Score and parts here.

Programme note:

An Lon Dubh       Blackbird                            An Lone Duv (vaguely phoenetic                                                                                             spelling)

Int én bec                     The wee bird                            Ind ayn beg
ro léic feit                     has let out a whistle                   ro layg fed
do rind guip                  from the point of a beak            do rinth goob
    glanbuidi;                  bright yellow;                            glanvoothi
fo-cheird faíd                it sends out a call                      fo kherth foith
os Loch Laíg                above Loch Laig                       os Loch Laig
lon do chraíb                a blackbird from a branch         lon do khroiv
    charnbuidi.                yellow-heaped.                  kharnvoothi

(kh from the back of the throat, like Scottish ‘Loch’ - translation by David Greene and Frank O'Connor)

This ninth-century poem is written in Old Irish, the parent language from which Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic all emerged. Since then, the passage of time has transformed language and music, but the image of the natural world in this poem remains powerfully evocative.

I chose to set both the Old Irish text and an English translation in order to highlight the simultaneity in the poem of both a foreign past and familiar present. The Gaelic words suggested to me the simple lines of folksong, whereas the translation is set to a declamatory recitative. In contrast, the instruments tend towards an energetic, dance-like, unison material. Stark juxtapositions and combinations of vocal and instrumental musics make a structure that is deliberately clear-cut and audible; the song ends with violin and viola trading bird calls above the soprano’s final phrase.