Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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A Vase of Carnations - (2005 / rev. 2009)
Gary Bachlund
for high voice and piano
for Lynn Slawson
This life shows me interesting vistas, I dream,
A hodgepodge of hallucinations;
And things are not always the things that they seem;
And I am a vase of carnations.
[ 1 page, circa 20" ]
A Vase of Carnations
Originally, this setting was composed in 2005 to the lovely four-line nonsense of Dorothy Parker's quixotic Marie of Roumania, which begins "Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song, / A medley of extemporanea..." Weighing paying estate royalties in advance for a few lines such as these or penning a parallel text, I opted to create the text above, holding alongside however respect for the creativity of Ms. Parker and her work.
How long must a song be? Only as long as to be able to carry the ´message of the text clearly to an audience. Less than a minute, this wee setting bubbles along like far too little sparkling wine served; one expects more when none is forthcoming. How long must a song be? As long as twenty-four minutes and 42 pages, as should one find on this site both of these extremes. This is perhaps as short a song as I have composed -- twenty silly seconds. Enjoy.
The score for A Vase of Carnations is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
