The Gray Dove

1 day ago by @clioem

The Gray Dove

clioem

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Liner Notes

My first FAWM song for 2025 is a little quasi-medieval song about a gray dove, which symbolises love and wisdom. I wanted to create a mini-mythology in line with my passion for worldbuilding - something that built upon the early music that I love, but also dipped a bit into the various folk traditions I am familiar with, from English to Polish to French and Spanish, as well as the early Italian Renaissance school. I tried to combine these harmonically here and used a three-voice structure with a sort of "cantus firmus" melody that repeats inexorably. The melody is a sort of ornamentation of this line, going up or down according to the subject matter. While my song doesn't truly follow the rules of early polyphony, it is definitely inspired by it - including a few of the more crunchy harmonies! I hope you enjoy it.

A woman wishes at a tree for a dove to guide her to love, but instead of the white dove she was expecting, she is met by a gray one, who explains to her that wisdom is needed in order to find true love.

I'd like to re-record for better audio quality sometime - I just grabbed the closest mic when I had the idea!

#folk #mediaeval #renaissance #celtic #traditional #acapella

Lyrics

Said the woman to the tree
Send me your finest dove
If he leads me to where I should be
Then surely I soon will find love.

Bird appears like a speck on a cloud
And unlike other birds
Gray like a blooming storm
Not like the white dove she imagines

Gray is the color of wisdom my dear
A voice emerged from the dove
And what you seek truly is love
Then you’ll need to lend wisdom an ear.

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