APRIL

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Composer's Note: April is based on a text by W.S. Merwin, from his collection "The Lice". The composition of this work was a case in point for my relationship to the poetry of Mer win, for--having set much Merwin in the past-- I was deliberately going through the works of a number of other poets. However, this poem jumped out at me in a way that numerous other Merwin poems have and I had no other choice, as the music started as well. Specifically, the music was almost immediately inspired by the line "April April", and I took the liberty of using it as a recurring refrain. Other musical devices inspired by the poem include lengthy solo melismas, and staggered entrances on the words "Sinks" and "You". Show more