An Amethyst Remembrance

2006 | versions for all voice types with piano

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Song 1 of The Perfected Life

Dedicated to Joan Glick.

To purchase Randall Scarlata and Lori Laitman performing this song, please click here

Between the Bliss and Me

Song cycle: I gained it so, The Book, I could not prove

1997 | soprano/piano

Poems by Emily Dickinson, 5 minutes long.

Commissioned by Dr. Adelaide Whitaker.

To purchase the CD with Jennifer Check and Warren Jones performing these songs, please click here

Dear March

2006 | versions for all voice types with piano 

Poem by Emily Dickinson 

Song 2 of The Perfected Life

To purchase the mp3 of Randall Scarlata and Lori Laitman performing this song, please click here.

Four Dickinson Songs

Song Cycle: Will There Really Be A Morning?, I’m Nobody, She Died, If I...

1996, with new editions in 2019 | soprano/piano; mezzo-soprano/piano; contralto or countertenor/piano; tenor/piano; baritone/piano; bass/piano

Poems by Emily Dickinson, approximately 9 minutes total.

New editions finished in March 2019 for more voice types and with updated markings and layouts are now available for PDF purchase at my site at MusicaNeo.com

New note regarding If I...

On July 31, 2020, The New Era Voice Festival sponsored by The M Institute for the Arts in DC, presented "In Conversation with Lori Laitman” — and Tracy Cox and I spoke about American art song, women in music, and other topics. Tracy and pianist Thomas Morris performed selections from my Four Dickinson Songs, and in the final song, Tracy sang my setting of the word “fainting” a different way than I had written it — but I loved it, and wondered why I hadn’t thought of this previously.

So, as an alternative, the "ing" of the word “fainting” in m. 11 and m. 31, can be sung on the last 8^th note instead of as written.

Thank you, Tracy and Thomas!

Alternate notes for Tenor in Songs 1 and 3:

Song 1: m. 24 the low Bbs can be sung up an octave

Song 3: m. 68-70 — the low Bb can be sung up an octave. 

IF YOU PREVIOUSLY PURCHASED a copy prior to March 2019 and would like me to email you an updated copy free of charge, please email me at lori@artsongs.com.

Fresh Patterns

2003 | 2 sopranos and piano

Texts from Emily Dickinson and Annie Finch.

Song 3 of Fresh Patterns

Commissioned by Steven Jordheim for Alisa Jordheim.

Errata

Some newer editions may already have these corrections.

• m 107 for soprano 1 should have a dim. and m. 108 should be a mp, not a p
• m. 113: top soprano line should be forte by the word “apart.” Similarly, bottom vocal line should be forte by the word “today” in m. 116.

TEMPO CHANGE:

Upon revisiting this song, I found that the quarter=176 marking in m. 68 is too fast. I would suggest quarter =144, and then adjust following markings down accordingly.

Good Morning Midnight

2002 | soprano/piano

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Song 1 of Two Dickinson Songs

Errata

Some newer editions may already have these corrections.

[None]

Hope is a Strange Invention

2003 | soprano/piano

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Song 2 of One Bee And Revery

I gained it so

1997 | soprano/piano

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Song 1 of Between the Bliss and Me

Errata

Some newer editions may already have these corrections.

• m. 14 - LH piano — the A is a mistake. Please erase.

• m. 18 and m. 22, the decrescendo in the voice part should be removed.

• m. 27, the last note in the voice part should be a C SHARP.

• m. 35 — RH piano - the Bb should be tied throughout the measure. The last Db is tied over to m. 36 (the tie is there but isn't showing up properly spaced).

• The original poem has dashes in the poetry. I will include these in the next printed versions. For now, here's a copy of the poem.

I gained it so —
By Climbing slow —
By Catching at the Twigs that grow
Between the Bliss — and me —
It hung so high
As well the Sky
Attempt by Strategy —

I said I gained it —
This — was all —
Look, how I clutch it
Lest it fall —
And I a Pauper go —
Unfitted by an instant's Grace
For the Contented — Beggar's face
I wore — an hour ago —

I Stepped From Plank To Plank

2010 | soprano/piano

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Song 2 of In This Short Life

If I...

1996 | versions for soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone and bass with piano are available on my site at MusicaNeo (links on homepage).

2014 | baritone/clarinet/piano (also available on MusicaNeo as PDF download)

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Song 4 of Four Dickinson Songs

Solo song re-edited in March 2019 — new edition now available as PDF download on my MusicaNeo site - links can be found on the home page of this site.

To purchase sheet music for the soprano and piano version, click here. To purchase the recording with soprano Jennifer Check and pianist Warren Jones, please click here. 

To purchase sheet music for the mezzo-soprano and piano version, clidk here.

A new arrangement for baritone, clarinet and piano was created in 2014, and sheet music is available for purchase by clicking here.

To purchase the recording with baritone Randall Scarlata, clarinetist Anthony McGill and composer at the piano, click here. 

New note regarding If I... 

On July 31, 2020, The New Era Voice Festival sponsored by The M Institute for the Arts in DC, presented "In Conversation with Lori Laitman” — and Tracy Cox and I spoke about American art song, women in music, and other topics. Tracy and pianist Thomas Morris performed selections from my Four Dickinson Songs, and in the final song, Tracy sang my setting of the word “fainting” a different way than I had written it — but I loved it, and wondered why I hadn’t thought of this previously.

So, as an alternative, the "ing" of the word “fainting” in m. 11 and m. 31, can be sung on the last 8^th note instead of as written.

Thank you, Tracy and Thomas!

Also see Bruce Rosenblum's choral arrangement of this piece.

Listen to Lori Laitman and Jennifer Holbrook perform "If I...".

Errata

Some newer editions may already have these corrections.

• You can push the tempo from m. 1 into m. 2 if you like.
• in the piano solo from m. 22 - 30, the melody should be brought out, and the pianist should relax the tempo from the pickup to m. 28 until the downbeat of m. 30.
• from m. 38-39, there can be a slight broadening.
• In newer versions I am much more specific regarding pedal markings. If you'd like a complete listing, please email me. Otherwise, the most important detail is to hold the piano pedal down for the last 2 measures of the song, so that the low E flat sound remains.