The Given Note
for string quartet c. 5'-6'
Seamus Heaney's poem, 'The Given Note' - about the Blasket fiddler who retrieves the mysterious Port na bPucai (The Fairies' Tune) from Inisvicillaune - is the conceptual touchstone or fulcrum for this music. The poem's fiddler becomes a metaphor for the poet himself, for his seeing and hearing of the beauties, ordinary and extraordinary mysteries of the world. The fiddler's grave rephrasing of the tune becomes Heaney's translation into poetry of the 'loud weather' of this world and of human nature. The music moves between the seen and the translated, offering an homage to the beauties of each and to the fiddler who moves between them.
The Given Note was commissioned by RTE for the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet for performance and broadcast at Seamus Heaney's 70th birthday celebrations.
for string quartet c. 5'-6'
Seamus Heaney's poem, 'The Given Note' - about the Blasket fiddler who retrieves the mysterious Port na bPucai (The Fairies' Tune) from Inisvicillaune - is the conceptual touchstone or fulcrum for this music. The poem's fiddler becomes a metaphor for the poet himself, for his seeing and hearing of the beauties, ordinary and extraordinary mysteries of the world. The fiddler's grave rephrasing of the tune becomes Heaney's translation into poetry of the 'loud weather' of this world and of human nature. The music moves between the seen and the translated, offering an homage to the beauties of each and to the fiddler who moves between them.
The Given Note was commissioned by RTE for the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet for performance and broadcast at Seamus Heaney's 70th birthday celebrations.
