Commissioned by Voices of Birralee and suitable for ANZAC day and Remembrance day, the words are based on the poem ‘A Soldier’s Cemetery’, by John William Streets (killed and missing in action on 1 July 1916, aged 31). As any Australian I am appreciative of the fact that there were young men who went to war for the freedom that we now enjoy. It is very difficult to imagine what the men went through, fighting in a foreign land. John William Streets’ poem appealed to me because of the description of the innocence of young men willing to sacrifice their lives for our freedom. The opening line conveys a graphic image of a trenched line that is the difference for these brave men between life and death.
“Behind that long and lonely trenched line
To which men come and go, where brave men die,
There is an unmarked, unknown place,
A broken plot, a soldier’s shrine.
There lie the flower of youth,
To live when languished Liberty:
Across their graves unadorned
scream shells of each artillery.
When war shall cease this lonely spot
Of many a pilgrimage will be the end,
And flowers will shine in this now barren plot
And fame upon it through the years descend:
But many a heart upon each simple cross
Will hang the grief, the memory of loss.”
Key F major
Range Unison – middle C to D a 9th higher; SA – Bb below middle C to D a 10th higher; SSA – A below middle C to F above high C
Tempo Moderato
Length 3’29”
Score sample Flower of Youth SSA – page 1
Audio sample Flower of Youth – SA mp3
Video Sample:
World Premiere at ‘Voices from the Trenches’ Pemulwuy Festival at Qld Performing Arts Complex 2017.
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