Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 10:42AM Song cycle: An Amethyst Remembrance; Dear March; The Perfected Life
2006 | versions for all voice types with piano
Poems by Emily Dickinson, about 4 minutes total.
Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 8:06PM 2002, revised in 2004, 2007 and 2008 | soprano/trumpet
Poem by Toi Derricotte
Song 1 of Captivity (originally song 4 of 5)
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 10:42PM 2002 | baritone or mezzo-soprano/cello
Poem by C.G.R. Shepard
Song 2 of Long Pond Revisited
Commissioned by Dr. Adelaide Whitaker.
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 10:47PM 2008 | soprano/baritone/piano
From The Scarlet Letter
Libretto by David Mason
Later the same day, Hester is found in her cell, tending to her baby, Pearl, who is ill. Chillingworth enters, a doctor come to offer medicine, and the two recognize each other at once. “You know me,” he sings, and Hester acknowledges she had thought him dead for the past two years. As the two powerful figures relate the past, we learn that Chillingworth, much older than Hester, had convinced her to marry him when she was a young and innocent girl in England. He was a student of dark knowledge, alchemy and science, a man who felt cut off from life and hoped this young beauty might give him vitality. She was looking for a father figure. Chillingworth’s aria is at the center of the scene, his sense of physical deformity and age, his desire for love. Hester responds with the pain of mistaken youth, how lonely she had been arriving in the New World without her husband. The old man now turns angry that she remains so defiant, refusing to name her child’s father, and vows that he will discover who has sinned against him. When he has left, Hester sings her haunting lullaby to her daughter, Pearl, at the close of the scene. — David Mason
To hear this scene, click here.
Friday, March 2, 2012 at 10:37PM 2006, rev. 2010, 2017 | soprano/piano
Poem by Sylvia Plath.
Song 1 of The Blood Jet
Commissioned by Dr. Adelaide Whitaker. Dedicated to soprano Sari Gruber. Published in June 2008.
The premiere recording with soprano Sari Gruber and pianist/composer Lori Laitman will be out on Naxos in December 2019, on a double CD of Lori's songs.
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 11:04PM 1998 | baritone/piano or mezzo-soprano/piano
Poem by Sara Teasdale
Song 5 of Mystery
Some newer editions may already have these corrections.
Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 10:57AM 2008, rev. 2016 | 3 lead roles for soprano, tenor and baritone; 3 minor roles for mezzo-soprano, tenor and baritone, small chorus (at least 8), non speaking child’s role and chamber orchestra)
Full length opera in 2 Acts, to libretto by poet David Mason. Approximately 2 hours long, in 2 Acts (6 scenes). For more information please visit www.scarletletteropera.com. To purchase the Naxos recording please click here.
There are several stand-alone arias, which are published and available for PDF download on my site at MusicaNeo (available through the home page on this site). Glendower Jones of Classical Vocal Reprints also sells the hard copies.
Act I, Scene 2 from the opera (aka "The Prison Scene") is also available excerpted as a duet for baritone and soprano.
You can purchase the Piano Vocal score from MusicaNeo or Glendower Jones — please see my home page for the link.
Errata for the Piano Vocal Score prior to March 2022:
Please note that some sections in the PV score which are notated in 2/4 whereas the corresponding spots in the orchestral score are notated in 6/8. The aural result is the same, but I am in the process of updating the piano vocal score to match. You can email me for an updated copy.
Act I Scene 1:
m. 1 and opening: piano should be marked f with a più f at m. 10
opening dynamics for Sailor and Farmer should be f, not mf
m. 74 Bellingham's dynamics should be f, not mf
m. 271 and m. 277 — dynamics should be f
Act I Scene 2:
m. 285 — RH piano should have Dbs and Gbs and LH should have an Eb in the chord
Act I Scene 3:
m. 314-321: Wilson and Bellingham's dynamics should be raised to f
ALSO PLEASE NOTE: The language used to describe Native Americans is taken from the Hawthorne and is not meant to be viewed through today's lens. It is used to portray the way the Puritans thought of the native population and does not reflect the views that David Mason or I have.
Nevertheless, here are some substitute lyrics:
Act I Scene 1 m. 268-9: Alternate words for Chillingworth:
Long was my journey
by land and by sea,
my bondage far off
among the natives.
Today this fellow here
has kindly brought me
out of captivity.
Act I Scene 2: m. 43
Instead of "Above a year I've sojourned with the savages" — the word savages can be changed to "natives here"
ALSO AVAILABLE:
An Abridged version for 5 voices and piano. Please contact me directly if interested.
Monday, January 22, 2018 at 2:34PM
Song cycle: What rose out of the white leaves of your body; When in Early Summer; Child
2017 | soprano/clarinet
Version for soprano with Eb Alto Saxophone is forthcoming
Poems by Nelly Sachs, duration is approximately 13 minutes
Commissioned by The University of Alabama at Birmingham for soprano Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk and clarinetist Denise Gainey.
Premiere: January 26, 2018 at Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, AL
To purchase the sheet music, please click here.
ERRATA:
SONG 1: m. 72: If you have an earlier edition, please change the content of m. 72 as follows:
6/8 instead of 5/8
VOICE rhythms: 3 8th notes, 1 quarter, 1 eight to "storm up the stair of"
CLARINET: 8th rest, 8th note on concert C, 8th note on concert Db, quarter note on concert Eb (with the word "storm" and 8th note on concert F
Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 10:39AM Song cycle: I Lie in This Coffin; A Load of Shoes; To My Child; Beneath the Whiteness of Your Stars; No Sad Songs, Please
2004 | baritone or mezzo-soprano/cello/piano
Poems by Vilna Ghetto survivor Abraham Sutzkever, with translations by C.K. Williams and Leonard Wolf.
Commissioned by Music of Remembrance, Seattle, WA in 2005. 18 minutes for the cycle.
To purchase the Naxos recording, please click here.
Independent Opera Company's marvelous film about The Seed of Dream can be viewed here.
