for soprano, English horn, and piano
Davidson
Over Salt RiverPERUSALSCORE
PERUSALSCORE
Over Salt River
for soprano, English horn, and piano
PERUSALSCORE
Tina Davidson
PERUSALSCORE
Over Salt River
for Soprano, Viola & Piano
Program Notes
Over Salt River was commissioned by the Newark Symphony Orchestras as part of the Meet the Composer "New Residencies" Program supported by major grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., and the National Endowment for the Arts. The work is scored for full orchestra and soprano, and uses Joy Harjo’s “Eagle Poem."
Over Salt River is dedicated to my cousin, Henry Chance who died of AIDS in January 1995. I hadn't know Henry very well, and yet felt deeply effected by his passing. That summer, as I was in Utah, I reflected on all this. Henry had said, in his last days, that he felt he was slipping into the river of life. I lay by the river and looked up into the enormous mountains of Zion Canyon; even they were slowly being reduced by the wind and rain, ebbing and flowing in the natural earth cycle.
Joy Harjo's poem speaks so eloquently of the living and dying we all do, and that of all the things we want to do, there is only one thing we must do, "to take the utmost care and kindness in all things." I always feel that there are those among us, like my cousin, who teaches us about the grand design of life, whose lives strengthen and deepen our understanding of what living is all about. Henry's death brought with it lessons of community, support and healing which only love allows; it was a true celebration of life.
Joy Harjo "Eagle Poem" is from In Mad Love & War © 1990 by Joy Harjo, Wesleyan University Press by permission of University Press of New England.
Over Salt River is part of the AIDS Songbook.
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For more information, please contact: BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON MUSIC Web Page: http://www.tinadavidson.com
Eagle Poem
To pray you open yourself up To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon To one whole voice that is you. And know there is more That you can't see, can't hear, Can't know except in moments Steadily growing, and in languages That aren't always sound but other Circles of motion. Like eagle that Sunday morning Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky In wind, swept our hearts clean With sacred wings. We see you, we see ourselves and know That we must take the utmost care And kindness in all things. Breathe in, knowing we are made of All this, and breathe, knowing We are truly blessed because we Were born, and die soon within a True circle of motion, Like eagle rounding out the morning Inside us.
We pray that it will be done In beauty. In beauty.
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-- Joy Harjo
Over
Salt River
for Henry Martyn Chance (1951-95)
1996, Tina
(Beyond
Music: Tina Davidson Poem: Joy Harjo
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