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Video YT002 (The Cloths of Heaven)

The Cloths of Heaven is a choral work by acclaimed composer René Clausen, based on a poem by William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), Aedh Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven (1899). (In my opinion) The poem evokes shimmering images of twilight, captured with both the golds and silvers of a fading sunset and the blue-to-black gradient that crosses the sky during that brief time; the poet wishes he could offer this tapestry of heavenly cloth to his love, but he is poor and has only his dreams, so instead he spreads his dreams under her feet and asks her to tread softly—essentially asking her neither to break his heart nor to shatter his dreams…

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

René set this text to SATB choir with piano, as a commissioned work for the Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale (GEWC) in celebration of its 30th anniversary. The music is lush with a soaring melody and split-part harmonies; most of the piece musically undulates as though the very cloths of heaven were gently rippling in the sky, but as it traverses the ending poignant text, it settles and hones in and profoundly evokes the twin contrasting feelings of hope and uncertainty one has in trusting another with one’s heart and dreams.

GEWC performed the world première of this work on 2016_0506 and _0507, at College Church in Wheaton, IL. (I was blessed to be a part of the choir for these concerts.) With the assistance of church sound and light engineer Caleb Wiley, I recorded our performance of this song during the second concert, and with the permission of René (thank you, René!) produced and published a video of the performance. I used a still camera (Canon PS G15) rather than a true video camera, so the white balance is a bit overdone where spotlights fall on white shirts, but the overall footage presents the performance well. For the audio, I used a small sound recorder (Roland R-05) as the primary source and added in a little from the church’s sound system to give the audio more depth; unfortunately, someone in the audience decided to sneeze loudly a pair of times towards the end when the music was at its most poignant, but barring that the musical experience is pleasant and uplifting.

In addition to the performance, this video features an introduction of the composer and the piece by GEWC director Greg Wheatley, as well as an acknowledgement of René—who was in attendance—from the audience at the end.

Below is a link to the video of the performance, as well as a link to the YT003/4/5 videos page for a presentation wherein René discusses both his compositional process and the making of The Cloths of Heaven. The video link of the performance opens up a new window at YouTube, rather than streaming it directly on this page, so that viewers can, if they wish, post comments at YouTube and (if the device screen is large enough) compare the text side-by-side with the running video.
The Cloths of Heaven is a choral work by acclaimed composer René Clausen, based on a poem by William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), Aedh Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven (1899). (In my opinion) The poem evokes shimmering images of twilight, captured with both the golds and silvers of a fading sunset and the blue-to-black gradient that crosses the sky during that brief time; the poet wishes he could offer this tapestry of heavenly cloth to his love, but he is poor and has only his dreams, so instead he spreads his dreams under her feet and asks her to tread softly—essentially asking her neither to break his heart nor to shatter his dreams…

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

René set this text to SATB choir with piano, as a commissioned work for the Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale (GEWC) in celebration of its 30th anniversary. The music is lush with a soaring melody and split-part harmonies; most of the piece musically undulates as though the very cloths of heaven were gently rippling in the sky, but as it traverses the ending poignant text, it settles and hones in and profoundly evokes the twin contrasting feelings of hope and uncertainty one has in trusting another with one’s heart and dreams.

GEWC performed the world première of this work on 2016_0506 and _0507, at College Church in Wheaton, IL. (I was blessed to be a part of the choir for these concerts.) With the assistance of church sound and light engineer Caleb Wiley, I recorded our performance of this song during the second concert, and with the permission of René (thank you, René!) produced and published a video of the performance. I used a still camera (Canon PS G15) rather than a true video camera, so the white balance is a bit overdone where spotlights fall on white shirts, but the overall footage presents the performance well. For the audio, I used a small sound recorder (Roland R-05) as the primary source and added in a little from the church’s sound system to give the audio more depth; unfortunately, someone in the audience decided to sneeze loudly a pair of times towards the end when the music was at its most poignant, but barring that the musical experience is pleasant and uplifting.

In addition to the performance, this video features an introduction of the composer and the piece by GEWC director Greg Wheatley, as well as an acknowledgement of René—who was in attendance—from the audience at the end.

Below is a link to the video of the performance, as well as a link to the YT003/4/5 videos page for a presentation wherein René discusses both his compositional process and the making of The Cloths of Heaven. The video link of the performance opens up a new window at YouTube, rather than streaming it directly on this page, so that viewers can, if they wish, post comments at YouTube and (if the device screen is large enough) compare the text side-by-side with the running video.
The Cloths of Heaven is a choral work by acclaimed composer René Clausen, based on a poem by William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), Aedh Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven (1899). (In my opinion) The poem evokes shimmering images of twilight, captured with both the golds and silvers of a fading sunset and the blue-to-black gradient that crosses the sky during that brief time; the poet wishes he could offer this tapestry of heavenly cloth to his love, but he is poor and has only his dreams, so instead he spreads his dreams under her feet and asks her to tread softly—essentially asking her neither to break his heart nor to shatter his dreams…

Had I the heavens’
    embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden
    and silver light,
The blue and the dim
    and the dark cloths
Of night and light
    and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths
    under your feet:
But I, being poor,
    have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams
    under your feet;
Tread softly because
    you tread on my dreams.

René set this text to SATB choir with piano, as a commissioned work for the Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale (GEWC) in celebration of its 30th anniversary. The music is lush with a soaring melody and split-part harmonies; most of the piece musically undulates as though the very cloths of heaven were gently rippling in the sky, but as it traverses the ending poignant text, it settles and hones in and profoundly evokes the twin contrasting feelings of hope and uncertainty one has in trusting another with one’s heart and dreams.

GEWC performed the world première of this work on 2016_0506 and _0507, at College Church in Wheaton, IL. (I was blessed to be a part of the choir for these concerts.) With the assistance of church sound and light engineer Caleb Wiley, I recorded our performance of this song during the second concert, and with the permission of René (thank you, René!) produced and published a video of the performance. I used a still camera (Canon PS G15) rather than a true video camera, so the white balance is a bit overdone where spotlights fall on white shirts, but the overall footage presents the performance well. For the audio, I used a small sound recorder (Roland R-05) as the primary source and added in a little from the church’s sound system to give the audio more depth; unfortunately, someone in the audience decided to sneeze loudly a pair of times towards the end when the music was at its most poignant, but barring that the musical experience is pleasant and uplifting.

In addition to the performance, this video features an introduction of the composer and the piece by GEWC director Greg Wheatley, as well as an acknowledgement of René—who was in attendance—from the audience at the end.

Below is a link to the video of the performance, as well as a link to the YT003/4/5 videos page for a presentation wherein René discusses both his compositional process and the making of The Cloths of Heaven. The video link of the performance opens up a new window at YouTube, rather than streaming it directly on this page, so that viewers can, if they wish, post comments at YouTube and (if the device screen is large enough) compare the text side-by-side with the running video.
The Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chorale performs The Cloths of Heaven by René Clausen (Wheaton, IL, USA)

Video ID: YT002

Title: The Cloths of Heaven (René Clausen, GEWC World Premiere)

Length: 09:42

Where: College Church, Wheaton, IL, USA

When: 2016_0507 15:24–15:34

Copyright:

The Cloths of Heaven (René Clausen, GEWC World Premiere)

… by Mark H. Peterson

… was first published on 2016_0617 at YouTube

… and is licensed under a Standard YouTube License

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René Clausen talk on composition (Wheaton, IL, USA)

ID: YT003/4/5

2016_0507 14:04

René Clausen talk on composition
(Wheaton, IL, USA)

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