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