For brass band and narrator. Words by Isaac Rosenberg.
Duration: 10:00
Silver Rose was commissioned by Bristol City Council with funding from Arts Council England and first performed by Lydbrook Band, conductor Ian Holmes, narrator Robert Hardy CBE, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 9 November 2014.
Part of Bristol 2014 - Bristol's programme marking the centenary of the start of the First World War and looking at other conflicts that have had an impact on the city over the last century.
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Silver Rose is a musical response to five poems by Bristol born poet Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918), who died in action during World War 1. Working
collectively like a song cycle, the poems are read before and during each of the five musical movements; the lyrical line can be clearly traced in the first,
third and fifth (On Receiving News of the War, A Careless Heart and Song) whereas the second and fourth (Beauty and Returning, We Hear the Larks) are
a more dramatic and aesthetic reflection. The choice of texts for the musical settings echo perspectives including the atrocities of war and hope for peace.
The title, Silver Rose , takes its name from two sources. The 1914 Star was a British campaign medal awarded to men who served in France or Belgium
between 5th August and 22nd November 1914. Those who fought under enemy fire were also entitled to a bronze horizontal clasp engraved with the
above dates and could attach a small silver rose to the ribbon when not wearing the medal. The final movement of the work, Song, also includes the
words ‘silver rose’.
Liz Lane, 2014 | www.lizlane.co.uk
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Front cover: Paul Gough, ‘Remnants of a trench system. The Old Front Line’, 2014
This drawing was made in the remains of a Great War trench system; the ink applied with
charred twigs gathered from infamous woods nearby. On the horizon stands the blunt stump
of a stone monument carved with the names of those long lost and buried in the soil around.
The paper is peppered with spilt ink; the air potently charged with immutable memory.
Paul Gough, 2014 | www.paulgough.org
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Instrumentation
Eb Soprano Cornet
Bb Solo Cornet 1/2 (including off-stage in 1. On Receiving News of the War )
Bb Solo Cornet 3/4
Bb Repiano Cornet
Bb Cornet 2
Bb Cornet 3
Bb Flugelhorn
Eb Solo Tenor Horn
Eb Tenor Horn 1
Eb Tenor Horn 2
Bb Baritone 1
Bb Baritone 2
Trombone 1
Trombone 2
Bass Trombone
Bb Euphonium
Eb Bass
Bb Bass
Percussion 1: timpani, low suspended cymbal, snare drum, floor tom, tubular bells
Percussion 2: glockenspiel, tubular bells, 3 rototoms (or tom toms), triangle, 3 tom toms
Percussion 3: 2 medium suspended cymbals, bass drum, cymbals
Narrator