Resounding Verse

I head back to university teaching tomorrow—and I know many teachers and students who are already back at it. In honor of this back-to-school season, here's an episode on a wild and wonderful song by New-York-based composers Lainie Fefferman and Jascha Narveson. In addition to composing a wide variety of music as individual artists, they are part of a synth-pop duo called The Beverage Station. The duo will release a full album, including this song, on May 30, 2025, from Gold Bolus Recordings.  Labor DayLainie FeffermanBrand-new facesFamiliar hallsTracking pacesFeel it in my throatBones breakBack achesI could punch through wallsAnd then there's youHeart explosionsArms aglowBig emotionsPack up its time to goHours comeSeconds goCut to my fun walk homeWhere there is youFamiliar facesBrand-new hallsMaking spacesSharing all I loveCalm comesBack strokeKeeping tallies of smiles and cheersI know I've lost what I'm doing here

On September 27, 2024, Signum Records will release a recording of Rodrigo Ruiz's cycle of seventeen songs, Venus & Adonis, based on William Shakespeare's poem of the same name. In this episode, I dive into one of my favorite songs from the cycle, where Venus takes Adonis's hand and entreats him to open his heart to her.For more information about Rodrigo Ruiz, you can find him on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkTree.You can also learn more about his songs from this page on my website Art Song Augmented, and from this episode on his setting of a poem by Heinrich Heine.The recording in this episode features soprano Grace Davidson and pianist George Herbert, who also appear on the forthcoming album of the cycle.Frosty in DesireWilliam Shakespeare (adapted by Rodrigo Ruiz)POETWith this she seizeth on his sweating palm,and trembling in her passion, calls it balm,Earth’s sovereign salve to do a goddess good.Pure shame and awed resistance made him fret,which bred more beauty in his angry eyes.So fastened in her arms Adonis lies;still is he sullen, still he lours and frets,'twixt crimson shame and anger ashy pale.Still she entreats, and prettily entreats;     she red as coals of glowing fire,     he frosty in desire.(25, 27–8, 69–70, 68, 75–6, 73, 35–6)

The Mass for the Endangered, by Nathaniel Bellows and Sarah Kirkland Snider, appeals not to God but to nature itself and (in Snider's words) takes the "musical modes of spiritual contemplation" associated with the Latin mass and applies them to "concern for non-human life—animals, plants, and the environment." The third movement of the Mass, "Alleluia," describes the brutal destruction of the natural world yet at the same time offers a promise of renewal.The episode features a recording of the movement by Gallicantus, under the direction of Gabriel Crouch; an album of the entire Mass was released in 2020 by New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records. If you're interested in learning about another haunting collaboration by Bellows and Snider, check out my podcast episode on "The River," from their song cycle Unremembered.AlleluiaNathaniel BellowsSea of cradle, foundling,current, cold and quelled as morning.Braid of vapored ashes,shadowed creche, collapsing.Contour, carve, corrode—breathe through camphor, coal,seed each breeze with gold.Poison, parch, pollute—plow the coast, the dune,flow toward constant moon. AlleluiaHearth of stone, of tar, of lava,shelter shielding mother.Oh, save us mother!   She who is sleeping,Is she who will wake.  Fracture, foist, defoul—shatter cliff and shoal,sand each stone to whole.Harbored, held, unharmed—she’ll wake, rise, rejoin,her daughters and her sons. Alleluia

The title track from Rhiannon Giddens's recent album You're the One—which was just released by Nonesuch Records—is a love song, but not one about two adults; it's about a moment Giddens experienced with her newborn son, pressing her cheek against his and realizing that her world would never be the same again.In this episode I reference a book by Matt BaileyShea called Lines and Lyrics: An Introduction to Poetry and Song. If you're interested in learning more about how words and music relate in pop songs and art songs and everything in between, I'd urge  you check out his book. It's superb, and really accessible to specialists and non-specialists alike.You're the Oneby Rhiannon Giddens (the song was cowritten with Lalenja Harrington)I knew you were the one  Were my one and only And I knew  That you would always know me  Cause you were the one  Who kept me from feeling  So sad and lonely in my life andI never knew  Life could be so wonderful That there could be someone  Who was so beautiful And I never knew  That I could be so free  To love someone like you and I wanna love you forever And I’ll be with you  For worse and for better And I never thought I’d fall  But you’re the one  I thought my life was drawn  In shades of gray and  That washow I would live my everyday and  Aimless no direction foundMy destiny was going through the motions of a life andThen you came along  With your sweet sweet smile and  Then you put your cheek  Right next to mine and  All those shades of gray slowly turned into a  New technicolor world and  I’m gonna love you forever  And I’ll be with you  For worse and for better  And I never thought I’d fall  And I’m gonna love you forever and  I’ll be with you for worse and for better  And I never thought I’d fall  But you’re the one  You’re the one Your smile contains the sunRays of glory  You’re the one

