Cypress is prefixed with the following line from Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, sung by the Clown in Duke Orsino’s palace (Act II, Scene IV):
“Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid.”
The main motif for this work is the soft mournful notes in the left hand and the start and the end. Over this, a light chanting can be heard that is reminiscent of a funeral song or lament. The piece reaches a climax in the middle with rising and descending chromatics played between a series a dissonant chords. The ending recapitulates on the opening section and draws the death song to a close.
The bleakness inherent in the piece is compounded by a very uncomfortable 5/4 time signature at an Andante mesto pace throughout, which never allows the listener to feel any regular rhythm or comfort. The key is a very melancholic F minor, though the cadences and chord progressions employed by Ireland are never finished and are constantly left hanging, even on the final chord.
This piece carries a dedication to Alfred Chenhalls.
Read more about this topic: Greenways (Ireland)
Famous quotes containing the word cypress:
“When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.”
—Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)
“It was a green world,
Unchanging holly with the curled
Points, cypress and conifers,
All that through the winter bears
Coarsened fertility against the frost.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“For I thought of her grave below the hill,
Which the sentinel cypress tree stands over,
And I thought, “Were she only living still,
How I could forgive her, and love her!””
—“Owen” “Meredith” (1831–1891)