Teasdale Songs (2016)

Instrumentation:
SATB chorus

Duration: ca. 6’

Texts by Sara Teasdale (1884–1933)

II. June Night

Oh Earth, you are too dear tonight,
How can I sleep while all around
Floats rainy fragrance and the far
Deep voice of the ocean that talks to the ground?

Oh Earth, you gave me all I have,
I love you, I love you, -- oh what have I
That I can give you in return --
Except my body after I die?

I. There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Performance history:

1/2023: Austin, TX
Chorus Austin
Ryan Heller, conductor

5/2021: Kansas City, MO
William Baker Festival Singers
William Baker, conductor

2/2018: New York, NY & Bernardsville, NJ
Antioch Chamber Ensemble
Joshua Copeland, conductor

11/2016: Cambridge, MA
Antioch Chamber Ensemble
Joshua Copeland, conductor

7/2016: Paris, France
EAMA Chorale
Mark Shapiro, conductor