Program Notes - Melville Songs (2009-10)
Almost ten years ago, I composed a set of songs for my mother to sing. In that cycle, I included a setting of the poem “Monody” by Herman Melville. The poem is an elegy to the writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and, since composing the song, it has become one of my favorite poems. I began to seek out additional poems by Melville, hoping to create a new set of songs using his poetry. I gathered up six poems, choosing them based on length and how well I thought they would fit my musical language. I decided to revise “Monody” and include it in the set as a sort of touchstone for the atmosphere of all seven settings.
When I chose the poems, I did not intend to create a connection between the songs, apart from their shared author. However, after I ordered the songs, I discovered a loose narrative running through the collection. The singer returns home after spending years away at sea. He finds his home destroyed and the gardens he loved abandoned and overrun. One lonely man survives as a recluse in the deserted town. Presuming that the former residents, including his lover, are dead, the singer laments the loss. He wanders alone, devastated and full of hate, until, upon seeing his own shadow take the form of Saint Stephen, he makes a decision. Bidding his past life and youth goodbye, he returns to the harshness of the sea.
Though, I intended a baritone to sing the cycle, I have found that the mezzo-soprano fits the pieces equally well. Either way, do not change the pronouns! All poetry is in the public domain.
When I chose the poems, I did not intend to create a connection between the songs, apart from their shared author. However, after I ordered the songs, I discovered a loose narrative running through the collection. The singer returns home after spending years away at sea. He finds his home destroyed and the gardens he loved abandoned and overrun. One lonely man survives as a recluse in the deserted town. Presuming that the former residents, including his lover, are dead, the singer laments the loss. He wanders alone, devastated and full of hate, until, upon seeing his own shadow take the form of Saint Stephen, he makes a decision. Bidding his past life and youth goodbye, he returns to the harshness of the sea.
Though, I intended a baritone to sing the cycle, I have found that the mezzo-soprano fits the pieces equally well. Either way, do not change the pronouns! All poetry is in the public domain.