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.