This large-scale choral work for 24 voices sets passages from Thomas de Quincey s essay, an extraordinary text whose authorship is ambiguous, but which has, for me, something of the austerity and absurdity of Samuel Beckett. I once planned to make this into an opera but, instead, it has become a narrative cantata, describing the great philosopher s gradual descent into senility and his eventual passing. It shows his increasingly incongruous obsessions and odd behaviour, contrasting this with the greatness of his mind. It is the third work I have written for the virtuoso Philadelphia-based choir The Crossing, following The Fifth Century (2014) and A Native Hill (2018-19). Gavin Bryars