Special Instructions

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Text changes for Winter is at Hand

For anyone who missed last night's rehearsal: we are making several changes to the text of Winter is at Hand. The composer has made some major alterations to Shakespeare's text, but we are restoring his version... mostly. We are keeping a few of the words added by the composer, but in all other cases we'll restore Shakespeare's lines. Here is the full text, with the lines in the order they appear in the play:

When clouds are seen, [then] wise men put on their cloaks,

When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand.

When the sun sets, who does not look for night?

Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.

All may be well; but if God sort it so,

Tis so much more than we deserve or I expect.

The words 'so much' have been added, and poor Will is rolling in his grave at the destruction of his pentameter line, but we'll keep those.

Make the following changes to the Score:

Bars 5-6, 13-14, 41-42, 77-78: 'are seen' replaces 'appear'

Bars 6, 14, 42: 'then' replaces 'when'. Shakespeare didn't include either word, but 'then' fits the sense..

Bars 10, 18, 46: 'then' replaces 'the'.

Bars 51-52: 'make men expect a dearth' rather than 'make men despair of light'.

Please add slurs from bar 28 to 29 and 66 to 67. We will grab a quick breath at the rest as marked, but we need to make bars 25-34 feel like one thought (same for bars 63-72)