1(=picc).2afl(I=fl, II=bfl).1.2bcl(1=cl, II=dbcl).0-0.3.ttrbn.tenor-bass trbn.btrbn.0
Abbreviations (PDF)
Boosey & Hawkes
Throughout my life I have been a great admirer of T.S. Eliot’s poetry and criticism. So when I decided to set some of his work I chose his late poems and parts of his Four Quartets.
The texts being meditative I decided to use winds and brass to accompany the bass baritone. I remembered a work of similar character and instrumentation by the 16th century composer Heinrich Schütz which impressed me greatly. The work was composed in the fall of 2010.
— Elliott Carter
Reproduction Rights:
This program note may be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with a credit to the composer.
"...a substantial new song cycle, built on stanzas from T S Eliot's Four Quartets... the vocal line, though chromatic, is supple and shapely, and responsive to Eliot's involved, introspective text."
— Allan Kozinn, The New York Times