Product Description:
PDF score and parts of Not I Alone.
Program Note
Not I Alone explores the poetry of four female poets as they divulge their insecurities in an attempt to reconcile them within their respective realities. Though originally unrelated, this song cycle weaves together these diverse texts into a narrative which transforms the protagonist’s voice from despondency to one of solidarity and the realization that “not I alone am weak” but that many other people have lived through similar experiences and – if we are able to believe and support one another when we are at our most vulnerable – no one is truly alone.
Instrumentation:
Soprano, Harp, Piano, and Percussion
Text by Sara Teasdale, Emily Dickinson, Carolyn Quick, and Emma Lazarus
10 minutes
Vocal Range: Bb3-Bb5
Text by Sara Teasdale, Emily Dickinson, Carolyn Quick, and Emma Lazarus
10 minutes
Vocal Range: Bb3-Bb5
Recording:
Product Description:
Text:
I. The Song Maker
I made a hundred little songs
That told the joy and pain of love,
And sang them blithely, tho' I knew
No whit thereof.
I was a weaver deaf and blind;
A miracle was wrought for me,
But I have lost my skill to weave
Since I can see.
For while I sang — ah swift and strange!
Love passed and touched me on the brow,
And I who made so many songs
Am silent now.
-Sara Teasdale (1911)
II. I took my Power in my Hand
I took my Power in my Hand--
And went against the World--
'Twas not so much as David—had--
But I—was twice as bold--
I aimed by Pebble—but Myself
Was all the one that fell--
Was it Goliath—was too large--
Or was myself—too small?
- Emily Dickinson (1891)
III. Into the Night
Into the night I cast my fate;
What dreams shall bear me hence?
Will I awake with tear-filled eyes
Or smile in my defense?–
For I know not
Which way is up
Upon which star to pray,
And stumbl’ing into distant lands
I fear I’ve lost my way.
-Carolyn Quick (2016)
IV. Sympathy
Therefore I dare reveal my private woe,
The secret blots of my imperfect heart,
Nor strive to shrink or swell mine own desert,
Nor beautify nor hide. For this I know,
That even as I am, thou also art.
Thou past heroic forms unmoved shalt go,
To pause and bide with me, to whisper low:
"Not I alone am weak, not I apart
Must suffer, struggle, conquer day by day.
Here is my very cross by strangers borne,
Here is my bosom-sin wherefrom I pray
Hourly deliverance—this my rose, my thorn.
This woman my soul's need can understand,
Stretching o'er silent gulfs her sister hand."
-Emma Lazarus (1889)
I made a hundred little songs
That told the joy and pain of love,
And sang them blithely, tho' I knew
No whit thereof.
I was a weaver deaf and blind;
A miracle was wrought for me,
But I have lost my skill to weave
Since I can see.
For while I sang — ah swift and strange!
Love passed and touched me on the brow,
And I who made so many songs
Am silent now.
-Sara Teasdale (1911)
II. I took my Power in my Hand
I took my Power in my Hand--
And went against the World--
'Twas not so much as David—had--
But I—was twice as bold--
I aimed by Pebble—but Myself
Was all the one that fell--
Was it Goliath—was too large--
Or was myself—too small?
- Emily Dickinson (1891)
III. Into the Night
Into the night I cast my fate;
What dreams shall bear me hence?
Will I awake with tear-filled eyes
Or smile in my defense?–
For I know not
Which way is up
Upon which star to pray,
And stumbl’ing into distant lands
I fear I’ve lost my way.
-Carolyn Quick (2016)
IV. Sympathy
Therefore I dare reveal my private woe,
The secret blots of my imperfect heart,
Nor strive to shrink or swell mine own desert,
Nor beautify nor hide. For this I know,
That even as I am, thou also art.
Thou past heroic forms unmoved shalt go,
To pause and bide with me, to whisper low:
"Not I alone am weak, not I apart
Must suffer, struggle, conquer day by day.
Here is my very cross by strangers borne,
Here is my bosom-sin wherefrom I pray
Hourly deliverance—this my rose, my thorn.
This woman my soul's need can understand,
Stretching o'er silent gulfs her sister hand."
-Emma Lazarus (1889)