for two sopranos, unaccompanied
about 6”00
Premiere June 30, 2010 at Mannes College of Music
I was asked to consider writing something for two sopranos. As usual, the question becomes “what text should I use?” So I picked up my anthology of poetry and reading some Shakespeare, a melody immediately popped into my head. This happened continuously for about a week, as I wrote these one after the other. The four songs are: 1) Take, O Take Those Lips Away (2) Tired with all these for restful death I cry (3) If music be the food of love play on (4) Tell me where is fancy bred.
Performers are encouraged to alter the order of the pieces, and even may switch parts from song to song.
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A great way to support new music is to perform the music you find here.