Work
The Virgin and the Nightingale
five songs for voices
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About
The Virgin and the Nightingale was commissioned by Jones and Co with funding from the Music Board of the Australia Council, and first performed by The Song Company in 1992. The poems are taken from Fleur Adcock's collection of translations of mediaeval poems published by Bloodaxe Books as The Virgin and the nightingale, with kind permission of author and publisher. The five songs all focus on birds; the flute part in Love's Agent is a (transposed) transcription of a nightingale song. The settings are for SSATTB choir. The songs can be performed as a set or separately; some of them are suitable for choir.
Commissioned note
Commissioned by Jones and Co with funding from the Music Board of The Australia Council
Contents note
- Love's Agent (ensemble and flute)
- The Swan (SSATTB)
- The Thrush (TTB, flute)
- The Roasted Swan (SSATTB)
- The Anti-nightingale song (ensemble and flute)
Text note
Mediaeval Latin translation by Fleur Adcock
Performance history
Performed by The Song Company with Geoffrey Collins (flute)