Two-minute excerpt:

Performed by the 2010 Temple Composers’ Orchestra. Heidi Jacobs, conductor.

Young Hunting was inspired by the southern Appalachian folk tune of the same name.  It is a traditional murder ballad included in Cecil B. Sharp’s folk song collections. The ballad tells the story of a woman who meets an old lover and tries to seduce him. He declines her advances, telling her that now he has a wife. Upon hearing this, she draws a knife and stabs him in the heart! As he lays dying, she immediately regrets what she has done and sends for a doctor, but it is too late. He dies and she beckons her maid to help her dispose of the body. I used the folk tune itself as my primary melodic material, and intertwined it with my own musical rendering of this unusual story. The excerpt above is the final two minutes of the work.

View low resolution score below or click here to download the high res. version.