Journey into Light
(2004)
Duration: 15/16'
Soprano, 2 oboes [dbl CA]: bassoon: 2 Natural horns: Strings
Commissioned by the Academy of Ancient Music, with funds from the PRS Foundation and the John S. Cohen Foundation

First Performance: 25 May 2006, Southampton
Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Academy of Ancient Music
Paul Goodwin, conductor

Publisher:  Novello & Co Ltd

Critical Acclaim:

The Academy of Ancient Music has in recent years become a propagator of new music as well. Premiered in Southampton in May but only now receiving its first London hearing, its latest commission is Thea Musgrave's Journey into Light, conceived as a companion piece to Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate. The result is strong enough to stand up for itself in that pairing, yet a very different animal.

Instead of exhorting us to exult and jubilate, the soprano sings 15th-century texts, thick with imagery, entitled Lament, Prayer and Contemplation. In the baroque-inflected cadences of the first and the birdsong fragments of the third, Musgrave revels in the plangent sonorities of the AAM's oboes and bassoon, but elsewhere the music falls into rich Wagnerian harmonies that suggest she would have been equally happy scoring this work for modern orchestra, had a commission been forthcoming - which in the case of Musgrave, one of the UK's most senior and underrated composers, is all too unlikely.

A larger voice than Carolyn Sampson's bright soprano might have suited the work better…..though she communicated the texts of the Musgrave with dedication, there were times when the conductor Paul Goodwin, almost let the orchestra overwhelm her.
— Erica Jeal, The Guardian, December 15, 2006

......then performed a new commission from Thea Musgrave, written in homage to Mozart, and exhorting us, in the words of the 15th-century Scottish poet William Dunbar, “since erdly joy abidès never, Work for the joy that lastès ever.” Musgrave’s Journey into Light, a song cycle shaped by a Lament, a Prayer and a Contemplation, was commissioned as a companion piece to Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate, which was sung with robust and radiant virtuosity before the interval by Carolyn Sampson. The Mozart hails the joy already achieved — the sunlit song of the blessed spirits for whom the clouds and the storms have fled. Musgrave, Dunbar and an anonymous 16th-century poet anticipate heavenly bliss while still suffering earthly pain — and the skill of her music is to hold both in lyrical equipoise.

The dying fall of a bird’s cry, the shudder of strings, and the distant spectre of the Dies Irae pervade and unify the three songs, carol-like in their simple intensity. Sampson gave eloquent voice to their troubled and finally calm, dark ecstasy. This cycle deserves a permanent place in the repertoire.
— Hilary Finch, London Times

Carolyn Sampson.... is otherwise the complete Mozart soprano, but she can also do modern, as she showed in Thea Musgrave's Journey into Light. Conceived as a companion to Exsultate, jubilate, period instruments and all, the 20-minute cycle avoids the voice's ugly regions; Sampson responded gratefully, living the mournful texts, not simply enunciating them.

Musgrave made the most of the Academy's slightly acidic strings and pungent winds (including a pair of warbling oboes to evoke birds), the ideal bed on which Sampson's voice, now languid, now impassioned, could recline. Such a rare pleasure: new music that truly loves the voice.
— Nick Kimberley, Evening Standard

Composer's Note:

Journey into Light was commissioned by the Academy of Ancient Music as a possible companion piece to Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate and the decision was quickly made to write something as a complete contrast. The poems chosen, one anonymous from the early 16th century, the other two by the famous Scottish poet William Dunbar [1460?-1513?], describe the promise of salvation after life's dark passage. Each of the three poems echo this thought: "In celum, ther is joy with Thee", "A short torment for infinite gladness" and "Since erdly joy abidès never, Work for the joy that lastès ever". Thus in each poem the poet can overcome the fear of his inevitable death with the certainty of salvation: this work also has its 'dark' moments, but the overall mood is one of calmness and peace.

As with the words there are several musical motives that link the three songs. The musical motive for the refrain "Terribilis mors conturbat me" in the first macaronic poem [also a salute to Mozart since the Exsultate is in Latin] returns a little higher and more despairingly in each verse until the last verse where it is played a whole octave higher. This motive reappears [played mostly by the oboes] in the last song but now the pitch of each repeat goes in reverse, that is, from high to low. The famous motive of the Gregorian chant Dies Irae [representing death] is used to accompany the prayer of the second song, and it too returns towards the end of the third song. The music for the cry of despair in the first song "Respice me, Pater that is so high" also reappears in the last song. A musical motive for the joy of Paradise appears in the second song "A free choice given to Paradise or Hell".

