Finishing up the draft

It’s been almost a month of writing, revising text and music in the process of finishing a draft for the reading. Michael is negotiating with Edinburgh / Royal Academy in Glasgow to see if we’ll premiere there. This puts on a bit of needed pressure and got me through Eileen’s last aria. Had to really move in a different way in order to express her loss of composure — using Handel’s sui generis da capo arias as models. Still, the effect of having her lose it musically is not an easy one to achieve. I hope Constance will have some suggestions to make the singing sound “naturally” strangled.

The Hymn finale combines motives from Eileen’s last aria, bleeding into the texture as voices move in counterpoint to instruments. Looking for a resigned feeling, not too heavy, but nothing even bordering on the “look on the bright side” or the triumphant.

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