Work Inspiration / Programme note

Sing Her Body Gold is inspired by Edwin Long pain ing The Babylonian Marriage Market (1875) The painting portays a marriage market in which unmarried girls were gathered up and an official announcer is raising up the women, one after another to be auctioned off. In the foreground are twelve women, each of different posture and looks, waiting to be presented as potential brides.

The painting presents various stages of the market, different points of view are undertaken and the viewers perspective is inevitably challenged. Immedia el o e d a n o he women in the foreground waiting to sold off to the crowds of men in the background. The painting guides the viewer to fixate on the female body, the text is struck by how the male gaze could be considered in how these women were depicted, and what form it took. The gold light encompassed the women of the left, supposedly most attractive, compared to t he shadowed right-hand side where the supposedly less attractive women sat.

The painting was strewn with veils, layers, jewelry, pearls. Yet the way that the women waiting to be sold gazed back at the viewer, (the most central women particularly), with s uch a vulnerability made me feel like they possessed a kind of unseen liberation. In response to a pain ing po a ing omen bodie being mone i ed, I an ed o i e abo ha n een: that strength; the light that blazed no matter how much adversity th e women faced.

The score tries to both portray the intimacy of the text and tumultuous atmosphere of the market. To make the listener hear the space the score draws attention to the foreground, middle ground and background of the painting. There is a sense of movement characterized b he oman line p and the nature of the market, that develops into a feeling of stillness and subjectivity is then encountered calmo ma tenebroso

Singing techniques are also varied in this piece, it was important that each member played a specific role to represent a particular aspect in the meaning of the text. The aim was to convey the painting through the text rather than the story itself. Indeed , the text is set in a way that the audience can respond freely to what they hear, either by focusing on the singular voices or by embracing the waves of sounds.

Sing Her Body Gold

Score by Joaquin Freccia

Words by Jennifer Howitt

soprano solo, spoken part, quite theatrical, don't rush.

 = 56 sim.

you cannot see beyond the clouds, or dawn that creases through her shrouds, she places hands onto her face, and turns into a different place her, her, her, her, dy, bo her bo dy, her bo dy, her her, her, her, her, her, of pearl a string be sold soon to is bo dy her to her

 

2  

   

        

        bo dy her her, her, her, dy, bo her dy, her bo dy, bo her but    her, her, her, bo dy, her dy, her bo dy, bo her   hold ly you tight sold be to soon

   sold be to soon is dy her bo of pearl a string to her a you is bo dy her hold ly you tight

  her her dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her

         dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her her her limb her pull you though start growing slowly      

       hold ly tight you pearl of a string sold be soon to dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her you a to is dy bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her own not can you limb from 

   3   dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her grow faster untill b.27 her her dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her her her her sold be soon to dy, bo her dy, bo her dy, bo her in with light her drammatic, to her pull you though but to own not can you limb from limb her drammatic, sold be soon to is dy bo her pull you though but own not can you limb from limb her

  her as air less bound her her, soprano solo, spoken part, tempo primo        dy bo her air less bound bo dy her

        her, her, dy bo her air static, creating subtle waves of sounds in with her light as air less bound dy bo her she places hands onto her face, and turns into a different place             in with her light as bound her her,

5  

 

             spair de caged of chains dures en limb, her pull you though but chains the dures en limb pull you though spair de of caged you you though but de of you but the en limb her her, pull

             

      

       

     6   spair de of caged chains the dures en limb, her pull you      spair de caged chains      chains dures en her pull spair de caged of you though

 

       not can you limb from in with light her her, her, own can you her, own limb from limb from in with light her her, own not can you from from limb from limb     

       

       

              7   limb from limb     not can you her, her, own limb from limb from in with light her

 

8   sussurrando 

3 3 3

3 3 3 3 3 3 in with a light see not can you in with light a in with a light see can not you in with light a

  light a

3 3 3 3 3 3 with in rings ly et qui in with a light seize not can you

3 3

3 3 rings ly et qui in with a light seize not can you in with a light see not can you in with light a 3 3 3 3 in with a light see not can you with a light seize not can you in with light a yond be rings ly et qui in