Have you ever felt as though a single moment—gazing into someone's eyes, listening to a passage of music, looking at a landscape—transports you to another realm? Maurice Bouchor's poem is about just this kind of experience, an experience that the French composer Mel Bonis transforms into a magical sound world that deftly blends Romanticism and Impressionism.The episode features a recording of the song by Hélène Guilmette and Matin Dubé, from an album called L'Heure Rose. For more information about Mel Bonis, go to the Mel Bonis website, maintained by Christine Géliot. You can also learn more about her songs at my website Art Song Augmented.Songe (an excerpt from Vers le pur amour)by Maurice BouchorGuidé par de beaux yeux candides,Dans ma barque féerique aux reflets d'argent fin,Vers l'amour, je voudrais faire voile sans finSur des rêves bleus et splendides,Vers l'amour dont le souffle fraisBerce des champs de fleurs dans une île enchantéeEt qui, pour apaiser mon âme tourmentée,M'ouvrira de saintes forêts.Et plus tard, quand, loin de la terre,O Viola ! Guérie des brûlantes langueurs,Nous irons caresser les songes de nos coeursDans l'île heureuse du mystère.Dans le libre ciel des esprits,Quand nous aurons quitté la nature mortelle,Ne goûterons-nous pas une paix éternelle ?Rêveusement, tu me souris.———Guided by beautiful, innocent eyes,In my magic boat with reflections of fine silver,Toward love I would like to sail endlesslyOn blue and splendid dreams.Toward love, whose fresh breathCradles fields of flowers in an enchanted island,And which, to appease my tormented soul,Will open holy forests to me. And later, far from the earth,O Viola, cured of burning languor,We will go to caress the dreams of our heartsOn the happy island of mystery.In the free sky of the spirits,When we have left our mortal nature,Will we not taste eternal peace?Dreamily, you smile at me.

Arthur Symons's poem captures a lazy June afternoon, with a fountain burbling and the moon hanging in the sky, waiting for the coming of night. Elizabeth Maconchy transforms the poem into a song of mesmerizing stillness and beauty.The episode features a world-premiere recording by soprano Joanna Songi and pianist Matthew Fletcher, based on an unpublished manuscript found in the Maconchy archive at St. Hilda's College, Oxford. You can find a YouTube video of their performance here.For an illuminating look at Maconchy's life and work, see the final chapter of Anna Beer's book Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music.Also please check out the Maconchy page on my website Art Song Augmented, which includes another recording by Songi and Fletcher, as well as additional resources and access to scores.In Fountain Courtby Arthur SymonsThe fountain murmuring of sleep,A drowsy tune;The flickering green of leaves that keepThe light of June;Peace, through a slumbering afternoon,The peace of June.A waiting ghost, in the blue sky,The white curved moon;June, hushed and breathless, waits, and IWait too, with June;Come, through the lingering afternoon,Soon, love, come soon.

The Haitian-American composer Nathalie Joachim transforms a Haitian hymn, and in so doing creates a multi-layered tapestry of sound that evokes the many voices of Haiti—past, present, and future."Resevwa Li" comes from Joachim's Grammy-nominated 2019 album Fanm d'Ayiti (New Amsterdam Records), featuring the Spektral Quartet.Resevwa LiMen n’ap proche devan ou GranmètAvèk tout ti kado n yo papaLi mèt tout piti kou li ye,Tanpri resevwa liAdye papa soupleKisa pou m ta ba ouOu ki fè tout bagayOu ki mèt tout bagayKado nou pot pou ouSe tout jefò n ap fePou peyi n devlopePou lavi nou pi bèl.Receive ThemWe come before you, GodWith all of our little gifts, FatherAs little as they may bePlease receive themOh father, pleaseWhat should I give youYou, who make everythingYou, who create everythingThe gifts we bring to youAre all of our effortsTo benefit our countryFor our lives to be the most beautifultranslation by Nathalie Joachim

