A Recital of Songs by Female Composers
PRESENTED
BY:
Sarah Beckham-Turner, soprano and Ronald Land, pianist
Friday, November 14, 2025, at 7 p.m.
Gill Memorial Chapel - Rider University 2083 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ
Program
Si j’étais un gardinier (Miles)
Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) Les Reves (Guays) Trahison (Guinand) Villanelles (Guinand)
From Clarieres du Ciel (Jammes) Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)
Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie
Elle est gravement gaie Parfois, je suis triste Un poète distait
Hai Luli! (deMaistre) Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) Havanaise (Pomey)
Intermission
Lorelei (Heine)
Clara Schumann (1819-1896) Mein Stern (Serre)
From Vier Lieder
Waldseligkeit (Dehmel) Erntelied (Falke)
Alma Mahler (1879-1964)
From Three Browning Songs Op. 44 Amy Beach (1867-1944) The Year’s at the Spring
Love, Let the Wind Cry… How I adore Thee (Sappho) Undine Moore (1904-1989)
Dear Edna Lori Laitman (b. 1955)
On an Album of Millay’s recordings (Reeser) What lips my lips have kissed (St. Vincent-Millay)
Editorial Suggestive (from a 21st-century editor) (Thiel) After Reading the Biography Savage Beauty (Stallings)
Casual Georgia Stitt (b. 1972)
Program Notes, Text & Translations
CÉCILE CHAMINADE (1857-1944)
Cécile Chaminade was born into a musical family in Batignolles, a small suburb of Paris, in 1857. Her Father would not allow her to attend the illustrious Paris Conservatory, but she did study piano, violin, and composition with instructors from the school. Her music was well received by audiences and her fellow composers alike, including Georges Bizet. She considered herself a French romantic composer, and her compositions show her to be precisely that. Her songs for voice and piano, as well as her piano pieces (especially “Scarf Dance”), were quite popular within her lifetime, and she frequently performed them in concerts featuring only her own compositions. She was the first female composer to win the Legion d’Honneur. She died in Monte Carlo in 1944 at age 86.
Si j’étais un gardinier (Miles)
Si j'étais jardinier des cieux
Je te cueillerais des étoiles!
Quels joyaux raviraient tes yeux
Si j'étais jardinier des cieux!
Dans la nuit pâle sous ses voiles
Ton éclat serait radieux.
Si j'étais jardinier des cieux,
Je te cueillerais des étoiles!
Si j'étais jardinier d'amour
Je te cueillerais des caresses,
Je te fêterais tout le jour
Si j'étais jardinier d'amour!
En leurs inédites tendresses
Mes bouquets te feraient la cour.
Si j'étais jardinier d'amour
Je te cueillerais des caresses!
Mais mon jardin n'est que chansons,
Et tu peux y cueillir toi-même,
Dieu pour les nids fit les buissons
Et mon jardin n'est que chansons.
Viens-là rêver si ton coeur m'aime
Et mon coeur aura des frissons.
Mais mon jardin n'est que chansons, Et tu peux y cueillir toi-même.
Text: Léon Roger-Milès
If I were a gardener of the heavens, I would gather some stars for you!
What jewels might delight your eyes
If I were a gardener of the heavens!
Beneath the pale of the night Your brightness should shine
If I were a gardener of the heavens, I would gather some stars for you!
If I were a gardener of love, I would gather some caresses for you!
JI would celebrate you all day,
If I were a gardener of love.
With their unparalleled affections, My bouquets would woo you.
If I were a gardener of love, I would gather some caresses for you.
But my garden is made only of songs, And you can gather them yourself
God made the bushes for nests
And my garden is made only of songs.
Come and dream here if your heart loves me. And my heart will tremble.
But my garden is made only of songs, And you can gather them yourself.
Les Reves
Les rêves se posent sur nous
Un moment, sans plier leurs ailes, Ils murmurent, charmants et frêles
Des chants très vagues et très doux, Puis, qu'un vent passe, l'aile ouverte
Ils repartent toujours chantants, Et leur place est vide longtemps, Et pour longtemps l'âme est déserte!
Un beau jour le bonheur nous vient
Souriant, tout vêtu de rose, Parfois il semble peu de chose, Quand de son rêve on se souvient. Il se pose aussi l'aile ouverte, Il repart après quelques jours
Et sa place est vide toujours, Et pour toujours l'âme est déserte!
