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Catalog: Song Information: Page 79 of 83Please keep this site alive by contributing song listings and other information to the catalog. See the bottom of every catalog page for how. "War (June, 1940)"Song 6 (not extractable) from set From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
This entry contributed by G&K around 11/13/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: "Rubato e grave, quasi improvvisato" eighth = 84. Completely unmetered, recitative-like. Somewhat sparse piano accompaniment, while the sustain pedal is depressed for long periods at a time to let the voice and piano parts resonate in the strings. Text Comments: The text begins with this: " This, I thought yesterday, may be my last walk . . . The war--our waiting, waiting while the knives sharpen for the operation--the war has taken away the outer wall of security. No echo comes back." More. The text ends: "I can't conceive that there will be a twenty-seventh, June, ninety-forty-one." Recordings: 4 recordings at Amazon.com. The one linked below is a special order at Amazon (there are two that are available for almost immediate shipping) but the one below is Janet Baker's recording and includes some RealAudio clips you can hear over the net. See Argento: From the Diary of Virginia Woolf (Baker, Isepp) (Recordings) This entry contributed by G&K around 11/13/98. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "War Memorial"Song 5 (extractable) from set Mourning Songs
This entry contributed by G&K around 4/10/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: begins with extended piano introduction that is at turns a fanfare and then a legatissimo curve. rhythmically somewhat complex vocal line makes grand ascent a few times from E4 or F#4 to F#5, G5, or A5. marked tempo is quite fast at time but perceived tempo is often moderate or even slow. Semi-atonal dissonances are used along with tonal implications. Text Comments: Craning my neck, I look at this Monument of black, burnished stone, Jutting up toward the eaves. In honor of those who gave their lives It announces to the world Simply said, what one would expect. Scanning the face, with a shock, I find your name among the others. It looks odd and out of place. I stretch my arm and reach high To trace each letter, one by one. The cuts are deep, well-made, permanent. Across the street, a lone woman sits On a park bench, feeding bread crumbs To a nervous squirrel. The sunset Turns her hair to gold. She bends To drop a bit of stale crust, And smiles into day's last light. This entry contributed by G&K around 4/10/99. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "Washing Her Hair"
This entry contributed by ECS Publishing around 12/21/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: A quote from Russell Platt's liner notes: "...has a casual, conversational feel, but we are gradually made aware of illness, a family scene loving but tense. The vocal part moves in close intervals and is highly syllabic in word setting, while Hagen's accompaniment is sketched in warm, jazz-inflected extended triads." I find it a particularly sweet setting. Text Comments: Full text: "She stooped over the tub, her back naked, spine rising to her scalp like a child's set of beads. I lathered her thin, dark hair, rinsed it, watched it clump in the drain. Foliage hung in the window, steam dispersing its vividness like a watercolor. It wasn't real. It was theatre--the careful way we prepared her bed, changed her clothes, the neighbors appearing, Magi with their bright baskets of cheese. In the hallway I listened to conversations with her friends, themselves a little closer to the end--the religious uncle who clasped her hands with joy. My mother was elated. Confused, embarrassed, I had heard something not meant for me, and so returned to folding her towels, my part. The cleansing that said, You look better today. This will help. See Songs by Daron Hagen (Recordings) This entry contributed by G&K around 12/21/98. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "Watermill"Song 8 (extractable) from set First there was light
This entry contributed by Jeffrey Ryan around 10/17/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments:
Timing ca. 1'40"
Text Comments: The poem deals with a partner as a source of inspiration and support. Five songs in the cycle deal with modern relationships and may be extracted as a separate cycle. [2,4,5,6,8] This entry contributed by Jeffrey Ryan around 10/17/99. The contributor(s) composed the song. "We do not play on Graves"Song 2 (not extractable) from set Death and the Maiden
This entry contributed by Robert Jordahl around 10/5/99
Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments:
A short playful intro lead to this charming verse. The bassoon, in its lowest register, is featured in a recurring, whimsical motive.
Text Comments: We do not play on graves because there isn't room. Besides it isn't even. It slants and people come and put a flower on it and hang their faces so. We're fearing that their hearts will drop and crush our pretty play. And so we move as far as enemies away, just looking round to see how far it is occasionally. This entry contributed by Robert Jordahl around 10/5/99. The contributor(s) composed the song. "We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This, I Think Herbert's Getting Suspicious"Song 6 (extractable) from set Boy Mad
This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/21/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Duration 1:40 Fast - straightforward vocal part, tricky piano part, not virtuosic but needs lots of concentration to stay in place. Text Comments: The well-known English poet, George Herbert, never knew The well-known Polish poet Whose name is Herbert, too. I've tried to introduce them; It could have been so sweet, But George and Zbigniew Herbert Seem fated not to meet. Although they touch as neighbors On many bookstore shelves, They both defeat my labors To introduce their selves. I offered to unite them In friendship's sacred bond, But George and Zbigniew Herbert Neglected to respond. I get along with Auden; I think a lot of Lear; My love for Randall Jarrell Is infamously clear; It's hard to think that poets Should ever feel alone, But George and Zbigniew Herbert Must manage on their own This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/21/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. "Western Wind"Song 1 (extractable) from set Canzonettas
This entry contributed by G&K around 5/16/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Marked "Slow, wistful". Short piano prelude. Somewhat spare piano part. Lyrical. Text Comments: Western wind when will thou blow The small rain down can rain? Christ--if my love were in my arms And I in my bed again. This entry contributed by G&K around 5/18/99. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "What Grandpa told the Children"Song 1 (extractable) from set The Moon Songs
This entry contributed by Meredith Ryan Taylor around 5/7/00 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments:
A blend of tonality and modality. Soprano Rebekkah Graves said of the cycle, "I REALLY enjoyed it! Cheeky, and accessible without being simplistic, complex enough to be interesting without being absolutely impossible!"
Text Comments: American poet Vachel Lindsay (author of 'The Congo') composed a great number of moon poems, these texts are extracted from those poems. This entry contributed by Meredith Ryan Taylor around 5/7/00. The contributor(s) composed the song. Please contribute to the catalog
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