Chicago Songs is my attempt to musically recreate something of the spirit and people found in Carl Sandburg’s iconic poetry. Sandburg’s world is one filled with the grit of burgeoning industrialization, the earnest hope of immigrant settlers, and the heartache and beauty found in the everyday. His characters are larger than life, yet tragically human — there’s a poignancy in their foibles that I find very attractive. As a composer I’ve always been drawn to nostalgic, highly personal subject matter and these texts compliment my own nostalgic, highly personal musical impulses.
Christmas Time in the Eyes of a Child is a light-hearted secular Christmas song for children, although it could be performed by adults. This version is in Unison throughout, and could be performed as a solo with piano accompaniment, or by a community or children’s choir. There is also a two-part version and a mixed choir (SATB) version available, the latter incorporating an optional part for children’s choir.The words are by Linda Marcus (who wrote ‘River in Judea’) and the music is by Gordon Thornett. Described as ‘charming’ and ‘beautiful’ by choral directors…
High and Low (2013) is four song cycle on poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay and John Grimmett that in its musical journey brings together several very different sound worlds. From the Laurel Canyon 60s folky opening number “Afternoon on a Hill” to the chilling operatic drama of “distance is crueler…” to the Schubert/ Iron Maiden inspired Halloween favorite that “Wraith” turned out to be. The cycle closes with “Only Until this Cigarette is Ended”, a sassy little cabaret song that would make even the great Liberace himself blush with delight…
Originally written for the musical The Ghost of Wu, musical that tells the story of Wu Chao, the only female ruler in Chinese history, who ruled in the 8th Century, “The World Rolls On” is, quite simply, a lullaby.
“Amazing Grace” has been called America’s most beloved hymn, and crosses all boundaries of denominations and faiths, with its simple nineteenth- century melody, and uplifting stanzas- penned by John Newton, 1779. This particular arrangement was inspired by listening to an old recording of Marian Anderson’s heartfelt rendition, and her magnificent voice piercing-through the ignorance and intolerance that she faced. This gorgeous song is perfectly suitable to be performed in a church service, or concert hall setting.
Created as part of my composer residency with San Francisco’s Lieder Alive!, Ich und Du simply would not have been possible without the inspiration, assistance, and sheer joy of working with soprano Heidi Moss. These works are personal to a unique degree, created as they were as a kind of courtship gift to this wonderful woman and artist. In “Dein blaues Auge hält so still” the repeated ‘E’ in the piano holds us still as the fast moving treble motives depict the blazing eyes of the beloved. “Ich und Du” uses…
Silver Apples can be heard on the CD Currents by Soprano Ann Moss, available from iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon and other venus.Liam composed this enchanting song cycle for me and pianist Steven Bailey to premiere on CMASH’s second annual New American Chamber Music program in 2008. Liam and I selected the moon-themed poems together, and Steven and I worked closely with Liam throughout his compositional process, contributing musical ideas along the way that were incorporated into the score. Liam left us a great deal of room for improvisation in these…
I have a confession to make; my pieces come from a very personal, very private place. I know and admire many fellow composers who take a cooler, analytical stance towards their art and aesthetic, and I admire their craftsmanship and outward reserve. But that just doesn’t work for me (no judgement).From a technical standpoint, my aim in writing these two little pieces was to see if I could set a short text in two similar but completely different ways. I did this in an earlier piece of mine (the outer…
The text comes from Whitman’s “When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,” a lengthy elegy in memory of Abraham Lincoln. My choral setting of another part of this poem has been my most popular work to date. I composed “Sing on there in the swamp” just a few months later and it is in a very similar style and mood. The poem is imbued with a bittersweetness that I have tried to reflect in the music. The beautiful things about spring—the lilacs, the singing of the birds, the “lustrous” western…
This set started life as an interesting concept – songs about men (with a 21st Century wink and a nod) married to a ridiculously silly title. The term Jägermeisterlieder is both sly and irreverent while also containing a certain accuracy, as ‘jagermeister’ is loosely translated as ‘master of the hunt’.The first song Jägerlied is a setting of an Eduard Mörike poem describing a hunter in his natural habitat, traversing the countryside while also pining for lost love. By contrast, 20th Century German poet Rainer Brambach presents us with an updated…
Stud Pepper (from my song set Food Porn) is my tongue-in-cheek valentine to the excesses of foodie culture, and the ongoing social media tendencies to document each and every fabulously consumed meal. Stud Pepper uses real and imagined food advertisements, playing with the idea of how the language of food has become over sensualized and over sexualized. It’s obsessive in a silly way, which is pretty much how most of us foodies approach dining (guilty).
An affectionate tribute to dogs and the humans who love them, Bruce Lazarus’ song-cycle Going to the Dogs is a setting of five diverse, funny, and poignant poems by Dylan Thomas (“Song of the Mischievous Dog”), Alexander Pope (“Engraved on the Collar of His Highness’ Dog”), Herbert Asquith (“The Hairy Dog”), Jonathan Swift (“Advice to a Dog Painter”), and John E. Donovan (“The Dachshund”).(The video performance is of the female voice version, which is also available from Swirly Music.)
