The Deluge

The Deluge is scored for soprano, contralto, flute, horn, trumpet, harp and solo violin, viola, violoncello and double bass.  If required, a small string ensemble, consisting of 4-6 violins, 4-6 violas and 4 violoncellos may be used to strengthen the 'tutti' sections of the three upper sting parts in the first and third scenes of the work.  The indications of 'solo' and 'tutti' in the score are to be observed when the larger ensemble is used.

The text has been derived by the composer from a 'model' shooting script prepared by the Soviet film director Sergei M. Eisenstein from an original writing of Leonardo da Vinci.  "It was not written as a finished work of literature, but simply as a note of a great master in which he attempted to put down on paper for his own benefit his visualization of the Deluge.  The desctiption is not a chaos but is executed in accordance with features that are characteristic rather of the 'temporal' than of the 'spatial' arts."  The division into paragraphs was made by Eisenstein to illustrate this thesis.  In the present work the division has been retained and to it may be traced the formal structure of the work.