Jonah

Jonah was composed in response to a commission for wind band and choir from Mark Heron and the North Cheshire Concert Band. The initial spark of inspiration for Jonah was visual; an image of two choirs, positioned either side of the wind band, in dialogue with one another. I imagined many different kinds of dialogues, some friendly, some teasing and some filled with terror.

Since there are no vocal soloists in this version, the choirs sing the roles of God, Jonah and also the sailors. A lot of the planning for the piece was therefore centered on making it possible to distinguish between these roles. Essentially this is managed by employing much variety in the vocal writing and orchestration of the band. For instance, God is captured by a full unison sound from the choir and a chorale in the band whereas Jonah evokes chamber music from the band and is sung in harmony. We see a lot of the story from the point of view of the sailors on the boat to Tarshish. These passages are filled with sea shanties and the choirs use many different vocal effects as well as singing (for example speaking, shouting, screaming etc.).

In performance, the choir should be split equally into two groups (A and B) and these groups should be positioned either side of the wind band as shown below. Sometimes Groups A and B share the same music but often it is different (particularly in passages relating to the sailors).

Below is a brief synopsis of Jonah, which follows the biblical story of the prophet.

Synopsis:

1 God calls on Jonah to “Go to the great city of Nineveh, where the evil smells and rots their souls. Tell them how my anger burns.”
2 But Jonah shies away from God’s command. He believes the “task is too great” and instead “flees to Tarshish” on a boat.
3 The sailors are having fun on their way to Tarshish, singing many a sea shanty that you might recognise, whilst Jonah sleeps in the hull of the boat.
4 Gradually the weather worsens. The sailors ignore it at first, thinking it will come to nothing but as they realise that it is a violent storm approaching, they become more and more petrified, praying to their own Gods to have mercy.
5 The storm arrives. The sailors wake Jonah, realise that he has caused the storm by ignoring the commands of his God and throw him overboard.
6 The storm subsides immediately. Jonah thinks he will die but instead God saves him by sending a huge fish which swallows Jonah, saving him from the water. Jonah prays to God to forgive him.
7 After 3 days, God makes the fish spit Jonah out onto dry land, giving him a second chance and asks him to go to Nineveh once again.
8 Jonah agrees to do God’s will.

I am grateful to both Neil Cadwallader and Lorraine MacFarlin for their help in the construction of the text.
Jonah is dedicated to Adam Gorb.

© Emily Howard 2004