Work
So Long
for soprano and chamber orchestra
Buy or Borrow
Borrow/Hire:
To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.
About
Both So Long, Marianne and I were born in 1967. Leonard Cohen's song lodged itself in my brain at an undetermined point somewhere between that first release and the present. The moment that stuck in my mind most clearly was when the back-up singers wiggled their way upwards in the chorus on "Marianne" (a moment which fails to reappear in my own version of the song). Now Marianne's name has gone, and I hope I have found a way to make the song new. I don't remember ever hearing the words to the verse I've set, but I can imagine Trisha on a window ledge, miles above the traffic, stuttering a song of goodbye. So long.
Dedication note
for Patricia O'Callaghan
Text note
Text by Leonard Cohen
Performance history
29 Apr 2005: Performed by Patricia O'Callaghan and the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, conductor Dan Warren