An Evening with Emily

Featuring Susanne Mentzer, mezzo soprano with piano accompaniment and the option of a guest speaker

This concert explores musical settings by living American composers of Emily Dickinsons poems and letters. The most known settings of her poems are five songs by Lee Hoiby (b. 1926), Thomas Pasatieri (b.1945) eleven songs, Arthur Farwell (1872-1952) over thirty, Aaron Copland (1900-1990) the popular Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson (1950), John Duke (1899-1994) nine songs and Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) at least 22 songs. The works this evening introduce settings that are not as well known. They are chosen so as to not repeat any of the texts, except in the case of Ned Rorem, who set the poem twice at different times of his life. At the end of the first setting of Loves Stricken Why he notes, 29 April 1947 (2 A.M.) Revised 26 Dec. 1962, and after the second version 9 Dec. 1962. The first would have been during his time as a student at Juilliard.

Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1830. She attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, but severe homesickness led her to return home after one year. Throughout her life, she seldom left her house and visitors were scarce. The people with whom she did come in contact, however, had an enormous impact on her thoughts and poetry. She was particularly stirred by the Reverend Charles Wadsworth, whom she met on a trip to Philadelphia. He left for the West Coast shortly after a visit to her home in 1860, and some critics believe his departure gave rise to the heartsick flow of verse from Dickinson in the years that followed. While it is certain that he was an important figure in her life, it is not certain that this was in the capacity of romantic loveshe called him "my closest earthly friend." Other possibilities for the unrequited love in Dickinsons poems include Otis P. Lord, a Massachusetts Supreme Court Judge, and Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican. By the 1860s, Dickinson lived in almost total physical isolation from the outside world, but actively maintained many correspondences and read widely. She spent a great deal of this time with her family. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was actively involved in state and national politics, serving in Congress for one term. Her brother Austin attended law school and became an attorney, but lived next door once he married Susan Gilbert (one of the speculatedalbeit less persuasivelyunrequited loves of Emily). Dickinsons younger sister Lavinia also lived at home for her entire life in similar isolation. Lavinia and Austin were not only family, but intellectual companions during Dickinsons lifetime. Dickinson's poetry reflects her loneliness and the speakers of her poems generally live in a state of want, but her poems are also marked by the intimate recollection of inspirational moments which are decidedly life-giving and suggest the possibility of happiness. Her work was heavily influenced by the Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England, as well as her reading of the Book of Revelation and her upbringing in a Puritan New England town which encouraged a Calvinist, orthodox, and conservative approach to Christianity. She admired the poetry of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, as well as John Keats. Though she was dissuaded from reading the verse of her contemporary Walt Whitman by rumor of its disgracefulness, the two poets are now connected by the distinguished place they hold as the founders of a uniquely American poetic voice. While Dickinson was extremely prolific as a poet and regularly enclosed poems in letters to friends, she was not publicly recognized during her lifetime. The first volume of her work was published posthumously in 1890 and the last in 1955. She died in Amherst in 1886. Upon her death, Dickinson's family discovered 40 handbound volumes of nearly 1800 of her poems, or "fascicles" as they are sometimes called. These booklets were made by folding and sewing five or six sheets of stationery paper and copying what seem to be final versions of poems in an order that many critics believe to be more than chronological. The handwritten poems show a variety of dash-like marks of various sizes and directions (some are even vertical). The poems were initially unbound and published according to

the aesthetics of her many early editors, removing her unusual and varied dashes and replacing them with traditional punctuation. The current standard version replaces her dashes with a standard "n-dash," which is a closer typographical approximation of her writing. Furthermore, the original order of the works was not restored until 1981, when Ralph W. Franklin used the physical evidence of the paper itself to restore her order, relying on smudge marks, needle punctures and other clues to reassemble the packets. Since then, many critics have argued for thematic unity in these small collections, believing the ordering of the poems to be more than chronological or convenient. The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson (Belknap Press, 1981) remains the only volume that keeps the order intact. from The American Academy of Poets

