Paradise Lost Preview Transcription

<Music: Ending of "Adam" from “Paradise Lost” by Terry B. Ewell>

<Rich Swingle:> Good morning. It is my priviledge to welcome a friend of ours from the 
MasterWorks Festival, Terry Ewell, who teaches bassoon there. He is on the faculty of 
Towson University and he also was Principal Bassoonist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. 
He has come today; (this weekend we have been working up apiece based on Paradise Lost) 
he has composed some works around that and chosen excerpts from John Milton's epic poem. 
He is going to be playing bassoon as well as representing Adam. We are preparing this for the 
International Double Reed Society conference in Tempe Arizona in May. Doris DeLoach will 
be playing oboe and representing Eve. I will be the narrator.  As we will be doing in Tempe, 
Arizona I will be this morning I will be reading as Reader's Theatre style.  So without further 
adieu, John Milton's Paradise Lost—a portion of it. 

Of Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste

Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,

With loss of EDEN, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,

Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top

Of OREB, or of SINAI, didst inspire

That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,

In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth

Rose out of CHAOS: Or if SION Hill

Delight thee more, and SILOA'S Brook that flow'd

Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence

Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,

That with no middle flight intends to soar

Above th' AONIAN Mount, while it pursues

Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.

And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer

Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,

Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first

Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread

Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss

And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark

Illumine, what is low raise and support;

That to the highth of this great Argument

I may assert th' Eternal Providence,

And justifie the wayes of God to men.

<Music: “Adam” from “Paradise Lost” by Terry B. Ewell>

Terry, would you give us a glimpse of where this idea came from and where you would like to see it go. 

<Terry Ewell:> Thank you very much. First off I want to thank the Swingles for inviting me and 
for Rich for all his input and help with this. Although I am the composer this and I put it together. 
I am relying upon a lot of other people to help me. My wife helped with the vestment [garment] here, 
Rich helped with the script, and I have a friend is helping with publicity. So it really is a multi-person 
production. 

There is an interesting connection between China and this composition. I want to briefly explain that 
to you. When I lived in Hong Kong over twenty years ago, and I played with the Hong Kong 
Philharmonic, I decided to compose a piece for solo bassoon called "Gethsemane." 

If you recall, Gethsemane was set in a garden where Jesus made an important decision. He could 
have fled but instead he took upon Himself the mission that God had given to Him. Jesus is also 
called the "Second Adam."

Well, fortunately last summer I was invited as part of MasterWorks to go back to China. I was so 
delighted because it was a chance for me to repatriate that composition. I had premiered it in Hong 
Kong quite a while ago. To bring it back to China and be able to perform it meant so much to me. 

While I was there performing it, I was talking to students about the first garden and Gethsemane being 
the second garden. It occurred to me that I really ought to compose something for the first Garden 
with Adam and Eve. Coming to mind then was of course Milton's great poem "Paradise Lost." 
That was where the genesis of this started. 

So I was encouraged by my colleague Doris DeLoach. I contacted Rich Swingle and he also was 
encouraging. Now I have been able to complete this 50 minute work. We are now finishing it up 
and looking forward to performing it in Baltimore as well as Arizona. I hope in some time it will 
be repatriated back to China again where it was first conceived. 

Thank you all very much.