The Eye Begins to See is an 11-minute setting of Theodore Roethke’s “In a Dark Time,” a poem in which Roethke uses dark, punishing, often unforgiving elements as metaphor for an anguished journey through the self that ultimately leads to inner peace. The two-movement work, scored for mixed chorus, piano and cello, is vivid in its text painting and imbued with drama, pathos, and ultimately, transcendent equanimity. The Eye Begins to See was commissioned by the Washington Master Chorale in the fall of 2012 and premiered in March 2013.
I. In a dark time (5:06)
II. A steady storm of correspondences (6:01)
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| Voicing: | SSAATTBB |
| Accompaniment: | Piano and cello |
| Duration: | 11 minutes |
| Text: | Theodore Roethke "In a Dark Time," ©Random House, used by permission |
| Difficulty: | Medium-Difficult |
Tags: 11-20 minutes, Keyboard with instrument(s), SATB with divisi, Secular: Concert Music
The Eye Begins to See – Donald McCullough
The Eye Begins to See is an 11-minute setting of Theodore Roethke’s “In a Dark Time,” a poem in which Roethke uses dark, punishing, often unforgiving elements as metaphor for an anguished journey through the self that ultimately leads to inner peace. The two-movement work, scored for mixed chorus, piano and cello, is vivid in its text painting and imbued with drama, pathos, and ultimately, transcendent equanimity.
I. (In a dark time)In a dark time, the eye begins to see, What’s madness but nobility of soul In a Dark Time by Theodore Roethke |
II. (A steady storm of correspondences)A steady storm of correspondences! Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire. |
Download this Word document for your program notes: Eye Begins to See, The (Word 97-2003 Document)
For an analysis of the poem, try these sites:
In this confessional poem, Theodore Roethke describes a passage through a “dark time” in his life and his emergence from this episode, not into peace and quietude, but at least into wholeness. The journey to and out of the psychic pit described in the poem may be a metaphor for personal tragedy, spiritual emptiness, or, more likely, because it is known that Roethke suffered from periods of psychosis, a poetic attempt to deal with a mental breakdown.
The poet insists that a plunge to the bottom of the abyss <read more>
http://studies.tripod.com/ENGL2328/in_a_dark_time.htm
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