Spellbound (2015)

for SATB Choir

 

Spellbound (2015) is a piece for SATB choir written for the Lambda Beta Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Sigma Omega Chapter of Sigma

Alpha Iota winter musicale at Susquehanna University, December 11th of 2015. The text comes from Emily Bronte's poem by the same name. Rowlett was approached by these organizations to write a non-religious piece that would fit in a winter choir program. When setting the text to music, Rowlett was inspired by the cold and snowy winters of Central Pennsylvania. The open voicings of the harmonies represent the crisp and fresh winter air, and there are instances of word painting throughout the composition. The most obvious of these instances occur on the words "clouds beyond clouds" as the line cascades through the various voice parts as they approach the climax of the phrase.

 

Spellbound
by Emily Brontë (1818-48)

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me
And I cannot, cannot go.

​

The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow.
And the storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.

​

Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below;
But nothing drear can move me;
I will not, cannot go.

Premiered on December 15th, 2015 by the Lambda Beta Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Sigma Omega Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota