The Darkling Thrush
from Some Blessed Hope
Duncan Tuomi
"The Darkling Thrush was chosen to be the third piece in the collection Some Blessed Hope alongside Crossing the Bar and Snow-flakes. The poem describes a solemn wintry landscape that seems to take all life and energy away, and yet a … Read More
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"The Darkling Thrush was chosen to be the third piece in the collection Some Blessed Hope alongside Crossing the Bar and Snow-flakes. The poem describes a solemn wintry landscape that seems to take all life and energy away, and yet a solitary thrush sings merrily against the cold. I display this sharp contrast in the sudden and simultaneous change of tempo, meter, and mode in order to completely upset the previously established harmonic texture. As the meter changes again in preparation for the tenor solo, we hear the voice of the thrush itself becoming more frenetic, as if to acknowledge that the thrush itself, in its old age and frailty, is having a last triumphant hurrah. As the piece reaches its conclusion, the initial winter-scape theme reemerges at the final line of text, "and I was unaware." in order to refocus the attention onto the speaker of the poem who still stays amid the icy landscape described before, but in the last moments of the piece, the last ray of hope from the thrush is heard, reminding the listener that winter always passes, and that there is light and brightness on the other end."