Persephone’s Nightmare
This music is for a scene late in act 3 (there are currently 3 acts). Persephone is on her journey back to the underworld after seeing Demeter her mother for the last time. Once a powerful and beautiful kingdom that relieved the dead of their suffering it has been transformed into a dark and forbidding land. As Persephone walks through the passage the music underscores a growing sense of dread as the dark underworld is revealed. The metallic percussion that appears later is a potential thematic concept for the underworld.
Here’s the libretto for this section:
Chill, dark, hollow heart
Void of beating, void of blood
An awful stillness
In this chamber
I fear I am lost…
Caught between the worlds
My worst nightmare come to pass
Trapped in this passage
Underground
Still alive
Buried alive
Move feet! Move forward!
I taste the dirt, I feel the worms
Crawling against my skin
Where is my husband?
Hades? My king?
1 Comment
Deanne/Garry Girvan · November 29, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Don,
We love the music . The percussion in general delivers quite a punch in describing heaviness and anguish and depicting a tortured mind in a menacing landscape. The metallic, percussive, element punctuating the heaviness of the base register of the background strings does suggest a growing psychological imbalance. Powerful and moving!
Deanne and Garry