Additional Information

Eliza is for soprano and found objects. The objects used are a length of chain, an outdoor brush, a shovel (or spade), a baby’s rattle and a paperback book.

The text is taken from Harriet Beech Stowe’s The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written in 1854.  Chapter 5, entitled ‘Eliza’, is a reminiscence of Stowe’s experience of observing a slave at church.

The piece uses spoken, sung and sprechstimme voice. It paints a picture, using objects of the time, of the shackles of slavery and how this was the norm in the community Stowe visited.

Details

For soprano and found objects. Text by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Year
Minutes
4