Elegy – The Moon Drowned is a setting for soprano, viola and piano of a text by the Melbourne writer, Katherine Firth. The piece is drawn from a larger work (Southern Cantata for soloists, chorus, baroque ensemble, 2017) which has a duet for soprano and tenor which has been adapted to soprano and viola in this work. For me, the text expresses deep concern at the plight in recent years of so many child refugees whose lives have ended at sea.

See also the version for soprano, tenor and piano, The Moon Drowned.

© Andrew Schultz, 2017.

Text

The moon drowned in the ocean,

A silver coin.

Is water safer than land?

The towering waters fall, the dinghy floods,

We swallow salt, we swallow blood.

A star arises in the morning,

A deep grey sky, and pre-dawn calm.

The wind calls. A child’s voice.

The waves on the wet sand found him

After the storm.

Text: Katherine Firth, Southern Cantata, 2017.

De Australia para Guatemala – Bicentenario de Independencia

In a project sponsored by the Australian Embassy in Mexico the work was filmed and recorded as a tribute to Guatemala on the 200th anniversary of its independence in 2021.

Click here to watch this excellent performance of Elegy by Jéssika Arévalo, James Munro and Argentina Duran, performing in Mexico City, on Facebook Watch:

Click here to hear Jéssika Arévalo discuss Elegy and the recording.