CHRISTOPHER PAINTER

Daughters of the Sea
Merched y Mor

Duration: 18 minutes
Opus: 70
Date: 2019

ORIANA

Information

The tale of the Daughters of the Sea is set in Cardigan Bay, near the Irish Sea, an area often hit by powerful storms. It tells that Dylan the sea god, who lives under the waters of Cardigan Bay, envies an old man his three daughters. Dylan calls up a great storm, and sends a huge wave to steal the girls. Their father is heartbroken. Regretting his evil deed, Dylan turns the girls into seagulls, belonging both to the sea and the land. Since that day, when the old man walks on the beach and calls their names, three white gulls fly to him from the sea.

Cast in six tableaux, the work is not overtly programmatic nor is it chronological - I leave it to the listener to conjure up appropriate imagery should they so wish.

I Poco agitato ma con rubato
II Allegro malevolente
III Adagio espressivo
IV Andante tranquillo
V Allegro - quasi Cadenza
VI Allegro feroce

Instrumentation