Sametz: The Windhover
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- Composer: Steven Sametz (1954-)
- Format: Choral Octavo
- Instrumentation: SATB Choir
- Work: The Windhover
- Work Language: English
- UPC:
Description
"I encountered The Windhover in graduate school, and it made such a strong impression, but was so daunting a work, that I waited nearly three decades to set it. Hopkins combines a poetic vocabulary drawn from his study of Welsh with a sense of the sacred inherent in his calling to the priesthood. The language Hopkins used to depict the central image of the poem, that of a falcon hovering on the air, is already so musical that it took some time for me to come to a harmonic vocabulary that I thought might express the essential ecstatic nature of the poem.
Hopkins wrote of an 'inscape' in his poetry, an inner landscape revealed behind the words themselves. The poems were intended to touch the unique interior life that words can only describe. for me, this is the realm where music is strongest. As the poet and storyteller Hans Christian Anderson wrote, 'where words fail, music begins.' As composers of words and music, we are called upon not merely to set words, but to enhance the inner landscape of the poetry. If we fail to reveal the 'inscape' of the poem, we have likely not done justice to the poet and his work.
The world of the The Windhover opens at dawn as the poet views the falcon spiraling in the air, 'morning's minion,' riding on the 'rolling level underneath him steady air… in his ecstasy!' The poet is 'stirred for a bird, –the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!' in its flight, the falcon is so essentially itself, so free on the air that it expresses its Christ-like nature. Hopkins' dedication of the The Windhover is 'To Christ Our Lord.'
In the culmination of the poem, the falcon's beauty, valor, and the ecstasy of flight are 'buckled' together as a holy fire breaks forth, sending forth a spray of embers, which 'gash gold-vermillion.'
In the musical setting, The Windhover takes flight after the declamation of the poem and enters into the realm of the bird's ecstatic flight. Words fall away and the music rushes toward its close with the free cry of the falcon, soaring on the wind." -Steven Sametz
Duration: 6:30
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Choral Score
A score for vocalists that only contains the vocal lines. The instrumental parts are not there for reference. Generally, cheaper than a vocal score and requires multiple copies for purchase.
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Set of Parts
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Solo Part with Piano Reduction
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Study Score
A small (think choral size) copy of the complete score meant for studying, and not playing. They make great add-ons when learning concertos and small chamber works.
Vocal Score
A score prepared for vocalists that includes the piano/organ part or a reduction of the instrumental parts.
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Some publishers prepare two copies - a pure Urtext edition that includes no fingering (or bowing) suggestions and a lightly edited version that includes a minimal number of editorial markings.
Digital Download
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Sametz: The Windhover
