Musae

Taking the idea of the Greek Muses as a starting point, Musae is a contemporary reflection of different aspects of Woman, in all her power, vulnerability, messiness, beauty, wisdom, and limitless ability to love.

We join a wife at breaking point in her marriage over a dinner table, pushed over the edge by her adulterous, oblivious, noisy-steak-eating husband, yet unable to leave. Then drift into a prostitute’s red-lit world, her floating identity lost amidst the sensual smoke; we witness a self-harming teenager’s panicked concern over an unflattering social media post; and receive blessings from a high priestess and a yearning lover.

Each song is highly coloured in a completely different musical style, with nods to Weimar cabaret, lush French harmony, 90s pop, taut canonic forms, smoky jazz, late 19th century Romanticism - and also none of them.

Musae was commissioned by Wild Plum Arts with support from the Vaughan Williams Foundation, Hinrichsen Trust, and the generosity of the Wild Plum donors.

World premiere by Lucy Schaufer (mezzo-soprano) and Huw Watkins (piano) at The Cheltenham Music Festival, July 2019 at “Composium”, as part of WPA’s “All About the Women”.

Zoë Martlew