“From My Doleful Prison” (2017)

soprano, piano, electronics/projected imagery 

Duration: 10′

Click HERE to view PDF of score.

“From My Doleful Prison” was commissioned by Emily Woodruff and premiered at the Composers Now Festival February 17, 2017, followed by a second performance at the UNLV Nextet Concert March 15th with faculty pianist Timothy Hoft. Artwork by Dustin Brown

“From My Doleful Prison” sets the letter Anne Boleyn supposedly wrote to her husband Henry VIII while she was in prison awaiting execution. When I first read the letter, I knew I wanted to create a mad scene, since she is angry, confused, anxious, and filled with all sorts of emotions one would have when in a situation where one is wrongfully accused and sentenced to death for crimes that she may not even have committed. In addition to the soprano and piano parts, I used Logic samples to create a present day atmosphere that one might experience sitting in a jail cell. One would hear footsteps of prison guards approaching on a regular basis, along with clanging of the metal bars, people yelling, and even abstract sounds that one might experience in electrocution chambers. This sounds are ongoing throughout the entire piece to represent the fact that even after communicating the letter in song, the sounds will never stop, and the prisoner is still hopelessly stuck in a state of oppression sitting there in her jail cell.