I was approached by one of my singers at Memorial Episcopal Church, who asked if I would consider writing a commissioned work for her husband's 70th birthday. After their family agreed to the plan, discussion of text followed, and it was a fellow chorister who sent "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" to the choir email list that sealed the text selection.
I was admittedly very daunted by the prospect of setting this poem. Anyone who knows anything about poetry is familiar with it. It's already been set by several composers. And the structure of the poem makes finding a compelling compositional arc difficult. As I put ideas to paper, the piece evolved in some very interesting ways, including several aleatoric passages and extended techniques for violin. The piece eventually came to represent a fantasy so real that it couldn't be better than the actual experience.
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.