Richard Vallance
The Vallance Review December, 2002

When is a Sonnet a Song? Part 2

"Brighter Orbs on High"

New Music Set to William Lisle Bowle’s Sonnet,
"On Hearing Handel’s ‘Messiah’..."
by the new Canadian composer, Peter Zanette [1]


THE SONNET

Intaglio, "Fame", Cosimo Castrucci  XVIII Century Italian



"On Hearing ‘The Messiah’ Performed in Gloucester Cathedral"



      Brighter Orbs on High
      
ANDANTE
    
O stay, harmonious and sweet sounds, that die 
In the long vaultings of this ancient fane! 
Stay, for I may not hear on earth again 
Those pious airs — that glorious harmony; 
Lifting the soul to brighter orbs on high, 
Worlds without sin or sorrow! Ah, the strain 
Has died  — even the last sounds that lingeringly 
Hung on the roof ere they expired! 


      ALLEGRO MODERATO
                               
                                                        And I 
Stand in the world of strife, amidst a throng, 
A throng that reckons not of death or sin! 
Oh, jarring scenes! to cease, indeed, ere long; 
The worm hears not the discord and the din; 
But he whose heart thrills to this angel song 
Feels the pure joy of heaven on earth begin!

by William Lisle Bowles (1762-1850) [2]
Published in Fourteen Sonnets 1789
The Score, "Brighter Orbs on High", by Peter Zanette

Here is the draft score for the Andante of “Brighter Orbs on High” © 2002, by Peter Zanette, which you may wish to play yourself, if you are one of those fortunates amongst us, who can read music. This Andante corresponds to the text of the Octave of William Lisle Bowles’ sonnet you have just read in this review.



THE MUSIC

Here is the first MIDI version of Peter’s musical score, “Brighter Orbs on High”, set to the Octave of William Lisle Bowles’ lovely sonnet. Click the sound button to download the midi.



William Lisle Bowles and his place in the
history of the English Sonnet

William Lisle Bowles was born in Northamptonshire, England in 1762. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford, he was matriculated with a Bachelor of Arts (1786) and Master of Arts (1792). Ordained a deacon in 1788, he went on to serve posts, first as curate in Wiltshire (1788), then as rector in 3 towns, including Wiltshire (1804). His final post was as Canon Residentiary, Salisbury Cathedral (1828). Although he led a primarily urban existence, he was especially enamoured of the countryside, the imagery of which pervades his poetry. This is best reflected in his pastoral sonnet, "To a Friend", which he concludes on this compassionate note:

    Till mournful autumn past, and all the snow 
Of winter pale, the glad hour I shall bless 
That shall restore thee from the crowd again, 
To the green hamlet on the peaceful plain.
Lisle Bowles was much admired by the early Romantic poets, especially William Wordsworth (1770-1850), John Keats (1797-1821) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). His poetry has since too often been consigned to the dustier shelves of English literature. Few modern readers of poetry are familiar with him. This is unfortunate, as his fourteen sonnets, published in 1789, were of considerable artistic merit, and were revolutionary enough in their enthusiasm for pastoral imagery and their emotional eloquence to catch the attention of many of England's finest early Romantics. If he was good enough for them, surely he should at least merit our attention!

William Lisle Bowles was involved in a long-standing dispute with George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), known as the "Pope-Bowles controversy", over the presumed greatness of that paragon of English Neo-Classicism, Alexander Pope (1688-1744). Lord Byron staunchly defended Pope's status as one of the greatest of English poets, while Lisle Bowles adopted a contrary stance. He was never a fan of Alexander Pope or of English Neo-Classicism.

This is clearly illustrated in the much intenser, more vivid and keen emotive imagery which so informs Bowles' sonnets, which are much more in keeping with the spirit and style of early English Romantic poetry. In a word, his imaginative sonnets augured well for the newly emerging literary movement, which they heralded.

Coincidentally, his death occurred in the same year as William Wordsworth's, 1850. And his sonnets, though few in number, were highly influential in the evolution of the English sonnet into its Romantic form, even to the extent that some of the greatest Romantics pastiched a few of their sonnets on a few of his.

For instance, we may observe striking correspondences between Lisle Bowles', "Ostend: On Hearing the Bells at Sea" and William Wordsworth's similarly couched sonnet, "With Ships the Sea was Sprinkled", or yet again, his sonnet on John Milton "In Youth", which begins:

    Milton, our noblest poet, in the grace 
Of youth,...
- the theme of which Wordsworth took up once more in, "London, 1802", where he sadly laments:
    Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee:...
Likewise, we find Samuel Taylor Coleridge "imitating" Bowle's style, in his famous sonnet, "To the River Otter", in which much of the imagery is highly reminiscent of that found in Lisle Bowle's earlier sonnet, "On a Beautiful Landscape", which he apparently must have admired.

There are comparative links to the full texts of all these sonnets in the references at the end of this review [4].

