canons on cummings
un(bee)mo
vi
n(in)g
are(th
e)you(o
nly)
asl(rose)eep
e.e. cummings
from 95 poems
(1958)
This work is a contrapuntal setting of cumming’s’ poem as two phrases: “unmoving are you asleep” and “(bee in the only rose)” as individual melodies introduced separately that gradually converge until they align as if the poem is read aloud as it appears on the page. The phrases then diverge gradually so that the melodies are again sung separately.
canons on cummings is a study in counterpoint, color, and density. It was completed on April 18, 1998 in Potsdam, NY.
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Premiere
June, 1998 at Gregg Smith Singers Tenth Annual Choral Composers Readings Workshop, Saranac Lake, NY; Crane Chamber Choir at the 7th Annual Crane Festival of NEWMUSIC March 25, 1999.
Instrumentation
- SSAATTBB chorus