Hymn to the Aten

for soprano, orchestra and pre-recorded tape

MPEG-2, Layer 3 (mp3) encoded audio file

Aten is the Ancient Egyptian word meaning "sun-disk", separated from the more abstract Ra (Sun) to focus worship on the physical icon of the sun as it crosses the sky. The Hymn to the Aten was reputedly written by the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten for a brief schismatic faith about 1345 BC. Although Akhenaten's new faith was effectively little more than an exclusive royal sun-cult, it was radically monotheistic and that influence may be felt into modern times. It's influence may be seen clearly in the Old Testament. Indeed, the Hymn to the Aten shows clear and subtle parallels with Psalm 104. Apart from the obvious "archaeological" interest, the Hymn to the Aten interests me in terms of what it reveals about the ancient psychological underpinning of religious sentiment.

Technically the piece is in two halves. The first part depicts the primeval and ritualistic elements of a faith based on the benevolent, physical presence of the sun; with all the psychological "hang-ups" about the dark that such a belief inevitably engenders! This part is pre-recorded and extends the technique I used in Birdsong (1995) of using electronics to process vocal sounds; sometimes creating noises (for instance the bell-like motif) which appear very different from the original material. Harmonically this section is bi-tonal but gradually resolves to a D minor chord for the entry of the orchestra and soprano.

In the second part the soprano (Jane Searle - for whom the piece was written) is depicted as a young girl singing a simple, modal hymn to the sun (Aeolian on D). Only once, in the middle of her prayer, do the psychological fears threaten to overwhelm her in a bi-modal section (Aeolian on D and Bb). But she manages to banish these fears and the piece ends in a straightforward D minor chord.