The Tyger

Composer: Tatsuya Tanaka

Words from composer

I composed to one of the most important poems of Wiliam Blake, a British poet. Blake was also active as a plate engraver, and many of his poems depict the duality of human beings, and two conflicting sides, such as something that is in opposition to the human being. This work is based on the worldview that the once-destroyed world was re-created by God and depicts the tyrannical side of human beings and the fear of “him” ≒ “God” who created every existence, through two conflicting beings, a “tyger” and a “lamb.” The music alternates between two parts; using many augmented/diminished intervals and chorale-like passages. This is in an attempt to express “duality” and “fear” in the music as well.