disappears, he is never gone forever. Thel replies that she is not like the Cloud and when she disappears she will not return. So the Cloud suggests asking the same question of the Worm. Scene III. The Worm is still a child and cannot answer. Instead it is the Worm’s mother, the Clod of Clay, who answers. The Clod explains that we do not live for ourselves, but for others. She invites Thel to enter into her underground realm and see the places of the dead where Thel herself will one day reside. Scene IV. Once there, at the places of the dead, however, Thel is assailed by mysterious voices asking a whole series of yet more terrible questions of existence. Uttering a shriek, she flees back to her home in the Vales of Har. Scoring Singers: soprano, boy (or girl) soprano, countertenor, contralto, mime artist, mixed chamber choir Orchestra: flute (piccolo), oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, 2 percussion players (timpani, jingle bells, triangle, suspended cymbal, gong, bass drum, tam-tam, glockenspiel, tubular bells, xylophone, vibraphone) celesta, harp, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass. Publishers Boosey & Hawkes, London (for the UK, British Commonwealth (excluding Canada) and the Republic of Ireland) Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski, Hamburg. Quotations "The simple opposition between Tiriel, an enraged and exhausted old man, and Thel, a child from the Songs of Innocence has allowed Smirnov to create a pair of works quite different but complementary" (Gerard McBurney) External links Text of Blake’s poem Boosey & Hawkes Thel, opera Review Chamber operas Russian opera English-language operas Operas Operas by Dmitri Smirnov 1989 operas