There is also a ubiquitous 3-note chordal cluster which is used to illustrate the words: sometimes as a colour, and sometimes as articulation.

The bird of the last song "Thus sang ane bird with voice upplane" becomes several birds [oboes] singing in A major, but with a D sharp, thus the Lydian mode. However the refrain of this poem "All erdly joy returns in pane" is in F major. This alternation of F major/A major tonalities is a 'structural' feature which, is of course, heralded by Mozart in his "Exsultate Jubilate".

This work is thus written in homage to Mozart.

ANON Earlier 16c

Alas, my hart will brek in three
Terribilis mors conturbat me.

Illa iuventus, that is so nise,
Me deduxit into vain devise:
Infirmus sum, I may not rise.
Terribilis mors conturbat me.

Dum iuvenis fui, litill I dred,
Sed semper in sinne I ete my bred,
Iam ductus sum in to my bed
Terribilis mors conturbat me.

Corpus migrat in my soule;
Respicit demon in his rowle -
Desiderat ipse to have his tolle.
Terribilis mors conturbat me.

Christus se ipsum, whan he shuld die,
Patri suo his manhode did cry:
'Respice me, Pater, that is so hye.'
Terribilis mors conturbat me.

Queso iam the Trinite
Duc me from this vanite
In celum, ther is joy with thee.
Terribilis mors conturbat me.

Literal translation by the composer for reference ONLY

Alas, my heart will break in three
Dreadful death distresses me.

Those days of youth that are so wanton
Led me into empty delights.
I am enfeebled, I can not rise.
Dreadful death distresses me.

When I was young I feared nothing,
But always in sin I ate my bread, [I lived my life]
Now already I am bedridden
Dreadful death distresses me.

My body parts from my soul;
The devil watches in his rule [The devil watches for his due]
He demands his toll,
Dreadful death distresses me

Christ himself, when he died,
Cried out to his Father:
"Look on me Father, that art so high".
Dreadful death distresses me.

Now I pray to the Trinity
To lead me from this vanity
In Heaven there is joy with Thee.
Dreadful death distresses me.
 

WILLIAM DUNBAR
What is this life but a straucht way to deid,
  Which has a time to pass, and nane to dwell;
A sliding wheel lent us to seek remeid;
  A free choice given to Paradise or Hell;
  A prey to death, whom vain it is to repel,
A schoirt torment for infinite gladness,
Also short ane joy for lasting heaviness.
 

WILLIAM DUNBAR
Of Lentren in the first morning,
Airly as did the day upspring,
Thus sang ane bird with voice upplane
  'All erdly joy returns in pane.'

'O man! have mind that thou mon pas;
Remember that thou art but ash,
And shall in ash revert againe:
  All erdly joy returns in pane.'

'Have mind that age follows youth;
Death follows life with gaping mouth,
Devouring fruit and flouring grain:
  All erdly joy returns in pane.'

'Wealth, warldly gloir and rich array
Are all but thorns laid in thy way,
O'ercovered with flours laid in ane trane:
  All erdly joy returns in pane.'

'Com never yet May so fresh and green,
But Januar com as violent and keen;
Was never such drought but at once com rain:
  All erdly joy returns in pane.'

'Evermair unto this warldis joy
As nearest heir succeidis noy.
Therefor, when joy may nocht remane,
  His verry heir succeidis pane.'

'Here health returnis in seikness,
And mirth returns in heaviness,
Toun in desert, forest in plain:
  All erdly joy returns in pane.'

'Freedom returns in wretchedness,
And truth returns in doubleness,
With fenyit words to mak men feign:
  All erdly joy returns in pane.'

'Virtue returns in to vice,
And honour in to avarice:
With cuvatice is consciens slane:
  All erdly joy returns in pane.'

'Since erdly joy abidès never,
Work for the joy that lastès ever;
For other joy is all but vain:
  All erdly joy returns in pane.

The composer wishes to thank Professors David Rollo and Jeremy Noble for their help in understanding the medieval and Latin languages of the poems.

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