Full Fathom Five
My setting of this famous lyric is intended to evoke an eerie underwater feeling with the use of percolating marimba and vibraphone.
The harpsichord is amplified so as to be heard clearly, and adds a slightly kitschy touch, along with its connotation of the Elizabethan era - the time of Shakespeare.
The idea was to portray Ariel's mysteriously hypnotic but playful presence
as he delivers Prospero's false message.
The audience knows Ferdinand's father is alive. Prospero and Miranda are nearby watching Ferdinand as he tries to find out who the strange singer could be.
Ariel, invisible, sings:
Full fathom five thy father lies.
Of his bones are coral made.
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
Nothing of him that doth fade
but doth suffer a sea change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Ding dong.
Hark, now I hear them: ding dong bell.
duration: 3:57
The play: In the first act of Shakespeare's "The Tempest",
the principal character Prospero has magically caused an apparent shipwreck and stranded and separated its crew and royal passengers on his remote island.
His helper Ariel, a spirit, has been commanded to cause Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, to believe that his father
(who is alive and well elsewhere on the island) has been drowned in the wreck. Prospero probably did this to keep the prince from continuing to search for his father,
and to otherwise prepare him for an immediate (and important) event, i.e. to meet Prospero's daughter Miranda.
After the words "rich and strange", the first line, "Full fathom five thy father lies", is repeated, reinforcing the message to the prince.
The recording accessible above is a demo using a flute sound in place of the voice. (duration: 3:57)
The score is also viewable in pdf format.
view PDF score
<- back to compositions