For the last few years, I’ve been working with pre-recorded spoken word manipulation. Many of my pieces that incorporate this technique have a lighter, more comedic subject matter. Very early on in the compositional process, I knew that this piece, to be written for Noir Quartet, would be the last of these word-manipulation pieces before I take a break from them. So instead of looking for something comedic, I specifically searched for a darker topic, which led me to Edgar Allan Poe.
The text used in this work comes from The Cask of Amontillado, a Poe work in which the protagonist tells the story of how he murdered an acquaintance. The story was not the focus of my piece, but instead the focus was on the protagonist’s subdued bitterness. I used his dark, brooding descriptions to tell a story of the unwavering need for revenge.
As for the title, I am not a fan of long titles, but I made an exception. The title You, who so well know the nature of my soul…, a direct line from the Poe work, best encapsulates all the bitterness and sarcasm that reside in the protagonist.