British composer Laura Rossi is perhaps best known for her work providing new scores for
silent films, including The Battle of the Somme (1915), The Battle of the Ancre (1917), and a
selection of very early cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare (1899-1911) that appeared as
Silent Shakespeare in 1998. Rossi is also the composer of scores for many recent films and was
nominated for an Academy Award for her music for Unfinished Song (2012). In addition to
her film music, for which she has received wide recognition and critical praise, Rossi has also
been heralded for her concert works, which include settings of songs by Gerald Manley
Hopkins; chamber works for string quartet, percussion ensemble, and saxophone and piano;
and, most recently, Voices of Remembrance for orchestra, choir, and spoken voices. Voices was
composed for the centenary of the First World War, and includes spoken recitations of ten
World War One poems, musical settings of three of the poems, and instrumental-only
movements based on the remaining seven poems. Rossi, writing about Voices, connects it
directly with her research and experiences in composing scores for the silent war films
mentioned above and in learning of and uncovering her own uncle’s war service and diaries.
Multiple texts, including the diaries, photographs, and oral histories inform Voices. In this
essay, I provide a close reading of Rossi’s Voices in the context of both her film scores
and her other concert music, focusing on her works referencing the Great War and those
affected by it. I offer analysis of Rossi’s approaches to these related topics across genres
and her methods of creating music to accompany texts and testimonies of various natures
documenting the Great War.