Three Songs of Life (Cycle) | Christina Whitten Thomas | MusicSpoke

music by

Christina Whitten Thomas

Three Songs of Life TTBB choir and piano

poems by

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This score is not licensed for performance. Please visit MusicSpoke.com to purchase performance copies.

Program Notes for Three Songs of Life These three poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow each approach life from a different angle. The Sound of the Sea is a melancholy musing on the unpredictability of life. Longfellow’s beautiful sea imagery reflects the changing tides of the human soul. The music has a contemplative, searching quality that only finds resolution within the final measures. In The Arrow and the Song, the poet confesses that he has found fulfillment in spite of the many uncertainties of life’s journeys. I have chosen a hymn-like setting for this movement in order to preserve the simple structure of this poignant text. A Day of Sunshine celebrates the freedom that one can enjoy if one chooses to live life to the fullest. In this concluding movement, the carefree flow of the piano supports the joyous choral lines, which weave together energetic melodies and driving rhythms. Three Songs of Life was commissioned by the Apollo Men’s Choir of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, Christopher Eanes, conductor. The group premiered the work on April 26, 2009. ~Christina Whitten Thomas

Contents: The Sound of the Sea (3’30”) ................................ 4 The Arrow and the Song (2’00”) .......................... 11 A Day of Sunshine (2’40”) ................................... 15

This score is not licensed for performance. Please visit MusicSpoke.com to purchase performance copies.

I. The Sound of the Sea The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep, And round the pebbly beaches far and wide I heard the first wave of the rising tide Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep; A voice out of the silence of the deep, A sound mysteriously multiplied As of a cataract from the mountain's side, Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep. So comes to us at times, from the unknown And inaccessible solitudes of being, The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul; And inspirations, that we deem our own, Are some divine of foreshadowing and foreseeing Of things beyond our reason or control.

III. A Day of Sunshine O gift of God! O perfect day: Whereon shall no man work, but play; Whereon it is enough for me, Not to be doing, but to be! Through every fiber of my brain, Through every nerve, through every vein, I feel the electric thrill, the touch Of life, that seems almost too much. I hear the wind among the trees Playing celestial symphonies; I see the branches downward bent, Like keys of some great instrument. And over me unrolls on high The splendid scenery of the sky, Where though a sapphire sea the sun Sails like a golden galleon,

II. The Arrow and the Song I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight.

Towards yonder cloud-land in the West, Towards yonder Islands of the Blest, Whose steep sierra far uplifts Its craggy summits white with drifts.

I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong, That it can follow the flight of song?

Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms! Blow, winds! and bend within my reach The fiery blossoms of the peach!

Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.

O Life and Love! O happy throng Of thoughts, whose only speech is song! O heart of man! canst thou not be Blithe as the air is, and as free? ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1882)

This score is not licensed for performance. Please visit MusicSpoke.com to purchase performance copies.

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Three Songs of Life (Cycle) | Christina Whitten Thomas | MusicSpoke

Published on Apr 20, 2015

MusicSpoke

These three poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow each approach life from a different angle. The Sound of the Sea is a melancholy musing on the unpredictability of life. Longfellow’s beautiful sea imagery reflects the changing tides of the human soul. The music has a contemplative, searching quality that only finds resolution within the final measures. In The Arrow and the Song, the poet confesses that he has found fulfillment in spite of the many uncertainties of life’s journeys. I have chosen a hymn-like setting for this movement in order to preserve the simple structure of this poignant text. A Day of Sunshine celebrates the freedom that one can enjoy if one chooses to live life to the fullest. In this concluding movement, the carefree flow of the piano supports the joyous choral lines, which weave together energetic melodies and driving rhythms. Purchase the score on MusicSpoke http://bit.ly/1K2e2Xw.