The Defeat of Youth
The Defeat of Youth is a relatively early work by Aldous Huxley that has interested me for many years now. Consisting of 22 verses divided into 7 sections I have long felt it is ripe for being turned into a large scale song cycle in the grand tradition of many composers of song from Schubert to Ned Rorem and Benjamin Britten. Huxley’s work presents some challenges for this project namely the relatively uniform nature of each poem that makes up the larger work. In conceptualizing this cycle I have decided on two solutions to the problem the first is to add poetry outside of Huxley’s work to enhance the overall narrative of the piece while allowing for more variety in the structure and from of the poetry. The second solution is to use fragments of Huxley’s poetry rather than the full poem in places where it is appropriate. I am implementing both solutions into the final vision for this cycle
After years of conceptualizing this work and a number of false starts due largely to the limitations placed on my while pursuing graduate degrees I am finally beginning work on this project in earnest. Below you can listen to and see the score for my setting of the third verse in The Defeat of Youth, which I have titled Loveliness Revealed