Connie Converse was one of the first singer-songwriters, an uncommon talent who predated Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. But she was barely known in her day, and after making a handful of low-fi recordings in the 1950s, she disappeared in 1974. Her songs weren't widely known until some of those low-fi recordings were released on CD in 2009. This episode looks at one of her most affecting songs, which appears on Walking in the Dark, a recent album by soprano Julia Bullock, in an arrangement by Jeremy Siskind. Julia Bullock performs the song with Christian Reif.For more information on Connie Converse's songs, go to her page on my website, Art Song Augmented. Also, be on the lookout for Howard Fishman's book about Connie Converse, To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse, which is forthcoming in May 2023.One by OneConnie ConverseWe go walking in the dark. We go walking out at night.And it's not as lovers go,Two by two, to and fro,But it's one by one.One by one in the darkWe go walking out at night.As we wander through the grassWe can hear each other pass,But we're far apart.Far apart in the darkWe go walking out at night.With the grass so dark and tallWe are lost past recallIf the moon is down.And the moon is down.We are walking in the dark.If I had your hand in mine,I could shine, I could shineLike the morning sun,Like the sun.

We know very little about the German composer Marie von Kehler (1822–1882), who served as a "lady in waiting" to a princess and seems to have been acquainted with Johannes Brahms. But we do know that she wrote over eighty songs that were published over a decade after her death—none of which had ever been recorded until Stephan Loges and Jocelyn Freeman recorded four of them for my website Art Song Augmented. This episode looks at one of the best Kehler song's, a setting of a poem by Julius Sturm about a strange prayer that someone says to a beloved who has wounded him.For more information on Marie von Kehler's songs, go to her page on Art Song Augmented and check out my blog post on her on the Women's Song Forum.Nur einmal möcht' ich dir noch sagenJulius SturmNur einmal möcht' ich dir noch sagen,Wie du unendlich lieb mir bist,Wie dich, so lang mein Herz wird schlagen,Auch meine Seele nie vergißt.Kein Wörtlein solltest du erwidern,Nur freundlich mir in's Auge sehn,Ja, mit gesenkten AugenlidernNur stumm und schweigend vor mir stehn.Ich aber legte meine HändeDir betend auf das schöne Haupt,Damit dir Gott den Frieden sende,Den meiner Seele du geraubt.———Just once yet I would like to tell youHow endlessly dear you are to me,How as long as my heart still beatsMy soul, too, will never forget you.You need not reply with a single word,Just look kindly into my eyes,Yes, with lowered eyelidsJust stand before me, speechless and quiet.But I laid my handsPrayerfully upon your beautiful head,So that God might send you the peaceThat you have stolen from me.Thanks to Sharon Krebs for her help with the English translation.

Carolyn Forché's 46-page poem "On Earth" forms the basis for a song cycle called The Blue Hour, which was composed by five women—Caroline Shaw, Shara Nova, Rachel Grimes, Angelica Negrón, and Sarah Kirkland Snider—and just released on CD this month by Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records. This episode looks at one of Caroline Shaw's contributions to the cycle, a song that embraces Bach and plainchant and, in just over three minutes, captures the immensity of time and the cosmos. The episode features a recording of the song by the chamber ensemble A Far Cry, with Shara Nova.You can find the score to The Blue Hour here. Please also check out my episode on Caroline Shaw's "A Gradual Dazzle." Firmamentan excerpt from Carolyn Forché's "On Earth"firmament, fissure, flare stars, frottagefragments from the Second Brandenburgfresh wind of the linensfrom a gloved hand a flaming bottlefrom chance to chance, event to eventfrom earth to satellite, event to eventfrom our last train ride through the ricefieldsfrom the cathedral comes Kyrie