Trahison
Tu m'as trahie! Et pourtant je t'aimais!
Et sous les cieux. nulle autre femme，
Nulle autre femme au monde
Dans l'adoré n'eut de foi si profonde，
On peut chérir autant, mais plus, jamais!
Tu m'as trahie! Et dans la forêt verte，
Dans la forêt, comme à la plaine
Où finit le chemin，
Tout sait l'ardeur de ta main dans ma main，
Et les serments de ta lèvre entr'ouverte.
Tu m'as trahie! Et tu n'ignorais pas
Ce que seraient mon deuil, et ma souffrance，
Et que bientôt mon unique espérance，
Ne t'ayant plus, serait dans le trépas!
Tu m'as trahie! Que Dieu te pardonne!
En cet instant où mon jour va finir，
Vers toi, vers toi j'envois un dernier souvenir，
Gardele bien ! C'est mon cœur qui le donne!
Tu m'as trahie! Ah! Que Dieu te pardonne!
Text: Louis Guays
Dreams descend upon us
For a moment, without ever folding their wings, The murmur, charming and fragile
Some very indistinct and soft songs,
Then, as a wind passes, their wings open, They leave again, still singing,
And their place is empty for a long time,
And for a long time, the soul feels deserted.
One fine day, happiness comes to us
Smiling, all dressed in rosy pink,
Sometimes it seems an indistinct thing, As when one remembers a dream, It also descends with an open wing, And leaves again after a few days
And the place is empty forever, And the soul feels deserted forever!
Text: Édouard Guinand
You have betrayed me! And still I loved you! And under the heavens, no other woman, No other woman in the world, Among those adored, there was never one so trusted.
One may love as much, but more, never!
You have betrayed me! And in the forest green, In the forest, as on the plain Where ends the road，
All the ardor of your hand in my hand，
And the promises of your half-opened lips.
You have betrayed me, and you do not know, How deep is my grief and suffering, And since I no longer have you, My only hope is for a quick death.
You have betrayed me! May God forgive you! At the moment when my days end, To you, I send one last remembrance Keep it well, it is my heart that I send!
You have betrayed me. Ah, that heaven forgives you.
Villanelles Text: Édouard Guinand
Le blé superbe est rentré, Fête aux champs, fête au village.
Chaque fillette, au corsage, Porte un bleuet azuré, Fête aux champs, fête au village!
Les jeunes gens danseront
Ce soir, dans la grande allée: Et sous la nuit étoilée, Que de mains se chercheront Ce soir, dans la grande allée!
Ce soir, dansez jusqu'au jour, Aux gais sons de vos musettes!
Jeunes garçons et fillettes, Chantez vos refrains d'amour, Aux gais sons de vos musettes!
Sans contrainte et sans remords Enivrez-vous de jeunesse:
La tristesse est pour les morts, Pour les vivants l'allégresse, Enivrez-vous de jeunesse!
Dansez jusqu'au jour, Fête aux champs, fête au village.
LILI BOULANGER (1893-1918)
The superb wheat is taken in; Celebration in the fields, celebration in the village Every girl wears a corsage of cornflower blue Celebration in the field, celebration in the village
The young people dance This evening in the long avenue And beneath the starry night, How hands will seek each other out This evening in the long avenue
This evening, dance until day, To the gay sounds of your accordion! Young boys and girls, Sing your choruses of love, To the gay sounds of your accordion!
Without constraint and without remorse, Become drunk, you young ones: Gloominess is for the dead, Happiness is for the living, Become drunk, you young ones! Dance until day, Celebration in the fields, Celebration in the village.
Lili (Marie-Juliette) Boulanger was born with music in her DNA. Born in Paris in 1893, her father, Ernest, was a singer and composer, her mother a Princess and a former student of Ernest’s. Her elder sister Nadia was a composer and would become one of the most influential composition teachers of the 20th century. Her paternal grandparents were also musicians. No surprise then that she would be the first female winner of the Prix de Rome prize for composition in 1913 – a prize her Father had won years before. Lili’s short life was marred by illness; she died at the tender age of 24. Her music, greatly influenced by both Fauré and Debussy, lives on – especially her lovely songs.
