The
Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
[The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert]*
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all [about]** it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
*this section has been omitted from the choral setting. **this word has been changed to "around".
The Second Coming
andturning - andturning - andturning - andturning... - ...in
the
andturning - andturning - andturning - andturning... - in f the
- andturning - andturning - andturn...
The cresc. poco a poco centre - cannot - hold,can not - hold,thecentre - can not - hold, cannotthingsfall apart, - thingsfall apart,thingsfallapart, - thingsfallapart, - thingsfallapart, - thingsfallapart, -
hold,thecentre - can not
hold,can not
holdthecentre - can thingsfall apart - thingsfallapart,
thingsfall apart, - things thingsfallapart,
thingsfallapart,
andevery - where -
loosed,thetideisloosed, thetideisloosed,thetideisloosed,thetide
blooddimmed - tideisloosed,theblooddimmed - tide, and theblood,theblood,theblood,theblood,theblood,theblood,theblood,theblood, rit.
drowned. mf p
Thebestlackallconvic - tion, - whilethe worst
are
Thebestlackallconvic - tion, - whilethe worst mf are drowned. mf p
Thebestlackallconvic - tion, - whilethe worst mf are drowned. mf p
Thebestlackallconvic
Sure
poco rubato athand;
Sure
shapewithlion - body - andthehead,theheadofaman, agazeblank lion - body - andthehead,theheadofaman, agaze blank,
roundit reel shadows, - reel theshadows - ofthe, theindig - nant - des
roundit reelshadows, - reel theshadows - ofthe, theindig - nant - des mp Ashape,a shapewithlion - body - andthehead,thehead
thighs, a mp shape with lion - body - andthehead, thehead
ert - birds. reel shadows, - reel theshadows - ofthe,theindig - nant - des
ert - birds. reelshadows, - reel theshadows - ofthe,theindig - nant - des ofaman, agazeblank andpiti - less, - piti - less - as thesun. ofaman,agaze blank, piti - less - piti - less - as thesun.
ert - birds. The
butnowI
ert - birds. The pp darkness - dropsagain; - butnowI
butnowI
About the Composer:
Duncan Tuomi (b. 1994) is a choral conductor and award-winning composer based in Los Angeles, California. He currently studies choral music in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of Southern California (USC), where he also completed his Master of Music degree In addition to his choral music degree, he studied composition with Dr. Frank Ticheli and Dr Chris Rozé He also holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Music Education from St. Olaf College, where he studied under Dr Anton Armstrong and Dr. Christopher Aspaas, among many others.
As a composer, Tuomi was the winner of the 2023 American Prize in Short Choral Works, College and University Division, as well as the 2021 American Choral Director’s Association’s Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Competition. He was also a composition fellow in Choral Arts Initiative’s summer 2022 PREMIERE|Project. Tuomi has had works premiered by Choral Arts Initiative under the direction of Brandon Elliott, the USC Thornton Chamber Singers and University Chorus under his own direction and under the direction of Stevie J. Hirner, the Long Beach Youth Chorus under the direction of Stevie J. Hirner, the University of Portland Chamber Singers under the direction of Dr. Michael Connolly, the Pacific University Chamber Singers under the direction of Dr. Scott Tuomi. He has received commissions from the Long Beach Youth Chorus and was commissioned to compose for the 10th annual Brothers, Sing On! Tenor/Bass Choir Festival in 2018.
About the Piece:
The Second Coming was written in reaction to events that took place in July of 2020. In my home city of Portland, Oregon, federal troops were dispatched to quell peaceful protests that brought light to systemic injustice. These troops detained suspected protestors without probable cause, using unmarked vehicles to transport them to undisclosed locations. At hearing this news, combined with the existing fears surrounding a raging global pandemic, I was filled with a sense of apocalyptic dread. This same dread is expressed by William Butler Yeats’s poem of approximately 100 years ago, written after a period of war and disease. Yeats refers to history existing in a set of two conical spirals, which he terms “gyres”. At this point in history, he believed that the world was transitioning from one gyre to another, and at this confluence, some manner of apocalyptic revelation would take place.
This piece employs two main sets of musical material: one being the tone set D, E, G#, A, and B, which can be heard transposed, inverted, and quoted throughout the piece; the other focuses on bitonality between the keys of F major and B major. F and B being a tritone apart from one another, the tonic triads of these keys form three successive tritones. Being 6 chromatic semitones apart, this creates the musical numerical symbol 666, which is used to inspire a similar sense of apocalyptic dread. Additionally, sections of rhythmic ostinati feature the alto, tenor, and bass repeating patterns consisting of 3, 4, 7, and eventually 12 eighth notes, which have been used by numerologists to represent purity, holiness and perfection. In this instance, their inclusion may be interpreted in one of two ways: 1. That to put one’s faith in systems that are considered sacred and unchangeable is foolish, as those same systems can be what create the chaos we now see, or 2. That amidst the fear, chaos and hopelessness we experience on the surface level, there is some hope that some purity lies beneath the madness, and will be able to make the world whole again. The interpretation, I leave wholly in the heart of the listener.
