My new release, ‘Of Love’, joins ‘Of Joy and Sorrow’ and ‘Of Beauty’ to complete my Three Songs of Kahlil Gibran:
Kahlil Gibran (1883 – 1931) was a Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist most famous as author of The Prophet (1923), one of the best-loved and most frequently translated books in history. In it, Gibran distilled wisdom from the great Christian, Buddhist and Islamic religious texts he studied, adding intuitive wisdom of his own. The result is many passages that embody deep and timeless insights into human experience.
The section in The Prophet beginning “Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love” is a profound reflection on what love – real love – does to the human personality. “Love is for your growth,” Gibran’s Prophet says, but also for your “pruning”; love “ascends to your heights and caresses your tenderest branches” but can also “shatter your dreams”; love shakes you to your roots, “crucifies” you, “grinds” you, “kneads” you, bakes you like bread in its “sacred fire”. Through all these tribulations, Gibran suggests, you come to “know the secrets of your heart”, in the process becoming “a fragment of Life’s heart” (transcending your self-centredness). But if through fear you avoid the heights and concomitant depths of love and “seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure”, then it’s better, he says, that you “cover your nakedness” (“nakedness” here meaning the openness and vulnerability that come with love) and enter “the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears”. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung later summed all this up in a striking passage on love in the autobiography he wrote in his 80s: love’s “range of activity,” he said, “extends from the endless spaces of the heavens to the dark abysses of hell”, yet love is the “creator and father-mother of all higher consciousness”.
‘Of Love’ is scored for solo soprano, SATB choir and orchestra. In setting Gibran’s words to music I have chosen the passages that strike me as most meaningful and insightful and shaped them into four verses, the third verse repeating key phrases from the previous one as the solo soprano reflects on what the choir has just sung. I have not changed any of Gibran’s meanings, metaphors or imagery – except in one important respect: Love is masculine in Gibran’s original text and I have changed her gender. I have done this not for any ideological reasons, but simply because I personally feel love to be a feminine force or character. Of course performers of ‘Of Love’ are free to restore Gibran’s original pronouns if they wish.
‘Of Love’ is newly composed and yet to receive its first performance. This simulated performance was made with Roland Integra-7, XV-2020 and MOC-1 sound modules. The sounds are quite realistic but the vocal sounds are necessarily wordless, so I’ve added subtitles to show what they sing.
As mentioned above, ‘Of Love’ is one of my Three Songs of Kahlil Gibran, the others being ‘Of Beauty’ for SATB Choir with Orchestra (or Flute/Recorder and Piano), and ‘Of Joy and Sorrow’ for Soprano Solo with Orchestra (or Flute, Violin, Cello and Piano). An arrangement of ‘Of Love’ with piano trio accompaniment in lieu of orchestra is currently under way. If you are interested in performing ‘Of Love’ or any of my music, for sheet music/scores and/or more information, please CONTACT me.
Neil Buckland
More of my music can be heard here: Listen or on my YouTube channel @neilbucklandmusic. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel or join Neil Buckland Music on Facebook to receive news of future releases.
Audio of ‘Of Love’ and my other music can be streamed or downloaded on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer etc.
Of Love
When love beckons you, follow her,
though her ways are hard and steep;
yield to her when her wings enfold you,
though the sword among her pinions wounds you.
When she speaks to you, believe in her,
though her voice may shatter your dreams.
For even as love crowns you, so shall she crucify you.
Love is for your growth and your pruning.
Even as she ascends to your heights and caresses your tenderest branches,
so shall she descend to your roots and shake them.
Like sheaves of corn she gathers you,
she threshes you to make you naked, she sifts you to free you from your husks,
she grinds you to whiteness, kneads you until you’re pliant;
then assigns you to her sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.
(When love beckons you, follow her,
for love is for your growth and your pruning.
She ascends to your heights and caresses your branches,
she descends to your roots and shakes them,
she gathers you unto herself,
kneads you until you are pliant,
and assigns you to her sacred fire.)
All these things shall love do unto you
that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness
and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears.
Kahlil Gibran
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