Using texts from Genesis, the Song of Songs and my own words, I created a deliberately homo-erotic version of the story. The piece is in 5 sections. The first describes the arrival of the angel and provides the basic narration of the story; the second section is the wrestling match itself, over a vigorous ground bass; the third takes place at dawn as the angel wishes to leave, this section has a distinctly post-coital atmosphere; the fourth section is purely a love song as, using words from the Song of Songs, Jacob lovingly describes all the angel's attributes. Finally the angel leaves, quite suddenly, but not before he has blessed and renamed him, Israel. At the end, Jacob walks jauntily down to the river to re-join his family.
Robert Hugill