Product Description:
PDF score and parts of I Heard the Waves.
Program Note
I Heard the Waves sets five beautifully heartbreaking poems from Sara Teasdale’s By the Sea collection (Flame and Shadow, 1920). Each poem speaks to grief and the loss of love, with the hopefulness of reuniting in the afterlife. Throughout the texts, Teasdale beautifully paints raw, human emotions upon a backdrop of vibrant oceanic imagery – leaning into each of the senses as she explores her melancholy with a bittersweet fondness.
This song cycle presents each poem with a different medium. As a departure from the whimsicality of The Unchanging, movements II, III, and IV all feature soprano and solo instrument, rather than the whole ensemble. Movement V brings each instrument back, weaving together each of the colors and textures from the previous movements as the singer, for the first time, muses on hope.
This song cycle presents each poem with a different medium. As a departure from the whimsicality of The Unchanging, movements II, III, and IV all feature soprano and solo instrument, rather than the whole ensemble. Movement V brings each instrument back, weaving together each of the colors and textures from the previous movements as the singer, for the first time, muses on hope.
Instrumentation:
Soprano, Flute, Guitar & Cello
Text by Sara Teasdale, public domain
16 minutes
Vocal Range: C#4-B5
Text by Sara Teasdale, public domain
16 minutes
Vocal Range: C#4-B5
Recording:
Product Description:
Text:
I Heard the Waves (selections from Flame and Shadow)
The Unchanging
Sun-swept beaches with a light wind blowing
From the immense blue circle of the sea,
And the soft thunder where long waves whiten --
These were the same for Sappho as for me.
Two thousand years — much has gone by forever,
Change takes the gods and ships and speech of men –
But here on the beaches that time passes over
The heart aches now as then.
Oh Day of Fire and Sun
Oh day of fire and sun,
Pure as a naked flame,
Blue sea, blue sky and dun
Sands where he spoke my name;
Laughter and hearts so high
That the spirit flew off free,
Lifting into the sky
Diving into the sea;
Oh day of fire and sun
Like a crystal burning,
Slow days go one by one,
But you have no returning.
I Thought of You (1st stanza)
I thought of you and how you love this beauty,
And walking up the long beach all alone
I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder
As you and I once heard their monotone.
On the Dunes
If there is any life when death is over,
These tawny beaches will know much of me,
I shall come back, as constant and as changeful
As the unchanging, many-colored sea.
If life was small, if it has made me scornful,
Forgive me; I shall straighten like a flame
In the great calm of death, and if you want me
Stand on the sea-ward dunes and call my name.
If Death Is Kind
Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning,
We will come back to earth some fragrant night,
And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending
Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white.
We will come down at night to these resounding beaches
And the long gentle thunder of the sea,
Here for a single hour in the wide starlight
We shall be happy, for the dead are free.
- Sara Teasdale (Flame and Shadow, 1920)
The Unchanging
Sun-swept beaches with a light wind blowing
From the immense blue circle of the sea,
And the soft thunder where long waves whiten --
These were the same for Sappho as for me.
Two thousand years — much has gone by forever,
Change takes the gods and ships and speech of men –
But here on the beaches that time passes over
The heart aches now as then.
Oh Day of Fire and Sun
Oh day of fire and sun,
Pure as a naked flame,
Blue sea, blue sky and dun
Sands where he spoke my name;
Laughter and hearts so high
That the spirit flew off free,
Lifting into the sky
Diving into the sea;
Oh day of fire and sun
Like a crystal burning,
Slow days go one by one,
But you have no returning.
I Thought of You (1st stanza)
I thought of you and how you love this beauty,
And walking up the long beach all alone
I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder
As you and I once heard their monotone.
On the Dunes
If there is any life when death is over,
These tawny beaches will know much of me,
I shall come back, as constant and as changeful
As the unchanging, many-colored sea.
If life was small, if it has made me scornful,
Forgive me; I shall straighten like a flame
In the great calm of death, and if you want me
Stand on the sea-ward dunes and call my name.
If Death Is Kind
Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning,
We will come back to earth some fragrant night,
And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending
Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white.
We will come down at night to these resounding beaches
And the long gentle thunder of the sea,
Here for a single hour in the wide starlight
We shall be happy, for the dead are free.
- Sara Teasdale (Flame and Shadow, 1920)