Behind the notes: About Ice

Ice is an exciting large-scale piece by Orlando Gough written for David Temple’s Hertfordshire Chorus and premiered in January 2009.

The piece commemorates the centenary of the first expedition to the North Pole.  It is based on the diary of Matthew Henson, a black American accompanying Robert Peary on the trip, and readings from the diary are interspersed with dramatic 16 part choral movements full of rhythmic virtuosity.

The story of Ice 

After making many forays into the Arctic, Captain Robert Peary (pictured) finally reached the North Pole in 1909. On his final push to the Pole from Cape Columbia, he was accompanied by a black man, Matthew Henson, four Esquimos – Ootah, Ooqueah, Egingwah and Seegloo – and thirty-eight dogs.

Peary wrote in his diary of his arrival at the Pole: ‘I have today hoisted the national ensign of the USA at this place, which my observations indicate to be the North Pole axis of the Earth, and have formally taken possession of the entire region, and adjacent, for and in the name of the President of the USA.’

The ownership of the Arctic region has recently become a matter of ferocious diplomacy. The ice is melting, and it seems possible that in the near future the Northwest Passage will open up to year-round shipping and that the oil and gas beneath the polar seabed will become available. Russia has already planted a flag, housed in a titanium tube, on the seabed directly beneath the Pole. Canada has assigned a post code to the Pole: H0H 0H0.

The lyrics of Ice are taken from Henson’s book The Conquest of the North Pole. Henson (pictured in later years) wrote of his time in the Arctic, ‘I have been to all intents and purposes an Esquimo.’ This remark was the inspiration for this piece, which is little more than an elaboration of a traditional Esquimo (Inuit) style of singing, katajjak. Katajjak is a two-person hocketting game in which extraordinary, sometimes dog-like sounds are exchanged with increasing intensity and speed until one person gives up.

The song Hold On was sung by Negro slaves escaping to Canada via the ‘Underground Railroad’ in the first half of the nineteenth century.

With thanks to Janie Nicholas and Hertfordshire Chorus for these notes

Find out more

Gough and Palestrina homepage
Orlando Gough biography
Palestrina sacred works