About the Composers Montana native Richard Pearson Thomas wrote the six song Dickinson cycle At last to be identified in 1992. The composer and pianist is a recipient of an American Composers' Forum Continental Harmony commission. His work Race for the Sky, which was commissioned as a commemoration of the events of 9/11, has been performed with orchestra and in recitals nationwide. Mr. Thomas is currently on faculty at Teachers College/Columbia University. He is composer-in-residence of the Gold Opera Project, Young Audiences/New York. In that capacity, he has composed more than 85 operas with students in New York City public schools. His work with children was featured on CBS's "The Early Show," and singled out for praise by President Clinton when Young Audiences/New York was awarded the National Medal of Arts. His original music for In Thinking of America: Songs of the Civil War has been heard in more than 140 cities. The two songs by Jake Heggie performed this evening are taken from a cycle of seven songs, The Starry Night, inspired by Vincent Van Goghs painting of the same title and commissioned in 2001 by the presenter Evolutions in Song, for mezzo-soprano Kristine Jepson and pianist John Churchwell. The painting holds special significance for Heggie because his father painted a copy of it shortly before he took his own life in 1972 when Heggie was 10 years old. Today the copy hangs above Heggie's piano. He was inspired to write the song cycle when he discovered a poem by Anne Sexton that was inspired by the same painting at the same time that he was reading Van Goghs letters. Mr.Heggie also has set other texts by Dickinson individually. An ardent champion of writers, most of his operas and stage works feature libretti written by either Terrence McNally or Gene Scheer; while sources for song texts and poetry have also included Maya Angelou, Charlene Baldridge, Raymond Carver, Emily Dickinson, John Hall, A.E. Housman, Vachel Lindsay, Philip Littell, Armistead Maupin, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sister Helen Prejean. The composers numerous songs and cycles, include The Deepest Desire, Statuesque, Here & Gone, Rise & Fall, Songs & Sonnets to Ophelia, Facing Forward/Looking Back, Friendly Persuasions, and Songs to the Moon. Lori Laitman calls herself the Accidental Art Song Composer. From a musical family she writes, My mom says that when I was very young I was always making up songsbut, of course I have no memory of this. I began studying piano at age 5 and flute at age 7, and was very intent on becoming a professional flutist. I remember being amazed by composers -- it was beyond my comprehension that people could make up music, and certainly this was something that I never thought I could do. After attending Yale, Laitman married and became the composer 4

for the Dick Roberts Film Company, writing scores for films produced by Psychology Today, and Camera Arts Magazine. In 1980, she wrote the score to The Taming of the Shrew at the Folgers Theatre in Washington, DC. After becoming a mother she focused on composing chamber music and raising her kids. A friend asked her to compose some songs premiering "The Metropolitan Tower" at Merkin Hall in New York on December 16, 1991. After the recital, tenor Paul Sperry (known for commissioning and promoting art songs) hosted a party. This was her introduction to the art song world. Laitman was the Featured Composer on Thomas Hampsons Song of America website and her works are featured on his timeline of American song. Two songs this evening are excerpted from Tom Cipullo's song cycle A Visit with Emily for two baritones and a soprano. According to the composer, the idea came to a member of the Mirror Visions Ensemble, which commissioned and premiered the work. The work is part song cycle and part opera because it has many ensembles. Cipullo dedicated the Epilogue to his mother. Cipullo's works have been heard at major concert halls on four continents, from San Francisco to Tel Aviv, from Stockholm to LaPaz. The New York Times has called his music "haunting," and The Boston Globe remarked that his work "literally sparkled with wit." The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has called him "an expert in writing for the voice." Recent honors include the National Association of Teachers of Singing Art Song Award (2008) for the songcycle Of a Certain Age, the Aaron Copland Award from Copland House (2007), and the Phyllis Wattis Prize for song composition from the San Francisco Song Festival (2006-07). He studied composition and orchestration with David Del Tredici, Elie Siegmeister, and Albert Tepper. Mr. Cipullo is a founding member of Friends & Enemies of New Music, an organization that has presented more than 80 concerts featuring the music of over 200 different American composers. Ned Rorems songs this evening come from the unusually pyramid-structured Poems of Love and the Rain, a cycle of 17 songs set to texts by American poets. It was commissioned by the Ford Foundation and premiered by mezzo soprano Regina Safety in 1962. Rorem set the same text (eight poems) twice, but in a contrasting manner. Each poem of the first half of the cycle receives a different setting in the second half and the poems appear in reverse order in the second half. The ninth poem is the central song and is set only once. A prolific song composer, for his early songs he selected poetic texts from different literary periods, but after the mid-1950s he preferred the poetry of Walt Whitman and of 20th-century American poets such as Howard Moss, Paul Goodman, Theodore Rothko, and Kenneth Koch. In his vocal writing Rorem shows a keen awareness of the capabilities of the human voice, and his melodies generally lie comfortably in the range of voice for 5

