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Two
Songs after Poems by William Blake (1960)
This
webpage provides information about the André Tchaikowsky composition,
Two Songs after Poems by William Blake (1960). This includes text from
the book, The Other Tchaikowsky - A Biographical Sketch of André
Tchaikowsky. There are no known performances or music from this
composition.
From
the biography The
Other Tchaikowsky
The composition,
Two Songs after Poems By William Blake, was composed between March and
May, 1960. The scoring was for soprano and five other instruments: oboe,
flute, violin, cello, and harpsichord. The poems selected were The Lamb
(from William Blake's Songs of Innocence) and The Tyger (from William
Blake's Songs of Experience). It is not known who André had in
mind for this composition and there was no dedicatee. It was André's
first writing for voice, preceding his other song cycles, the Seven
Sonnets of Shakespeare (1967) and the songs of Ariel (1969). The work
has never been performed and the original manuscript is in the Josef
Weinberger archives.
Scholars
pretty much agree that the poems "The Lamb" and "The
Tyger" represent two contrary states of the human soul, with respect
to creation. It appears that Blake believed that a person had to pass
through an innocent state of being, like that of the lamb, and also
absorb the contrasting conditions of experience, like those of the tiger,
in order to reach a higher level of consciousness.
The
Lamb
Little
Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice:
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Little
Lamb I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
The
Tyger
Tyger!
Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what
distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what
shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What
the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When
the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger!
Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
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