The Sail
A magical, flowing setting of Mikhail Lermontov's poetry for treble choir and chamber orchestra.
5.5 min • Composed 2024 • Purchase SSA & OrchestraComposer’s notes
Mikhail Lermontov’s poem “Парус” (“The Sail”) depicts a solitary sailboat drifting along the sea. The poetry reflects upon two perspectives: the one who seeks the storm, chasing unknown waters, and the one who stays behind, with no choice but to watch. It is a meditation on freedom, displacement, and the bittersweet reality of choosing to leave when others were never given the choice.
Due to his outspoken nature and criticism of Russian society, Lermontov was exiled twice to the Caucasus during his short life—experiences that deepened his sense of isolation and shaped his poetic voice. He wrote “The Sail” at the age of seventeen, yet it captures an emotional depth that resonates with themes he would continue to explore until his untimely death in a duel at twenty-six.
In this choral and orchestral setting, I aim to evoke the mystical and mysterious atmosphere of the text, drawing inspiration from nautical themes in Russian music—particularly Aleksandr Lokshin’s haunting score for The Little Mermaid (1968). Utilizing mysterious modal shifts, aleatoric writing in the piano and the voices, and an indulgent amount of percussion, I present to you my setting of “The Sail.”
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“The Sail” by Mikhail Lermontov, (trans. Robert Chandler)
Белеет парус одинокой
В тумане моря голубом!
Что ищет он в стране далекой?
Что кинул он в краю родном?
Играют волны ветер свищет,
И мачта гнется и скрыпит
Увы! Он счастия не ищет
И не от счастья бежит!
Под ним струя светлей лазури,
Над ним луч солнца золотой
А он, мятежный, просит бури,
Как будто в бурях есть покой!
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White sail out in the bay
billowing in the wind.
Why sail so far away?
Why leave so much behind?Winds must play on the seas
and masts creak in the wind.
Fortune is not what he seeks,
nor what he's left behind.A golden light still pours
down onto deep blue seas;
this rebel, alas, seeks storms,
as if in storms lies peace.
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Flute
English Horn
Clarinet in Bb
Bassoon
Horn in F
Trumpet in C
Trombone
Timpani
4 Percussion
Harp
Treble Voices
Piano
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Violoncello
Contrabass
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4 Timpani
Triangle
Tambourine
Wind Chimes
Crash Cymbals
Glockenspiel
Tubular Bells
Suspended Cymbal
Rainstick
Thunder Sheet
Snare Drum
Bass Drum
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