The Divine Zoo

The Divine Zoo er en cykus af fem sange til tekster af William Blake. De er blevet til i nogle ugers pause fra arbejdet på mit store Requiem projekt.

Med denne cyklus er jeg vendt tilbage til en gammel kærlighed. Jeg skrev for mere end 25 år siden to samlinger af Blakesange for solosang (sopran/tenor) og guitar: Songs of Innocence og Songs of Experience.

Den nye samling er en Paradis-vision. En forestilling om den fredfyldte Edens Have, hvor lammet skal græsse ved rovdyrets fod. Hvor enhver konflikt er ophævet og kun kærlighedens lov er tilbage.

Værket er bestilt af og tilegnet DR Pigekoret og dets dynamiske leder Michael Bojesen.

De fem sange er:
the five songs are:

Spring
The Lamb
The Blossom
The Tyger
Night

The Divine Zoo (2010) is a cycle of five songs with lyrics by the English author William Blake. They form a vision of Paradise – the peaceful Garden of Eden where the Lamb shall grass next to the Tyger, where all conflicts are abolished and the law of love is the only remaining rule.
The five lyrics are all from Blake’s ”Songs of Innocence and Experience” (1794). He was poet, painter and prophet in one; his imaginative language and drawings could be compared to those of the most spectacular acid-heads from the flower power generation. His poems are endless praises of love, beauty, childhood and fantasy, but always with a sharp and precise consciousness of all the dangerous elements in the real world that work against. In my music I wish to express the same delicate balance between the naïve and the subtle.

John Frandsen

Download:
Sangteksterne Lyrics
Partitureksempel Score sample (The Blossom)

Fuldt partitur Full score:
jf@johnfrandsen.eu Please contact the composer

"Uropførelsen af John Frandsens The Divine Zoo stod skarpt med humoristiske tekster, der rytmisk blev sunget og messet ud."
Christine Christiansen
i MorgenavisenJyllands-Posten
sept. 2010

Læs her Nanna Ohrhammer Josefsens
analyse af satserne The Lamb og The Tyger