Let me love - (2013)
Sara Teasdale
for mezzo soprano and piano
for Marilyn
Until I lose my soul and lie
Blind to the beauty of the earth,
Deaf tho' a lyric wind goes by,
Dumb in a storm of mirth;
Until my heart is quenched at length
And I have left the land of men,
Oh, let me love with all my strength
Careless if I am loved again.
1 page, circa 2' 45"
Sara Teasdale
The text is originally titled, "A prayer", from the collection, Rivers to the Sea, published in 1915. For other settings of Teasdale's texts, click here.
The extremely simple pendulum between tonic and sub-dominant is decorated with a moving interior line adding the coloration against the triads. The setting is a simple verse form, which repeats the phrase of the second stanza, "let me love." For this the title is changed from the name in 1915 to this.
The score for Let me love 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.
Let me love