Blake

Barbara Rosen's Blake is a sacred canon for four equal voices, sung in English. The text, drawn from William Blake's poetry, presents a stark image of suffering and its profound, damaging effect on the observer. Rosen captures this intensity through the relentless, imitative nature of the canon, where each voice entering in turn mirrors the distress of the original statement. This contrapuntal technique effectively conveys the inescapable and multiplying nature of the pain described in the lyrics, creating a powerful and unsettling musical reflection on empathy and the cost of witnessing.

The work's structure as a canon means that the musical material, much like the emotional weight of the text, is passed from voice to voice, building in complexity and intensity as it unfolds. It is a compelling exploration of Blake's verse, rendered through the disciplined yet expressive form of a sacred canon.