Music

Marduk

Voice and instrumental ensemble

For mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin/viola, cello, guitar, harpsichord, piano and percussion

Texts by Jacopone da Rodi, CK Norvid and William Blake

Marduk was commissioned by The Fires of London with funding from the Arts Council of Great Britain. It was premiered by them at Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank, London in 1973.

About the work

I devised Marduk initially as a dance-drama exploring the relationship between the divine and humankind, with 4 huge masked figures on stilts — possibly atua — moving slowly in ritualistic patterns while a ‘human’ figure tried to interact with them.

I can’t remember why, but in the end it was performed as a cantata, focusing on the vocal parts of the score, which has texts in Italian by Jacapone da Todi, Polish by CK Norvid, a chant based on the 50 names of Marduk, the god-king of the city of Babylon, and English by William Blake.

Score

The score of this work is not available.