Why Weepest Thou, In Wild Array? Perusal Score (extract: What Wouldst Thou)
Commissioned by Bath Camerata with funds from Arts Council England (South West Arts)
Chorus: SSSSAAAATTTTBBBB
First performance by the Bath Camerata conducted by Nigel Perrin on 18.04.2003 in Wells Cathedral
Duration 15 minutes
Dedicated to Nigel Perrin and Bath Camerata
This work was written for Bath Camerata for performance in Wells Cathedral on Good Friday 18 April 2003. It uses up to twenty individual voices in a variety of choral formations, originally in order to make the most of the dramatic space of the site of the first performance.
The sections of this narrative work follow a text derived from The Winedrawers’ Play in the medieval cycle of the York Mystery Plays. This short play depicts the meeting between Jesus and Mary Magdalen after the crucifixion. Mary Magdalen, heart-broken, does not initially recognise Jesus, thinking him to be a gardener. But Jesus consoles her, reveals the truth of the resurrection, and the play ends with Mary’s affirmation ‘Of love now art thou crowned King’.
For further information please contact the composer
Choral chorus