Premiered by Modern Sound Collective in 2024.
VIEW PERUSAL SCORE:
MSC0019 – Hope is the Thing with Feathers – SCORE PERUSAL PDF
PROGRAM NOTE:
This poem spoke to me as to how volatile and fragile hope can be in harsher times of one’s life. I aimed to depict such fragility with the exposed altos while the others blend shyly. The harsher times are depicted by the moving melodic lines moving from one voice to another, as if to carry the bird of hope like the winds coming from various parts, trying to take the bird away from its destination, before ending to a calmer and more stable progression towards a clear and bright but unusual cadence, like the last rays of a setting sun.
ORIGINAL TEXT:
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
by Emily Dickinson
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
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