Awake, awake, the world is young op.34

Ian Venables

A note from the composer, Ian Venables (pictured):

The year 1999 saw a whole raft of new works commissioned especially to celebrate the Millennium. All of these works were indebted to commissioning bodies, who like the Charlton Kings and Cirencester Choral Societies, had the necessary vision to engage a composer to undertake such an important creative endeavour. John Wright, the principal conductor of the Charlton Kings Choral Society, was keen to give me the freedom to respond to the Millennium theme without imposing any pre-conditions and so, without further hesitation, I began to trawl my library for a suitable text. I had in mind a work that was broadly reflective in character, but one that centered upon humanity's achievements. However, the more I considered this, the more I felt how little mankind had actually achieved. I then began to see the work more in terms of a re-affirmation of humanities more noble goals and aspirations.

These hazy thoughts was brought into focus by the author Anthony Boden who drew my attention to a section from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem 'In Memoriam', that began with the lines 'Ring out the old, ring in the new'. Tennyson's visionary poem was ideal for setting, however, it lacked one vital element, namely the voice of the individual. I therefore needed to find a complementary text. The answer came in the guise of James Elroy Flecker and his celebratory poem, 'A New Year's Carol'.

'Awake, Awake! The world is young,
For all its weary years of thought:
The starkest fights must still be fought,
The most surprising songs be sung'.

Here was the element of self-renewal that was essential to my vision of what a Millennium work should represent. Humanity may not have achieved its noblest aspirations, but that does not mean that we should forget them, or indeed give up trying to achieve them. I believe that every individual plays their part in the unfolding of history, and I hope that this work may in some small way help to illuminate that pathway and engage the listener in the challenges of our unfinished journey.

By placing Flecker's poem at the center of the work and flanking it on each side with the Tennyson, I had arrived at a structure upon which to build the music.

The scoring of the piece for Brass, Percussion, Organ and S.A.T.B choir was in part determined at the outset by the terms of the commission; however, the character of Tennyson's words strongly suggested the fanfare possibilities of trumpets and the vibrancy of the percussion. The addition of a solo part for mezzo-soprano did not materialise until much later on in the composition. I felt that Flecker's personal utterance demanded an equally individual response; this is represented by the soloist's role in the central section of the work.

There work is divided into three main sections, each reflecting the varying moods and emotions of each poems stanzas.

The anthem opens with an introduction marked Larghetto Pomposo - the pomposo marking specifically chosen to echo some of the self-important qualities of mankind. The opening chorus "Ring out the old, ring in the new" and its insistent restatements at various points in the piece heralds the collective human desire for renewal and hope. After a restatement of this material a bridge passage leads us to the central section for mezzo-soprano and to a setting of Flecker's words. Here the 'I' becomes the spokesperson for humanity. A simple organ line accompanies the mezzo-soprano's pensive and lyrical utterance. In the section that follows, the chorus is used in a more contrapuntal way and leads to a powerful climax on the word 'Truth'. The music�s momentary diatonic feel pulls us away from the complexity of the highly chromatic writing that preceded it, and stands as an important and powerful musical metaphor.

The slow central section is followed by a recapitulation of the work's opening material and leads to what is perhaps the work's emotional heart. The previously intoned music on the words "Ring out" now becomes almost menacing as the music becomes increasingly more intense and chromatic. The release occurs on the words "Ring out the thousand wars of old, ring in the thousand years of peace". On the final word "peace" the sound world becomes one of stillness and deep resignation - the slight jarring of harmony in the organ part reminding us that while humanity may aspire to peace, it is unlikely we shall ever truly achieve it.

How to end a work can often be problematical for a composer and this work proved to be no exception. I had originally intended to finish with the penultimate stanza of Tennyson's poem. This would have accorded with the universal hope for the end to all war, and it would certainly have given the work a more secular appeal. But what is the Millennium about if it does not mark the birth of Jesus Christ? So, I decided instead to round off the work with a coda that heralded the "Christ that is to be", thus echoing Tennyson's hope that the world could be reborn through Christ's capacity for spiritual renewal. This was brought home to me on New Year's Day when I opened the Sunday Times. To my astonishment there was the very Tennyson poem that I had just set. I knew then, that I had made the right choice.