No More

2015: DeLand, Florida

ca. 5-6 minutes

Soprano and Piano

Premiered by Cassandra Small and Jacob LyteHaven at Stetson University in March 2017.

Written for the 2016 Stetson University Composition Contest. Second Prize Winner.

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

A Night — there lay the Days between —
The Day that was Before —
And Day that was Behind — were one —
And now — 'twas Night — was here —

Slow — Night — that must be watched away —
As Grains upon a shore —
Too imperceptible to note —
Till it be night — no more —

Originally this song started out as a composition class project for voice and vibraphone. I enjoyed working with the text, but thought I could do a better job of setting it without the assignment constraints. That led to this revised version which was premiered on my undergraduate senior recital.

The score is available here.