Tinderbox

This is a song. sung by baritone actor singer Oskar McCarthy, as Charles Dickens, ruminates at his study window - from Act 1 of our chamber opera 'Tinderbox'. 
						DICKENS (sings)
Fishes slumber in the cold, bright, glistening streams and rivers 
Birds roost on the branches of the trees      
In their stalls and pastures beasts are quiet                               
And human creatures sleep.                                      
 But what of that, when the solemn Night is watching 
 When it never winks,                                            
 When its darkness watches no less than its light.       
 The stately trees, the moon and shining stars,                         
 The softly stirring wind, the over-shadowed lane,	            
 The broad, bright countryside, they all keep watch.                   
 There’s not a blade of growing grass or corn, but watches -				And the quieter it is,                                                   
The more intent and fixed                                                 
 Does Nature’s watch upon us seem to reign
(DICKENS walks into his bedroom.)
DARKNESS

Slumbering Fishes

This is an aria from our chamber opera, 'Tinderbox', about the visit of writer Hans Christian Andersen to Charles Dickens' home in Kent in July 1857. In this aria, 'How It Glows', sung by BBC Singer, mezzo soprano Margaret Cameron, a jeweller calls at Gads Hill with a repaired bracelet containing a card. Catherine Dickens believes it to be a gift for her from her husband Charles, only to hear her son Henry read the card : 'no jewel can be brighter than Ellen Ternan's eyes, says her faithful servant Charles Dickens.'   Ellen Ternan was a young actress, a protege of Dickens'.

How It Glows

Am I Not Mrs Dickens?

Oskar McCarthy sings this aria where Charles Dickens remembers his father's imprisonment for debt in the Marshalsea Prison.

My Little Dorrit

Recording by artist Kariina Gretere, as Katey Dickens in the chamber opera 'Tinderbox', in which Charles and his family rehearse Wilkie Collins' play 'The Frozen Deep'.  Recording played and recorded by Kariina Gretere. https://soundcloud.com/u62832574068583355232/02-karina-gretere-zanzarah?in=u62832574068583355232/sets/zanzarah_the-hidden-portal_ost_2002

The Arctic Sun - from Tinderbox

The overture to the chamber opera 'Tinderbox' by Stephen Guy Daltry, with flute performed by Anne Allen, performed with Stephen Guy Daltry at the Camden People's Theatre platform performance in January 2025.

Overture for Flute and Piano from 'Tinderbox'

Delightfully nostalgic musical comedy… the simplicity of the story is part of its enchantment” The Stage
“This is Dennis Potter style.  Could become a Fringe cult” London Evening Standard
“An amiable exercise in nostalgia… the period flavour is lovingly recreated” The Sunday Telegraph

Overture for Flute and Piano from 'Tinderbox'

Stephen Daltry Music