The Life of Man’s a Play (2020)
Perusal Score
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General Information
Text: The Life of Man by Sir Walter Raleigh (1618)
Commissioner: Yale College New Music, for LUCERIS
Written: January – February, 2020
Duration: ca. 2’
Instrumentation: alto + tenor + bass
Performance History
February 12, 2020: LUCERIS Vocal Ensemble (Emma Simmons [alto], Harry Castle [tenor], Joel Thompson [bass]) at the Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT (World Premiere)
Text
The Life of Man
by Walter Raleigh
What is our life? A play of passion,
Our mirth the music of division.
Our mothers’ wombs the tiring-houses be,
Where we are dressed for this short comedy.
Heaven, the judicious, sharp spec’tor is,
That sits and marks still who doth act amiss.
Our graves that hide us from the searching sun
Are like drawn curtains when the play is done.
Thus march we, playing, towards our latest rest,
Only we die in earnest, that’s no jest.