DAVID LANG THE WOOD AND THE VINE
FOR FOUR SINGERS (SSAA) CopyrightbyRicordiNewYork
CopyrightbyRicordiNewYork
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the wood and the vine
When the members of Anonymous 4 contacted me about the possibility of writing something for them it was clear they had my piece the little match girl passion in mind. That work, with its post-medieval economy and religious undercurrent seemed to live right at the center of their aesthetic universe, since they sing a lot of ancient religious music with such directness and such purity. I told them I was done with religious music for a while, but that the medieval thing was still interesting to me, and they immediately suggested I look at the 12th century poet Marie de France. I did. And I was glad I did. I found one simple story, a tiny episode in the relationship of Tristan and Isolde. One thing that jumped out at me was that Isolde is never named in this story, she is just 'she,' an archetypal woman in love, in trouble. I started wondering what would happen if I took out his name as well, and changed all the details so that the story became neither old, nor modern. Could I make it seem like a description of any relationship between a man and a woman, in any era, gone hopelessly wrong? The man in my version of the text tells the woman that they "are like the vine that winds itself around the branch.... If someone pulls the two apart then both will die." Then he writes a song about it, and he calls it 'the wood and the vine.' So I named my piece that too.
the wood and the vine was commissioned by Anonymous 4, in honor of their 25th anniversary season, with support from the Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver, the University of California at Riverside, and the Santa Fe Concert Association, Santa Fe, New Mexico
the wood and the vine should last around 8 minutes
the wood and the vine
(words by david lang, after marie de france)
Now I’ll tell you a story
That is also the truth –It is the truth
The wood and the vine
We all know this story We have heard it before It was told to us by everyone And everyone told it to you
A man and a woman
They loved so much And were so true And they suffered so much And on a single day, they died.
Their love was forbidden He went back to the place Where he was born. But being apart made him Sick with despair.
Don’t be surprised -
A lover grieves
When love is far away Sadness can make us all Sick with despair
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He stayed there for years, until, at last, He went back, To get, to try, to hope To get a message to his love
He hid in the woods By where she lived And found a path Where she might walk He cut a branch and, on it, He carved a single wordHis nameAnd left it on the path
Where she might find it. Then she would know the message And she would know just what the message meant.
Later she came along the same path And saw the piece of wood She knew exactly what it was She saw the single word carved upon it And she knew.
This is what she knew:
“Dearest love This is my message I send it to you I have waited for you I have waited to see you Even now I am waiting for you in the woods I cannot live without you I cannot live without you
“You and I -
We are like the vine that winds itself around the branch It twines and pulls and digs into the flesh, So tight that the two of them become one The two become one
If someone pulls the two apart then both will die. So it is with us, my love, so it is with us. You cannot live without me. I cannot live without you. I cannot live without you. You cannot live without me.”
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She went a short way into the woods And found him And they wept. They wept with joy when they were together And they wept with sadness when they left.
Later he remembered the joy and the sadness And he wrote this song:
“The wood and the vine”
Every word is true. All true.
CopyrightbyRicordiNewYork
the wood and the vine
delicate and very evenlike
music heard from a great distance always tell the story
words and music by david lang (after marie de france) Copyright © 2011 by Red Poppy Administered