These four songs by Boulanger are the first four songs of her only song cycle Clarières dans le Ciel. The text of this cycle maps one person’s experience of harrowingly intense love.
Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie Text: Francis Jammes Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie et, comme la prairie était toute fleurie de plantes dont la tige aime à pousser dans l’eau, ces plantes inondées je les avais cueillies. Bientôt, s’étant mouillée, elle gagna le haut de cette prairie-là qui était toute fleurie. Elle riait et s’ébrouait avec la grâce dégingandée qu’ont les jeunes filles trop grandes. Elle avait le regard qu’ont les fleurs de lavande
She had reached the low-lying meadow, and, since the meadow was all a-blossom with plants that like to grow in water, I had picked these flooded flowers. Soon, soaking wet, she reached the top of that blossoming meadow. She was laughing and gasping with the gawky grace of girls who are too tall. Her eyes looked like lavender flowers.
Elle est gravement gaie
Elle est gravement gaie. Par moments son regard se levait comme pour surprendre ma pensée. Elle était douce alors comme quand il est tard le velours jaune et bleu d’une allée de pensées.
Parfois, je suis triste
Parfois, je suis triste. Et, soudain, je pense à elle. Alors, je suis joyeux. Mais je redeviens triste de ce que je ne sais pas combien elle m’aime. Elle est la jeune fille à l’âme toute claire, et qui, de dans son cœur, garde avec jalousie l’unique passion que l’on donne à un seul. Elle est partie avant que s’ouvrent les tilleuls, et, comme ils ont fleuri depuis qu’elle est partie, je me suis étonné de voir, ô mes amis, des branches de tilleuls qui n’avaient pas de fleurs.
Un poète distait
Un poète disait que lorsqu’il était jeune, il fleurissait des vers comme un rosier des roses. Lorsque je pense à elle, il me semble que jase une fontaine intarissable dans mon cœur.
Comme sur le lys Dieu pose un parfum d’église, comme il met du corail aux joues de la cerise, je veux poser sur elle, avec dévotion, la couleur d’un parfum, qui n’aura pas de nom.
PAULINE VIARDOT (1821-1910)
Text: Francis Jammes
She is solemnly cheerful. At times she looked up, as if to catch what I was thinking. She was gentle then, like at dusk the yellow-blue velvet of a path of pansies.
Text: Francis Jammes
Sometimes I am sad. And suddenly, I think of her. Then, I am overjoyed. But I grow sad again, because I do not know how much she loves me. She is the girl with the limpid soul, and who, in her heart, guards with jealousy the unrivalled passion garnered for one alone. She went before the limes had blossomed, and since they flowered after she had gone, I was astonished to see, my friends, lime-tree branches devoid of flowers.
Text: Francis Jammes
A poet said that when he was young he blossomed with verse, like rose-trees with roses. When I think of her, an endless spring seems to babble in my heart.
As God places a church-scent on the lily and coral on the cheeks of the cherry, I wish to place, devotedly, on her the colour of a scent that shall have no name.
Pauline Viardot was a distinguished pianist, singer, composer, and teacher in the late 19th century. She was born in 1821 to Manuel and Joaquina Garcia, who were renowned for their work in vocal pedagogy. Her older sister was the famous singer Maria Malibran. Pauline would have preferred to be a pianist, but her Mother insisted she focus more on her voice. She was friends with the best pianists of her generation, especially Chopin, who allowed her to arrange some of his precious Mazurkas into songs, and they often spoke about her pedigree as a pianist. Her compositional life became far more focused after her retirement as a singer, having previously been more for the benefit of her students. She died at age 88 in 1910, and has a list of compositions that includes opera, ballet, choral and symphonic works, and many songs.
Hai Luli!
Je suis triste, je mʹinquiète, je ne sais plus que devenir. Mon bon ami devait venir, et je lʹattends ici seulette.
Haï luli! Haï luli!
Où donc peut être mon ami?
Je mʹassieds pour filer ma laine, le fil se casse dans ma main ... Allons, je filerai demain; aujourd'hui je suis trop en peine!
Haï luli! Haï luli!
Quʹil fait triste sans son ami!
