Work
Childhood
a song cycle for mezzo-soprano, baritone and piano
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About
The poetry of childhood ranges widely from the sweet and sentimental, to the more prosaic and down-to-earth. When asked by my friend and noted Taiwan baritone Lin Chung Kuang to write a new song cycle for him to sing alongside one of his former teachers, the theme of childhood was requested. This cycle very broadly takes the listener from the new-born child being welcomed, through to a final text looking back from older age suggesting that a ‘second childhood’ is not such a bad thing!
Dedication note
dedicated to Lin, Chung Kuang and Chen Lee, Syoufen (Taiwan)
Contents note
Nine movements:
- Welcoming Song
- Infant Joy
- Piping Down the Valleys Wild
- Norse Lullaby
- Child of my Heart
- The Tapestry of Leaves
- Dirty Jim
- Childhood, Childhood
- Second Childhood
Text note
Text by Margaret Mahy ('Welcoming Song'), William Blake ('Infant Joy'), William Blake ('Piping Down the Valleys Wild'), Eugene Field ('Norse Lullaby'), Edwin Markham ('Child of my Heart'), Michael R Burch ('The Tapestry of Leaves'), Jane Taylor ('Dirty Jim'), John Wain ('Childhood, Childhood'), and Robert William Service ('Second Childhood')