Charm Me Asleep
2012; Routledge; Volume: 69; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse Musicological Studies
Resumome asleep, and melt me so With thy delicious numbers, That, being ravish'd, hence I go Away in easy slumbers . . . - Robert Herrick POEMS EXTOLLING THE SOOTHING BALM brought by sleep to those in need are legion, and art song composers have set these texts with great frequency. Who can resist words like Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night / Brother to Death, in silent darkness born, or Come, sleep, and with thy sweet deceiving / Lock me in delight awhile, or me asleep, and melt me so / With thy delicious numbers . . .?1 To something involves chanting a verse that supposedly has magic powers. Another meaning of charm is to put to sleep: its derivation is from the word carmen-song, or a prayer that is chanted.2 rather thorough description of charm is found in poet Edward Hirsch's excellent book How to Read a Poem-and Fall in Love with Poetry. Charm: spell or incantation (a word, a phrase, a verse, a song) spoken or sung to invoke and control supernatural powers. Charms, which are universally known, are among the earliest forms of recorded written literature. They carry the resonance of magic rites in archaic cultures . . . Old English charms . . . stand as some of the first written works in our language . . . Charms can be used for positive or negative ends, to ward off the spirit of evil or invoke it, to destroy an enemy or attract a beloved, to enchant objects, to ensure good luck with a supranormal power.3 If you begin to freely associate words that come to mind when considering the word sleep, you come up with words like lullaby, night, stars, moon, moonlight, dark, relaxation, dreams, nightmares, trance, balm, comfort, and the list could go on. All of these words can be tied to poems that have been set to music by composers as art songs. It would be interesting to craft a recital based on these word subjects and the art songs that have evolved from them, and see what sort of song groups would develop from that. This exercise is a good one to apply to any word. Using this method, one could design a recital that has a theme without actually naming the theme. It is a project that can have unexpected and surprising results, and it stretches the artistic imagination. This column will discuss some of the art song repertoire that comes to mind when the word sleep, or words associated with it, is used. repertoire is so vast, this will only be the tip of the iceberg, but it may spark some exploration on the part of readers. In Greek mythology, Morpheus, the son of Hypnos (Sleep), was a dream-god who made human shapes appear to dreamers. His name is derived from morphe (form) and therefore means transformer.4 John Fletcher's evocative poem Sleep inspired musical settings of great beauty by Peter Warlock and Ivor Gurney. Warlock's masterpiece is full of rich textures of harmonic and rhythmic variations for both voice and piano. Gurney's setting is no less impressive, featuring a sumptuous piano part, both elegant and evocative. Warlock's song Rest sweet nymphs is a lullaby-really a serenade-sung to a group of young ladies, whom the poet refers to as nymphs. Wishing them pleasant dreams and joy, the poet plays his lute as he sings. This poem, by an anonymous poet, was first published in 1605. In 1922, Peter Warlock set it. There is a later setting by Madeleine Dring, and the two songs should be compared. Probably the most well known charms in art songs are those songs set as a cycle by British composer Benjamin Britten: of Lullabies. There are five songs for mezzo soprano: A Cradle Song (Wm. Blake); The Highland Balou (Robert Burns); Sephestia's Lullaby (Robert Greene); A Charm (Thomas Randolph); and The Nurse's Song (John Philip). Britten's eclectic choice of poems makes the cycle delightfully varied in musical style and dramatic situation. Charms can be used for positive or negative ends. …
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