One World VOCAL SCORE (Iain James Veitch)

One World (Lyric Cantata No. 1 for Soprano and Baritone soloists, Chorus and Orchestra)

by Iain James Veitch

1. One World (Henry Van Dyke 1852-1933)
2. The World is Too Much with Us (Wordsworth 1770-1850)
3. Divine Image (William Blake 1757-1827)
4. Summer Sun (R. L. Stevenson 1850-1894)
5. Leisure (William Henry Davies 1871-1940)
6. With a Glorious Eye (John Clare 1793-1864)
7. Like as the Waves... (Shakespeare 1564-1616)

Total Duration: 38-40 mins

(Orchestration flute, oboe (doubling cor anglais), clarinet, bassoon. 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, optional organ, strings (54321 min)

The original orchestral version of One World  was first performed in March 2019 by the Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society, directed by Alexander Thacker in Llandaff Cathedral.

In addition to this  orchestral version the composer has prepared two additional versions, one for piano, and one for organ.

The performing materials available are:

1. Vocal Score (for use by choristers in all versions. The piano part can be used for performance) 
2. Orchestral study score (Full orchestral score reduced in size [224x320] for study purposes)
3. Organ study score (Full score of organ version reduced in size B4 to A4 for study purposes)
4. Organ part (Lager stave size and fewer page turns. [includes vocal cues])  
5. Piano part (Lager stave size and fewer page turns. [includes vocal cues])
6. Conductor's Organ score (for hire - please email for details)
7. Conductor's orchestral score and set of parts (for hire - please email for details)

Composer's note:

The work opens with a setting of the poem One World by the American writer Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933). He is not writing about our one physical globe, planet Earth, however, but rather the different levels from which we experience the one-world of our humanity - ‘love - the only living root’. So although the music is essentially optimistic and up-lifting, it does grow out of a more introspective, quietly emotional, opening.

This leads, without a break, into a setting of William Wordsworth’s Sonnet The World is Too Much With Us which gives a fatalistic view of the materialistic progress of humankind - forsaking appreciation of the natural world in favour of sellable material commodities. (‘the sordid boon' - as Wordsworth puts it)

The music here is less introspective and more explicitly emotional. With the solo soprano sharing and contrasting lines with sections of the full choir. 

The third movement combines two related poems by William Blake. 

A Divine Image -  from Songs of Experience and The Divine Image -  from Songs of Innocence.

The first of these connects to the preceding movement in that Blake links the less desirable characteristics of humankind (Cruelty, Jealousy…) with an industrial revolution bound up with greed and exploitation. On the other hand, The Divine image describes the positive qualities of Mercy, pity, peace and love not only in a Christian context but as reflected in all humankind. The chorus takes on the negative “Cruelty and Jealousy” with music that has a brutal Dies irae sound about it. But this is contrasted in the middle section by the soprano soloist who, as you might hope, brings peace and kindness. 

The fourth movement (for baritone solo) provides a bit of light relief, after the intensity and drama of the first 3 movements. The text - Summer Sun by Robert Louis Stevenson was first published in a book of poetry for Children. There is an easy-going quality to this text with some really nice images of the sun lighting up all aspects of the world around us. Crucially, the poem opens with lines that establish the Universality of the sun - after all everything, including us, are all made of Stardust. 

The fifth movement sets most of the the well-known poem  Leisure  by the Welsh poet William Henry Davies. It shares a device with ‘Summer Sun’ in the use of personification: while Stevenson personifies the Sun, William Davies gives human attributes such as dancing and smiling to the concept of Beauty.

In this movement the soprano soloist that takes the lead  highlighting the extent to which humans have, through an unhealthy emphasis on materialism,  lost the ability to notice natural beauty.

In the sixth movement, the choir is back in full voice with a setting of John Clare’s With a Glorious Eye which relates  to movement four which is also an evocation of the Sun. 

This poem, however, contemplates the awe-inspiring grandeur of ‘creation’ or, if you prefer, the mind boggling bigness of the universe, through the imagery of the sun’s ‘brightness and splendour’.

The first part of the last movement sets Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60. This Sonnet describes the nature of time - with each minute replacing the last like waves on the ‘pebbled shore’ - 

The effect of time on human life is explored with a comparison to the daily travel of the sun from sunrise to noon and back down again - everything standing is eventually mowed down. 

Not all is doom and gloom however, the last couplet expresses the belief that his verse will endure  despite time’s ‘cruel hand’ 

In my work, Shakespeare’s concluding thought then leads back to a reprise of One World (the opening number) and back to us as individuals and our personal relationship with the one world in which we all live.