Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Love - (2014)
Lewis Carroll
for medium voice and piano
Say, what is the spell, when her fledglings are cheeping,
That lures the bird home to her nest?
Or wakes the tired mother, whose infant is weeping,
To cuddle and croon it to rest?
What's the magic that charms the glad babe in her arms,
Till it cooes with the voice of the dove?
'Tis a secret, and so let us whisper it low —
And the name of the secret is Love!
For I think it is Love,
For I feel it is Love,
For I'm sure it is nothing but Love!
Say, whence is the voice that, when anger is burning,
Bids the whirl of the tempest to cease?
That stirs the vexed soul with an aching — a yearning
For the brotherly hand-grip of peace?
Whence the music that fills all our being — that thrills
Around us, beneath, and above?
'Tis a secret; none knows how it comes, how it goes;
But the name of the secret is Love!
For I think it is Love,
For I feel it is Love,
For I'm sure it is nothing but Love!
Say, whose is the skill that paints valley and hill,
Like a picture so fair to the sight?
That flecks the green meadow with sunshine and shadow,
Till the little lambs leap with delight?
'Tis a secret untold to hearts cruel and cold,
Though 'tis sung by the angels above,
In notes that ring clear for the ears that can hear —
And the name of the secret is Love!
For I think it is Love,
For I feel it is Love,
For I'm sure it is nothing but Love!4 pages, circa 4' 20"
Lewis Carroll
The text is drawn from the anthology, "The Hunting of the Snark and Other Poems and Verses," by Lewis Carroll. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1903.
Triadic harmonies with added sevenths and seconds move between tonic and mediant major, through to a rhapsodic refrain for each strophe. The setting repeats the two stanzas and then a variation in tonality and coda carry the third.
The score for 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.
