Shop for Music
About the Composer
Joe Twist
Graphite Publishing
Weep, O Mine Eyes
A re-imagined madrigal: jazz-like harmonies and passages of wordless chorus are seamlessly woven into the contrapuntal texture.
SSAATTBB a cappella
In “Weep, O Mine Eyes,” for SSAATTBB, Twist re-imagines the famous 16th-century madrigal settings of the same text. Twist writes a madrigal for the 21st century that is both deeply emotional, but also rhythmically energized and never sentimental. Jazz-like harmonies and several passages of the wordless chorus are seamlessly woven into the contrapuntal texture. Chains of suspensions further evoke the Renaissance roots of the text. Because of the Madrigalian nature of this work, it could be sung one on a part, or with a large group.
Composer’s Notes
Love is a universal feeling, and music is the universal language through which to express it. The loss of a loved one is something we all experience, whether it be a lover, a relative, a parent or a true friend. So many madrigals are expressions of love or grief, as are most pop songs, folk tunes, jazz standards, and other genres. It’s interesting to note that John Bennet was inspired by John Downland’s “Flow my Tears” when he wrote his madrigal for four voices, “Weep O Mine Eyes,” and the same text inspired John Wilbye to write one for three voices as well. Centuries later, composers and musicians continue inspire one another when expressing these universal feelings of love and sadness, across many different kinds of musical styles and genres.
John Wilbye’s beautiful madrigal vividly expresses the intense sadness we all feel when our hearts are broken. I love his clever use of word painting, tightly knit into delightfully intimate three part voicing. During certain musical phrases, I feel like Wilbye is expressing love’s frustrations with rhythmic, declamatory writing for “Alas, your springtide’s out, me thinks increase not.” Later, the music rises and falls, almost offering a glimmer of hope before descending back into the doldrums to the words “to swell so high that I may drown me in you.” For me, such rich imagery is as powerful as it is ironic, describing both love and death simultaneously in one beautiful sentence.
Of course, the well of emotions in Wilbye’s madrigal is truly inspiring, and I’ve endeavoured to capture this melancholy and irony in my own version for 8 voices. Additionally, I’ve tried to add a sense of mystery and gravitas as a personal expression of my own unrequited love. The work opens with a sparse texture featuring two solo sopranos, gradually becoming richer and darker in colour as the music unfolds. The music swells similar to the Wilbye, but as it falls (or “drowns”), jazz harmonies offer intimacy and warmth, a kind of musical escapism from the pains of love and loss, before transitioning back to the mystery of the opening.
– Joe Twist, 2020
Text
Weep, O mine eyes, and cease not
Your springtimes out, alas!
Me thinks increase not
Oh when begin you, to swell so high that I may drown me in you?
– Anonymous
$1.75 per licensed PDF
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.