Ars Poetica
I have loved this poem for as long as I can remember. It’s crisp, fresh imagery, it’s success in conveying, with a magnificent economy, what a poem is all about, is indeed a small miracle.
I could not resist the temptation to set it for chorus. Because the poem had “gestated” for many years, I wrote it in one sitting on a late-summer afternoon. I can only hope that it does justice to this small masterpiece.
| Instrumentation: | A Cappella |
| Descriptive Tags: | Poetry |
| Language: | English |
| Voicing: | SATB |
| Sacred or Secular: | Secular |
| Duration: | 1-5 Minutes |
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| SATB | 7'30" | English | This short cantata on spring evokes expressive texts by John Milton, anonymous, and E.E. Cummings. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This short cantata on spring evokes expressive texts by John Milton, anonymous, and E.E. Cummings. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SATB | 3'30" | English | Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers” is one of the most beloved among her corpus of work, and for good reason. This setting is an expression of the poem’s sweetness as well as its dramatic intensity, with a “tune without the words” established early in the piece that returns after the harrowing […] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers” is one of the most beloved among her corpus of work, and for good reason. This setting is an expression of the poem’s sweetness as well as its dramatic intensity, with a “tune without the words” established early in the piece that returns after the harrowing […] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SATB | 3'00" | English | Based on a traditional text and a melody I learned from Skate Stone, which he learned from James Harding, which he learned from an unknown source. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Based on a traditional text and a melody I learned from Skate Stone, which he learned from James Harding, which he learned from an unknown source. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SATB | 4'30" | English | “O Child” is written from the perspective of Joseph and Mary, imagining what they might have been thinking and feeling when they first beheld the newborn baby Jesus. Composer Michael T. Roberts also penned the words, inspired by his experience as a father of two. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “O Child” is written from the perspective of Joseph and Mary, imagining what they might have been thinking and feeling when they first beheld the newborn baby Jesus. Composer Michael T. Roberts also penned the words, inspired by his experience as a father of two. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SA ⋅ SAA ⋅ SSA ⋅ SSAA | 5' | English ⋅ Hebrew | In the poem “Psalm of the Sky,” Rabbi Rachel Barenblat reimagines “The Lord is My Shepherd” (Psalm 23) in a contemporary context. Performers may highlight the many instances of text painting and create contrast between moments of gentleness, boldness, and carefree movement. The last verse of Psalm 23 is included in Hebrew as a coda […] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In the poem “Psalm of the Sky,” Rabbi Rachel Barenblat reimagines “The Lord is My Shepherd” (Psalm 23) in a contemporary context. Performers may highlight the many instances of text painting and create contrast between moments of gentleness, boldness, and carefree movement. The last verse of Psalm 23 is included in Hebrew as a coda […] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SAB | 2'55" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| SSATBB | 6' | English | This carol was first published in 1833 in a collection entitled “Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern”. William Sandys, a solicitor by day and music & manuscript collector by night, purportedly came across the tune in Devonshire, England. In this gentle setting from 1991 many colors of choral writing appear with sections for SATB, 3-part men, […] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This carol was first published in 1833 in a collection entitled “Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern”. William Sandys, a solicitor by day and music & manuscript collector by night, purportedly came across the tune in Devonshire, England. In this gentle setting from 1991 many colors of choral writing appear with sections for SATB, 3-part men, […] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SAB | 3' | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| SATB | Each round 1′30″ to 2′ (in performance) | English ⋅ Latin | Most rounds in popular collections are either sober or light-hearted. Where are the truly chucklesome examples? They do exist, of course: one thinks of classics such as “Thy Jolly Red Nose” or “The Old Man from Calcutta”; even, perhaps, of the bawdy catches of Henry Purcell and John Blow. But they are rarely found between […] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most rounds in popular collections are either sober or light-hearted. Where are the truly chucklesome examples? They do exist, of course: one thinks of classics such as “Thy Jolly Red Nose” or “The Old Man from Calcutta”; even, perhaps, of the bawdy catches of Henry Purcell and John Blow. But they are rarely found between […] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||