which they were written. "Write gracefully for the voice - that is, make the voice line as seen on paper have the arched flow which singers like to interpret" was one of his mottoes for song-writing. In his melodies he was also able to capture the essential mood of the text.

Doubt me! My Dim Companion set by Richard Pearson Thomas Doubt Me! My Dim Companion! Why, God, would be content With but a fraction of the Life -Poured thee, without a stint -The whole of me -- forever -What more the Woman can, Say quick, that I may dower thee With last Delight I own! It cannot be my Spirit -For that was thine, before -I ceded all of Dust I knew -What Opulence the more Had I -- a freckled Maiden, Whose farthest of Degree, Was -- that she might -Some distant Heaven, Dwell timidly, with thee! Go thy great way set by Jake Heggie Go thy great way! The stars thou meetst are even as thyself. For what are stars but Asterisks to point a human life? An amethyst remembrance set by Lori Laitman I held a Jewel in my fingers -And went to sleep -The day was warm, and winds were prosy -I said "'Twill keep" -I woke -- and chid my honest fingers, The Gem was gone -7

And now, an Amethyst remembrance Is all I own

Cantilena II set by Tom Cipullo - his title As imperceptibly as Grief The Summer lapsed away-Too imperceptible at last To feel like Perfidy A Quietness distilled As Twilight long begun Or Nature spending with Herself Sequestered Afternoon The Dusk drew earlier in, The Morning foreign shown A Courteous, yet harrowing Grace As Guest, that would be gone And thus, without a Wing Or service of a keel Our Summer made her light escape Into the Beautiful. The sun kept setting set by Jake Heggie The Sun kept setting -- setting -still No Hue of Afternoon -Upon the Village I perceived From House to House 'twas Noon -The Dusk kept dropping -dropping -- still No Dew upon the Grass -But only on my Forehead stopped -And wandered in my Face -My Feet kept drowsing -drowsing -- still My fingers were awake -Yet why so little sound -- Myself 8

Unto my Seeming -- make? How well I knew the Light before -I could see it now -'Tis Dying -- I am doing -- but I'm not afraid to know Love's Stricken "Why #4 set by Ned Rorem Love's stricken "why" Is all that love can speak -Built of but just a syllable The hugest hearts that break. She died set by Lori Laitman She died -- this was the way she died. And when her breath was done Took up her simple wardrobe And started for the sun. Her little figure at the gate The Angels must have spied, Since I could never find her Upon the mortal side. Love's Stricken "Why #14 set by Ned Rorem Love's stricken "why" Is all that love can speak -Built of but just a syllable The hugest hearts that break.

