Two Landscapes of Song for Treble Voices

Description

Soprano, Alto, Piano — The two pieces, “Who Robbed the Woods?” and “O Cool is the Valley Now,” combine to create a set that both explores the subtle beauty, serenity, fragility, and resiliency of nature and examines our relationship to the natural world around us.The first song combines a short poem by Emily Dickinson with a journal entry excerpt by Walt Whitman entitled The Lesson of the Tree. Only two stanzas in length, Dickinson’s poem considers the ways in which people use and exploit trees for their own purposes and asks, on the trees’ behalf, who would do such a thing? Whitman ponders a tree’s silent majesty and power and its ability to be “yet say nothing at all.”The musical setting begins and ends in the mode of G-Dorian while moving briefly in the middle section to Bb major. The Dorian mode, similar to the natural minor but with a raised sixth scale degree, possesses a mysterious and whimsical sound, fitting for a poem that considers the possibility of talking trees. The accents and syncopation of the piano accompaniment should be carefully observed, with particular attention paid to the syncopation found in gestures occurring in mm. 7–12. The beginning a cappella section should be hushed yet intense; a richer, fuller sound may be brought out in the middle section where the key shifts to Bb major and the choir sings of the many noble qualities of trees (mm. 39–53)."O Cool is the Valley Now"xa0also makes use of a modal scale. Set primarily in D Mixolydian, similar to D major but with a lowered seventh scale degree, this mode’s lack of a leading tone gives the melody a folk-tune quality. The piano should at all times remain legato and flowing, its ascending and descending gestures, found in mm. 9–10, imitating the rolling hills and valleys evoked in the text. The phrases of the vocal lines should also be flowing and carefully shaped. Additional rubato and dynamic subtleties may be added to accentuate any number of the suspensions and dissonances that occur, especially on p. 14. “Who Robbed the Woods?” and “O Cool is the Valley Now” combine to create a set that both explores the subtle beauty, serenity, fragility, and resiliency of nature and examines our relationship to the natural world around us. For SA Voices, these enchanting, contrasting songs each stand alone nicely or can be performed as a pair.

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