Ah! s'il est vrai qu'il soit volage, sʹil doit un jour mʹabandonner, le village nʹa quʹà brûler, et moi-même avec le village!
Haï luli! Haï luli!
A quoi bon vivre sans ami?
Text: deMaistre
I am sad, I am anxious, I no longer know what’s to become of me. My lover was to have come, And I wait for him here alone.
Hai luli, hai luli, How sad it is without my lover!
I sit down to spin my wool, The thread snaps in my hand: Well then! I shall spin tomorrow, Today I am too upset.
Hai luli, hai luli, Where can my lover be?
Ah! If it’s true that he’s unfaithful, And will one day abandon me, Then let the village burn And me too along with the village!
Hai luli, hai luli, What point is there in living without a lover?
Havanaise Text: Pomey
Sur la rive le flot d'argent
En chantant brise mollement, Et des eaux avec le ciel pur Au lointain se confond l'azur. Quel doux hymne la mer soupire!
Viens c'est nous que sa voix attire, Sois, ô belle! moins rebelle, Sois, ô belle! moins cruelle, Ah! Ah! A ses chants laisse-toi charmer!
Viens, c'est là que l'on sait aimer. O ma belle, la mer t'appelle. A ses chants laisse-toi charmer, C'est en mer que l'on sait aimer, oui c'est là que l'on sait aimer!
CLARA SCHUMANN (1819-1896)
On the shore, the silvery water Breaks while singing softly
And the blue of the water and the pure sky Merge in the distance What a sweet hymn the sea sighs!
Come, its voice is calling us.
Be, oh beautiful one, less rebellious Ah! Ah! In its songs, let yourself be charmed Come, it is there that one can love.
Oh my beautiful one, the sea is calling you. In its song, let yourself be charmed, It is through the sea that one learns to love, Yes, it is there that one can love.
Clara Schumann was arguably the most important woman in music in the late 19th century. No other woman maintained a career as a famous concert pianist, composer, and pedagogue while being a wife, mother, and grandmother. Born in 1819, she was the daughter of Friedrich Wieck and Marianne Bargiel, who both taught piano. She became the wife of composer Robert Schumann; friend, mentor, and recital partner to the great violinist Joseph Joachim; and life-long friend and advisor to Johannes Brahms. As part of her education, Clara learned to compose – and she did so regularly from the time she was 11 years old. Her famous Piano Concerto in a minor was written when she was only 14 years old. She is responsible for many piano pieces, works for the violin and piano, songs, and choral works. She died in 1896.
Lorelei Text: Heine Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten, Daß ich so traurig bin; Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten, Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt, Und ruhig fließt der Rhein; Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt Im Abendsonnenschein.
Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet Dort oben wunderbar, Ihr goldnes Geschmeide blitzet, Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar.
Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme Und singt ein Lied dabei, Das hat eine wundersame, Gewalt’ge Melodei.
Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe Ergreift es mit wildem Weh; Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe, Er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh’.
Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn; Und das hat mit ihrem Singen Die Lorelei getan.
I do not know what it means That I should feel so sad; There is a tale from olden times I cannot get out of my mind.
The air is cool, and twilight falls, And the Rhine flows quietly by; The summit of the mountains glitters In the evening sun.
The fairest maiden is sitting In wondrous beauty up there, Her golden jewels are sparkling, She combs her golden hair.
She combs it with a golden comb And sings a song the while; It has an awe-inspiring, Powerful melody.
It seizes the boatman in his skiff With wildly aching pain; He does not see the rocky reefs, He only looks up to the heights.
I think at last the waves swallow The boatman and his boat; And that, with her singing, The Loreley has done.
Mein Stern Text: Serre
O du mein Stern, Schau dich so gern, Wenn still im Meere die Sonne sinket, Dein gold’nes Auge so tröstend winket In meiner Nacht!
O du mein Stern, Aus weiter Fern’, Bist du ein Bote mit Liebesgrüßen, Laß deine Strahlen mich durstig küssen In banger Nacht.
O du mein Stern, Verweile gern, Und lächelnd führ’ auf des Lichts Gefieder Der Träume Engel dem Freunde wieder In seine Nacht.
O you my star, I love to observe you, When the sun slips quietly into the sea, And your golden gaze beckons so consolingly In my night!
