A semester learning French
Divinity and power in The Destruction of Sennacherib by Byron attracted me the moment I read it. Imagining troubadours singing the story in wilderness, I wrote the piece.
The piece starts with calm piano ostinatos, just like the troubadour strums his lute and says “once upon a time”. He tells the story of Sennacherib—the main melody presented by the violin. Led by the ethereal chanting, his audience become soldiers of Jerusalem, as the piano and violin restate the main motif in unison.
In the highlight of this story, the lead embodies the dangerous and overbearing Assyrians who come down like wolves. Thunder drums thump. The army as large as the Sea of Galilee approaches.
Suddenly, an angel of death spreads his wings in the lighting of a coming storm. Drum beats halt, as the heart of Assyrians stops. The rain falls relentlessly on the “sleepers waxed deadly and chill”. Only the crying of the widows of Ashur still echoes distantly, as the legendary story lingers in people’s mind.
lyrics
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
credits
released October 18, 2018
Lyrics: The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron Poem recital: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-PiGVS6Idg
by Audio productions. Woman crying: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QpldDrUu98
by Audio productions. Arts: Sennacherib’s Army Is Destroyed by Gustave Dore