Weep, Wilderness, Weep (2007) for soprano, flute, and harp.

I. Prologue; II. Dumuzi’s Dream; III. The Fall of Dumuzi; IV. Dumuzi Mourned; V. The Son’s Reply; VI. Epilogue. 

Performed by Megan Schubert, soprano; Nicole Camacho, flute; Gloria Vasconcellos, harp.

Weep, Wilderness, Weep
 
            The story of Dumuzi is one of the oldest known to history.  His myth was common to all cultures of the ancient world—albeit with many striking variations—under the names Dumuzid (Sumerian), Dumuzi (Akkadian), Tammuz (Babylon), Osiris (Egypt), Attis (Phrygia), and Adonis (Greece).  There are also strong similarities to the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter.  The association of his death and resurrection with annual natural cycles, with related female figures of Mother, Sister, or Wife/Lover is also common, as is the worship and preservation of his cult by women.  The Mesopotamian version of the story concerns a trip to the underworld by the love goddess Inanna (Ishtar) to challenge her sister Ereshkigal, goddess of the underworld.  Inanna becomes ensnared there in death; her only means of escape is to sacrifice her husband Dumuzi, a shepherd god and king whose instrument is the flute. 
 
            At this point my setting of the tale begins: In the first part, Dumuzi dreams of his own death, a dream interpreted by his faithful sister, the seeress Geshtinanna (I. Prologue, II. Dumuzi’s Dream).  In the second part, demons of the underworld take him as he rises to his throne, after which Inanna is restored to the upper world (III. The Fall of Dumuzi). Dumuzi’s mother, his sister, and his wife mourn him in the wilderness (IV. Dumuzi Mourned, V. The Son’s Reply).  Eventually, Geshtinanna descends into the underworld to give herself as a substitute for Dumuzi for half the year (VI. Prologue).

Weep, Wilderness, Weep (2007)

Composition Faculty, Manhattan School of Music

New tracks tagged #Sumerian myth