Self-laudatory Hymn of Inanna and Her Omnipotence
13:55
James Bowman, countertenor
Fretwork
- William Hunt, bass viol
- Richard Campbell, treble viol
- Julia Hodgson, tenor viol
- Wendy Gillespie, treble viol
- Richard Boothby, bass viol
- Assistant engineers: Alex Marcou & David Forty
Inanna is the Queen of the Heavens in the Sumerian religion. Nyman found the text on February 12, 1992 in a translation by Samuel Noah Kramer in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament edited by James B. Pritchard (3rd edition with supplement, Princeton University Press, 1969), in the personal library of an Armenian friend. In the hymn, Inanna speaks proudly of all that her father, Enlil, has given her, and it takes the form of a list. Its audacity, shamelessness, and repetitive structure appealed to him, and thought it would be suitable for James Bowman's voice. He became even more interested in setting the work when he learned that Inanna is well-known deity embraced by many feminists, and not obscure, as he had initially thought. Indeed, she superseded all Sumerian deities, male or female, by the end of the Sumerian civilization. In spite of the last stanza of the piece being the most repetitive, Nyman chose to use cadential diversity rather than repetition.
The work was first performed June 11, 1992 at Christ Church, Spitalfields in London. The recording was made the following day at St. Augustine's Church.
Read more about this topic: Time Will Pronounce
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