Songs in The Vanishing Bridegroom

Act I: The Inheritance

The Deathbed

• ‘There was a man’ - Narrator
• ‘Cold, icy rain’ - Eldest Son, Middle Son, Youngest Son, Doctor, Chorus
• The Dying Man sits up ‘Sons, my sons!’ - Dying Man, Sons
• The Dying Man dies ‘Farewell to him’- Sons, Doctor, Chorus
• ‘Gone!‘ - Sons
• ‘I knew your father certainly’ - Doctor, Sons

The Passion

• The Bride and her Lover ‘Between your two arms til morning’ - Bride, Doctor, Sons
• The Bride's Father materialises ‘Her father discovered their love’ - Doctor, Father, Bride, Sons
• The Wedding ‘I would sleep wherever his bed might be’ - Bride, Bridegroom
• ‘He ended the wedding’ - Doctor, Bridegroom, Sons

At the Lover's House

• The Lover appears with a light ‘What brought thee here?’ - Lover, Bride
• A Priest appears ‘Gloria’ - Lover, Priest, Priestly Quartet (Doctor, Sons or Chorus)

The Wood

• The Lover vanishes - Doctor, Thick Wood (Chorus), Bride, Sons
• ‘In the trees of the Thick Wood’ - Doctor, Thick Wood, 2 Bad Robbers, Good Robber
• ‘Let me go!’ - Bride, Good Robber, Bad Robbers, Thick Wood
• The Bride and the Good Robber vanish into the distance - Doctor, Good Robber

The Reckoning

• ‘Now. Which of these people …’ - Doctor, Male Chorus, Sons
• ‘Shame!’ - Doctor, Male Chorus, Eldest and Middle Sons

Act II: The Disappearance

The Hill

• Introduction

At Home

• ‘I pray Peter’ - Wife, Three Women, Husband, Husband’s Friend

Towards the Hill

• The Husband and the Friend set out - Husband, Husband’s Friend
• ‘The endless expense’ - Husband, Husband’s Friend. Chorus

At Home

• ‘He just walked out’ - Three Women, Wife
• ‘People just disappear’ - Policeman
• The Friend enters, distraught - Friend, Policeman, Three Women, Wife
• ‘People don't just disappear’ - Policeman, Friend, Three Women

The Hill

• ‘Shiúbhlainn leat ro na trì na gleanntan’ (I’d go with you through the three glens) - Chorus

At Home

• ‘He's gone, he's gone’ - Women, Two Girls, Wife

The Hill

• ‘I think you told me a lie’ - Policeman, Friend
• ‘I went to the Land of the Living’ - Husband, Chorus
• ‘Could you not let me be for an instant?’ - Husband, Friend, Daughter, Wife, Women

Act III: The Stranger

• ‘There was a man riding frae the east’ - Daughter, Stranger, Chorus
• ‘You are whiter than the swan’ - Stranger, Daughter
• The Stranger performs a miracle ‘Lo! Lo! Spheres spheres’ - Chorus
• ‘Come away with me’ - Stranger
• ‘What a charming young man’ - Mother, Father, Daughter, Preacher
• ‘Hooves!’ - Preacher, Mother, Father
• The Priest marks a circle - Preacher, Chorus
• ‘No fire shall burn me’ - Daughter, Stranger
• ‘Hosts of angels on thy side’ - Chorus