a thing of light (2023)
Notes
For soprano and piano
Composed for Ella Machtynger
First performance by Charlotte Jane Kennedy and Edward Picton-Turbevill
at Hinde Street Methodist Church,
November 25, 2023
Winner, London Song Festival Composers Song Writing Competition 2023
Text: The Linnet by Walter De La Mare
Duration: 3 minutes 30 seconds
a thing of light is a short, minimalist-aestheticised song for piano and soprano, inspired by the delicate and fleeting beauty of glimpsing a beautiful bird. Composed for soprano Ella Machtynger, the music seeks to capture the enchantment and transience of being in nature.
The Linnet
Upon this leafy bush
With thorns and roses in it,
Flutters a thing of light,
A twittering Linnet.
And all the throbbing world
Of dew and sun and air
By this small parcel of life
Is made more fair;
As if each bramble-spray
And mounded gold-wreathed furze,
Harebell and little thyme,
Were only hers;
As if this beauty and grace
Did to one bird belong,
And, at a flutter of wing,
Might vanish in song.
Walter De La Mare