Francis Jammes's poem depicts two lovers who sit on a bench, alone together under the shade of overhanging branches. But it's not clear if the scene is real or imaginary. In her setting of the text, Lili Boulanger heightens the poem's sense of mystery—and also the poetic speaker's anxiety that the blissful moment may only be a figment of his imagination.You can find the score to Boulanger's song here.The episode features the a recording of the song by tenor Nicholas Phan and pianist Myra Huang, from their CD Clairières: Songs by Lili and Nadia Boulanger. Learn more about Boulanger's songs, access her scores, and hear another performance by Phan and Huang on my website Art Song Augmented, an online forum devoted to songs by underrepresented composers.Nous nous aimerons tantby Francis JammesNous nous aimerons tant que nous tairons nos mots,en nous tendant la main, quand nous nous reverrons.Vous serez ombragée par d'anciens rameauxsur le banc que je sais où nous nous assoirons.Donc nous nous assoirons sur ce banc, tous deux seuls.D'un long moment, ô mon amie, vous n'oserez...Que vous me serrez douce et que je tremblerai...We will love each other so much that we won't speak but just stretch out our hands to each other when we see each other again. You will be in the shadow of ancient branches, on the bench where I know we will sit. So we'll sit on that bench, alone together.For a long moment, o my sweetheart, you won't dare... How sweet you will be to me, and how I will tremble...

Thomas Walsh's poem and Mary Turner Salter's setting of it capture the moment between day and night—and the desire to linger in that moment as long as possible.The episode features the first-ever recording of Mary Turner Salter's "Afterglow," performed by soprano Camille Ortiz and pianist Gustavo Castro and engineered by Joseph Wenda. I commissioned the recording for Art Song Augmented, my website devoted to art songs by underrepresented composers. Learn more about Salter's songs, access her song scores, and hear three other performances by Ortiz and Castro on her Art Song Augmented page.You can find the score to Salter's song here and a video recording here.Afterglowby Thomas WalshOver the orchard one great star;The mellow moon—; and the harvest done;And the cheek of the river crimsoned farFrom the kiss of the vanished sun.

Nathaniel Bellows’ poem and Sarah Kirkland Snider's haunting setting of it—from her song cycle Unremembered—revisit the site of a childhood trauma and meditate on innocence and the mechanisms of memory.  The performance of the song features vocalists Padma Newsome, DM Stith, and Shara Worden, and the Unremembered Orchestra (members of ACME, Alarm Will Sound, ICE, The Knights, and Sō Percussion), conducted by Edwin Outwater. In the episode I discuss Nathaniel Bellows' illustration that accompanies his poem; you can find this illustration, as well as the others associated with the song cycle, on the Unremembered website.The Riverby Nathaniel BellowsOn the banksThe wash so brownThe shadows blueThey’re blackI saw the formAstride the loamSplayed out uponIts backA bear, a dogA bed, a logA child’s eyesAre pureUntil the handsOf the missing manWere clear againstThe dewThe river’s flowA blackened bowThat tied aroundOur townHad sapped his lifeLike a lantern’s lightBuriedUnderground

Anne Carson's poem and Caroline Shaw's mesmerizing setting of it meditate on the feeling of being in and out of time.The recording of the song, which appears on the album Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part (Nonesuch, 2021), features Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion (Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting).

The 21st-century Mexican composer Rodrigo Ruiz sets a text by the 19th-century German writer Heinrich Heine. In so doing, Ruiz channels 19th-century musical style and offers a deeply moving interpretation of a poem about the loss of love and the death of an artistic tradition that Heine once held dear.The performance of the song features soprano Grace Davidson and pianist Christopher Glynn.The song appears on the CD An Everlasting Dawn.  Check out Ruiz's recent CD of chamber works, Behold the Stars, on the Signum Classics label, and be on the lookout for Signum's release of his song cycle Venus & Adonis.Sag, wo ist dein schönes Liebchenby Heinrich HeineSag, wo ist dein schönes Liebchen,Das du einst so schön besungen,Als die zaubermächtgen FlammenWunderbar dein Herz durchdrungen?Jene Flammen sind erloschen,Und mein Herz ist kalt und trübe,Und dies Büchlein ist die UrneMit der Asche meiner Liebe.———Tell me, where is your beautiful sweetheartThat you once sang of so beautifully When the magical flames of loveWonderfully pierced your heart?Each flame is burnt out,And my heart is cold and grey,And this little book is the urnWith the ashes of my love.

