The Sea is Never Still

Description

Soprano, Alto, Piano — The text for The Sea is Never Still is based on Young Sea, a poem by the Pulitzer-prize winning American poet, Carl Sandburg (1878-1967). This poem describes the sea using vivid imagery and personification. The vocal lines and piano accompaniment of this piece strive to portray the various images in the poem. Throughout the piece, the moving accompaniment lines depict the constancy of the water's motion. The minor key in the beginning, as well as the piano chords in the "pounding" section serve to bring the stormy, dramatic, and restless side of the sea to life. The gradually building dynamic level and increasingly layered echo patterns in the voice parts depict growing and crashing waves. In contrast, the text of the poem used for the middle part (B-section) of the piece, explains how the storms rejuvenate and "clean" the sea, conveying the sea's timeless quality and regenerative nature. The middle section is set in the feel of a major key to capture the sea's youthful, light, and "laughing" side.The return to the A-section brings back the minor key once again to portray the sea's power and strength. The last section of the poem personifies, or gives human qualities to, the sea. Toward the end of the piece, the sea speaks to young people and invites them to listen and hear its message. The last part of the poem describes how the sea is part of both the beginning and the end of time. The idea that the sea "tells where stars come from" connects to the idea that the sea existed in the beginning and saw the creation of the stars, and the concept of the sea being "the last word" conveys the timeless, eternal nature of the sea. The end of the piece fades away dynamically and does not resolve to the tonic, giving the impression that the sea's motion is never-ending and its existence is continuous.  The poem has several meaningful passages.The poem the phrase "only the stormy hearts know what it says" shares the idea that sometimes it is the storms, or challenges, in life that allow us to improve our understanding and gain more empathy for another person and their experiences. Also, the poem compares the sea's restlessness to "a young heart hunting", alluding to the intensity, passion, and persistence of the hearts of young people. Throughout the piece, and most especially in the "echo" sections of the piece, intentionally articulating the consonants will help bring clarity to the text and excitement to the performance. Work to exaggerate the dynamic markings (softs and louds) to bring out the dramatic nature of the poetry and the music.

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