O you my star, From afar You bring me tidings of love, Let me passionately kiss your rays In fearful night.
O you my star, Linger gladly, And smilingly on the wings of light Escort once more the angel of dreams to your friend In his night.
ALMA MAHLER (1879-1964)
Alma Mahler is probably more famous for her life than her compositions. Born in 1879, she studied piano and composition. By the beginning of the twentieth century, she will have had romantic relationships with Alexander Zemlinsky and Gustav Klimt. She married the composer Gustav Mahler in 1902. It is a matter of debate as to whether she decided to slow her compositional career or whether Mahler encouraged her to retire. After Mahler’s death, she had a tumultuous affair with the painter Kokoschka, married Walter Gropius, and then married Franz Werfel. Fleeing the Nazi takeover – Alma and Walter gravitated to the US, where they lived until both of their deaths. Alma was an important socialite and hosted many salons, bringing together some of the most significant artists in music at the time – including Schonberg and Stravinsky. She died in New York in 1964. Composition never again became her priority. About 17 songs by Alma Mahler survive today.
Waldseligkeit
Der Wald beginnt zu rauschen, den Bäumen naht die Nacht, als ob sie selig lauschen, berühren sie sich sacht.
Und unter ihren Zweigen, da bin ich ganz allein, da bin ich ganz mein eigen : ganz nur Dein!
Erntelied
Der ganze Himmel glüht
In hellen Morgenrosen; Mit einem letzten, losen Traum noch im Gemüt, Trinken meine Augen diesen Schein. Wach und wacher, wie Genesungswein.
Und nun kommt von jenen Rosenhügeln
Glanz des Tags und Wehn von seinen Flügeln, Kommt er selbst. Und alter Liebe voll, Daß ich ganz an ihm genesen soll, Gram der Nacht und was sich sonst verlor, Ruft er mich an seine Brust empor.
Und die Wälder und die Felder klingen, Und die Gärten heben an zu singen.
Fern und dumpf rauscht das erwachte Meer. Segel seh' ich in die Sonnenweiten, Weiße Segel, frischen Windes, gleiten, Stille, goldne Wolken obenher.
Und im Blauen, sind es Wanderflüge?
Schweig o Seele! Hast du kein Genüge?
Sieh, ein Königreich hat dir der Tag verlieh'n.
Auf! Dein Wirken preise ihn!
Text: Richard Dehmel
The wood begins to stir, night draws near the trees; as if blissfully listening, they gently touch each other. And beneath their branches I am utterly alone, utterly my own; utterly and only yours.
Text: Gustav Falke
The whole sky glows In the rosy morning light; With a last fleeting Dream still in my soul, My eyes drink in this radiance. Ever more awake like convalescent wine.
And now from those hills of roses comes The splendor of day and the travail of its wings, He comes himself, full of old love; And that I should quite recover with him The sorrow of night and all that was lost, He summons me to his breast!
And the forests and the fields ring
And the gardens begin to sing.
The awakened sea murmurs muffled from afar, I see sails on the distant horizon, White sails of fresh wind glide by, Silent golden clouds above, And are there wanderer’s wings in the blue? Hush, my soul, have you not had your fill?
See, a wealthy king has granted you this day. Arise! May your works sing his praise!
AMY BEACH (1867-1944)
Amy Beach, otherwise known as Mrs H.A.A. Beach in concert programs, is America’s first prominent female composer. She is considered part of the “Second New England School,” which also included Edward MacDowell and Horatio Parker. She was born in 1867. Considered a child prodigy, she began her studies very early, primarily in piano. She had training in foundational studies but was never formally a composition student. Her Gaelic Symphony, Piano Concerto, and many songs and choral works hold an active place in the repertory. Her style is romantic, logically influenced by the work of Brahms. She died in 1944 in New York City.
The Year’s at the Spring Text: Robert Browning The year’s at the spring, And day’s at the morn; Morning’s at seven; The hill-side’s dew-pearl’d; The lark’s on the wing; The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in His heaven–All’s right with the world!
