Daventry Suite was an unofficial musical sequel “fanpoem” or “fan-ode” (a kinda musical "KQ9" or epilogue) to King's Quest Mask of Eternity composed in 1999 by Donald M. Wilson, Professor Emeritus at Bowling Green State University.
It may be the first of a genre known as “fancomps” or “fanscores”. Wilson's piece was featured by Sierra On-Line on the CD Magazine website as "the first musical work of extended scope to be inspired by a computer game."
Background[]
It was a 12 minute composition in three parts, a "multi-movement work for symphonic wind ensemble". The music was ment to tell what happened in the lives of Connor and Sarah after the events of the game. It was offered as an optimistic supplement to the ending of Mask of Eternity as well as a tribute to composers Kevin Manthei, Ben Houge and Mark Seibert for their excellent musical score to the original computer game.
Characters involved or addressed by the music include Sarah, Connor (called by his development name "Connor Mac Lyrr"), and King Graham.
Movements[]
- I. Sarah's Song (1999)[1]
- "Sarah's Song" describes the heroine's thoughts and feelings immediately after the curse has been lifted. In her imagination she pictures her reunion with Connor and the festival that will undoubtedly be held to honor the hero of Daventry.
- Poem (from the program)
- There on the path in front of my home,
- I last saw my love, my hero, my own!
- He caught a strange object that fell from the sky,
- As it turned me to stone, I heard his mournful cry.
- When is he coming, where is he now?
- Yonder defending his honor, I trow.
- The curse has been lifted, for how long I know not:
- Connor Mac Lyrr has stayed it, I wot!
- When is he coming, where is he now?
- When he gets home. he'll take me in his arms:
- He'll hold me and kiss me and shield me from harm.
- The townsfolk will hail him as their hero of might;
- King Graham will come forward and make him a knight.
- When is he coming, where is he now?
- Yonder defending his honor, I trow.
- The curse has been lifted, for how long I know not:
- Connor Mac Lyrr has stayed it, I wot!
- When is he coming, where is he now?
- Thus will all in Daventry sing:
- When Connor returns, our freedom he'll bring.
- As he kneels for the dubbing, the people will shout;
- Then he'll stand there so proudly as the church bells ring out.
- When is he coming, where is he now?
- Yonder defending his honor, I trow.
- The curse has been lifted, for how long I know not:
- Connor Mac Lyrr has stayed it, I wot!
- When is he coming, where is he now?
- II. Connor's Triumphal Return to Daventry (1998-99)[3]
- Connor's Triumphal Return to Daventry is a fanfare for a medieval festival that might have been held by the inhabitants of the mythical land of Daventry to honor their national hero, Connor Mac Lyrr, upon his return from single-handedly defeating the evil forces that held them captive in the computer game.
- III. Celebration with Ringing Peal (1999)[4]
- Celebration with Ringing Peal employs bell-ringing permutations to provide a joyful atmosphere for the knighting of Connor Mac Lyrr in this fanciful sequel to the original game.
Behind the scenes[]
According to the composer;
- Having been invited in the spring of 1999 to teach Band Scoring at BGSU that fall, I began work on a project that would demonstrate the three basic approaches to Band Scoring (and, for that matter, Orchestration): transcribing, arranging and composing. The first movement of DAVENTRY SUITE is an arrangement of a tune that I wrote in 1963 for a music-theatre version of Aristophanes' comedy, Lysistrata. It was first sung by actress Carol Androsky when she was a student at Cornell University. The second movement is a transcription of my FANFARE 8 TRUMPETS (1998). The third movement was composed from scratch during the summer of 1999, mixing materials from the first movement with permutations of a well-known tune introduced by the chimes.[5]
Wilson's piece was also featured by Sierra On-Line on the CD Magazine website as "the first musical work of extended scope to be inspired by a computer game."