{"id":1003,"date":"2010-01-23T20:30:44","date_gmt":"2010-01-24T00:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/?p=1003"},"modified":"2010-01-23T20:30:44","modified_gmt":"2010-01-24T00:30:44","slug":"love-songs-sheet-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/?p=1003","title":{"rendered":"Love Songs: Sheet Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

These are songs for Mezzo Soprano and Piano that I wrote a few months ago and were performed at the latest Circles and Lines concert in December.\u00a0 I’ll hopefully have recordings for you all soon.\u00a0 The texts are below each blurb about the piece.<\/p>\n

Mezzo-Soprano, Piano Score of Love Songs<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The cycle is intended to have a key around F (but I have no problem with transpositions).\u00a0 The first song, To Mary<\/em> takes the hyper simple motif of a scale and plays around with it.\u00a0 It’s in Ternary form (An F Minor-C Minor-F Minor harmonic under pinning) that is achieved just by raising Db to a D natural, the difference between F Minor and C minor.\u00a0 The introduction’s scalar patterns have this effect going on in a microcosm of the entire work’s harmonic structure.<\/p>\n

Beloved! amid the earnest woes
\nThat crowd around my earthly path-
\n(Drear path, alas! where grows
\nNot even one lonely rose)-
\nMy soul at least a solace hath
\nIn dreams of thee, and therein knows
\nAn Eden of bland repose.<\/em><\/p>\n

And thus thy memory is to me
\nLike some enchanted far-off isle
\nIn some tumultuous sea-
\nSome ocean throbbing far and free
\nWith storms- but where meanwhile
\nSerenest skies continually
\nJust o’er that one bright island smile.<\/em><\/p>\n

-Edgar Allan Poe<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The second song in the set, Hymn<\/em>, is also in ternary form, with a harmonic arc of Bb, Eb, Bb.\u00a0 The idea, once again, is to have the plagal micro-surface-motion that is heard in the bell like beating of the piano to also be reflected in the larger harmonic structure.\u00a0 The harmonic language I used in this work was an attempt to explore how extended dissonances can rub up against the basic supporting chordal units, yet still maintain a consonant quality.\u00a0 What I ended up with were some very colorful affects.<\/p>\n

At morn – at noon – at twilight dim –
\nMaria! thou hast heard my hymn!
\nIn joy and woe – in good and ill –
\nMother of God, be with me still!
\nWhen the hours flew brightly by,
\nAnd not a cloud obscured the sky,
\nMy soul, lest it should truant be,
\nThy grace did guide to thine and thee;
\nNow, when storms of Fate o’ercast
\nDarkly my Present and my Past,
\nLet my Future radiant shine
\nWith sweet hopes of thee and thine!<\/em><\/p>\n

-Edgar Allan Poe<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sonnet 138<\/em> was an exploration of axial tonality.\u00a0 I chose a mode of B, C Db, F, F#, G and tried to construct a key center of C but not stray too far into a limited version of functional tonality (by going C-F-G-C).\u00a0 Most of the chords and melodies are constructed through interval quality with which I tried to maximize angularity.\u00a0 The work is a sonata form, but that is coincidental as the real goal was to fashion a symmetrical form that reflected the mode.<\/p>\n

When my love swears that she is made of truth
\nI do believe her, though I know she lies,
\nThat she might think me some untutor’d youth,
\nUnlearned in the world’s false subtleties.
\nThus vainly thinking that she thinks me young.
\nAlthough she knows my days are past the best,
\nSimply I credit her false speaking tongue:
\nOn both side thus is simple truth suppress’d:
\nBut wherefore says she not she is unjust?
\nAnd wherefore say not I that I am old?
\nO! love’s best habit is in seeming trust,
\nAnd age in love loves not to have years told:
\nTherefore I lie with her and she with me,
\nAnd in our faults by lies we flatter’d be.<\/em><\/p>\n

-Shakespeare<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the recent performance, the order of Hymn<\/em> and Sonnet 138<\/em> were switched.\u00a0 I am currently conflicted about the order, because the performance order I just mentioned has much a better arc and a more fulfilling aesthetic purpose.\u00a0 I also find that Bb Hymn<\/em> can make sense right before the final key area of F major in The Arrow and The Song<\/em> as it reflects the plagal motion instilled in it.\u00a0 Alternatively, the key area of C in Sonnet 138<\/em> fits the more traditional billing of being the dominant to The Arrow and The Song<\/em>‘s final tonic in F.\u00a0 I believe that in future editions of this work I am going to have the order be:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To Mary<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Sonnet 138<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Hymn<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. The Arrow and The Song<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Traditional harmonic practice isn’t all that good of a reason to keep something that wants to be a certain way from being that way.<\/p>\n

    The Arrow and The Song<\/em> is a cute show piece with three sections for each stanza in the text the song is based on.\u00a0 This work was mainly about exploring text painting while throwing bizarre notes into what is really just simple, functional harmony to reflect the jocularity of the text.\u00a0 The text is kind of cheesy and cheerful, so it’s hard not to have a bright compositional color.<\/p>\n

    I shot an arrow into the air,
    \nIt fell to earth, I knew not where;
    \nFor, so swiftly it flew, the sight
    \nCould not follow it in its flight.<\/em><\/p>\n

    I breathed a song into the air,
    \nIt fell to earth, I knew not where;
    \nFor who has sight so keen and strong,
    \nThat it can follow the flight of song?<\/em><\/p>\n

    Long, long afterward, in an oak
    \nI found the arrow, still unbroke;
    \nAnd the song, from beginning to end,
    \nI found again in the heart of a friend.<\/em><\/p>\n

    -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    These are songs for Mezzo Soprano and Piano that I wrote a few months ago and were performed at the latest Circles and Lines concert in December. I’ll hopefully have recordings for you all soon. The texts are below each blurb about the piece.<\/p>\n

    Mezzo-Soprano, Piano Score of Love Songs<\/p>\n

    The cycle is intended to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20001,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,7],"tags":[8,111,112],"class_list":["post-1003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shameless-personal-promotion","category-music","tag-eric-lemmon","tag-mezzo-soprano","tag-piano","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1003"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1010,"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions\/1010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opensourcemusic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}