Teasdale Songbook

Teasdale Songbook

for Soprano and Cello

Performance Notes

• The vocal range is C4 – B5.

• Songs should be performed with only a brief pause between, unless marked attacca.

• In the seventh song “Night Song at Amalfi/My Heart is Heavy”, the cellist is instructed to whisper specified text. The rhythm should be that of natural speech, with placement of the phrases loosely mirroring their position in relation to the music above. If possible, the cellist should have a microphone (for this song only) to amplify his/her voice.

• Left-hand pizzicato is indicated by “+” placed above a note.

Program Notes

Teasdale Songbook is based on poems by Sara Teasdale, an early twentieth century American writer who lived a dramatic life: she was connected romantically to poet Vachel Lindsay as a young woman, but eventually chose to marry another man. That marriage failed, and though she and Lindsay remained close, both poets eventually committed suicide. The texts used in Teasdale Songbook were carefully chosen from the writer’s many works relating to that situation and create a disjointed story of a woman faced with the temptation to commit adultery. Most concretely, Teasdale’s “Guenevere” explores the emotions of the King Arthur’s legendary wife in a way that reflects the writer’s own experiences. Excerpts from this poem provide the structural framework for the composition and are juxtaposed against more subtle writings to suggest a surreal reading of Teasdale’s own life. The work cycles quickly through a number of different moods that often suggest contradictory thoughts or events, so that the division between true emotion, myth, and the fictional constructs created to mediate between the two becomes blurred and ultimately irrelevant.

Note about the Text

The poems “Enough”, “The Ghost”, and “Night Song at Amalfi” are from the collection Love Songs (1917). “Guenevere” is from Helen of Troy and Other Poems (1911). “It is Not a Word”, “Did You Never Know?”, and “My Heart is Heavy” are from Flame and Shadow (1920). Each of those books are in the Public Domain and are available for download from Project Gutenberg.

Composer Contact Information

Jessica Rudman

jessica@jessicarudman.com

www.jessicarudman.com

I. Enough

It is enough for me by day

Text by Sara Teasdale

To walk the same bright earth with him; Enough that over us by night The same great roof of stars is dim. I do not hope to bind the wind Or set a fetter on the sea -It is enough to feel his love Blow by like music over me.

II. Guenevere (Excerpt III)

I was a queen, and he who loved me best Made me a woman for a night and day, And now I go unqueened forevermore.

III. It is not a word

It is not a word spoken, Few words are said; Nor even a look of the eyes Nor a bend of the head, But only a hush of the heart That has too much to keep, Only memories waking That sleep so light a sleep.

IV. from “The Ghost”

I met one who had loved me madly And told his love for all to hear. I met the other, whose love was given With never a kiss and scarcely a word. Oh, love that lives its life with laughter Or love that lives its life with tears Can die -- but love that is never spoken Goes like a ghost through the winding years. . . .

V. Guenevere (Excerpt II)

I walked alone amid a thousand flowers, That drooped their heads and drowsed beneath the dew, And all my thoughts were quieted to sleep. Behind me, on the walk, I heard a step -I did not know my heart could tell his tread, I did not know I loved him till that hour. Within my breast I felt a wild, sick pain, The garden reeled a little, I was weak, And quick he came behind me, caught my arms, That ached beneath his touch; and then I swayed, My head fell backward and I saw his face.

VI. from “Did you never know?”

Did you never know, long ago, how much you loved me— That your love would never lessen and never go? You were young then, proud and fresh-hearted, You were too young to know.

VII. Night Song at Amalfi

I asked the heaven of stars What I should give my love -It answered me with silence, Silence above.

I asked the darkened sea Down where the fishers go -It answered me with silence, Silence below. Oh, I could give him weeping, Or I could give him song –But how can I give silence, My whole life long?

VIII. Guenevere (Excerpt I)

I was a queen, and I have lost my crown; A wife, and I have broken all my vows; A lover, and I ruined him I loved -There is no other havoc left to do.

My Heart is Heavy

My heart is heavy with many a song Like ripe fruit bearing down the tree, But I can never give you one -My songs do not belong to me. Yet in the evening, in the dusk When moths go to and fro, In the gray hour if the fruit has fallen, Take it, no one will know.

I. Enough

II. Guenevere (Excerpt III)

IV. from The Ghost

V. Guenevere (Excerpt III)

walked a lone - a mid - a thou sand - flo wers - that

p continue swells while gradually getting louder

could tell your tread,

did not know I

you

VI. from "Did you never know?"

VII. Night Song at Amalfi/My Heart is Heavy

Whisper: My heart is heavy with many a song like ripe fruit bearing down the

& weep ? f

me with si lence, - si

lence - be low

I could give him

f ing, - Or I could give him song,

ff song,

&

ff

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- -

VIII. Guenevere (Excerpt I)