Epilogue set by Tom Cipullo - his title Nature -- the Gentlest Mother is, Impatient of no Child -The feeblest -- or the waywardest -Her Admonition mild -In Forest -- and the Hill -By Traveler -- be heard -Restraining Rampant Squirrel -Or too impetuous Bird -How fair Her Conversation -A Summer Afternoon -Her Household -- Her Assembly -And when the Sun go down -Her Voice among the Aisles Incite the timid prayer Of the minutest Cricket -The most unworthy Flower --

She turns as long away As will suffice to light Her lamps -Then bending from the Sky -With infinite Affection -And infiniter Care -Her Golden finger on Her lip -Wills Silence -- Everywhere I never saw a moor set by Richard Pearson Thomas I never saw a moor, I never saw the sea; Yet know I how the heather looks, And what a wave must be. I never spoke with God, Nor visited in heaven; Yet certain am I of the spot As if the chart were given.

When all the Children sleep -Carlisle Floyd- Citizen of Paradise

In 1983 I was asked by Carlisle Floyd to premiere Citizen of Paradise which was commissioned for the opening of a recital hall at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA (a coincidence but no relation). Carlisle envisioned the piece as a monodrama in a spare setting - writing table, chair, window and side chair. He also directed the work. The original version was with piano and later was transcribed for chamber orchestra, which I also premiered with the Texas Chamber Orchestra. Barely out of the Houston Opera Studio in 1983 I was incredibly honored to work with this amazing man. Each day he came in with another song he had thought of during the night. His wife was a Dickinson scholar so he was quite informed and enthusiastic about Emily Dickinson. He set not only poems, but also letters, in a type of journey through various topics addressed by Emily Dickinson in her writing. He often referred to the work as being similar to the filmed theater piece The Belle of Amherst. Citizen of Paradise was recently edited and released by Boosey and Hawkes. Carlisle Floyd will be 85 in 2011. He is, of course, best known for his operatic output and has also written song cycles and vocal works with orchestra.

PROLOGUE (partial poem) This is my letter to the world that never wrote to me...

SELF I (excerpted from a letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, April 1862) "I went to school but in your manner of the phrase (I) had no education. When a little girl, I had a friend, who taught me immortality but venturing too near, himself, he never returned. You ask me of my companions: Hills, sir, and the Sundown And a Dog, large as myself. They are better than Beings, because they know, but do not tell. I have a Brother and a Sister. My Mother does not care for thought. And Father, too busy with his Briefs, to notice what we do. He buys me many books, but begs me not to read them, Because he fears they joggle the Mind. They are (all) religious, except me, and address an Eclipse, ev'ry morning, whom they call 'Father'. But I fear my story fatigues you. I would like to learn, Could you tell me how to grow, or is it unconveyed, like Melody, or Witchcraft? I could not weight myself Myself, My size felt small to me. Is this, Sir what you asked me to tell you?" II I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us -don't tell! They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog To tell your name the livelong day To an admiring bog! FRIENDSHIP AND SOCIETY III To see her is a Picture -To hear her is a Tune -To know her an Intemperance As innocent as June -To know her not -- Affliction -To own her for a Friend A warmth as near as if the Sun Were shining in your Hand. IV (from a letter to Susan Huntington Dickinson, Feb. 1852)

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"Thank you that you never weary of me, or never tell me so, and that when the world is cold, and the storm sighs e'er so piteously, I am sure of one sweet shelter, one covert from the storm! The bells are ringing, north, and east, and south, and the people who love God are expecting to go to meeting; don't you go, not to their meeting, but come with me this morning to the church within our hearts, where the bells are always ringing, and the Preacher whose name is Love shall intercede for us!" V (from a letter to Samuel Bowles, August 1860) "I am much ashamed. I misbehaved tonight. I would like to sit in the dust. I am sorry I smiled at women. Indeed I revere holy ones, like Miss Nightingale. I will never be giddy again. I am gay to see you because you come so scarcely. Else I had been graver. Goodnight, God will forgive me. Will you please to try?" VI What Soft -- Cherubic Creatures -These Gentlewomen are -One would as soon assault a Plush -Or violate a Star -Such Dimity Convictions -A Horror so refined Of freckled Human Nature -Of Deity -- ashamed -It's such a common -- Glory -A Fisherman's -- Degree -Redemption -- Brittle Lady -Be so -- ashamed of Thee -LOVE VII ( from a letter to Otis P. Lord, about 1878) I confess that I love him I rejoice that I love him I thank the maker of Heaven and Earth that gave me him to love the exultation floods me. I cannot find my channel the Creek turns Sea at thought of thee. VIII Heart! We will forget him! 11

