Kevin Puts
House of Tomorrow
for mezzo-soprano, chorus & orchestra
Warning : Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited by Federal law, and subject to criminal prosecution.
Taken from The Prophet byKahlil Gibran
I. Of Joy and Sorrow
Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
II. Of Children
Speak to us of Children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow.
III. Of Work
Speak to us of Work.
You work that you may keep pace with the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons. When you work you are a ute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
IV. Of Teaching
Speak to us of Teaching.
The wise teacher does not bid you enter the house of her wisdom, but leads you to the threshold of your own mind. For the vision of one lends not its wings to another.
V. Of Pain
Tell us of Pain.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
VI. Of Houses
Speak to us of Houses.
It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night; Does not your house dream?
Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?
Have you remembrances, the glimmering arches that span the summits of the mind? Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood or stone? But you shall not be trapped nor tamed.
For your souls dwell in the house of tomorrow. And though of magnicence and splendour, your house shall not hold your secret nor shelter your longing.
For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose windows are the songs and silences of night.
INSTRUMENTATION
2 Flutes (II = Piccolo)
2 Oboes (II = English Horn)
2 Clarinets in Bb & A (II = Bass Clarinet)
2 Bassoons (II = Contrabassoon)
4 Horns in F
2 Trumpets in C
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Timpani
Percussion (3–4 players): Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Xylophone, Suspended Cymbal, Bass Drum
Solo Mezzo-soprano
SATB Chorus
Strings
Transposed Score
Duration: c. 18 mins
Commissioned by St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Stèphane Denève, Music Director
Premiered on September 26, 2025 at Powell Hall, St. Louis, MO by Joyce DiDonato, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Stéphane Denève