UNDINE MOORE (1904-1989)
Undine Moore has been called the “Dean of Black Women Composers.” She was born in 1904 in Virginia, the granddaughter of enslaved people. She graduated from the HBC Fisk University with the assistance of a scholarship from the Juilliard School, for which she was the very first recipient. She received a Master's Degree from Columbia University’s Teachers’ College, along with subsequent composition study at Manhattan School of Music and Eastman School of Music. Moore’s music has been analyzed as being influenced by ragtime, blues, jazz, and gospel music. Moore herself often acknowledged the influence of “black folk music” and Bach as her inspirations. Moore wrote over 50 choral works, 21 compositions for solo voice and accompaniment, and 18 instrumental pieces. She died in 1989 after suffering a stroke.
Love, Let the Wind Cr y… How I adore Thee
Love let the wind cry
On the dark mountain, Bending the ash trees
And the tall hemlocks
With the great voice of Thunderous legions, How I adore thee.
Let the hoarse torrent
In the blue canyon, Murmuring mightily
Out of the gray mist
Of primal chaos
Cease not proclaiming How I adore thee.
Let the long rhythm
Of crunching rollers, Breaking and bursting
On the white seaboard Titan and tireless, Tell, while the world stands, How I adore thee.
Love, let the clear call Of the tree cricket, Frailest of creatures, Green as the young grass, Mark with his trilling Resonant bell-note, How I adore thee.
But, more than all sounds, Surer, serener, Fuller of passion And exultation, Let the hushed whisper In thine own heart say, How I adore thee.
LORI LAITMAN (B. 1955)
Lori Laitman – from www.artsongs.com: “Described by Fanfare Magazine as “one of the most talented and intriguing of living composers,” Lori Laitman has composed operas, choral works, and over 350 songs, setting texts by classical and contemporary poets, including those who perished in the Holocaust. Laitman’s music is praised for its uniqueness, craft and beauty: “unmistakable sense of identity… masterful skill” (Opera News); “artistry of the highest order” (Textura.org); “gripping and thoughtprovoking” (American Record Guide). She’s received commissions from the BBC, The Royal Philharmonic Society, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera America, Opera Colorado, Seattle Opera, Washington National Opera Chorus, Grant Park Music Festival, Music of Remembrance, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and others. Three of Laitman’s full-length operas have received their world premieres over the past decade. Opera Colorado’s world premiere of The Scarlet Letter (to David Mason’s libretto based on the Hawthorne) was recorded by Naxos and named an Opera News Critic’s Choice. The recording also made Fanfare Magazine’s Top 5 CDs of 2018. A comic and magical tone sets the stage for The Three Feathers, Laitman’s fairy tale opera with librettist Dana Gioia. Commissioned and premiered by the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech in 2014, the opera has received numerous subsequent presentations. Uncovered, Laitman’s opera with librettist Leah Lax (based on her memoir), examines a woman’s right to choose and premiered in 2022. Laitman frequently collaborates with stage director and dramaturg Beth Greenberg, who directed each of these world premieres. Maya and the Magic Ring is Laitman’s second family opera with Gioia. The work was commissioned by Lyric Opera of Kansas City and it premiered in March 2025. And with librettist Mason she is also at work on Ludlow, an epic American immigrant tragedy that explores the 1914 Colorado coal mining massacre. Laitman continues to devote a substantial portion of her catalog to sharing stories about the Holocaust. Music of Remembrance has commissioned several works, including Vedem (2010), to David Mason’s libretto about the boys of Terezin and their secret magazine, and Wertheim Park (2022), setting the late poet Susan de Sola’s homage to Dutch Jews who perished under the Nazis. In 2022, Indianapolis Opera presented a staged version of Vedem.
Since 2000, Laitman has been a frequent guest composer at universities across the country. She and composer Tom Cipullo founded the NATS Mentoring Program for Composers in 2020, and in 2024, they
received The American Academy of Teachers of Singing award for their efforts in developing and overseeing this program. Laitman is also the advisor and benefactor for the NATS Art Song Composition Award and funds a fellowship for composers at The Yale School of Music, which awarded her the Ian Mininberg Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in May 2018.
With releases on Naxos, Signum, Acis, Albany and other labels, her discography is extensive. She has been featured on Thomas Hampson’s Song of America radio, Internet series and website, and is in The Grove Dictionary of American Music. A magna cum laude Yale College graduate, Laitman received her MM from Yale School of Music. For more information, please visit www.artsongs.com.”
Dear Edna was commissioned in 2009 by soprano Hope Hudson and uses poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay and three contemporary American poets – Jennifer Reeser, Diane Thiel, and A.E. Stallings.
On an Album of Millay’s Recording opens with a repeating 3 note accompaniment pattern meant to mirror the image of a record revolving on a record player. The voice rises in pitch as the narrator’s excitement increases, before settling back to the opening mood, as the narrator ponders whether Millay herself might somehow know of the record’s discovery.
Millay’s What Lips My Lips Have Kissed is paired with Diana Theil’s humorous poem, which imagines what sort of editorial advice Millay might have received from a 21st century editor. The Millay setting is distinguished by a lyrical vocal line that often rises and falls. Listen for the word painting in the accompaniment as the ghosts “tap” on the window, the high vocal melisma on “cry” as well as the wordless ending melismas, which capture the regret of time passed.
Editoral Suggestive intersperses direct quotes from the Millay song with quick short bursts of new material as the editor “comments”. As a humorous counterpoint to an imagined love scene, Laitmann reference Tchaikovsky’s love theme from Romeo and Juliet. The cycle ends with A.E. Stalling’ musing after reading the Millay biography Savage Beauty. A rollicking mood created by the use of 6/8 and 9/8 alternates with dreamier segments, as the narrator continues to fantasize about what life would be like if she were more like Edna St. Vincent Millay.
On an Album of Millay’s recordings Text: Jennifer Reeser As firmly bound as she, as red and rust as her hair, its face embossed with laurel leaves bracing her name,
the inner parchment sleeves imputed, pocked with hot and docile must, I’ve found it, in this thrifter’s locus.
Thrust and taped inside the front, two pristine sheaves of pamphleting suggest what I believe: this specific one –without a dram of dust –was never played, and if, by happenstance or thrilling fate, I am the first to hear her gestures here, It would be apropos.
Inherent scion of her passed romance –the distance to my heart through a wan ear –I ward and wonder, Vincent!
Do you know?
What lips my lips have kissed
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh Upon the glass and listen for reply, And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree, Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, Yet knows its boughs more silent than before: I cannot say what loves have come and gone, I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.
Editorial Suggestive (from a 21st-century editor)
Text: Edna St. Vincent Millay
Text: Diane Thiel “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” –A hot beginning! What the readers want! But could the lips be hips – get more up front to better wake and shock the weary eye? Must it be ghosts that tap the glass and sigh? Why not a well-remembered lad at the front door? (Or, better at the back?) You won’t quite let him in, but then – No, what have I to say about it? It’s your poem, nest-ce pas? Lain – Good Verb – although the lay could be more tempting. Set the reader’s cheeks aflame. Bend those boughs. Take him up against that tree –out in that rain! And one more thing – oh, yes –dear Edna, you must also change your name.
After Reading the Biography Savage Beauty
I’d like to write sonnets, a dozen a day, Compose a libretto and maybe a play. My lustrous red hair would be crowned with the bay If I were like Edna St. Vincent Millay
I’d like to have loves, both straight ones and gay, I’d like to hold both seces under my sway And not give two figs about what people say Like Edna, Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I’d like to throw tantrums and get my own way,
Text: A.E. Stallings
I’d like to be fresh as a young Beaujolais, And slyly bewitching as Morgan Le Fay, Like Edna, Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I’d move with the grace of one trained in ballet. My husband would not only love but obey. People would flock to my readings – and pay –If I were like Edna St. Vincent Millay.
GEORGIA STITT (B. 1972)
Georgia Stitt is a composer/lyricist, music director, pianist, and music producer. Her original musicals include Snow Child (commissioned by Arena Stage and directed by Molly Smith); Samantha Spade, Ace Detective (commissioned by TADA Youth Theater and written with Lisa Diana Shapiro, National Youth Theatre 2014 Winner “Outstanding New Musical”); Big Red Sun (NAMT Festival winner in 2010, Harold Arlen Award in 2005, written with playwright John Jiler); The Danger Year (a musical revue); The Water (winner of the 2008 ANMT Search for New Voices in American Musical Theatre and written with Jeff Hylton and Tim Werenko); and Mosaic (commissioned for Inner Voices Off-Broadway in 2010 and written with Cheri Steinkellner). She is currently writing The Big Boom (with Hunter Foster) and an oratorio called The Circling Universe that has been developed at Princeton University.