An affectionate tribute to dogs and the humans who love them, Bruce Lazarus’ song-cycle Going to the Dogs is a setting of five diverse, funny, and poignant poems by Dylan Thomas (“Song of the Mischievous Dog”), Alexander Pope (“Engraved on the Collar of His Highness’ Dog”), Herbert Asquith (“The Hairy Dog”), Jonathan Swift (“Advice to a Dog Painter”), and John E. Donovan (“The Dachshund”).(A version of this piece for male voice, is also available from Swirly Music.)
A dramatic, contemporary setting of the Biblical passage “The Trumpet Shall Sound”, which was also used in Handel’s “Messiah”. The baritone and trumpet dialog throughout with the organ underpinning and expanding the harmonic structure. The trumpet begins and ends using a straight mute, but plays open in middle portions. It is appropriate for memorial services, worship and concert settings. Two copies are needed for a performance.
The texts for the Songs of Pashtun Women were compiled from translations of an oral form of poetry known as the landay. These are two-line (“landay” is Pashto for “short”) free verse poems, not necessarily rhymed, that can be written or improvised. The poetry of Afghan women is usually anonymous, often song to the beat of a hand drum, and is usually created together with other women during their various errands and duties.Different themes are explored in the landays – chiefly love, honor, sorrow, and loss. This poetry provides Afghan…
This setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1845 poem on the theme of enduring friendship, The Arrow and the Song, was commissioned by the composer’s dear friend Mary Ittelson in 2016. The poem is beloved by adults and children alike, and Ittelson requested that the song be dedicated to her “friends and their friends.”The Arrow and the Song by H.W. LongfellowI shot an arrow into the air,It fell to earth, I knew not where;For, so swiftly it flew, the sightCould not follow it in its flight.I breathed a song into the…
A celebration of Lewis Carroll’s wit, loopy logic, and love of the world of children, “A Lewis Carroll Songbook” includes settings of favorite poems such as Beautiful Soup, Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, and The Mad Gardener’s Song. Also included are Pen & Ink, Voice of the Lobster, Salmon Song, Speak Softly to Your Little Boy, Is All Our Life a Dream?, How Doth The Little Crocodile, and Be As a Child. There is also a version for female voice.
“Cantemus in omni die” is a setting of a hymn to the Virgin Mary written by Cú Chuimne Sapiens, an Irish monk active at Iona by the early 8th century (died 747). It is the earliest known Latin hymn to Mary originally composed in the Western Christian Church rather than translated into Latin from earlier sources. This setting was commissioned by The Mornington Singers of Dublin, Ireland, Dr. Orla Flanagan, director. It was first performed by The Mornington Singers on July 19, 2014 at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin and subsequently…
The Over Journey gives voice to the über-Romantic yearnings of 19th Century German poet Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg). The poet’s fascination with death, art, and the loss of his young fiancee permeates this piece, as the poet dreams of one day reuniting with his lost love.
THE EVE OF WATERLOO (2014) features Lord Byron’s poem about the events of the night before the battle of Quatre Bras, which was fought near Brussels, on June 16, 1815, and was the preliminary of the great battle of Waterloo.The piece was written for Heldentenor John Packard and commissioned to premiere in June 2015 at the concert “The music of Liam Wade and Richard Wagner in recital” at the German Residence, San Francisco, presented by the Wagner Society of Northern California and the Consul General of the Federal Republic of…
A lyrical meditation on friendship and loss, Cycle of Friends is a concert centerpiece with texts ranging from Sappho and Emily Dickinson to Tang-dynasty China and pre-Columbian Mexico. A soprano soloist serves as an intimate narrator, while the orchestra supplies vivid, transparent color around lyrical choral writing.Completed and premiered in 1996, a newly revised score is available in 2026, celebrating the work’s 30th anniversary. Cycle of Friends was commissioned and premiered by the Music Group of Philadelphia, Seán Deibler conductor, in Philadelphia.The brief, central a cappella movement Are Friends Delight Or…
William Blake’s beloved poem “Little Lamb” is set here for soprano voice with piano accompaniment. It was first sung in a worship service and dedicated to a child being baptized. The poem is perfect for such an occasion. However, the popularity of the poem makes the song a useful addition to any musical occasion.
