OBOG Wind Symphony - Mannin Veen "Dear Isle of Man" (a Manx Tone Poem)

Concert Title: Spiel! 2018
Date: 2nd June 2018 (Saturday)
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Victoria Concert Hall
Mannin Veen "Dear Isle of Man" (a Manx Tone Poem)
by Hayden Wood
Performed by OBOG Wind Symphony
Conductor: Mr Lim Yean Hwee
Haydn Wood was born in Yorkshire, England but grew up on the Isle of Man - a British island in the Irish Sea known for its rugged coastlines, medieval castles and rural landscapes, along with its Celtic and Viking heritages. As the title of "Mannin Veen" translates to "Dear Isle of Man", the work can be interpreted as Wood's tribute to his childhood home, a frequent source of inspiration for his compositions.
This work, based on Manx folk-songs, is founded on four tunes. The first, The Good Old Way, is a sombre air written mostly in the Dorian mode - a close relation to the modern natural minor scale. Much of this tune was added in 1883, following the introduction of Primitive Methodism - a denomination within the English Methodist religion - to the Isle of Man.
The second tune, which introduces the lively section of the work, is a reel - The Manx Fiddler. This air recognizes the immense popularity of the violin in 19th-century Manx society. One notes that, however, quantity has not always indicated quality: as the seventeenth-century writer, Chaloner, remarked that the Manx people were "much addicted to the music of the violyne, so that there is scarce a family on the island that doesn't more or less play upon it, but as they are ill composers, so are they bad players."
The third tune, Sweet Water in the Common, related to an old practice of settling disputes: a jury of twenty four men was summoned, with the jury comprising three men from each of the parishes in the district where the dispute took place. This jury was given a mandate to decide on questions connected with watercourses, boundaries, and other agricultural conflicts.
The fourth and last tune is an old hymn, The Harvest of the Sea, sung by the fishermen as a song of thanksgiving after a safe return from the fishing grounds out in the oceans. These are the lyrics:
"Hear us, O Lord, from Thy heav'nly home above, Though fierce the storm, protect us with Thy love. Grant we survive the perils of the sea, Father of Heaven we put our trust in Thee."