Ritual, Sermon, and Prophecy for Bass and Orchestra

• Main Author: Underwood, William L. (William Lee), 1940-
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: North Texas State University 1971
• Subjects: Songs (Low voice) with orchestra > Scores.; poetry score; sonata-allegro form; solo cantata
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1393694/

This composition is a symphonic setting of three original poems within the confines of an expanded sonata-allegro form and is an approximately twenty-two minutes in duration. The three poems are designed with certain cyclic implications which are related formally to the recurrence of musical ideas. The main application of this plan is found in the duality of formal roles assigned to each of the three major sectional divisions of the work. This is an expanded sonata-allegro, but each section (exposition, development, and recapitulation) is enlarged and individualized to the point of becoming a complete movement in itself. Each is intended to have the internal formal capacity to stand alone and at the same time serve as a section part of the whole. Formal unity is established without excessive dependence upon the poems, as both the music and the texts are formally evolved from the principles of sonata-allegro procedures. The poems were written specifically for this musical setting by the composer and are as an integral part of the compositional process itself; however, the poetry is didactic in purpose and is something of a jeremiad. Each poem relates principally to one of three aspects of existence: a ritual of history, a sermon for the present, and a prophecy of the future.