Michael Nyman: A Child's View Of Colour (Vocal Score) - Nyman, Michael (Artist)

This work, composed for Children's Voices and String Quartet, was commissioned by the Young People's Chorus of New York City. Conductor's score and String Parts are available from the Publishers. My text is extracted from Rodney Livingstone's translation of a short essay by the German cultural historian Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). It was written between 1914-15 during a metaphysical phase before Benjamin embraced Marxism. This text emphasises the young person's, as opposed to the adult's, approach to colour: "for the person who sees with a child's eyes, it marks boundaries, it is not a layer of something superimposed on matter, as it is with adults". This work continues my interest in art-based texts - from "The Kiss" (1985) to my opera "Facing Goya" (2000/02) © Michael Nyman 2003