Description
Ì Samôla Valít is an excerpt to an original requiem that replaces the traditional Dies Irae.
Death is already a topic that frightens people, so instead of inspiring fear with Dies Irae’s wrathful text, I wanted to inspire comfort with a more soothing text.
To accomplish this, I wrote the text in English, and then translated it into a language of my own creation. Hopefully, this communicates a sense of comfort while preserving the mysteriousness of death (the audience, after all, won’t be able to understand what is being sung).
Along with the fictional language, I’ve also created a fictional culture. This piece functions as a lullaby within this context, and should feel very relaxed and hypnotic.
The singing style for this piece should be similar to that of folk music—a forward tone and little vibrato. A useful reference point might be the work of Sweet Honey in the Rock.
In the homophonic sections, there is no intended melody. No one part is more important than the others here, so each voice should sing their part as if they were singing the melody.
The text, along with an IPA guide and an English translation, are included in the score.