It Perched For Vespers Nine (LIVE The President's Own Marine Band) by Joel Puckett published on 2013-08-28T13:11:39Z This is a live performance with The President's Own Marine Band with Jason Fettig, conducting. Program note: My wife’s grandfather was an extraordinary man. He was an immigrant who walked around quoting poetry and whistling tunes from his childhood in Scotland. Like a character from a movie he always seemed to pull just the right verse for the occasion. In the spring of 2007, he fell into a coma following a severe stroke. After weeks of being in this state he awoke and said: In mist or cloud… …on mast or shroud… …It perched for Vespers nine… …Whiles all the night… …through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the white moon-shine. These were the final words of a man who always chose the right words. Within the hour he was gone. Not recognizing the verse, I immediately ran to Google to decipher what message the old man could have been delivering. The verse is from the famous poem of condemnation and redemption, “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”. The poem is the story of a mariner condemned to travel the earth telling his tale of hubris and punishment in search of redemption. The mariner shot an albatross for no other reason than he felt like it and then suffered the wrath of both death and living-death for his gall. The verse my wife’s grandfather quoted is the verse immediately before the one containing the ill-fated murder of the albatross. As they say, the calm before the coming storm. My work entitled, “It perched for Vespers nine,” on a surface level engages the imagery from the verse itself. But at the emotional core of the work is my trying to work out what my wife’s Pop Pop might have been trying to tell us about what awaits us “In mist or cloud”. It perched for Vespers nine was commissioned by the American Bandmasters Association and the University of Florida. For performance materials or any additional questions please contact: www.billholabmusic.com Genre Classical Comment by Shama Jabeen I am jumping from a aircrafat...God 2013-09-17T12:18:06Z Comment by Valéry is in the clouds Giant, beautiful, thank you :) 2013-09-01T11:17:23Z Comment by 8jj good! 2013-08-30T18:49:40Z Comment by marabu xxlmilvus a masterpiece 2013-08-30T13:37:28Z