A FIELD OF HOSANNAS TEXT

It was a dream and you were walking through a field of hosannas And the immense sea rocked with the blue voices of the dead When you stretched out supine to dream lotus dreams which I could not read.

A cathedral of sky arched overhead. I wanted to know whether your eyes were closed. I wanted your dream or song or prayer, o I wanted, and the sun grew brighter and the breeze fairer that immaculate day

Unfolding like a poem, like a song I half-remember and ask, Did we sing it once a long time ago, Did we sing it together, Was it our hymnal

Our beautiful tragic chorus, our anthem, The day like a new white canvas,

And here I add marine blue, and there cobalt blue, And a cloud in amber, and the light transparent yellow, And the brush makes a sound like wind over sand, but there are no whitecaps, no sailboats, Only canvas and paint and the body’s dance. No kite. No gull. No things. Everything goes. No dream, no dreamer. No certainty, no doubt. Only the infinitely blossoming hosannas of the emptiness within, echoing the emptiness without.

----Sam Hamill, poet

Program And Performance Notes

A Field of Hosannas was commissioned by the University of Washington Chamber Singers in 2017 in honor of their Carnegie Hall debut. The poem describes an ephemeral dream in which one is longing to connect with their beloved, using images of painting a picture to make something real once again, or recalling an ancient melody “half-remembered”. Ultimately, the text hints at the ways we must balance the ineffable joy of life with the emptiness of what we cannot know. The performer is invited to creatively deploy expressive rubato throughout, until the phrase “no doubt” ushers in the final celebratory section, locking into a stable, certain and joyfully driving tempo.

GISELLE WYERS is a conductor and composer with over 35 commissioned works in her catalog. She collaborates regularly with community choruses and orchestras as well as educational choirs, with performances across the globe. Wyers is especially dedicated to composing works that explore the beauty, mystery and heartbreak we all experience as modern citizens in a complicated world.