EVANGELINE
EVANGELINE is a story-poem of 18000 words by the eminent American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1800-1882). In 1605 a group of French Catholics emigrated to Nova Scotia to avoid religious persecution and settled on the peninsula of Acadia. French and British forces battled for control of the region and in 1715 the British prevailed. By 1775, when the Acadians were still refusing to swear allegiance to the British king, they were rounded up, loaded onto ships and randomly scattered along the eastern coast of Nova Scotia.
In the process communities were destroyed, families broken up and lovers separated, among them Evangeline and her fiance Gabriel. This beautifully told story tells of Evangeline's search for Gabriel as she travels throughout the land looking for him. When she finally found him, he couldn't speak her name and died in her arms.
The composer has compassionately set every word of this story-poem to music and says "My affinity with Longfellow's EVANGELINE is such that I feel he must have written the words to my music !"
This is a major piece of work ( AN EVENT ) which takes four hours to perform. However, there is a two hour Concert Version
" A Touch of Evangeline ". Both incorporate Dances.
12 Theme for Evangeline - Prologue / Grand - Pre 13 The Advent of Autumn 14 Silently
15 Theme for Evangeline - Epilogue 16 My Journey's Over