Under Milk Wood

Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND

Under Milk Wood - (2024)

A recital of ballads, brawls and brio

for Twelve Singers and Piano

After texts of Dylan Thomas

as adapted by the composer

The "recital of ballads, brawls and brio" -- as it is for singers and piano -- is of course a recital, but may also be performed as a semi-staged or staged work, as desired.

For the purpose of fashioning a libretto from the radio play, several editions were consulted, and work on some song settings began in 1989 when I was a guest at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff. For more on this, see the notes to the Voices Under Milk Wood , which form much of the musical conceptualization of this full work.

Of Thomas, one reads: "When I put forward the notion that writing with his intensity must be painful, he waved the idea away. Writing poetry was easy, he said; not exactly 'easy' -- it was slow -- but the poetry was always there, always available. Poetry was a dark river flowing down there somewhere; he could send the bucket down anytime he wanted, and come up with poetry. Two lines a day. But anyway -- he shrugged the subject away -- he wouldn't write poetry much, the rest of his life. I asked why. There was more money in prose." In "Dylan Thomas and Public Suicide," a chapter in "Their Ancient Glittering Eyse," Donald Hall, Ticknor and Fields, 1993.

Of adapting the long text of the radio play as opera which was spoken of, I read, "The proposal was firm enough. It came from the Opera Workshop of Boston University, who cabled Thomas on May 21 to ask if he would be willing in principle to write a libretto for Stravinsky. Assuming that the poet and composer agreed, the Workshop could offer an advance of $1,500 and a similar amount on completion. ...The idea they discussed was a 're-creation of the world', perhaps by denizens of outer space who arrive on a devastated Earth and begin again with a new Eden. Brinnin saw him shortly afterwards, exhilarated, inventing absurd plots for operas." In "Dylan Thomas, a biography," by Paul Ferris, Dial Press, 1977.

Thus, from my exposure to and deep dive into the work while in Wales in 1989, setting meant adapting, and as such truncating portions of the full text for singing a text lengthens its performance. The Ferris text above suggests that some believed the actual working into a libretto would have "frightened him" (Fitzgibbon) and "overwhelmed him" (Taylor). I tend to reject such assertions as mere hearsay and third-party opinion. At any rate, the Stravinsky project never became a reality, and only a few years ago, John Metcalf composed his version as an opera for fewer singers and an ensemble of instrumentalists. The text became in the public domain throughout Europe and elsewhere, though not in the U.S. as yet. Lord Cut-Glass' many clocks tick away the years.

This music theater work includes all that was composed in the UK, as well as composed in Berlin, Los Angeles, Monrovia and James Island (Charleston), with the final engraving completed in September 2024.

I adapted my libretto, shortening of course, but also sometimes reassigning texts to characters not in the original, and cobbling ensembles from various lines, to include the reprise of "In Pembroke City" for SATB, and other strategies to widen the participation of the twelve singers. There are 36 episodes in all, ranging from short songs to extended scenes.

The twelve singers are three sopranos, three mezzo sopranos, three tenors and three baritones, together portraying seventy different characters, some portrayals as short as a sentence and some involved in songs and extended scenes. In order of character's appearances by voice type:

Soprano 1	Waldo's Wife, Matti Richards, Blodwen Bowen, Lily Smalls (song), Missus Pugh, Child's Voice, First Woman, Girl's Voice
Soprano 2	Another Mother, Lil the Gluepot, Missus Willy Nilly, Polly Garter (song), Missus Dai Bread One, Child's Voice, Second Woman, Girl's Voice
Soprano 3	Myfanwy Price (song), Gossamer Beynon, Child's Voice, Third Woman, Bessie Bighead
Mezzo soprano 1	Rosie Probert (song), Mother, First Neighbour, Third Neighbour, Dulcie Prothero, Missus Flusher, Missus Utah Jenkins, Voice of the Guidebook (song), Missus Cherry Owen, Fourth Woman, Fourth Woman
Mezzo soprano 2	Second Neighbour, Fourth Neighbour, Effie Bevan, Mae Rose Cottage, Missus Organ Morgan, Missus Dai Bread Two
Mezzo soprano 3	Missus Ogmore-Pritchard, Mary Ann Sailors, Missus Beynon
Tenor 1	First Voice (songs), Fourth Drowned, Mister Ogmore, Nogood Boyo, Second Boy
Tenor 2	Second Drowned, Mister Waldo (song), Organ Morgan
Tenor 3	Captain Cat (songs), Jack Black, Sinbad Sailors, Mister Pugh, Dai Bread, First Boy
Baritone 1	Second Voice (duets and extended scenes), Fifth Drowned, Mister Pritchard, Willy Nilly
Baritone 2	Third Drowned, Mog Edwards (songs), Butcher Beynon, Utah Watkins, Lord Cut-Glass
Baritone 3	First Drowned, Preacher, Ocky Milkman, Reverend Eli Jenkins (songs), Cherry Owen, Evans the Death

The Songs and Scenes ( in two "acts" )

To begin at the beginning
Into the Davy Dark
Myfanwy and Mog
Bible-black
Poor Missus Waldo
Missus Ogmore-Pritchard Widow
Other Dreams
Bessie Bighead
Yet Other Dreams
Guidebook
Morning Verses
Oh There’s a Face!
Whispers on the Stairs
Me, me, me
Breakfast
Remember Last Night?
The Beynons
Up the Street
The Post
The Cobbled Street
The Women
Spring in Llaregub

Duration circa 1' 30"

Intermission

The Children’s Song
Polly Garter (Singing)
Full as a Lovebird’s Egg
A Little Armageddon
Strike, tick, chime, and tock
A Little Armageddon Continued
What seas did you see?
Afternoon
Dusk
Sunset Poem
Off to Gomorrah
In the Sailors Arms
Voyages
First Voice Last

Duration circa 1' 15"

Please note: The texts are in the Public Domain in the EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, non-PD in the US for now.

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 score of 345 pages,

Piano-vocal score

A4 format