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William Blake's Inn

William Blake's Inn

A Visit to William Blake's Inn is a song cycle by Lacuna member Dale Lyles. It is based on a book of children's poetry by Nancy Willard, which won the Newbery Award in 1982, becoming the first book of poetry to be awarded the most presitigious prize in children's literature.

In January of 2003, members of Lacuna were privileged to take seventeen students to Ayrshire, Scotland, to sing with the Scottish Opera's international cast of The Tale o' Tam, a setting of Robert Burns's "Tam O'Shanter." They decided then that they would work towards a similar project in Newnan.

In September of that year, Nancy Willard gave her permission for Dale Lyles to set her book to music. He finished composition in September of 2006 (having taken time off in the meantime for other projects.)

Now Lacuna is the artistic arm of the project to produce A Visit to William Blake's Inn as an international production. We are hoping that the world premiere will be in October, 2008.

The work itself

There are fifteen songs in A Visit to William Blake's Inn, plus an epilogue.

Here are the scores and mp3 files for A Visit to William Blake's Inn.

  1. William Blake's Inn for Innocent & Experienced Travelers | score | mp3 (GPO)
  2. Blake's Wonderful Car Delivers Us Wonderfully Well | score | mp3 (GPO)
  3. A Rabbit Reveals My Room | score | mp3 (GPO)
  4. The Sun and Moon Circus Soothes the Wakeful Guests | score | mp3 (GPO)
  5. The Man in the Marmalade Hat Arrives | score | mp3 (SS)
  6. The King of Cats Orders an Early Breakfast | score | mp3 (GPO)
  7. The Wise Cow Enjoys a Cloud | score | mp3 (GPO)
  8. Two Sunflowers Move into the Yellow Room | score | mp3, extended mp3 (GPO)
  9. The Wise Cow Makes Way, Room, and Believe | score | mp3 (GPO)
  10. Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky Way | score | mp3 (piano); mp3 (GPO)
  11. When We Come Home, Blake Calls for Fire | score | mp3 (GPO)
  12. The Marmalade Man Makes a Dance to Mend Us | score | mp3 (GPO)
  13. The King of Cats Sends a Postcard to His Wife | score | mp3 (GPO)
  14. The Tiger Asks Blake for a Bedtime Story | score | mp3 (GPO)
  15. Blake Tells the Tiger the Tale of the Tailor | score | mp3 (GPO)
  16. Epilogue (underscoring) | mp3 (GPO)

Still to come

Work on William Blake's Inn in Newnan is at a standstill unless someone steps forward to organize the international premiere for 2008.

In the meantime, Dale will offer the work to other performance groups across the country. The premiere is up for grabs.

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