Wild Swans

Christopher Tin

• Movement V from “The Lost Birds”
• Choral Score with piano accompaniment for rehearsal only
• Setting of a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay
• Advanced level
• Published by Boosey & Hawkes

Suitable for advanced choirs, Wild Swans is a setting of a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Told from the point of view of the poet, it starts with the sound of bird cries: gradually approaching from a distance, until they pass overhead, triggering feelings of longing. After an instrumental interlude, and the narrator’s impassioned declaration of freedom, the song ends as it started - with the cries of wild swans receding into the distance, foreshadowing their demise.