This work is a cycle of fourteen songs based on selected poems from Dennis Cooley’s 1984 collection Bloody Jack. These poems relate to the life of John Krafchenko, a Hungarian immigrant to Canada who became a notorious outlaw. The music was originally composed between 2015 and 2017, and revised in 2020. The piece is dedicated to performers Laura Loewen and Dawn Bruch.
These are orchestrations of six songs from Hugo Wolf’s Mörike Lieder:
Ein Stündlein wohl vor Tag
Der Gärtner
Zitronenfalter im April
An den Schlaf
Erstes Liebeslied eines Mädchens
Nixe Binsefuß
They were written for soprano Sarah Kirsch, conductor Wanda Kaluzny and the Montreal Chamber Orchestra.
All of the poems are concerned with the subject of time: time that is wasted, the unceasing nature of time, the perishability of beauty in time, our desire to change our experience of the flow of time, the finality of time, time and timelessness. I think that they fit together beautifully as a cycle, and I have been holding on to them for a number of years waiting for an opportunity to set them. This opportunity came in the form of a commission from Wanda Kaluzny and the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, which I was pleased to fulfill. The works were written for soprano Sarah Kirsch.
A song cycle based on poetry by Dennis Cooley
Commissioned by Dawn Bruch and Laura Loewen
This work is a setting of a poem by Dennis Cooley
when you leave me
will you
slip
under
breath
leave me
where you bend
near
sleep
or wake
will you, then
slip your
arm from
under my breath
your breath )
falling back
into
small garden
carbon dioxide has
bloomed & died in
under my breath
back into when
you love me
& when you leave
will you still leave me
breathing will you
take my breath away
Dennis Cooley
from Sunfall, © 1996
used by permission
Six Poems of Novica Tadic is a group of setting by this exceptional poet from the former Yugoslavia. One of the most respected poets of his generation, Tadic was born in 1949 in a small village in Montenegro and has lived most of his life in Belgrade. His collections include Presences, Death in a Chair,Maw, Fiery Hen, Foul Language, The Object of Ridicule, Street, Sparrow Hawk and others. For this setting I have used English translations by American poet Charles Simic.
Tadic depicts a dark and sardonic and unsettling Boschian world, yet within that world I find both innocence and lyricism, and a strangely expressive beauty. In setting these poems I have tried to keep this incongruity in mind.
I loved Tadic’s poetry when I first came across it several years ago, and immediately resolved to set some of his texts when the right moment arrived. This turned out to be when Michelle Mourre and I were planning this concert last year, and deciding that we would have strings, harp and percussion for this concert. It seemed to perfect opportunity both to use these poems and to work again with Michelle and with mezzo-soprano Mireille Lebel, who, respectively, conducted and created the title role in my the world premiere of my opera Prince Kaspar a few years ago. This work is dedicated to them both.
Composed 2008
For Mezzo Soprano and Chamber Orchestra
Premiered October 27 and 28, Brandon and Winnipeg
A co-production of GroundSwell and the Brandon Chamber Players
Mireille Lebel – Mezzo Soprano
Michelle Mourre – Conductor
This work was commissioned by Elroy Friesen and the University of Manitoba Singers for their 2008 tour of Argentina and Paraguay. The commission was made possible with financial assistance from the Manitoba Arts Council.
Text:
Peso ancestral
Tú me dijiste: no lloró mi padre;
Tú me dijiste: no lloró mi abuelo;
No han llorado los hombres de me raza,
Eran de acero.
Así diciendo te brotó una lágrima
Y me cayó en la boca… más veneno.
Yo no he bebido nunca en otro vaso
Así pequeño.
Débil mujer, pobre mujer que entiende,
Dolor de siglos conocí al beberlo:
Oh, el alma mía soportar no puede
Todo su peso.
1919
Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938)
Ancestral Burden
Once you told me my father never wept;
Once you told me his father never wept;
The men of my line have never wept
They were made of steel.
As you were saying this your cried a tear
That dropped into my mouth… I have never
drunk more of poison than I did
from that little cup.
Vulnerable woman, poor and comprehending woman,
When I tasted it I knew the pain of centuries.
Oh, my soul cannot endure
All of its burden.
translated Andrew Rosing