water to reach the land, whereupon the last movement, the descent to hell, begins.
I am very grateful to Dr. Richard Dance of Cambridge University’s Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic Department for generously helping me with the selection, translation and pronunciation of the text.
© Cheryl Frances-Hoad, 2005
The Glory Tree is inspired by Shamanic rituals and practices, and uses Old English poems from the 6th-8thCenturies as its text.
I had done quite a bit of work on shamanism at University, and had always thought it would make a good subject for a dramatic song cycle – a Shaman is essentially a tribal witch doctor and a ‘master of the spirits’, whose powers protect the local people from hostile and evil presences around them, which could otherwise cause illness and other things such as a bad harvest.
If a person does fall ill, it is assumed that their body has been possessed by a hostile spirit, and the Shaman must perform rituals to exorcise it: this involves the Shaman going into a deep trance, letting his spirit escape from his body and travelling to either the heavens or the underworld to converse with the Gods and persuade them to let the sick person be freed of the intruding spirit. These trances can last from only a few minutes to as long as three days, and are characterised by an all-consuming and overwhelming ecstasy that is provoked by the ascension to the sky or by the descent to Hell. I found this very inspiring, along with the fact that in Shamanism, the Shaman is often thought to be an equal to the Gods, as his spirit is able to travel up to converse, influence and bargain with the them.
Before a person can become initiated as a shaman, their spirit must travel to the three most important destinations in the spirit world, namely up to the heavens, across the sea, and down to the underworld, and it is these three journeys that the main three movements of the piece are based on. When I was researching shamanism, I came across a book that suggested that shamanic elements could be found in some Anglo Saxon poetry, and although this is debatable it gave me the perfect excuse to use excerpts from poems such as The Dream of the Rood and Judith as my texts, as I loved the magical and otherworldly sound of the language.
The piece is in five continuous movements, with the 1st, 3rdand 5thbeing the journeys to heaven, across the sea, then down to Hell, and the 2ndand 4thsongs use the texts of Rune poems to link the three levels of the world – in the 2nd song, Icy Hail falls from the heavens and turns into water, and in the 4th, a boat travels across the water to reach the land, whereupon the last movement, the descent to hell, begins.
I am very grateful to Dr. Richard Dance of Cambridge University’s Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic Department for generously helping me with the selection, translation and pronunciation of the text.
© Cheryl Frances-Hoad, 2005