Instrumentation: SATB Chorus & Piano
Duration: 5′
This piece has not yet been performed.
The following is a sample of the score. (The entire score is available after providing an email address; see below.)
Program notes: I take a lot of inspiration from nature and, while I was searching for a text on one of my favorite public domain poetry sites, the poem “In Woodland Shades” by Mary Dow Brine caught my eye. I liked the vibe of the poem, but not all the lines. So, I did something I had never done before; I adapted an existing poem so much that it became a new one of my own: excerpting lines, moving them around, and changing many words to arrive at the text that I ultimately used for this piece. I shifted the poem toward being more ecstatic, and the music brings this out through my choices of non-diatonic chords, along with a propulsive ending which expresses the intense longing for the fulfillment of the day, the union with the Divine, embodied in the peace that comes in silence.
Text: Birds warble in the treetops when the earth Rejoices at the morning’s glorious birth. The dawning sun arises, in warmth and light baptizes The world and its whole realm with boundless worth. The fleecy clouds above are soaring high, Freely, gently across the azure sky; The shadows shift lightly, while the sunbeams follow brightly, And the day in peaceful beauty passes by. When day is done, the distant evening bell Rings out, while echoes soft the sweet tones swell; Till the stars, their light sublime, join the moon in keeping time, And silence comes at last with us to dwell.
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