Michael Berkeley

For Mrs Tomoyasu from 'Or Shall We Die?'

Chamber version - conductor's score and parts on hire

Forces or Category: Soprano solo & ensemble

Orchestration: fl, ob, cl, bn, hn, tpt, hp, string quintet, soprano

This aria for soprano and orchestra is taken from the oratorio Or Shall We Die?. Mrs Tomoyasu was a young woman in 1945 when her nine year-old daughter died in her arms at Hiroshima. Her words, taken almost verbatim by the librettist Ian McEwan, describe her terrible experience on the day that the atomic bomb was dropped. There is also a version for chamber orchestra.

For Mrs Tomoyasu from 'Or Shall We Die?'

Chamber version - conductor's score and parts on hire

Michael Berkeley

Description

Programme Notes:

The oratorio Or Shall We Die? was commissioned from Ian McEwan and Michael Berkeley by the London Symphony Orchestra Chorus. It was first performed in 1983, the year that Ronald Reagan declared that a nuclear conflict in Europe was not only thinkable but winnable; cruise missiles came to Britain; Heseltine was appointed by Thatcher to extinguish CND; Professions for World Disarmament and Development was formed at the suggestion of Fenner Brockway and MANA was formed as one of

For Mrs Tomoyasu from 'Or Shall We Die?'

Chamber version - conductor's score and parts on hire

Michael Berkeley

Composer Information