Dulce et Decorum est (2020) - Ethan Soledad [Score Video]
Музыка
For SATB choir a capella with divisi.
Premiered and performed live by Choral Arts Initiative as part of the PREMIERE| Project Festival 2022. Brandon Elliott, Artistic Director. Connor Scott, Conductor.
Program Notes:
One of Wilfred Owen’s most famous works, the text depicts the horrific scene of a WWI soldier experiencing the effects of chlorine gas in excruciating detail. Upon first reading the text, I was struck by Owen’s incredibly graphic imagery and emotional intensity. The horror, trauma, fear, and rage that came with fighting in the war is so powerfully encapsulated and yet, it’s merely a fraction of what the soldiers have experienced. The latin phrase “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” or “How sweet and fitting it is to die for one’s country,” is used ironically in the poem to condemn the war and those who would glorify it.
"Dulce et decorum est" by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
of tired, out-stripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.-
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Latin text by Horace (65 BC - 8 BC)
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori:
mors et fugacem persequitur virum
nec parcit inbellis iuventae
poplitibus timidoque tergo.
How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country:
Death pursues the man who flees,
spares not the hamstrings or cowardly backs
Of battle-shy youths.
www.jwpepper.com/Dulce-et-Dec...
ethansoledad.com/
![In effect it is this: that I love you (for SATB choir and piano) (2024) - Ethan Soledad [Score]](/img/d.gif)
Пікірлер: 49
Only on the last line did I recognize the words and was able to put my finger on where I’ve heard it before. This came up in my recommended and is BEYOND. I mean this puts me at a complete loss for words. Absolute powerhouse of a piece.
Absolutely stunning and gut-wrenching. Bravo, Ethan! I will be recommending every choir director I know to listen to this piece.
I was listening to this on my TV and around 1:40 in I stopped it and put it on my phone with headphones lol...knew I was in for something special and this didn't disappoint. This is really exquisite and also totally fearless. The relentless dissonance & use of homophony to basically attack the ear with sound at key parts of the poem is really thoughtful and effective. I would be afraid to sing this but imagine the satisfaction of pulling it off...this choir was up to the challenge and what a reckoning it is. I sometimes struggle to figure out how to convey sadness, disgust or other negative emotions in my own music and this has given me a lot to think about. Amazing work!
This is honestly one of the best choir pieces I have ever heard. Utterly beautiful.
Now this is what good remembrance is. Visceral. Horrifying. Communicating the intense horror like nothing seen on the continent before, sending a generation of boys into the meat grinder to massage the egos of a few heads of state. Never. Again.
What a visceral piece! The oppressive horrendous vibes are impressive
marvelous, viscerally musical experience and the execution of a challenging score by this ensemble, wow, superb!
Exquisitely polished. A moving and unique work capturing this bleak classic poem. Quite simply an incredible new choral work which will be a real tour de force for choirs seeking very challenging and highly dynamic new a capella repertoire. This is the kind of piece you want to go back and listen to again and again. Breathtaking performance.
Shocking. This piece made me cry with its pain and suffering. Loved every moment
Absolutely incredible. Vivid and corporeal, Ethan. Bravo! And well done to the choir. It's a difficult piece to have performed so well. Stunning all around
No words! Magistral
wow !
Amazing. I would love to sing this piece!
Music against war.
AYOOOOO POGGGGGGG
This gives Raua Needmine vibes but is significantly more accessible than that work. Wonderful composition, adding it to my shortlist of pieces to consider for my high school chamber choir for festival season.
wow. I am dumbstruck.
LET'S FUXKING GOOOOOO
I know a piece is good when I like react it without realising.
@Whatismusic123
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You don't know when a piece is good, ever.
@oscargill423
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@@Whatismusic123 I can't tell if this is a philosophical musing or an insult to my music taste, and either way, please elaborate.
@Whatismusic123
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@@oscargill423 insult to your music understanding
@oscargill423
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@@Whatismusic123 Music is subjective and no one has any right to tell anyone that their music taste is wrong or bad. Your turn.
@Whatismusic123
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@@oscargill423 again, this is not about your taste in music, noone cares about your taste in music. Your understanding of music is what's horrid. Music isn't subjective, just because your taste in it is.
At risk of being pedantic, I doubt Owen wrote the poem with Italianate Latin pronunciation in mind. He's more likely to have used insular English pronunciation.