Time's Fell Hand
Baritone, choir and orchestra
2.2.2.2-4.2.3.1-timp 2pc, harp, strings
duration 9 min © 2026 Faber Music
Also see: Orchestral Vocal | Program Note: Time’s Fell Hand is a setting of Shakespeare's 64th sonnet in which the poet continues his exploration of the subtle connection between love and death. The sentiment hovers between darkness and joy, marvelling that such beautiful emotions can exist while anticipating the certain loss of such beauty.
This work was commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia with the generous support of Min Zhu, a chorister in the Philharmonia Festival Choir which will give the world premiere at the Sydney Opera House on 16 May 2026 with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Elizabeth Scott. Carl Vine, February 2026
William Shakespeare - Sonnet 64
When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced
The rich proud cost of outworn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
When I have seen the hungry ocean gain
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
And the firm soil win of the watery main,
Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;
When I have seen such interchange of state,
Or state itself confounded to decay,
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate,
That time will come and take my love away.
This thought is as a death, which cannot choose
But weep to have that which it fears to lose. |
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