1. |
Introit
01:32
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IA! IA!
IA!
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh [Phën-glu-i mëg-L-wë-nafh]
Cthulhu R'lyeh
wgah'nagl fhtagn
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2. |
Loathsomeness Waits
04:31
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Recitative (Tenor solo)
When the stars were right,
They could plunge from world to world
through the sky;
but when the stars were wrong,
They could not live.
Aria (Bass solo)
Loathsomeness waits,
and dreams in the deep,
and decay spreads
over the tottering cities of men
Man rules where they ruled once
They shall soon rule
where man rules now
(Duet)
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3. |
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4. |
Night-Gaunts
04:05
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“Recitaria” (Soprano): Night-Gaunts
Out of what crypt they crawl, I cannot tell,
But every night I see the rubbery things,
Black, horned, and slender, with membranous wings,
And tails that bear the bifid barb of hell.
They come in legions on the north wind’s swell,
With obscene clutch that titillates and stings,
Snatching me off on monstrous voyagings
To grey worlds hidden deep in nightmare’s well.
Over the jagged peaks of Thok they sweep,
Heedless of all the cries I try to make,
And down the nether pits to that foul lake
Where the puffed shoggoths splash in doubtful sleep.
But oh! If only they would make some sound,
Or wear a face where faces should be found!
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5. |
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Recitative (Alto)
They worshipped, so they said, the Great Old Ones
who lived ages before there were any men,
and formed a cult which had never died,
hidden in distant wastes and dark places
all over the world;
Aria (Tenor)
until the time when Cthulhu,
from his dark house
in the mighty city of R'lyeh
under the waters,
should rise
and bring the earth again
beneath his sway.
Some day he would call,
when the stars were ready
when the stars were ready
Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth-he-lgeb-fi-throdog-YAH!
Some day he would call,
when the stars were ready
when the stars were ready
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6. |
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7. |
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Recitative “Spoken Chorus”
The most merciful thing in the world,
I think,
is the inability of the human mind
to correlate all its contents.
We live on a placid island of ignorance
in the midst of black seas of infinity,
and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
The sciences,
each straining in its own direction,
have hitherto harmed us little;
but some day
the piecing together
of dissociated knowledge
will open up such terrifying vistas of reality,
and of our frightful position therein,
that we shall either go mad from the revelation
or flee from the deadly light!
into the peace and safety
of a new dark age.
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8. |
The Bells
03:54
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Aria (Contralto): The Bells
Year after year I heard that faint, far ringing
Of deep-toned bells on the black midnight wind;
Peals from no steeple I could ever find,
But strange, as if across some great void winging.
I searched my dreams and memories for a clue,
And thought of all the chimes my visions carried;
Of quiet Innsmouth, where the white gulls tarried
Around an ancient spire that once I knew.
Always perplexed I heard those far notes falling,
Till one March night the bleak rain splashing cold
Beckoned me back through gateways of recalling
To elder towers where the mad clappers tolled.
They tolled—but from the sunless tides that pour
Through sunken valleys on the sea’s dead floor
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9. |
Efficiunt Daemones
03:45
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Efficiunt Daemones ut quae non sunt
sic tamen quasi sint conspicienda
hominibus exhibeant.
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10. |
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11. |
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Sea Shanty lyrics by Richard T. Hill & Charles Moore, Jr.
From Oslo way a sailor came
Johanssen was his family’s name
The Emma she from Auckland sailed
Til on the way her compass failed
Beset upon by vacant men
Her valiant crew would her defend
‘Til lost she was but they survived - Yi-nash
Not a savage soul was left alive - Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth
They took the captured pirate ship
And continued on their ghastly trip
To an island risen from the sunless sea - Yi-nash
And it’s blasphemous geometry - Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth-he-lgeb-fi-throdog
Rodriguez he did spy it first
The resting place of Terror cursed
All but two met their demise - Yi-nash
In ways we cannot visualize - Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth
Johanssen and Briden ran back to the boat
Full steam ahead they kept afloat - Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth
Chased by the gibbering god supreme! - Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
One conjured in a madman’s dream - Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
The thing in full pursuit did follow
‘Twould overtake them in the shallows
But Johanssen deftly steered around
And struck it with a horrid sound
The engines and the sea did churn
Johanssen cast his eyes astern
And just above the water line, - Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth-he-lgeb
The hellish spawn did recombine -Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth-he-lgeb-fi-throdog
They steamed away for a week and a day
Briden went mad and passed away
Johansen carried on alone
With dreams of dread and an idol of stone
He’d put to paper his eldritch tale
A hist’ry he would not regale - Yi-nash
‘Twas how Johansen came to be
The mystery derelict found at sea - Yi-nash Yog-Sothoth
Forsaking the ocean, he returned to his bride
Made it all the way home and promptly died!
Yi-nash-Yog-Sothoth-he-lgeb-fi-throdog-IA!
IA! IA!...
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12. |
Incantation
07:42
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Per A-do-nai E-lo-im, A-do-nai Je-ho-va,
A-do-nai Sa-ba-oth, Me-tra-ton On Ag-la Ma-thon,
ver-bum py-thon-i-cum, my-ster-i-um sa-la-man-drae
con-vent-us syl-vor-um, an-tra gno-mor-um
dae-mon-i-a Coe-li Gad, Al-mou-sin, Gi-bor
Je-ho-su-a, E-vam
Za-ri-at-nat-mik
[ve-ni, ve-ni, ve-ni…]
Yog-Sothoth knows the gate.
Yog-Sothoth is the gate.
Yog-Sothoth is the key
and guardian of the gate.
Past, present, future,
all are one in Yog-Sothoth.
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn
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Richard Thomas Hill Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
I have composed music for two short films: Willy Will (2005) and Lost Reflections (2003). In 2012, I co-wrote a burlesque musical It's A Wonderful Christmas Carol Story (Life). My influences include Bach, Schubert, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Bartok, Debussy, Shostakovitch, Messiaen, Zappa, Coltrane, Stalling, Zorn, Glass to name a few. The modern day composer refuses to die. ... more
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