Setting Chinese Poetry in Translation
Posted on Aug 3, 2006
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1 comment
Filed under: Art Song, Chinese, Composing, Current Work, Cycle of Friends, Poetry
While I wait for some red tape to clear around one project, I’ve decided to go ahead with another one (and see how disciplined I can be about finishing it quickly). Now is the time for the song cycle I’ve had in the pipeline for a while now. Among the texts used in my 1996 chorus/orchestra piece Cycle of Friends are translations by Innes Herdan of...
Read MoreAn Old Favorite: Cycle of Friends Turns 10
Posted on May 3, 2006
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1 comment
Filed under: Chinese, Choral, Commission, Cycle of Friends, Emily Dickinson, Past Work, Poetry, Sappho
Today was the 10th anniversary of the premiere of my first commissioned work. Cycle of Friends, for soprano, chorus and chamber orchestra, was premiered on May 3rd, 1996 by the Music Group of Philadelphia. Artistic Director Sean Deibler had been one of my undergraduate teachers, and has been a mentor and all-around guru ever since. I was very lucky to be one...
Read MorePoetry for Composers
Posted on Oct 19, 2005
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8 comments
Filed under: Art Song, Choral, Composing, Poetry, Song Cycle
My post about Doctor Atomic has got me thinking about this whole business of effectively setting poetry to music. This is something John Adams has always been exceptionally good at, even if I don’t agree with his approach to writing for the stage. But it’s certainly not a given that any good composer would be able to do this well. Most of my...
Read MoreThe Grackle and other Poems
Posted on Aug 30, 2005
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1 comment
Filed under: Friends, Poetry
My friend Tom Laughlin (now “Will” for some reason) wrote this incredibly funny poem years ago. It’s a send-up of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, full of dizzying Sondheim-like internal rhymes. (Sibyl/Shibboleth, anyone?) I’d post the whole poem here, but my content column is too narrow to do it properly. So, take a look at the...
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