Three Lullabies
in three movements Instrumentation: Tenor and Piano Completed: October 27, 2007 Dedicated to: Derek and Laura Chester Duration: 12 minutes Text: poems by Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881), William Shakespeare (1564-1616), and Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) Premiered: November 11, 2007, by Zachary Wadsworth, tenor, and Sezi Seskir, piano
|
 |
Winner of a 2008 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer AwardAudio
I. "Rockaby, lullaby"(Zachary Wilder, tenor; David Kim, piano)
II. "You spotted snakes..."(Zachary Wilder, tenor; David Kim, piano)
III. "Under the Silver Moon"(Zachary Wilder, tenor; David Kim, piano)
Program Note
The three poems in this set of lullabies reveal their genre’s true emotional complexity. Traditionally, the lullaby song is one sung by a parent to their child in order to lull them to sleep. Below this simple and tender surface, however, lies a more complicated emotional landscape, steeped in parents’ anxieties about the safety of their child in a dangerous world.
The first song follows many lullaby conventions: triple meters, a tendency towards flat keys, and a folk-like, strophic melody. This simple tune, though, floats above a harmonically turbulent accompaniment, painting the poem’s lurking dichotomy of “wonderland” versus “underland.” The second song is set in a triumphant (if ridiculous) bel canto, evoking more the opera house than the rocking-chair. Its extravagantly nightmarish symbolism and momentary lapses into dreamy melody paint a picture of heroic conquest, where sleep is only won through gallant defense from the many fearsome creatures lurking close by. The final song, drenched in a new mother’s anxiety for her husband’s safe return from sea, occupies an altogether darker universe than the previous songs. Here, the throbbing rhythm of the ocean wind is a constant reminder of her husband’s perilous distance. Despite her fears, the mother, with great hope, sings her restless child to sleep.
These lullabies are dedicated to Laura and Derek Chester, on the birth of their first son, Zachary.
Performances (6)
| November 11, 2007, 8:00 pm (premiere) | Zachary Wadsworth, tenor; Sezi Seskir, piano Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY |
| April 17, 2008, 6:30 pm | Zachary Wilder, tenor; David Kim, piano Moores School of Music, University of Houston, TX |
| September 9, 2009, 3:00 pm (first song only) | Milton Rodriguez, tenor; Andrés Gomez, piano Universidad EAFIT, Medellín, Colombia |
| January 27, 2010, 9:30 pm | Dennis Tobenski, tenor; Marc Peloquin, piano The Duplex, Christopher Street, New York, NY |
| September 24, 2010, 7:00 pm | Christopher A. Smith, tenor Church of St. John the Evangelist, Boston, MA |
| August 23, 2011, 7:30 pm | Tony Boutté, tenor, Gabriel Dobner, piano Central United Methodist Church, Staunton, VA |