Emersonia
1. The Rhodora
2. Two Rivers
3. Give All To Love
4. Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson
For the texts of this piece I chose four poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was for a brief period a Unitarian minister in Boston. The four parts of this piece, “The Rhedora,” “Two Rivers,” “Give all to Love,” and “Concord Hymn,” are designed for an entire service: Prelude, Musical Interlude, Offertory, and Postlude respectively. “Concord Hymn” is best known for its line “and fired the shot heard round the world.” Emersonia is dedicated to Paul Cienniwa and the choir at First Church Boston who gave its premiere during the fall of 2011.
The music is largely tonal with frequent inflections of harmony drawn from the parallel minor, sometime known as modal interchange. Both the beginning and the end are mostly homophonic with the two interior sections being mostly polyphonic. “Two Rivers,” for example contains many examples of canonic imitation that reflect the textual idea of the two rivers. In all four sections appear many instances of text painting akin to those of the Renaissance madrigal.
June 10, 2012, First Church service. Also October 2, 2011. January 27, 2013, Collin Concert at the First Church Boston, Choir of First Church Boston
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