T. 18--Mist

This piece features the Mist melody, which was originally going to be the anthem for the Water Kingdom in Bot Island until I abandoned the idea of an anthem for each element kingdom. It is one of my favorite original melodies. For this piece, I simply arranged the melody for four-part choir and included an oboe and a cello to add to the web of sound I wanted to create around my melody. The counter-melody (found in the first verse, in the bass, alto, and cello lines) was carefully crafted to fit the main melody. Everything else in the piece, apart from the intro, was written in the stream-of-consciousness style. As long as it sounded good to me, I kept going. I came up with the intro (first nine measures) first, and the melody seemed to flow naturally from that. 

The text is my own original work too, a poem called “Once Upon A Misty May." I intended for the poem to be sung to this melody. This song goes along with "Mist Lullaby" in that they are both based on the same original narrative. I didn’t include the entire text in this song because of length. But, I am including the full poem text at the bottom of this post. 

At one point I started to write a play with this music. The play would also be called, “Once Upon A Misty May.” It would be a story of a young man named Johnny who lived in Scotland. His home was near a lonely hill that was covered in mist and had an ancient fortress on the top. When Johnny was a kid, he explored the fortress every day, and he liked to imagine that the statues came alive and talked to him. Now, Johnny has returned home after a series of rather unfortunate circumstances. He comes to the fortress, and discovers that the four main statues really did come alive and they speak to him. They even sing to him! They help Johnny get over his fears about the future, and they encourage him to go on with his life.

This story started to come about when my high school choir sang “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye.” As we sang, I imagined four statues (They each had names: Bastion singing bass, Trevor on tenor, Alta on alto, and Sophia on soprano) singing that song to grown-up Johnny. After I wrote this melody and these lyrics, this choir song was often in my head and I often sang it to myself. 

Once Upon a Misty May, poem text:

Once upon a misty May,

On a lonely mount back home;

I took walks along the way,

At the place I used to roam.

Looking towards that mount up high,

I search my memory,

For long ago, for years gone by,

A castle by the sea.

Friends, this castle years ago

Was where I went to play,

Went exploring to and fro,

Discovering more each day.

Father told me many a tale

About my age-old fort,

Of noble nights who never fail

To win at war and sport.

But my favorite tale of all,

The one of sir Paulin.

He was brave and stiff and tall

And had a charming grin.

See, Paulin was good and kind

And loyal to his king,

But when at war, oh one would find

His flawless might in fighting.

Then there came the day of woe,

Paulin could not be found.

He was slain by an armored foe,

His sword flat on the ground.

On that day, my castle mourned.

Its tears formed clouds of mist.

And thus this castle’s name was formed:

The Crying Fort of Mist.

Vapor grey and thickly damp

Concealed the Crying Fort.

When climbers came to set up camp,

They couldn’t see more than a foot.

Time went by, and years have past

Since I’ve explored its halls,

Thus time wore down the stone at last

Now crumbled and torn are its walls.

Now as I walk down the trail,

By the lonely mount back home,

I glance through the misty veil,

T’wards the place I used to roam.