5 Songs for Soprano and Piano
on poems by Marianne Moore
Publisher
E. C. Schirmer Music Company
Catalog Number
8586
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Classical Vocal Reprints
E. C. Schirmer Music Company
J. W. Pepper
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Presto Sheet Music
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E. C. Schirmer Music Company
Description
The title “Propriety” comes from an archaic use of that word, meaning the “peculiarity” or “essential quality” of a person or thing, and in the case of this song cycle that subject is classical music itself. From the poet’s appreciation of Renaissance choral writing, to a dream in which she imagines Bach being lured by an American university to come teach young composers (along with five harpsichords!), to a poem depicting violinist Isaac Stern working to save Carnegie Hall from demolition, this cycle offers brilliantly colorful commentary on what classical music can mean, and does so with virtuosity.
Texts
1 – Mercifully
2 – Carnegie Hall: Rescued
3 – Dream
4 – Propriety
5 – Melchior Vulpius
Year of Composition
1992
Duration
16 minutes
Dedication
Carolyn Jane Hall
First Performance
May 14, 1995
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
Pamela Jordan Schiffer, soprano
Juliana Hall, piano
Listen
Susan Narucki, soprano
Donald Berman, piano
Mercifully
Carnegie Hall: Rescued
Dream
Propriety
Melchior Vulpius