PROGRAM NOTE

Hyperion Canto II is inspired by a series of books by Dan Simmons. These books are very much in the style of the epic poems of Homer. Simmons’ series is in someway, a retelling of the Iliad but in a different place and time, on a different planet.

For the work, I wanted to create an epic poem and a piece that celebrated the great works of Homer. I wanted to illustrate the brutailty of war and the pageantry of heroes and Gods. For text, I used the original Greek of Homer’s Odyssey and to create the alternate or parallel version as Simmons creates in his series of book, the words and syllables are changed so that they sound more percussive. Essentially I created my own language that may sound familiar but is impossible to understand, a kind of alien and dead language. This aurually creates a mythical language that sounds of the brutal battles and mythic allegory of Homer’s epic poems. The soprano is the role of a greek chorus or narrator setting the stage for what is a mini-epic poem. The work is in an episodic arche form, with stanzas or cantos of a great poem depicting scenes of battle, the greek army, the Trojan War, Achilles and the world's stage for history-makers of men and gods.

This work was adapted from Hyperion Canto for Soprano/Oboist Kristin Leitterman.