"What a delightful night" - A Demon's Simple Joys

January 15, 2008 - In Ecbatana, Sara (the daughter of Raguel and Edna) wakes to find that her husband has died, his body covered in wounds made by tiny hands. Dissonant organ chords and agitated woodwind outbursts accompany the family's reaction: Sara distraught, Edna despairing, Raguel furious. This is Sara's seventh husband to die under mysterious circumstances, circumstances which are soon revealed by the cause of death itself: the demon Ashmodeus. Over a softly rocking flute and clarinet figure punctuated by voluptuous harp chords, Ashmodeus reveals that he has spend "a delightful night" in his "favorite house". He has lived nine hundred years and yet has only ever loved two lips, two eyes, ten fingers, and one neck. As he sings of Sara's beautiful neck she begins to strangle herself; Ashmodeus is possessing her body. Raguel instructs his men to bury the body in the orchard.



Meanwhile, back in Nineveh, Tobias returns home to find that his father is blind. He is overcome with guilt. At this point we have the first of the great ensembles in this piece "Lord, I am pure". Jonathn Dove is a master at writing ensembles and this quintet of lamentation is no exception. Over low tolling harp notes, funeral marchesque drumbeats, and long sustained string chords, Sara sings "Lord, I am pure. I have no sin, release me, take me out of the earth"; Tobit sings "Lord, I am old, let me become as earth"; Edna and Anna sing "We have much sorrow"; and Tobias sings "Lord, each step I take is a false one".



Tobit tells Tobias that since he is unable to work, Tobias must go to Ecbatana and ask his cousin Raguel to repay his debt to Tobit. Tobias is reluctant to go, saying that he does not know the way. The stranger from the marketplace however does, so the journey begins. . .