Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Come Unto These Yellow Sands - (1989)
William Shakespeare
from "The Tempest"
for countertenor and piano
Ariel: Come unto these yellow sands, and then take hands;
curtsied when you have and kissed the wild waves whist,
foot it featly here and there;
and, sweet sprites, the burden bear.
Hark! Hark! Bow-wow!
The watchdogs bark.
Bow-wow-wow-wow!
I hear the strain of the strutting chanticleer cry
cock-a-diddle-dow! Cock-a-diddle-dow![ 2 pages, circa 1' 00" ]
The magical quality of Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest called to mind settings for a countertenor, to set this character apart from the remainder of the cast. This conjuring of the "sprites" to do Prospero's bidding is composed with a repetitive motive reminiscent of various liturgies' repetitious forms. The other setting for this character which was completed in Cardiff, Wales, is Where the bee sucks.
The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