Yet, of all his 14 sonnets, there is one in particular that stands out as one of a kind, and which not one single Romantic poet ever used as a basis for inspiration. It is, of course, "On Hearing ‘The Messiah’ Performed in Gloucester Cathedral", which you have just had the distinct pleasure of reading for yourself.


PETER ZANETTE

Peter Zanette at work on the score of "Brighter Orbs on High" (271102)

Peter Zanette is a 45 year old Database Specialist, employed by Decision Academic Graphics, Ottawa, Ontario, a software systems designer for University student administration systems in Canada and the U.S.A.

Peter is an accomplished musician and budding composer, who plays the piano, and who has also sung bass in choirs both in his hometown, Thunder Bay, Northern Ontario, and here in Ottawa. Peter has spent at least the past 20 years actively volunteering in Ottawa’s thriving music scene, working for such world-renowned festivals as the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, both venues held every July, as well as the CKCU-Ottawa Folk Festival, held every August.

Peter frequently attends concerts at such venues as the National Arts Centre, the University of Ottawa, The Ottawa Chamber Music Society, held regularly throughout the year and concerts at Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, another popular musical venue here in Ottawa. He is the current president of Espace musique, a contemporary music society specializing in 20th. and 21st. Century composers here in the nation’s capital.

What’s the Score? – How it all came about

This review has been a long time in the cooker. It is in fact the very raison d’être for our series of three Vallance Reviews, “When is a Sonnet a Song?” (July and December, 2002 and April, 2003). When I first read William Lisle Bowles’ sonnet, “Handel”, some two years ago, I was immediately struck by the poem’s rhythmic structure, which in no uncertain terms did indeed remind me very much of Handel’s lofty Christmas Oratorio, "The Messiah".


Facsimile of "Messiah. An Oratorio:   In Score, Composed by M. Handel"


Even on reading it aloud (as I felt I really must do, if I truly wished to appreciate the full scope of Lisle Bowles’ inspiration), his sonnet’s alliterative euphony and the eloquence of its phraseology fairly impressed themselves on me.

I found myself almost singing, rather than merely reading or even reciting, these memorable verses — or were they merely verses, or something more than mere verses?

The very first verse propels us on a wave of harmony that asserts a choral-like presence with joyful determination:

    O stay, harmonious and sweet sounds, that die
Now, we find all sorts of lyrically appealing phrases peppered throughout the sonnet, such as (amongst others):

    Stay, for I may not hear...
– where the trochaic stress emphatically falls on “Stay”, and the subsequent iambic stress, equally, on “may” — resulting in something approximating sprung rhythm, which is highly unusual for a Classical 18th. Century sonnet, but perhaps more suited to the rhythms of a musical score:

    …to brighter orbs on high,
- where, once again, the repetition of the dominant open vowel sound of “i” in “brighter” and in “high” almost begs the issue whether we should be singing, rather than merely reciting this poetic phrase — or is it more a musical phrase?

And what of this, the sharp caesura that literally hangs in the balance between the end of the octave and the onset of the sestet?

          …ere they expired!/ 

                             / And I
    Here, we find our poet repeating, yet again, that dominant strong “i”, a vowel sound which recurs very often in the course of this remarkable piece (8 times), along with the equally dominant open vowels “e” and "a", which recur even more often (12 times each).

    But that is not the end of it! Far from it. As I recited the hanging right justified indented monometer line, “And I”, I was instantly reminded of an almost identical phrasing from Handel’s “Messiah”, namely:

      And He/shall reign for ever and ever…
    So, I wondered, is it possible, even probable, that Lisle Bowles was actually thinking precisely of this passage in “the Messiah”, when he penned these words, and the following verse,

      Stand in the world of strife, amidst a throng,
    So, I surmised, “Let’s check that out, Richard”. And to my (not so great) surprise, confirmed by Peter Zanette's later take on the rhythmic structure of this same phrase, the rhythm of the opener to the sestet almost exactly matches that of, "And He/shall reign..."

    Only after pondering over it for over a year, armed with this prized ammunition, off I eventually went, to see my musician friend, Peter Zanette, whom I have known for at least 20 years, and whom I well trusted would be able to unlock the arcane musical mysteries my poetic imagination had managed to gain at least some vague gleanings of.

    And surely enough he did.

    Peter Zanette on "How The Score Speaks To Me"

    Of the score and sonnet, Peter says:

    Even though the integral text of this sonnet might have suggested parallels to a recitation of the “Messiah”, I did not wish my approach to the scoring of my own music to be constrained by a narrow interpretation. From the outset, I feel, a hymn-like approach best suits the Octave, with emphasis on the word “stay”, since it appears twice, functioning as a musical anchor point for “Brighter Orbs on High”, which I am currently in the process of composing.

