Composer

:

Elliott Carter

Genre

:

Vocal

Style

:

Vocal Music

Compose Date

:

1975

Average_duration

:

18:04

Movement_count

:

6

Movement ....

Elliott Carter's "A Mirror on Which to Dwell" is a song cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble, composed in 1975. The work was premiered on May 6, 1976, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with Jan DeGaetani as the soprano soloist and the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble conducted by Arthur Weisberg. The cycle consists of eight movements, each setting a poem by a different author, including Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, and Wallace Stevens. The texts explore themes of love, loss, and the passage of time, and Carter's music reflects and amplifies these themes through its intricate, fragmented textures and shifting tonalities. The first movement, "Insomnia," sets a poem by Bishop and features a restless, agitated vocal line that mirrors the speaker's inability to sleep. The second movement, "The Rose Family," sets a poem by Dickinson and features a playful, syncopated rhythm that evokes the poem's whimsical imagery. The third movement, "Argument," sets a poem by Stevens and features a dense, contrapuntal texture that reflects the poem's philosophical musings on the nature of reality. The fourth movement, "The Maiden," sets a poem by William Butler Yeats and features a soaring, lyrical vocal line that captures the speaker's longing for love. The fifth movement, "The Sailor," sets a poem by Stevens and features a driving, rhythmic pulse that evokes the motion of the sea. The sixth movement, "Night," sets a poem by Dickinson and features a haunting, ethereal texture that captures the poem's sense of mystery and wonder. The seventh movement, "Let Down the Bars, O Death," sets a poem by Dickinson and features a stark, spare texture that reflects the poem's meditation on mortality. The final movement, "The Dance," sets a poem by Stevens and features a lively, syncopated rhythm that celebrates the joy of life and the power of art. Overall, "A Mirror on Which to Dwell" is a complex and challenging work that demands virtuosic performances from both the soprano soloist and the chamber ensemble. Carter's music is characterized by its intricate, fragmented textures, shifting tonalities, and complex rhythms, which reflect and amplify the themes of the poems. Despite its difficulty, the work has become a staple of the contemporary vocal repertoire and is widely regarded as one of Carter's most important works.

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