Book of Urizen

The Book of Urizen is a work for concert band, solo soprano, and a male narrator in which sound collages of religious expressions are used. The piece is inspired by the compelling visionary poem of the same name (which the poet illustrated himself) by the Englishman William Blake (1757-1827), who occupies a unique position in western literature and the visual arts. He was not just a poet and a writer, but he was also a graphic artist, a painter, an illustrator, a spiritualist, a religious visionary, and a mystic philosopher.

The Book of Urizen bears resemblance to Genesis and Exodus, of which the contents form the basis of the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faith. Blake adhered to the principle that all religions are in fact one, and that deities reside in human beings. In The Book of Urizen this is represented in “The Net of Religion,” which is spanned over the earth by Urizen. The sound collages, compiled by Jacob de Haan in the studio, find their origin in Jerusalem, the Holy City, where the afore-mentioned faiths “come together.”

First Movement: The Vision
In the first movement of this composition, The Vision, Urizen prepares his vision of the world, and he presents this to the “Eternals.” His vision is rejected, and Urizen locks himself up in his own abstract world. When he does emerge again, he is confronted with rage by the gathered Eternals. Urizen flees the wrath of the Eternals, “the flames of eternal fury,” and enwombs himself in his own world. When the Eternals see Urizen in his “stony sleep,” they wonder if this is death. The blacksmith Los is torn by grief because of the isolation of Urizen. It brings him to rouse his fires, prepare his forge, and to give Urizen’s world concrete form.

Second Movement: The Creation
In the second movement, The Creation, Urizen’s world, but also man, woman, and child are created. Los is horrified with the appearance of Urizen’s body. He mourns and pities Urizen, and from his blood a female form comes into being, with the name Enitharmon. The Eternals, fearful of the female form, decide to erect a tent to obstruct their view to eternity.

Enitharmon and Los beget a son, called Orc. Los baptizes him as a child of the “fallen world.” Orc is fed at Enitharmon’s breast, which makes a girdle of jealousy restrict Los’ chest. He takes the child to the top of the mountain and chains him down. The cries of Orc awaken Urizen, who explores his world creating instruments of scientific measurement to do so. Los encircles the face of Enitharmon from the sight of Urizen and Orc. She then populates the earth by giving birth to an enormous race. 

Third Movement: The Web
The third part of The Book of Urizen, is called “The Web”. In this part an additional mixed choir is involved. In this third movement, Urizen explores his grim new world, trying to understand it by dividing and measuring, which is all that the rational intellect, cut off from the unifying power of the imagination, can do. Urizen can only discover “portions of life.” Nothing is whole or healthy, and Urizen sickens at the sight of it. As he traverses the cities of earth, he curses his creation and realizes that no being can keep his “iron laws one moment.” A net stretches out behind him, born from the sorrow in his soul. Everything in creation is trapped by this net, which is named the net of religion. This image expresses Blake’s dislike of conventional religion, based on moral laws and human reason alone. As Urizen’s religion spreads across the earth, human beings find their senses, which in eternity are expansive—humans are able to perceive delight in everything—narrowing and shrinking, until, like everyone else in this poem, they “forgot their eternal life.”