Margarita Zelenaia

Six Servants

Year: 1991

Duration (in minutes): 13'39;

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: solo voice(s) with piano

Publisher: Self-Produced



Description: The song cycle “Six Servants” is written to the poems of famous English poets, such as E. Lear, R.L. Stevenson, M. Barrows and R. Kipling for mezzo-soprano or bass-baritone. However, it is quite natural to imagine it performed in soprano or tenor, since the tessitura of the songs allows to transpose without any detriment to the sound.

While creating the music, I saw my task in writing the cycle that would be traditional, melodic and simultaneously rich in images. Each song has its own plot: the first one, ‘The Nutcrackers and Sugar Tongs’ is a humoristic travel account, appealing and full of euphoria, that results from an unexpected feeling of freedom. ‘The Moon’ – conveys the feeling of an all-around moonlight which creates soft muffled images (as if in a lullaby) but also begets very alarming night visions (in the middle part); the third – ‘The Bug’ is close to jazz, which allows to perform it in a swinging manner and even (if one so wishes) add an improvisation in the coda. This one is about a regular bug enjoying his life and who assumes that it’s beautiful to be a part of nature. The fourth one – ‘Six Servants’ is an amusing story dedicated to truly curious creatures who are interested in everything: what, where, when, how and who?

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