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chansons innocentes (1923) - (1983)
E. E. Cummings
for high voice and piano
i.
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
ii.
hist whist
little ghostthings
tip-toe
twinkle-toe
little twitchy
witches and tingling
goblins
hob-a-nob hob-a-nob
little hoppy happy
toad in tweeds
tweeds
little itchy mousies
with scuttling
eyes rustle and run and
hidehidehide
whisk
whisk look out for the old woman
with the wart on her nose
what she’ll do to yer
nobody knows
for she knows the devil ooch
the devil ouch
the devil
ach the great
green
dancing
devil
devil
devil
devil
wheeEEE
iii.
Tumbling-hair
picker of buttercups
violets
dandelions
And the big bullying daisies
through the field wonderful
with eyes a little sorry
Another comes
also picking flowers
In Tulips and Chimneys (1923)
[ 8 pages, circa 4' 40" ]
E. E. Cummings
The typographic oddities in these early Cummings poems are only part of the enjoyment, for the imagery remains paramount, captured in word and thereafter hopefully to be illustrated in the musical settings. As of 2019, these texts, once under copyright in the US over a ninety-five year period, are become part of the public domain and are made available here as such.
The spacing of the text in its various lines, and the line breaks themselves, are used to generate intervals and breaks in the melodic phrasing. Thus it is possible to claim that the poet assisted in the pitch selection and phrasing. Blurring the accompaniment with the sostenuto pedal is encouraged, such that the washes of harmonic colors underpinning the vocal line has soft edges.
The humor of the second text is punctuated with parallel chords in the accompaniment and sometimes conflicting harmonic structures.
The elegiac setting of this text is one of light dissonance and tonal domains somewhat distant from one another at the beginning. How shall "with eyes a little sorry" be read? As reacting to the disturbance of "another" or at the occasion of picking flowers? A small postlude for the piano alone continues the mood, ending in a hushed dissonance.
The score 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.
8 ½ x 11 edition
