1. The Wild Swans at Coole
The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.
The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.
But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?
2. “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there,
for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
3. “The Cat and the Moon”
The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.
– William Butler Yeats
This three-movement work for soprano and piano trio was commissioned by the Rawlins Piano Trio at the University of South Dakota. It was premiered by soprano Carla Connors and the Rawlins Trio in 2010 and subsequently recorded by them on the CD entitled Attracting Opposites: New Music for Piano Trio, published by Azica Records.
I. The Wild Swans at Coole
This is a contrapuntal movement in sonata-allegro form. The first theme group of the exposition—in A minor—uses only the three instruments. It is filled with hectic activity, inspired by imagining 59 pairs of large wings flapping. After a brief introduction, the cello has an arching theme, then the violin begins a new melody; the two then join in a third, somewhat calmer, tune, which leads to the second theme group—in D major. The tempo slows as the voice enters, describing a beautiful twilit scene of autumn leaves, quiet water reflecting the sky, and 59 swans. The strings have a rocking two-against-three accompaniment and the piano has both melodic and accompanimental material. The exposition is then repeated, this time with the voice joining the three instruments in the first theme group. Now the singer describes the poet’s first time of seeing the swans rise from the lake and scatter in the sky “upon their clamorous wings.” In the second theme group, the poet’s heart is heavy with the realization of how much has changed in the 19 years since that first swan sighting.
At the beginning of the development section, the three instruments play with first theme group melodies in a contrapuntal way. When the voice re-enters (in E major), there is a combination of instrumental melodies from the first theme group with vocal melodies from the second group, as the singer observes that the swans seem just the same as always—not older or different.
The recapitulation finishes the poem, musing about where the swans might go if they should desert this spot some day. The movement ends with a short coda that includes a motive that foreshadows the first vocal melody of the second movement.
Coole Park, in County Galway, was the estate of Lady August Gregory, a writer who helped Yeats and others to found the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre. These were important venues for the Irish Literary Revival, and her home at Coole Park served as a meeting place for leading Revival figures.
II. The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Inis Fraoigh, meaning “Island of Heather,” is a small island off the northwest coast of Ireland. Rather than translating the title of the island from Irish into English, Yeats used a transliteration—Innisfree—thereby adding a layer of metaphoric significance, describing a place where he could be free from the troubles of this modern world with its roadways and grey pavements. This movement is in A-B-A’-Coda form and makes use of two keys: E major and C major. All four performers weave their melodic materials together in constantly shifting textures.
III. The Cat and the Moon
This final movement is a rondo: A-B-A-C-A-B-A. The A section is an Irish jig in A major and G major; the singer tells about the cat running, dancing, and creeping through the grass. The B section, in G minor, is mysterious, and includes harmonics in the string parts. Here we learn that the moon troubles the cat’s blood and that the two are somehow related. The C section is a old-fashioned minuet in D major for the text: “Maybe the moon may learn,/Tired of that courtly fashion,/A new dance turn.” The cat’s name, Minnaloushe, comes from a cat which belonged to a friend of Yeats.
- Timothy Hoekman
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