Composer:
Roydon Tse

Librettist:
Cui Hao

Composer website:
https://www.roydontse.com

Composer contact:

Performance forces:
bar, ten — orchestra — SATB chorus

Length:
0:06

Languages:
Chinese Mandarin

Notes:
Yellow Crane Tower is an 8th century AD Tang Dynasty poem by Cui Hao, and is based on the iconic tower of the same name in Wuhan, China. The poem’s powerful effect comes from the use of imagery from the natural world to illustrate the poet’s melancholy. Words such as the “clouds wandering for a thousand years”, to the “Hanyang Tree” and “Misty River” conjure scenes from a romantic idyll. The tenor and baritone deliver the lines of the poet while the chorus reiterates and supports the soloists, adding another layer of sound to the orchestra.