Shakespeare Symphony
for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus and Orchestra (2019)
Music, text adaptations and compilations Copyright 2019 by Corey Field
I. Introduction: On the Nature of the Universe
Chorus
Now let us sing what makes the stars to move
How does the sky the stars renew?
I give to you the sky
The bright clear sky
And what it holds – the stars
Above, beneath, throughout the universe
Space infinite and free
This one earth and sky of ours
The shores of earth
The shores of stars
The sky of ours
Ocean sun and moon
Rising out of heaven
All for you
To you I give the stars
I give the sky to you
I give the earth
And now let us sing what makes the stars to move
How does the sky the stars renew?
Adapted from De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe) by Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 99 B.C. – c. 55 B.C.), Translation by William Ellery Leonard (1916)
II. The Floor of Heaven
Chorus
When you do dance I wish you
A wave o’ the sea
And yet I wish but for the thing I have
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep: the more I give to thee
The more I have
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music
In our ears: soft stillness
Become sweet harmony.
Look how the floor of heaven
Is inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold’st
But like an angel sings
Baritone (Caliban’s Dream)
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling sounds
Will hum in mine ears, sometime voices
That, if I had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
Chorus
Such harmony is in immortal souls
Full many a glorious morning have I seen
But like an angel sings
Adapted from Shakespeare: The Winter’s Tale, Act 4 Scene 4; Romeo and Juliet, Act 2 Scene 2;
The Merchant of Venice, Act 5 Scene 1; The Tempest, Act 3 Scene 2; Sonnet 33
III. When I Start to Write
Soprano
I was born
In a storm
This is how I am alive
When I start to write
I think of you
I breathe for you
I live for you
If you feel
As I did and will
I cry for you
I breathe for you
When I start to write
I think of you
I dream of you
Adapted from poetry by Karrlin Field
IV. Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies
(Ariel’s Song)
Chorus
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell
Hark! Now I hear them – Ding-dong, bell.
Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 1 Scene 2 (Ariel’s Song)
V. Wipe Thine Eyes; Come Let’s Away
Chorus
Wipe thine eyes;
Come, let's away
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
Lear (Baritone)
Thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never!
I kill’d the slave
That was a-hanging thee.
Did I not?
Constance (Soprano)
Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
O, that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth!
Then with a passion would I shake the world;
I am not mad: I would to heaven I were!
If I were mad, I’d forget my child
Lear
O, you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes,
I’d use them so
That Heaven’s vault should crack.
Lear, Constance, Chorus
Wipe thine eyes;
Come, let's away
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
And pray, and sing
Adapted from Shakespeare:
The Tragedy of King Lear, Act 5 Scene 3 (Chorus and Lear);
The Life and Death of King John, Act 3 Scene 4 (Constance)
VI. Sonnet 27
Chorus, Baritone
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head,
To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
For then my thoughts (from far where I abide)
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.
Lo, thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.
William Shakespeare
VII. O Brave New World
Chorus, Soprano, Baritone
Miranda (Soprano with Chorus)
O brave new world
My dearest father
O! I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer
Against my heart
I would have sunk the sea
Within the earth
O woe the day!
What was I to you.
Tell me what I am
Do you love me?
Tell me what I am
How came we ashore?
My very heart
Prospero (Baritone with Chorus)
‘Tis time
Lend thy hand
The hour’s now come
Thou shalt be free
Graves at my command
Have wak’d
By my so potent art
Deeper than plummet sound
Dost thou hear?
Awake, dear heart, awake;
Gentle breath of yours
By your spell
Release me
Set me free
Soprano, Baritone, and Chorus:
O brave new world
Set me free
Adapted from Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 1 Scene 2; Act 3 Scene 2; Act 5 Scene 1; Epilogue