This setting has special meaning for me, both as a father and as a personal friend of the poet. Anthony Jesse and I share many fond memories from our bohemian 20’s living in San Francisco. He studied guitar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, I was a pianist taking a gap year before graduate school. We shared a love of art, music, poetry, and literature together in that magical time in one’s life when anything and everything seemed possible. Now that I have my own family with teenage children…
This setting has special meaning for me, both as a father and as a personal friend of the poet. Anthony Jesse and I share many fond memories from our bohemian 20’s living in San Francisco. He studied guitar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, I was a pianist taking a gap year before graduate school. We shared a love of art, music, poetry, and literature together in that magical time in one’s life when anything and everything seemed possible. Now that I have my own family with teenage children…
Mondnacht begins with a dialogue of soft chords that bounce between separate registers, personifying the poetic imagery of the Earth and Sky sending amorous intentions to each other. The second stanza accompaniment responds with slightly faster, flowing 16th notes that mimic the image of the breeze passing through the fields with the ears of grain waving gently. The third stanza returns to a kind of static calm as mysterious chords reflect the lines in the poem describing the soul spreading its wings out wide, flying through the silent regions with…
Click here to follow the score: https://youtu.be/kSR8gohqJVYThis setting of ‘Jesus, friend of little children’ was written about 30 years ago, for the baptism of our younger daughter. It was written as a soprano solo with piano accompaniment. In this current version, it may still be performed as a solo, if desired, but I have added choral harmonies so that it can also be used as a choir anthem at christenings or children’s services. It is in 4 parts (SATB) throughout, apart from a couple of measures where the sopranos divide.[If you’d…
Three settings of texts by the Shenandoah Valley poet Michael Fitzgerald. Though written originally for baritone Alan Dunbar, the songs may also be performed by mezzo-soprano (this version). The works are sensitive to the demands of the imagery-rich texts and employ an extended tonal harmonic palette. The piano parts present a few technical challenges, but overall the set is quite accessible by capable performers and by audiences.The baritone version is also available from Swirly Music.
Three settings for baritone voice and piano of texts by the Shenandoah Valley poet Michael Fitzgerald. Though written originally for baritone Alan Dunbar, the songs could also be performed by mezzo-soprano. The works are sensitive to the demands of the imagery-rich texts and employ an extended tonal harmonic palette. The piano parts present a few technical challenges, but overall the set is quite accessible by capable performers and by audiences.
Lewis Carroll’s Mad Gardener, often mistaken for a nonsense poem, is actually a series of humorous metaphors relating to the minor disappointments and hassles of everyday life, a list of complaints still relevant now in the 21st century. While the protagonist attempts to peacefully cultivate his garden, e.g. live his life, his relatives overstay their welcome in his home, bank loan repayments are deleting his savings, and his future is an incomprehensible mystery – as it is to many of us. A Lewis Carroll Songbook, Bruce Lazarus’ collection of…
Lewis Carroll’s Mad Gardener, often mistaken for a nonsense poem, is actually a series of humorous metaphors relating to the minor disappointments and hassles of everyday life, a list of complaints still relevant now in the 21st century. While the protagonist attempts to peacefully cultivate his garden, e.g. live his life, his relatives overstay their welcome in his home, bank loan repayments are deleting his savings, and his future is an incomprehensible mystery – as it is to many of us.A Lewis Carroll Songbook, Bruce Lazarus’ collection of eleven songs…
Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,Waiting in a hot tureen!Who for such dainties would not stoop?Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!Beau–ootiful Soo-oop!Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Soo–oop of the e–e–evening, Beautiful, beautiful Soup!Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, Game, or any other dish?Who would not give all else for two Pennyworth only of Beautiful Soup?Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?Beau–ootiful Soo-oop!Beau–ootiful Soo-oop!Soo–oop of the e–e–evening,Beautiful, beauti–FUL SOUP!A Lewis Carroll Songbook, a collection of eleven songs in celebration of Lewis Carroll’s wit, loopy logic, and love of the world of…
Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,Waiting in a hot tureen!Who for such dainties would not stoop?Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!Beau–ootiful Soo-oop!Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Soo–oop of the e–e–evening, Beautiful, beautiful Soup!Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, Game, or any other dish?Who would not give all else for two Pennyworth only of Beautiful Soup?Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?Beau–ootiful Soo-oop!Beau–ootiful Soo-oop!Soo–oop of the e–e–evening,Beautiful, beauti–FUL SOUP!A Lewis Carroll Songbook, a collection of eleven songs in celebration of Lewis Carroll’s wit, loopy logic, and love of the world of…
A celebration of Lewis Carroll’s wit, loopy logic, and love of the world of children, “A Lewis Carroll Songbook” includes settings of favorite poems such as Beautiful Soup, Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, and The Mad Gardener’s Song. Also included are Pen & Ink, Voice of the Lobster, Salmon Song, Speak Softly to Your Little Boy, Doll Song, How Doth The Little Crocodile, and Be As a Child. There is also a version for male voice.
Zwei Hülshoff Lieder was commissioned by San Francisco’s LIEDER ALIVE! as part of the organization’s mission to preserve the German lieder tradition through classes, recitals and the creation of new works. It was premiered in San Francisco in January, 2015 by soprano Jessica Wan, joined by clarinetist Natalie Parker, violist Paul Yarbrough and pianist Laura Dahl. The texts are taken from 19th-Century German poet Annette von Droste Hülshoff.Program NoteIn searching for German-language texts for this piece, it occurred to me that, while there are reams of German art song repertoire going all the…
Chicago Songs is my attempt to musically recreate something of the spirit and people found in Carl Sandburg’s iconic poetry. Sandburg’s world is one filled with the grit of burgeoning industrialization, the earnest hope of immigrant settlers, and the heartache and beauty found in the everyday. His characters are larger than life, yet tragically human – there’s a poignancy in their foibles that I find very attractive. As a composer I’ve always been drawn to nostalgic, highly personal subject matter and these texts compilement my own nostalgic, highly personal musical…
