The Eternal Cycle

Randall Snyder, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Document Type Article

Copyright (c) 2019 Randall Snyder

Abstract

For Flute, Clarinet in B-flat, Violin, Cello, and Soprano.

Duration: c. 4:00

Text by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).

"Veiled"

Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta 1861 and died there 1941. He published poetry in Bengali and English and was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for creating a synthesis of East and West. An all-around genius, Tagore was a composer of over 3000 songs as well as a distinguished painter. The Eternal Cycle, like much of his work, is suffused with spiritual ideas. The music incorporates some elements of classical Indian music, such as a drone, which sounds continuously through the first and third sections and the Lydian mode, suggestive of an Indian Raga.