Carmen Perpetuum (2022)
Six Metamorphoses after Ovid
23 minutes (6 movements)
for solo oboe
​
Commissioned by Celia Craig,

First performance by Celia Craig on August 19th, 2023 at St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide, South Australia.

1. Arachne   2. Actaeon   3. Semele   4. Calisto   5. Pygmalion   6. Daphne

This work can be performed as a full set, or as selected movements. Single movements may be appropriate for examination or student recital purposes.

In 2023, Celia released the premiere recording of the full Carmen Perpetuum suite through her Artaria record label. They are presented alongside the work that inspired the composition, Britten's Six Metamorphoses after Ovid. Available to listen on all streaming platforms.
In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas
corpora; di, coeptis (nam vos mutastis et illas)
adspirate meis primaque ab origine mundi
ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen!
*
My mind leads me to speak now of forms changed
Into new bodies: O gods above, inspire
His undertaking (which you’ve changed as well)
And guide my poem in its epic sweep
From the world’s beginning to the present day.
 
‘Proem’ to Ovid’s Metamorphosis
Translated by Charles Martin, W.W. Norton & Company, 2004
 
These six solos have been composed as a contemporary alternative to Benjamin Britten’s seminal 1956 work Six Metamorphoses after Ovid. The musical interpretation of each myth is the composer’s own; it is hoped that the variety and choice of stories offer a fresh perspective on Ovid’s ‘unending song’.

The six solos may be performed alongside Britten’s work, or on their own. Individual solos may be performed if desired. If performed as a full set, it is recommended that the given order is adhered to, and the accompanying subtitles either spoken before performance, or made available to the audience in print.

My sincere gratitude goes to Celia Craig for bringing me this idea and for commissioning these pieces. They have been a joy to write, and I humbly dedicate them to her.
 
© Anne Cawrse, 2023
​
You can read a little more detail about each of the works and my musical approach here.

Full score is available directly from the composer (button below) or from the Australian Music Centre. Single movement scores for Callisto and Arachne are also available form the composer's score shop.

​REVIEWS
"...Craig commissioned South Australian composer Anne Cawrse (b. 1981) to write a 21st-century response to Britten’s original works. Her Carmen Perpetuum (Endless Song) takes six different characters from Ovid, and, following Britten’s form, imagines them anew for oboe. Craig’s superb playing brings these works vividly to life, with the starkness of the solo oboe allowing full expressive range of the instrument as it dances, sings, trips and sighs its way through a myriad of emotions." 

- Lisa MacKinney, Limelight