Salix

Fowler, J. (2025). Salix [Score].

Blackwood, A. (1907). The Willows [Novella]. The Listener and Other Stories. Eveleigh Nash, London.

I.

00:00 the bushes bend and rustle in the free winds
00:30 the waters pour with a shouting sound
01:00 a grove of birch trees roaring in the wind
01:30 many a sudden belching whirlpool
02:00 an immense army of dancing, shouting willow bushes
02:12 [the willows] clapping their thousand little hands
02:24 tiny bubbling
02:36 we heard [the river] singing to the moon
02:48 uttering that odd sibilant note ... caused by the rapid tearing of the pebbles along [the river's] bed
03:00 the voice of [the river's] gurgling whirlpools, suddenly bubbling up on a surface previously quite calm
03:05 the roar of [the river's] shallows and swift rapids
03:10 constant steady thundering below all mere surface sounds
03:14 the ceaseless tearing of [the river's] icy waters at the banks
03:19 [the river] stood up and shouted when the rains fell flat upon [the river's] face
03:24 [the river's] laughter roared out when the wind blew upstream
03:29 [the river's] tumblings and foamings
03:34 [the river's] unnecessary splashing
03:38 [the river's] self-conscious chatter
03:43 faint, sweet whisperings
03:48 the first whispers of [the river's] destiny
03:53 a thundering power
04:00 hawks, swans, and marsh birds of all sorts filled the air with ... singing, petulant cries
04:20 a splash into the water
04:40 the wind blowing down
05:00 impetuous crimson flood bearing down with a shouting roar
05:30 resistless, thundering flood of water
06:00 shouting hurricane
07:00 the banks were crumbling as the rising flood tore at [the banks] and carried away great portions with a splash and a gurgle
08:00 a swift, gulping plunge
08:30 the wind drowned [the voice] out
09:00 noise
10:00 [the wind] seemed to increase with the darkness, howling overhead and shaking the willows around us like straws
10:08 curious sounds accompanied [the wind] sometimes, like the explosion of heavy guns ... great flat blows of immense power
10:17 the sounds a planet must make ... driving along through space
10:25 shouting willows
10:34 the noises of the night
10:42 the river gurgled and hissed
10:50 from time to time a heavy splash announced the falling away of further portions of the bank
11:00 the thundering of wind and river
11:20 silence
11:40 the roar of the elements
12:00 whispering willows
12:20 the ceaseless beating of the tireless wind
12:40 [the willows] went on chattering and talking among themselves, laughing a little, shrilly crying out, sometimes sighing
13:00 [the willows] booming overhead in the night
13:15 the melancholy shrill cry of a night bird
13:30 the piece of bank ... fell with a great splash into the river
13:45 the roar of the elements
14:00 .

II.

00:00 the wind howled
01:00 .
02:00 the sound of the river burst ... with a sudden roar
03:00 the sound of the terrifying wind

III.

00:00 a sound of multitudinous little patterings
00:20 the pattering rain, the dripping of leaves
00:40 [the poplar's] leaves brushed and tapped upon the tight canvas surface of the tent
01:00 the wind howled magnificently
01:10 [the river's] thunder filled the air
01:19 a bird uttered [a] morning cry
01:29 a string of duck passed with whirring flight overhead
01:38 odd sound of infinite pattering
01:48 the wind beating upon the loose, hot sand, driving the dry particles smartly against the taut canvas
02:00 the sound of infinite small patterings
03:00 that weird sound of multitudinous pattering

IV.

00:00 frizzling bacon
01:00 heavy splashings
02:00 .
03:00 .
04:00 .
05:00 .
06:00 thundering wind
06:15 the banks were torn away with great gulps and splashes
06:30 lessening of the wind ... the incessant roaring, banging, and thundering
06:45 the silence that came ... with [the wind's] sudden cessation
07:00 the booming of the river had everything its own way then: [the river] filled the air with deep murmurs, more musical than the wind noises, but infinitely more monotonous
07:12 the wind held many notes, rising, falling, always beating out some sort of great elemental tune
07:24 the river's song lay between three notes at most–dull pedal notes, that held a lugubrious quality foreign to the wind, and somehow seemed ... to sound wonderfully well the music of doom
07:36 general hush of the wind–though [the wind] still indulged in occasional brief gusts
07:48 [the willows] rustling among themselves when no wind stirred
08:00 the pot had just begun to bubble
08:12 the deep note of the water and the hissings rising from [the river's] turbulent surface
08:24 a peculiar sound–something like the humming of a distant gong
08:36 [the gong] was repeated at regular intervals, but [the humming] was certainly neither the sound of a bell nor the hooting of a distant steamer
08:48 the sound of an immense gong, suspended far up in the sky, repeating incessantly [a] muffled metallic note, soft and musical, as [the gong] was repeatedly struck
09:00 sometimes [the humming] was overhead, and sometimes [the humming] seemed under the water ... [the humming] was not outside at all, but within
09:10 [the humming] changed direction, too, coming nearer, and then sinking utterly away into remote distance
09:19 the wind blowing in those sand-funnels
09:29 the bushes rubbing together
09:38 [the humming] comes off the whole swamp ... [the humming] comes from everywhere at once ... [the humming] comes from the willow bushes somehow
09:48 sound of bubbling
10:00 the curious sound ... likened to the note of a gong became now almost incessant, and filled the stillness of the night with a faint continuous ringing rather than a series of distinct notes
11:00 at one time [the humming] was behind and at another time in front
11:10 sometimes [the humming] came from the bushes on [the] left, and the again from the clumps on [the] right
11:19 more often [the humming] hovered directly overhead like the whirring of wings
11:29 [the humming] was really everywhere at once, behind, in front, at [the] sides and [overhead], completely surrounding
11:38 ceaseless muffled humming rising off the deserted world of swamps and willows
11:48 the gong sounds had come nearer, ringing much louder than before, and directly [overhead]
12:00 the river and the frogs had things all their own way
13:00 . v14:00 occasionally a stray puff of wind set the willows shivering v14:20 a deep and depressing silence reigned, broken only by the gurgling of the river and the humming in the air overhead
14:40 a stray puff [of wind]
15:00 shaking of the willows in the windless calm
15:30 the humming overhead
16:00 gong-like humming came down very close [overhead]
17:00 [the pattering sound of] multiplying countless little footsteps
17:20 the gong-like note hummed ceaselessly, rising and falling like wind
17:40 [the humming is] not above so much as around ... [the humming] is in the willows ... [the humming] is the willows themselves humming
18:00 [a] strange cry overhead in the darkness
19:00 the humming overhead never ceased, but seemed to ... grow louder
20:00 a crash into the branches
21:00 the humming has ceased

V.

00:00 .
01:00 sound of multitudinous soft pattering
01:12 a torrent of humming that surrounded ... completely and come out of every quarter of the heavens at once
01:24 that same familiar humming–gone mad
01:36 a swarm of great invisible bees
01:48 the humming
02:00 cursed humming
02:20 abrupt cessation of the humming and pattering
02:40 the humming has stopped
03:00 .
04:00 splashed into the water
04:30 the loud sound of humming–the sound of several hummings–which passed with a vast commotion as of winged things in the air ... disappeared upwards into the sky, growing fainter and fainter until the finally ceased in the distance

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