The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A musical interpretation composed by Richard Hill

" I listened and was filled with admiration and delight. Your music provides a marvellously expressive accompaniment to the poetry and the sung sections are simply magical. The poem is a brilliant choice for your purposes, being so easy to understand at one level and so infinitely suggestive at another. "

This was the response of the eminent critic Professor John Carey, Professor of English Literature, Merton College, Oxford University, on hearing the original demonstration recording of Richard Hill's musical setting of Coleridge's epic poem 'The Rime of The Ancient Mariner'. The work, which lasts for one and a half hours, is written in seven episodes and set for tenor, baritone and narrator accompanied by a thrilling and continuous electronic musical score.

'It is an ancient Mariner'

47 seconds MP3 sample (373k)

The potential of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' as a subject for musical development was first suggested by Richard's friend and colleague, the jazz trombonist and bandleader Chris Barber, who had acquired an early edition of the poem in of all places, New Orleans. It was Chris who commissioned the original composition of the work.

In 1994, Richard took a music drama version of the piece to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where, with the addition of mime, dance and surrealistic lighting, it delighted audiences and critics alike, attracting enthusiastic reviews.

Designs for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner project are the copyright of Paula Kenevan and Simon Kenevan. See Terms of Use.

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