Music by Christopher Fulkerson
Text by Ezra Pound
This piece was written at the request of the contralto Liz Anker to sing with an ensemble she led. Since she was focusing on only Contemporary and Baroque music at the time I thought it might do to write something that would resemble in pliancy and intimacy the kind of chamber cantata that was popular during the baroque era. I call the genre "recital aria;" another work of this type is KUBLA KHAN. It is meant to have a quiet, parlando lyric drama appropriate to the nocturnal scene it creates, though the singer's line rises more than once.
NIGHT LITANY involves several of my most frequent themes: water, magic, things Italian; Venice in particular; and the words of Ezra Pound, one of my favorite poets, whom I have set several times. As with many of my pieces there is a pattern to the appearances the singer and players make. The flute plays one kind of material; the bassoon quite another; the vocal line is made from the confluences of these and the percussive ideas.
The score is 15 pages in the composer's free hand.
A recording is available.
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