• Evan Diulus, baritone
  • Rachel Flicker, piano
  • Program Notes:

    Mad Song uses various extended techniques of the human voice, piano, and bass drum to create a sonic landscape for William Blake’s *Mad Song*. The sounds of the piece are used to represent Blake’s extensive use of imagery as he contrasts the day from the night.

    Mad Song

    by William Blake

    The wild winds weep,
    And the night is a-cold;
    Come hither, Sleep,
    And my griefs infold:
    But lo! the morning peeps
    Over the eastern steeps,
    And the rustling birds of dawn
    The earth do scorn.

    Lo! to the vault
    Of paved heaven,
    With sorrow fraught
    My notes are driven:
    They strike the ear of night,
    Make weep the eyes of day;
    They make mad the roaring winds,
    And with tempests play.

    Like a fiend in a cloud
    With howling woe,
    After night I do croud,
    And with night will go;
    I turn my back to the east,
    From whence comforts have increas'd;
    For light doth seize my brain
    With frantic pain.

    If interested in performing this work, contact me at [email protected].