The Ballad of the Canterbury Pilgrims: for Soprano, Tenor, Baritone and Piano

Geoffrey Chaucer's classic set of stories, The Canterbury Tales (mid-14th century), is rich with characters from a range of England's social classes, each making a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. These portraits were ideal for setting to music for a trio of singers - Jamie Reimer (soprano), Kevin Hanrahan (tenor), Jeffrey Jones (baritone) - allowing solos, duets and trios. The piano supports each character's personality and plays with a descending eight bell peal of Canterbury Cathedral. Drawing on a ballad structure, the song focuses on five pilgrims - the knight, his squire, the nun, the cook and a good wife - plus a chorus which bookends the work, the texts all drawn from the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. The language is a mixture of Middle English and Modern English, with words retained and inter-changed to rhyme or suit the music's rhythmic setting.