Three Thrilling Tales (2009)
1. A Thrilling Tale
2. Fidelity’s Flight
3. Abroath Paraphrase
Solo Tenor or Solo Baritone
Duration:
6′
First Performance:
2 March 2009
Ted Schmitz, Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford, UK
Score
Programme note
Three Thrilling Tales are short, light pieces for solo tenor written as diversions from larger more weighty pieces I have been working on. The first song ‘A Thrilling Tale’ was composed in Kirkwall and is a setting of an advert for real estate that I found in the local paper The Orcadian. The vivid imagery and the fact that tale in question is never revealed was far too good for house buyers, so I decided to set it to music. The second song ‘Fidelity’s Flight’ is a setting of the synopsis for a ‘Mills & Boon’ style book I encountered in a Greek airport whilst waiting for a delayed flight. Alas, I never got round to reading the book (though the front-cover looked very enticing) but the heart-stopping synopsis seemed a worthy thrilling tale. The third song is a good deal more thrilling, it is a setting of a short section of the Declaration of Arbroath, a document signed in 1320 (in Arbroath Abbey) which asserted Scotland’s right to international recognition as an independent country – a truly thrilling tale.
PAC