You and I -- tonight! You may forget the warmth he gave -I will forget the light! When you have done, pray tell me That I may straight begin! Haste! lest while you're lagging I remember him! IX Empty my Heart, of Thee -Its single Artery -Begin, and leave Thee out -Simply Extinction's Date -Much Billow hath the Sea -One Baltic -- They -Subtract Thyself, in play, And not enough of me Is left -- to put away "Myself" meant Thee --** (** line not included in this song setting) X There is a pain -- so utter -It swallows substance up -Then covers the Abyss with Trance -So Memory can step Around -- across -- upon it -As one within a Swoon -Goes safely -- where an open eye -Would drop Him -- Bone by Bone. NATURE XI (from a letter to Mrs. J.G.Holland, late summer 1856) "If roses had not faded, and frosts had never come, and one had not fallen here and there whom I could not waken, there were no need of other Heaven than the one below and if God had been here this summer, and seen the things that I have seen I guess that He would think His Paradise superfluous. Don't tell him, for the world, though for 12

after all He's said about it, I should like to see what He was building for us, with no hammer, and no stone. I love tonight fading things and things that do not fade!" XII I taste a liquor never brewed -From Tankards scooped in Pearl -Not all the Vats upon the Rhine Yield such an Alcohol! Inebriate of Air -- am I -And Debauchee of Dew -Reeling -- thro endless summer days -From inns of Molten Blue -When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee Out of the Foxglove's door -When Butterflies -- renounce their "drams" -I shall but drink the more! Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats -And Saints -- to windows run -To see the little Tippler Leaning against the -- Sun -XIII Take all away from me, but leave me Ecstasy, And I am richer then than all my Fellow Men -Ill it becometh me to dwell so wealthily When at my very Door are those possessing more, In abject poverty --

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DEATH AND SOLITUDE XIV It's coming -- the postponeless Creature -It gains the Block -- and now -- it gains the Door -Chooses its latch, from all the other fastenings -Enters -- with a "You know Me -- Sir"? Simple Salute -- and certain Recognition -Bold -- were it Enemy -- Brief -- were it friend -Dresses each House in Crape, and Icicle -And carries one -- out of it -- to God XV (from a letter to Mrs. J.G.Holland Nov. 1882) "The dear mother that could not walk, has flown. It never occurred to us that though she had not Limbs, she had Wings And she soared from us unexpectedly as a summoned Bird. She had a violent cold, but her trusted physician was with her and he felt no alarm. She seemed entirely better the last Day of her Life and took Lemonade, Beef Tea and Custard with a pretty ravenousness that delighted us. After a restless Night, complaining of great weariness, she was lifted from her Bed to her Chair, when a few quick breaths and a "Don't leave me" And her sweet being closed. She slipped from our fingers like a flake gathered by the Wind, and is not part of the drift called "the infinite". "Mother!" What a name! XVI (from a letter to Susan Huntington Dickinson 1885?) "Emerging from an Abyss and reentering it that is life, is it not? Though the first moment of loss is eternity, other eternities remain. The small heart cannot break The Ecstasy of its penalty solaces the large." XVII There is a solitude of space A solitude of sea A solitude of death, but these Society shall be Compared with that profounder site That polar privacy A soul admitted to itself -Finite infinity. 14

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EPILOGUE (complete poem) This is my letter to the World That never wrote to Me -The simple News that Nature told -With tender Majesty Her Message is committed To Hands I cannot see -For love of Her -- Sweet -- countrymen -Judge tenderly -- of Me

A special thanks to Professor Dorothy Z. Baker, University of Houston Dr. Joseph Campana, Rice University Rice University Humanities Research Center Poetry and Poetics Workshop Shepherd School of Music Opera Theater Department

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