Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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The Year - (2013)
Carl Sandburg
for soprano and piano
I
A storm of white petals,
Buds throwing open baby fists
Into hands of broad flowers.
II
Red roses running upward,
Clambering to the clutches of life
Soaked in crimson.
III
Rabbles of tattered leaves
Holding golden flimsy hopes
Against the tramplings
Into the pits and gullies.
IV
Hoarfrost and silence:
Only the muffling
Of winds dark and lonesome--
Great lullabies to the long sleepers.3 pages, circa 3' 10"
Carl Sandburg
The text is found in Sandburg's collection, Cornhuskers (1918). For other settings of Sandburg's texts, click here.
Imagery from the changing seasons in flowers and wind and chill. The vocal range moves in sometimes wide leaps as a filigree of accompaniment gestures shifts from color to color with the seasons.
The score for The Year 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.
