I Heard a Fly Buzz

 2017: Boston, Mass

ca. 5-6 minutes

Soprano Voice and Piano

Premiered by Hagar Adam and Yukiko Oba (Piano) at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, March 2018.

 This song uses the following text by American Poet Emily Dickinson:

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

The Stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air -

Between the Heaves of Storm -

The Eyes around - had wrung them dry -

And Breaths were gathering firm

For that last Onset - when the King

Be witnessed - in the Room -

I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away

What portion of me be

Assignable - and then it was

There interposed a Fly -

With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz -

Between the light - and me -

And then the Windows failed - and then

I could not see to see -

Throughout the song I work to have the singer represent both the fly as well as the protagonist of the poem. There is also a piano feature section that is intended to represent the distant storm referenced in the text. 

The score is available here.