The Nightingale

Vivian Fine

General Info

Year: 1976
Duration: c. 10:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $0.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Text

Jug jug jug terew, terew, terew, terew,
chooc chooc chooc, chooc,
terew, she cries, terew, terew, tuh, shh
terew, she cries, tuh, shh
what bird so sings, jug jug jug, jug, terew, tuh shh
what bird so sings yet so does wail,
jug jug jug jug jug jug, terew.

Yet there the nightingale filled all the desert with inviolable voice.
terew, terew, terew,
jug jug jug jug,
and still she cried,
ah…ah…
filled all the desert, filled all the desert,
the nightingale,
filled all the desert.

The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves,
The grass, the thicket and the fruit tree wild;
White hawthorne and the pastoral eglantine.

I cannot see what flow’rs are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs.
KKKKK, KKKKK, tuh, shhh tuh, shhh,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves,
The grass, the thicket and the fruit tree wild;
White hawthorne and the pastoral eglantine.

Philomel, Philomel, Philomel, Philomel,
tandaradei, tandaradei,
fie fie fie,
how she would cry,
terew, terew, terew, terew, terew, terew, terew,
by and by, by and by, by and by,
Philomel with melody sing in our sweet lullaby,
tandaradei, tandaradei,
Still wouldst thou sing and I have ears in vain,
while thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad in such an ecstasy!

Towards the end of summer the nightingale disappears to its African winter haunts,
the nightingale, the nightingale,
The voice I hear this passing night was heard in ancient days,
the nightingale,
Was it a vision or a waking dream?

Fled is that music,
do I wake or sleep?

-John Keats, T.S. Eliot, John Lyly, Richard Barnfield, and the Encyclopedia Brittanica

Instrumentation

multi-percussion: triangle, woodblock and cymbal
Voice Mezzo-Soprano (Accompany herself with the percussion instruments

Program Notes

Premiere: March 4, 1977, Albany Arts Center, Albany, New York, Julie Kabat, soprano

The Divertimento was written in 1951 and has been widely performed. It was originally written for a percussionist and his cellist wife. They were taken aback by the idiom—perhaps expecting something “typical” for cello and drumming—and never performed the work. The dramatic dialogue between the players contrasts the linear quality of the cello with the more varied sounds of percussion. –Vivian Fine

The Divertimento divides into four sections forming a loose ABA pattern. The A material is an active cello melody displaying Fine’s penchant for writing a well-articulated but tonally free line. The percussion is heard as an accompaniment. The B sections place more emphasis on the percussion, sometimes creating duets between the ensemble and cello or isolating individual colors, such as timpani and cello.

Fine’s reuse of material is always clever, and like in her earlier music, avoids exact repetition. For example, the cello’s beginning pitches…become a playful four-measure elaboration during measures 110-114, delaying the return of the original melody, which has a new percussion accompaniment. –Heidi Von Gunden, The Music of Vivian Fine, Scarecrow Press, 1999

Review

(The piece) is set as an extended fantasy for solo singer, accompanying herself with triangle, woodblock and cymbal….the result is eloquently moving.”
–Heuwell Tircuit, San Francisco Chronicle

Nightingale is an avian tour de force….Woodblock, triangle, suspended cymbal and voice created a nostalgic, almost mystical mood which left me wishing that the work were longer.”
–Richard Capparela, KITE, Albany, New York

Recent Performances

To submit a performance please join the TEK Percussion Database

Works for Percussion by this Composer

Concertino for Piano and Percussion Ensemble - Percussion Quintet; Piano
Divertimento for Violoncello and Percussion - Multiple Percussion; Cello
Dreamscape - Percussion Ensemble; 3 Flutes, Cello; Piano; Lawnmower
Opus 51 - Multiple Percussion; Piano; Dance
The Nightingale - Multiple Percussion; Voice (One player)
The Race of Life - Multiple Percussion; Piano; Dance