The text (by the composer) concerns the life and work of the French painter, Paul Gauguin: his early period when he was full of doubts and uncertainty, his discovery of exotic climes, and his eventual departure from France for a life in the South Seas. References are made to Gauguin’s styles of painting and to paintings by him, in particular to a large painting of 1897 entitled “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”, the words of which are fragmented to express that perennial question which remained with him throughout his life. John Casken
Instrumentation:
soprano and piano