Geter | Elegy (for the Mysterious Starling)

PERUSALSCORE

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Notes from the Poet:

Elegy for the Mysterious Starling, icon of human-caused extinction: First described from a single specimen that was shot "hopping about on a tree" in 1825. Ornithologists did not visit Mauke in the Cook Islands for another 150 years, but when they did, they found that the bird had "mysteriously" disappeared. Even more "mysteriously", introduced brown rats appeared to have taken their place.

Notes from the Composer:

I was immediately drawn to Lorene Cary’s text which depicts the extinction of the mysterious starling. Although the piece is entitled Elegy, there is a duality in its lamentation. While we recognize the deep sorrow in the bird’s extinction and the mystery surrounding it, we remember a time when the birds were living their best lives, flying freely on the island, hopping from limb to limb. We think of a world when that was possible before humans used them as targets. Musically, I wanted to use the same approach as Lorene. Rather than write a sad, dark elegy about the bird’s death, I chose to use mostly major modes and clusters of harmonies that could be both a reflection on the mysterious starling’s life before the rats, and also the cause of its erasure from the earth thereafter. But if we could go back in time and take away the dangers that killed the mysterious starling, we would merrily fly alongside them and protect them from their impending doom.

Elegy

“Saw a starling,” wrote the naturalist on the HMS Blonde, Laden with rats and ambition. You--it was you, Mysterious Starling! You with your dusky black wings. Hopping about on dusky brown feet. Pecking your dusky brown bill for Insects, we assume. Maybe fruit.

***

He shot and “collected” you. Measured and weighed your dark body. Took notes. Careful naturalist notes. And the drawing, Mysterious Starling! You with your dusky black wings. Perfectly still, dusky brown feet. Though they spoiled your Paradise To make this picture, I love it.

***

Norway rats, descended from the Blonde, have overrun your isle, Still seeking whom they can devour. You--I’m asking, Mysterious Starling, You and your dusky brown bill, What if I could go back in time? Come Without rats or guns to menace? If we saw you, we’d Fly away.

PERUSALSCORE

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook