SYLLABLES OF VELVET, SENTENCES OF PLUSH

SYLLABLES OF VELVET, SENTENCES OF PLUSH
7 Songs for Soprano and Piano
on Letters of Emily Dickinson

Publisher
Boosey & Hawkes

Catalog Number
M051933136

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Theodore Front

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Description
Emily Dickinson’s letters are wonderful self-portraits, beautifully expressing her unique personality. Possessing her characteristic wit and imagination, they are as lyrically inspired as her poetry, and intimately document her relationships with family members and friends: two of the letters were written to Susan Gilbert (Dickinson), who was courting Emily’s brother Austin; ‘To Eugenia Hall’ is the first letter to her cousin “Genie”, who was about twelve; Eudocia C. Flynt was a distant cousin, Emily Fowler (Ford) an early classmate, Samuel Bowles a family friend, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson was Emily’s lifelong mentor.

Text
1 – To Eudocia C. Flynt
2 – To T.W. Higginson
3 – To Emily Fowler (Ford)
4 – To Samuel Bowles the younger
5 – To Eugenia Hall
6 – To Susan Gilbert (Dickinson) I
7 – To Susan Gilbert (Dickinson) II

Vocal Range
G 3  :  G 5

Duration
13′ 00″

Vocal Tessitura
F 4  :  D 5

Year of Composition
1989

First Performance
March 10, 1991
Wellesley College
Wellesley, Massachusetts

First Performers
Jayne West, soprano
Karen Sauer, piano

Reviews
“[Jayne] West’s recital Sunday afternoon in the French Library with pianist Karen Sauer featured settings by seven composers of some of America’s finest poets, and the results were exceptional…Juliana Hall caught much of Emily Dickinson’s humor and gentle lyricism in seven songs drawn from her letters, ‘Syllables of Velvet, Sentences of Plush.’ A bright, extended tonality and a moving, spare lyricism allowed the texts to breathe. Her first setting of “To Susan Gilbert” was the most genuinely moving music of the afternoon.”

– Richard Dyer
   Boston Globe

“Hall’s music breathes vivid life into these simple yet beautiful words. Even at this very early stage in her life and career, Hall knew something about crafting music whose beauty could enhance the text at hand without drawing attention away from that text. This is masterful writing in every respect”

– Gregory Berg
   NATS Journal of Singing

Listen
Susan Narucki, soprano
Donald Berman, piano