Nelson Interludes (1995/2009)
score available from
Wise Music
program note
i: The Founding of a Fiery Star
ii: Queen of England
iii: Like Hawks we Soar
iv: Shadow of an Empty Cowl
This 2nd string quartet is cast in four interludes taken from my opera Nelson. The Founding of a Fiery Star opens the opera and depicts Nelson at the height of the Battle of St. Vincent – a battle in which he first made a name for himself as a strategic maverick. In Act 2, Lady Emma Hamilton flirts with the married Nelson in Naples declaring she would bestow great accolades were she The Queen of England. By contrast, Like Hawks we Soar describes a predatory Nelson in the lead up to the Battle of the Nile, which ends Act 1. Shadow of an Empty Cowl is the longest of the four interludes. This tragic duet toward the end of Act 3 is essentially a fantasized wish for a better life between Emma and Nelson, who is then killed at the height of the battle of Trafalgar. Despite Nelson’s wishes, Emma was ridiculed and shunned by English society. She died ten years later, destitute and alcoholic, and was buried away from him at Calais, in France.
The quartet is dedicated to Ross Baglin – the author of the opera’s libretto. The premiere performance given by Flinders String Quartet at Bangalow Music Festival on 15 August, 2009.