Strange is the Night
SATB unaccompanied
words by Robert W. Chambers (from The King in Yellow)
Video below! This piece was written for a small group of singers, performed from home all around North America to celebrate Halloween 2020. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, these singers were unified by their love of the macabre (and singing, of course!) While originally performed in a "virtual choir" setting, this piece lends itself nicely to live performance as well.
Program Note
This text comes from a play that doesn't exist: a book-within-a-book alluded The King in Yellow, a collection of horror tales by Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933). The words to "Cassilda's Song" are deliberately cryptic: Chambers wrote them to provide a small glimpse into the world of this fictional play, which drives his characters to psychosis when they read the whole thing. (Don't worry, though: it's only Act 2 of the play that provokes this reaction, but "Cassilda's Song" is from Act 1!)
Since the meaning of this text is deliberately vague (and/or nonexistent), it serves here as a vehicle for musical exploration. Chambers never needed to flesh out the location of Carcosa, the identity of Cassilda, or any of the other fantastical entities alluded to in this poem--but this music explores what they could be like.
This text comes from a play that doesn't exist: a book-within-a-book alluded The King in Yellow, a collection of horror tales by Robert W. Chambers (1865-1933). The words to "Cassilda's Song" are deliberately cryptic: Chambers wrote them to provide a small glimpse into the world of this fictional play, which drives his characters to psychosis when they read the whole thing. (Don't worry, though: it's only Act 2 of the play that provokes this reaction, but "Cassilda's Song" is from Act 1!)
Since the meaning of this text is deliberately vague (and/or nonexistent), it serves here as a vehicle for musical exploration. Chambers never needed to flesh out the location of Carcosa, the identity of Cassilda, or any of the other fantastical entities alluded to in this poem--but this music explores what they could be like.