Hymn to Ignorance by Thomas Gray
Hymn to Ignorance is a tone poem for orchestra and choir, inspired by Thomas Gray’s satirical poem of the same name. Though tone poems are most often orchestral, this work expands the tradition by weaving the human voice into the orchestral fabric.
The choir serves as a Collective Narrator: at times it carries the text directly, guiding listeners through Gray’s words; at other times it merges with the instrumental textures, becoming another timbral color in the symphonic palette. Audiences need not catch every word to grasp the meaning: key phrases and the expressive interplay of voices and instruments are enough to illuminate the narrative.
Rather than adopting the sectional form of a cantata, Hymn to Ignorance unfolds as a continuous arc, portraying the irony, grandeur, and philosophical bite of Gray’s poem in musical terms. The orchestra and choir together embody both the voice of ignorance and the forces surrounding it, creating a sound world that is by turns pompous, playful, and haunting.
This is not a ritual or liturgical work, but a programmatic journey: a meditation on folly and wisdom, expressed through the tonal mix of human and instrumental sound.
