The Ballad of Longwood Glen

Description

Tenor, Harp — THE BALLAD OF LONGWOOD GLEN is a setting of Vladimir Nabokov's narrative of the same title. Consisting of thirty-two rhymed coup¬lets, the poem was written in America, directly in English, and bears the date 1957. The musical version, composed at Yaddo in the summer of 1975, be¬gins and ends with the tenor and harp closely coordinated in the manner characteristic of art songs. The music of these two areas is similar, a reprise being the musical reflection of the return to (apparent) normalcy found at the close of the poem. In the intervening portion of the piece, as the events of the poem become increasingly strange, the performers stray from exact coordination. This independence allows the singer a good deal of freedom in delivering the text.