Kendra Preston Leonard's poem and Lisa Neher's song—about a man who sells fresh fruit on a summer day—celebrate something sumptuous where we would least expect it.The performance of the song is by Arwen Myers, who is also featured in a previous episode about a song by Florence Price.Be sure to check out other collaborations by Kendra Preston Leonard and Lisa Neher,  especially the works in their micro-opera festival. Strawberry Manby Kendra Preston LeonardThe Strawberry Manand his little pinto ponySweetness, slakedin the city streetPoem reproduced with permission from the author

Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of the most famous poems in the English language, and it has been set to music by many composers. This episode explores an extraordinarily inventive setting by the Black American composer Margaret Bonds (1913–1972), recently recorded by bass-baritone Justin Hopkins and pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers.This recording comes from a playlist created by Hopkins and Cilliers, which includes performances of music by Florence Price and Margaret Bonds.To access a published score to the song, see Louise Toppin's anthology Rediscovering Margaret Bonds: Art Songs, Spirituals, Musical Theater and Popular Songs. Toppin, a professor of voice at University of Michigan who has been a longtime advocate for Bonds's music and the music of other African American composers, has also done a wonderful video recording of the song. See also the list of Bonds works published by Hildegard Publishing Company.Learn more about Bonds's songs, access her song scores, and hear another performance by Hopkins and Ciliers on Art Song Augmented, my website devoted to art songs by underrepresented composers.Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Eveningby Robert FrostWhose woods these are I think I know.   His house is in the village though;   He will not see me stopping here   To watch his woods fill up with snow.   My little horse must think it queer   To stop without a farmhouse near   Between the woods and frozen lake   The darkest evening of the year.  He gives his harness bells a shake   To ask if there is some mistake.   The only other sound’s the sweep   Of easy wind and downy flake.  The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   But I have promises to keep,   And miles to go before I sleep,   And miles to go before I sleep.

In Julia Johnson Davis's poem "To My Little Son," a mother imagines what her baby boy will look like when he's twenty-one years old, and wonders whether, when he's grown up, she'll see glimmers of the boy in the man. Thinking of her own son, Florence Price turned to Davis's poem and created a song that is nuanced, affecting, and deeply personal. The recording of “To My Little Son” is by soprano Arwen Myers and pianist Monica Ohuchi. Learn more about Price's songs, access scores, and hear video performances of her songs by bass-baritone Justin Hopkins and pianist Jeanne-Minette Cilliers, and countertenor Darryl Taylor and pianist Deborah Hollist on Art Song Augmented, my website devoted to art songs by underrepresented composers.To My Little Sonby Julia Johnson DavisIn your face I sometimes seeShadowings of the man to be,And eager, dream of what my son Shall be in twenty years and one.But when you are to manhood grown,And all your manhood ways are known,Then shall I, wistful, try to traceThe child you once were in your face.

In Nikolaus Lenau's poem "Scheideblick" (Parting Glance) a man leaves his beloved and, as he departs, imagines sinking his happiness into the ocean. Josephine's Lang's setting of the poem evokes the ebb and flow of the sea, and also the ebb and flow of the emotions associated with it.For more on Josephine Lang, see Harald and Sharon Krebs's book Josephine Lang: Her Life and Songs. The recording of “Scheideblick” is by mezzo-soprano Milagro Vargas and pianist Susan Manoff. Learn more about Lang's songs, access her song scores, and hear video performances of six of her songs by tenor Kyle Stegall and pianist Eric Zivian on Art Song Augmented, my website devoted to art songs by underrepresented composers.Scheideblickby Nikolaus LenauAls ein unergründlich WonnemeerStrahlte mir dein tiefer Seelenblick;Scheiden musst’ ich ohne Wiederkehr,Und ich habe scheidend all mein GlückStill versenkt in dieses tiefe Meer.Like an unfathomable ocean of joyYour soulful gaze shone for me;I had to take leave, knowing I would never return,And as I departed I quietly sank All my happiness into this deep ocean.

The protagonist in Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem looks upon a tree that has died and wonders what caused it to wither. She stands apart from the scene, awed and perplexed, but at a crucial moment enters the scene and takes a decisive action. In H. Leslie Adams's song, that action seems even more decisive—and even more brutal.The recording of "Branch by Branch" is by Darryl Taylor and Robin Guy, and comes from a CD called Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams.Branch by Branchby Edna St. Vincent MillayBranch by branch this tree has died.Green only is one last boughMoving its leaves in the sun.What evil ate its root,What blight,What ugly thing?Let the mole say,The bird sing,Or the white worm behind the shedding barkTick in the dark.You and I have only one thing to do,Saw, saw, saw the trunk through.