~~~
Perforr
I was introduced to the poetry of Howard Moss through the fine musical settings of his texts by Ned Rorem and William Flanagan. Moss’s collection, A Winter Come, seemed to me a natural for a song cycle, which was composed in the Fall of 1967 and premiered in Los Angeles by soprano Rose Taylor and pianist Ralph Grierson the following Spring. A Winter Come is the second in a series of vocal cycles that has occupied a good deal of my compositional career. The songs are tuneful and direct with much of the music derived from manipulations of the opening motive: Eb, Db, C, Bb. Howard Moss (1922-1987) was for many years poetry editor of the New Yorker. His Selected Poems (Atheneum) received the 1972 National Book Award for Poetry.
—Morten Lauridsen
In his Washington Post review of the 1988 East Coast premiere of A Winter Come at the Kennedy Center, Joseph McLellan wrote: “A previously unknown composer, Morten Lauridsen, stole the spotlight from such big names as Bach, Handel and Haydn with a superb, spare-textured and deeply felt cycle of six songs, ‘A Winter Come,’ with texts by Howard Moss.”
Morten Lauridsen emerged in the 1990’s as one of America’s finest and most-beloved composers. His distinguished music has reached a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire, and is performed regularly by choruses and vocal artists throughout the world. His catalog at present includes eight major vocal cycles: Les Chansons des Roses (Rilke), Mid-Winter Songs (Graves), Nocturnes (Rilke, Neruda, and Agee), Cuatro Canciones (Lorca), A Backyard Universe (Witt), A Winter Come (Moss), Madrigali: Six “Firesongs” on Italian Renaissance Poems, and Lux Aeterna. His series of sacred motets includes one of the most performed and recorded contemporary choral works, O Magnum Mysterium. Mr. Lauridsen (b. 1943) is Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, a faculty he joined in 1967 following his studies in advanced composition with Ingolf Dahl and Halsey Stevens. He also served as Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994-2001. Named an "American Choral Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006, he was awarded the 2007 National Medal of Arts, the highest artistic award given by the United States government, in a White House ceremony "for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth." A native of the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Lauridsen divides his time between Los Angeles and his summer home on a remote island off the northern coast of Washington State. An award-winning documentary by filmmaker Michael Stillwater, Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen, was released in 2012. The entire A Winter Come cycle has been recorded by soprano Jane Thorngren and pianist Ralph Grierson on "Lauridsen - Northwest Journey” (RCM) and three of the songs are recorded by Voce Chamber Artists Jack Anthony Pott, tenor, and Dan Campolieta, piano, on "Sure On This Shining Night," (voceinc.net).
For more about Morten Lauridsen: www.peermusicClassical.com and www.mortenlauridsen.net
Irea),
The racing waterfall that slowed in fall Has thinned to a trickle or an icicle And stands as quiet as the rocks it willed To move. As though expecting it to fall A listener stands upon a rim of silence Seeing a changed world prepared to change The waterfall silent on its breakneck shelf And silence a spectacle in itself.
lVOS ever
s Chair of the e in Los olf Dahl and Los Angeles
And Have w \
In Tosno' wh
d and gone 1 messages
) warm
e from harm?
They he k er And
In join
s cheat
g blood sweet
, have.
And thal ", W lJal aJl UIU JllI;;lJ l\HUW of
love.
. '1'
- Poems fro
Li Winter Come
by Howard Moss
A WINTER COME to Juliana Gondek
1. When Frost Moves Fast Howard Moss
Morten Lauridsen
Fast and delightful ( = ca. 160)
exuberantly
4
When frost moves
fast
and
8ba
7
gar
dens
lose their
ground
8ba
And
8ba
Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.
Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured. Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit. "WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."
3 10
gold
goes
down ward
in
the
trees,
no sound
14
par
tures
of
the
leaves,
8va
crystalline
17
8va
5
20
8va
Ac
com
pan
ies
de
6
to Paul Sperry
2. As Birds Come Nearer
Howard Moss
Morten Lauridsen
= 76
rit.
As
A tempo
5
poco stringendo
birds come
rit.
bread
near
er
for
a
crust
of
A tempo
A
cross
the
fro
zen
8va
snow,
warmly
9
Poco più mosso ( = 84)
by
rit.
13
stamp
fine
foot prints on
a
scroll
hun
ger
led
Poco più mosso ( = 92)
of white,
Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.
© Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured. Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit. "WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."
To
8
to Sylvia McNair
3. The Racing Waterfall Howard Moss
Morten Lauridsen
Allegretto giocoso ( = 104)
The
poco rit.
5
thinned to a trick le or an
i
ci
rac ing wa ter fall that
slowed in
fall
A tempo
cle
And
stands as qui et as the
rocks
9
it
willed to
move.
cresc.
Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.
Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured. Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit. "WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."
Has
10
to Jama Laurent
4. A Child Lay Down Howard Moss
Morten Lauridsen
Mysteriously ( = 52)
A tempo
rit.
A child lay down in his i ma gined grave
brooding, thick
8ba
Ped. simile (Throughout this song, there is a slight stringendo from the beginning of each measure to the final beat, whereupon there is a slight ritard.)
3
To
see the form he’d make en graved in
snow,
But
e
ven that feigned hol low
filled
8ba
5
snow,
8ba
loco
8ba
loco
Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.
Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured. Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit. "WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."
with
12
to Rosa Lamoreaux
5. Who Reads By Starlight
Howard Moss
Morten Lauridsen
= ca. 120 excitedly, as if revealing a secret rit. A tempo
Who reads by
star
light knows what
fire
is,
The end
of words,
4
and how
its
mys
ter
ies
Go
run
ning
in
the
flame
too
light
too
quick
7
see,
As
lan
guage has
a
10
to
be mere
fact
or
fic
tion.
Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.
Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured. Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit. "WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."
bright
to
14
to Rose Taylor
6. And What of Love Howard Moss
Morten Lauridsen
Warmly expressive ( = 60)
And
what
of
love
that
old
men
Poco piĂš mosso ( = 66)
4
dead
and
gone Have win
tered
through,
and writ ten mes sa ges In
rit.
A tempo
7
snow so
tra vel lers,
who come too
warm,
who come
too
warm
Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.
Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured. Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit. "WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."
To what may
15 10
grow too cold,
be safe from
harm? espress.
poco stringendo
14
PiĂš mosso ( = 80)
cresc.
A tempo rit.
18
passionately
They know the fire of flesh is
win ter’s cheat
8va
8va
loco
rit.
22
And how the 8va
loco
i
cy wind makes young blood sweet
In join ing
joy,
in join