LINES From a Roslyn Baptism
Tayloe Harding
About this work:
LINES from a Roslyn Baptism (1989) is a setting of three prayers included in the service of Holy Baptism from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. It was commissioned tenor Paul Spencer-Adkins to be written for him and the traditional piano trio: piano, violin and cello. The work was composed utilizing several different compositional processes: a generative one, where musical material is presented continuously with only slight alterations over time, and in a more detailed, traditionally event-oriented process where manipulations and developments of individual events in the material dominate the decision-making process.
Movement I is based upon the baptismal prayer itself and is set in a melodic fashion that begins rather statically--the pitches intoned form a very small set, centered around Eb. The melody grows in size, note by note, and in complexity as it is accompanied by a series of long, lyrical counter-melodies in the piano and strings, one of which suggests a recurring harmonic progression. Tempos shift slightly and the tonal center slides back and forth between F and Eb, ending after a traditional recapitulation and short coda on Ab.
Movement II presents the Prayer of Thanksgiving to God for the water of baptism. It is more reflective and set in a leaner textural environment with less activity than is the text of Movement I.
Movement III is a setting of the closing prayer of the service. As it is consistent with the nature of closing prayers, short and with a direct and simple message, its setting is less organically derived and less complicated than the texts of the first two prayers. Instead, the whole of the Mvmt. III prayer is set in two separate ways, as a lyrical melody in the opening and closing sections, and as part of a very fast and active middle section.
Year composed: 1989
Duration: 00:24:44
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Unknown
Instrumentation: