out of the mouths of children
Peter Allwood
Première: February 2011, St. Mary's, Alverstoke
Commissioned specially for Ishirini's tour to India in 2011 and receiving its premiere in Ishirini's perfomance of An Offering of Songs at St. Mary's Alverstoke, out of the mouths of children weaves together the words of Psalm 8 and Grace Before Song, a poem by Ezra Pound (one of Tagore's early supporters in the West) with the melody of Anondoloke, one of Tagore's many famous songs.
The piece is inspired by the wonder of the universe as expressed in each of the texts through the three languages, English, Latin and Bengali, and echoes, in its complex two-choir texture, the scientific, musical and spiritual discussions of Tagore and Einstein. The title is part of a verse in Psalm 8 and the wonder is expressed through the tonal and rhythmic order which the children's voices naturally introduce.
Download a pdf of these programme notes here.
Psalm 8 (selected verses)
Domine Dominus noster
quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra.
Quoniam elevata est magnificentia tua super caelos.
Quoniam videbo caelos tuos opera digitorum tuorum lunam
et stellas quae tu fundasti.
Ex ore infantium et lactantium
perfecisti laudem.
Domine Dominus noster
quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra
O Lord our Lord,
how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers:
the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.
Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings
thou hast perfected praise.
O Lord our Lord,
how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
Anondoloke (Rabindranath Tagore)
In the abode of joy and benevolence lies the beautiful truth
Your glory shines across the vast sky
The universe ornaments your feet.
Life flows night and day, in ever-new streams
Bestowed by your tireless blessings – in life, in death.
translated by Pratik Ghosh
Grace Before Song (Ezra Pound)
Lord God of heaven that with mercy dight
Th'alternate prayer wheel of the night and light
Eternal hath to thee, and in whose sight
Our days as rain drops in the sea surge fall,
As bright white drops upon a leaden sea
Grant so my songs to this grey folk may be:
As drops that dream and gleam and falling catch the sun
Evan'scent mirrors every opal one
Of such his splendor as their compass is,
So, bold My Songs, seek ye such death as this.
