An illustration accompanying the original manuscript of Perle. It shows the main characters of the poem, the jeweller on this side of a river and his beloved 'pearl' on the other.

Musical topics, (self-)narrativity and adaptation in my recent composition Pearl

Matthew Kaner

This exposition charts the creation and musical-narrative structure of Pearl, my recent composition for symphony chorus, orchestra, and solo baritone: a setting of extracts from the medieval poem Perle, translated into modern English by Simon Armitage, commissioned as part of the BBC Proms in 2022.

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keywords:
narrative
composition as research
adaptation
practice research
lament
microtonality
medieval poetry
dream vision
topic theory
OPEN EXPOSITION open accessible version
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