A Full Moon in March (Vocal Score) [HL:50236490]

In Yeats' astrological-metaphysical system, the full moon has a special place in Phase 15, a phase of complete and unexplainable beauty where opposites unite. March represents the ending of the cycle and the creation of a new one. The characters in the drama meet at a moment of mythic truth remote from motivation or even need to explain.

As in an earlier opera, Winter�s Tale, the intent is to make an emblematic ritual-opera which seeks to circumvent or ignore certain realistic conventions without sacrificing the bedrock operatic essentials, melody and drama.

Yeats knew well that music was a willful force when combined with his poetry: The orchestra brings more elaborate music and I have gone over to the enemy. I say to the musician: “Lose my words in patterns of sound as the name of God is lost in Arabian arabesques. They are a secret between the singers, myself, yourself. The plain fable, plain prose of the dialogue. Ninette de Valois� dance are there for the audience. They can find my works in the book if they are curious, but we will not thrust our secret upon them.'” - John Harbison

Scoring: Soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone, tenor, dancer, flute, oboe, bass clarinet, piano, violin, viola, cello