    In the sonnet’s Octave, the phrases “that die” and the word “again” would suggest a need for similar harmonies for them both. The first three lines gather in momentum, which is celebrated through the fourth to sixth verses. Afterwards, tension abruptly returns to the music, as it unfolds, at the end of the sixth verse, continuing on unabated until the Octave’s dénouement, reflecting the renewed anguish which the sonneteer invokes in his verses.

    In more general terms, I plan to incorporate some ornamentation in my harmonies to reflect the Baroque style of the “Messiah” itself. It is not so much that my musical score will echo that of the “Messiah” itself. Rather, I have chosen to elicit the style of music prevalent in early 18th. Century Europe, at the time Handel’s “Messiah” was first performed in Dublin, Ireland, on April 13th., 1742 [3].

    For the time being, I am only able to compose a basic score corresponding to the Octave of Lisle Bowle’s splendid oratorio sonnet. However, I shall have fully harmonized the score for the Easter issue of the Vallance Review in Poetry Life and Times, at which time it will be presented in its entirety, with piano and voice accompaniment.

    On Sara Russell’s “Pianissimo”: More Music of the Spheres

    Well, we all remember, I am sure, Sara Russell’s lovely sonnet, which I reviewed in July of this year, in the first part of this series of three reviews (the third to follow in April, 2003). Recently, I asked Sara whether she might rustle up a midi for her sonnet as well, and she kindly obliged. So, without further ado, her is Sara’s midi music accompaniment to her sonnet, “Pianissimo”, the text of which you may wish to re-read in the July, 2002, Vallance Review [1].

    Click sound button to hear Sara's piano midi...




    The Day of Resurrection!

    In April, 2003, the Vallance Review will feature the complete score of Peter Zanette’s new Anthem, “Brighter Orbs on High”, the lyrics of which will consist of the integral text of William Lisle Bowle’s exalted Sonnet, “On Hearing ‘The Messiah’ Performed in Gloucester Cathedral”. You will be able to listen to a full MIDI version, possibly even a sung version, accompanied by Peter as piano soloist, of the entire Anthem in the Easter issue of Poetry Life and Times. We look forward to seeing you then.

    In the meantime, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a most prosperous Happy New Year, 2003! Oh, and many thanks to William Lisle Bowles, for starting this whole fun affair in the first place, to Peter Zanette for entertaining us with his brand-new musical piece, based on the integral text of his sonnet, and to you all for reading this rather unusual review, and — and, it is to be fondly hoped — for drawing some of your own inspiration from it all!


    © 2002 by Richard Vallance and Peter Zanette (Ottawa, Canada)

    November 27th., 2002

    REFERENCES:

    [1] This review is a sequence to the July 2002 Vallance Review: When is a Sonnet a Song? Part I: Sara Russell: "Pianissimo", or The Musicality of the Sonnet

    [2] You may read this this sonnet, and several others by William Lisle Bowles, at the Sonnet Board, here: The Sonnet Board: William Lisle Bowles

    [3] For an historical perspective on performances of Handel's Messiah, and for its evolution to the present-day, see: Handel's Messiah Through the Centuries by Patrick N. Findlay, The University of Texas at Austin: also published in Early Music news, Vol. 24, no. 4, December, 1999.

    [4] Compare the following sonnets for yourself:



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    Dans ce numéro, l'écrivain en vedette est Rolland Pauzin, poète français entièrement bilinque, qui réside actuellement en Irlande. Rolland écrit des poèmes de tous les genres : les poèmes en vers libre, les rondelais, les haïku et les sonnets. Le sujet de l’éditorial est :

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    The featured poet for this issue is Rolland Pauzin, a fully bilingual French poet who currently lives in Ireland. Rolland writes poems in many genres: free verse, roundelays, haikus and sonnets. The subject of the Editorial is:

    Bilingual French and Canadian Poets.


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    Dans ce numéro uniquement en anglais, l'écrivain en vedette est Andrew Belseyde l’Angleterre .

    Vous y lirez aussi deux sonnets classiques, dont l’un est par John Keats ( 1795-1821 ) : "Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition", et l’autre est par le poète irlandais, Edward Dowden ( 1843-1913 ) : "In the Cathedral". Ces sonnets servent à établir l’optique historique, dans laquelle se situent les deux sonnets similaires de Monsieur Belsey, voire, "The Good" et "Antitheism." Le sujet de l’éditorial est: "The Sonnet in the Twenty-First Century".

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    (Vol. 1, no. 3) of:

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    - which features the English sonneteer, Andrew Belsey is now on the WEB here:


    SONNETTO POESIA


    The unilingual English Autumn issue also includes two classic sonnets by John Keats (1795-1821), "Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition":, and the Irish poet, Edward Dowden (1843-1913), "In the Cathedral".


    These sonnets provide an historical perspective for Andrew Belsey’s two similar sonnets, namely; "The Good" and "Antitheism". The subject Editorial is, "The Sonnet in the Twenty-First Century."


    Click here to return to rest of the December 2002 issue

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