Domination of Black (text by Wallace Stevens)
May 17, 1980, Paul Hall, Juilliard School, Daureen Podenski, soprano I, Lynn Yakes, soprano II, Anna Sofus, alto, Jeffrey Thomas, tenor, Greer Grimsley, bass, and George Tsontakis, conductor.
Modus Novus, San Francisco, February 18, 1996, St. Gregory’s Church; and December 18, 1995, San Francisco; April 11, 1984, The Boston Conservatory, Rebecca Gorlin, Margarete Faddick, sopranos 1 + 2, Eriko Terada (3), Rosemary Dowd + Amy Hertel, altos, James Bonarrigo and Joseph Scott, tenors, William DeVane + Bert Yocum, basses, Larry Bell, conducting.
“Domination of Black” was written in 1971 and like my “Novelette” remained unperformed until 1980. In this concise canonic madrigal I tried to maintain Wallace Stevens’s scansion as well as to project the representational content of the poem, which is, I think, the ominous approach of death. The first performance was given at Juilliard’s Paul Hall in April 1980.
See “A Cry Against the Twilight,” op. 42.
More Vocal and Choral Works
The Prism of the Lyre, Opus 197
Seven Principles for SATB chorus acapella No. 7, Opus 193
In Common Things for soprano and piano, Opus 190 no. 2
Music when soft voices die, no. 1, Opus 190 no. 1
The Shadows Fall So Gently, Opus 181
Parables of Love and Death, Opus 173
A Hymnbook for Congregational Singing, Opus 169
The Harp at Nature's Advent, Opus 167
Thou God of Love, Thou Ever Blessed, Opus 164
Blest Are the Sons of Peace, Opus 16
O God our Help in Ages Past, Opus 162
Awake our Souls, Away our Fears, Opus 160
Once to Every Soul and Nation, Opus 144
Arrangements of Congregational Music for Thanksgiving, Opus 142
I'm Just A Poor Wayfaring Stranger, Opus 131
And Am I Born to Die?, Opus 129
Fancies, a cycle of five songs for Tenor and Piano, Opus 117
Revels, A cycle of ten songs for Baritone Voice and Piano, Opus 114
The Echolocations of Cellos, Opus 108
The Seasons, A Cantata, Opus 101
Summer: The Fragrant Pathway of Eternity, Opus 100
Spring: In the Pendulum of My Body, Opus 99
Duet from Holy Ghosts, Opus 93
Winter: Exaltations of Snowy Stars, Opus 929
Unchanging Love, a hymn based on a text by Romulus Linney, Opus 87
Fall: Autumnal Raptures, a song cycle for Tenor and Harp, Opus 86
Songs of Time and Eternity, Opus 64
Ten Poems of William Blake, Opus 53
“The Immortal Beloved”, Opus 50
A Cry Against the Twilight, Opus 42
“Prologue” and “The End of the World”, Opus 14
Reality Is an Activity of the Most August Imagination, Opus 8