Poet and novelist Ernest Christopher Dowson (1867-1900) is associated with the so-called Decadent Movement, whose aesthetic ideology of excess represents another facet of Getty’s inspirations. But the composer’s setting of “Cynara” for men’s chorus and chamber orchestra, though effectively dramatic, avoids the garish and honors the febrile longing in Dowson’s declamatory verse. “Unrequited love, love from afar, are themes of poetry that work for me,” Getty points out.
from "Master of Multiple Muses" - Jeff Kaliss