Poet: William Soutar (1898-1943)
Source: Who Are These Children?
Date of Composition: 1969 (Spring-Summer)
Publication: Faber Music, 1972
Voice Difficulty Level: Difficult
Subject: After war, the weather clears, but the children’s blood stains the earth.
Range: B3 – Ab5
Tessitura: F4 – E5
Tempo: Very Slow; 2/4
Duration: 03:50
Vocal Characteristics: Requires independence of pitch and rhythm; leaps at the ends of phrases to high soft tones; three straight entrances on G5 which descend;
Piano Difficulty Level: Difficult
Accompaniment Characteristics: Ethereal, haunting, quarter note thirds with passing-tone grace notes ahead of beat; moving eighth note intervals and chords; tremolo sections; a section of high rhythmic complextity
Additional Comments: Meter changes; Britten Thematic Catalog http://www.brittenproject.org/works/BTC1144