Georgia’s non-theatrical compositions include Fanfare for the Ups and Downs, commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony and premiered by clarinetist Chris Pell, and several choral pieces: With Hope And Virtue, using text from President Obama’s 2009 inauguration speech and featured on NPR as part of Judith Clurman’s Sing Out, Mister President! cycle, De Profundis, premiered by the International Orange Chorale in San Francisco, and Joyful Noise, a setting of Psalm 100 (all published by G. Schirmer), as well as A Better Resurrection and The Promise of Light, published by Walton Music, and Let Me Sing For You, performed at The Kennedy Center, and Echo, performed by the Women’s Chorus at the University of California, Berkeley. Recent commissions include Do Not Stand At My Grave, for the Hilton Head Choral Society and Orchestra and Pretty Women/Beautiful Girls, an arrangement of Stephen Sondheim songs for LA-based women’s choir Vox Femina. Waiting for Wings, co-written with husband Jason Robert Brown for orchestra and narrator, was commissioned by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and premiered there in 2013 with conductor John Morris Russell. Georgia has served as the composer-in-residence at Pasadena Presbyterian Church in California and for the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City. She has performed her music throughout the US and in England, Scotland, Australia, Denmark, Germany, and Japan.
In 2007 Georgia released her first album, This Ordinary Thursday: The Songs Of Georgia Stitt, featuring Broadway singers Kelli O’Hara, Faith Prince, Carolee Carmello, Sara Ramirez, Susan Egan, Tituss Burgess, Keith Byron Kirk, Andrea Burns, Matthew Morrison, Will Chase, Jenn Colella, Lauren Kennedy and Cheyenne Jackson. With lyricist Marcy Heisler she wrote and in 2009 recorded Alphabet City Cycle, a song cycle for soprano and violin featuring Tony-nominated singer Kate Baldwin. My Lifelong Love was released in 2011, featuring performances by Anika Noni Rose, Brian d’Arcy James, John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Shoshana Bean, Susan Egan, Heidi Blickenstaff, Michael Arden, Christopher Jackson, Laura Osnes, Kate Baldwin, and Michael McElroy. In 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic, Georgia released A Quiet Revolution, featuring theater luminaries Kate Baldwin, Laura Benanti, Heidi Blickenstaff, Andréa Burns, Brandon Victor Dixon, Sutton Foster, Joshua Henry, Amber Iman, Jeremy Jordan, Caitlin Kinnunen, Norm Lewis, Emily Skinner, Jessica Vosk, Betsy Wolfe, and E.J. Zimmerman.
Georgia produced and arranged Susan Egan’s album The Secret of Happiness and Robert Creighton’s album Ain’t We Got Fun. Additionally, Georgia has written songs that are included on Egan’s Coffee House and Winter Tracks and Kevin Odekirk’s Unheard (all LML Records), Lauren Kennedy’s Here and Now (PS Classics), Daniel Boys’ So Close (Eden Records), Caroline Sheen’s Raise The Curtain, and Stuart Matthew Price’s All Things In Time (both SimG Records). She contributed songs to the 2008 MTV movie The American Mall. In 2020 Kate Baldwin released a single called “Something That You Do,” written by Georgia based on a true story from Kate’s life.
Georgia was the music director of 13: The Musical, which was released on Netflix in 2022, and the onset music supervisor for the Anna Kendrick/Jeremy Jordan film The Last Five Years. She has previously worked as the vocal coach for the NBC hit show America’s Got Talent. She was the assistant music director for the NBC TV special Clash of the Choirs, the on-camera vocal coach for the NBC reality TV show Grease: You’re The One That I Want, and the Production Music Coordinator for the Disney/ABC TV musical Once Upon A Mattress starring Tracey Ullman and Carol Burnett. On Broadway she was the assistant conductor of Little Shop of Horrors and the associate conductor of the Encores! production of Can-Can starring Patti LuPone. Other theater credits: Sweet Charity (starring Sutton Foster), Avenue Q, Sweet Smell of Success, The Music Man, Titanic, Annie, and both the 2000 national tour and the 2023 Broadway revival of Parade. She has also served as musical director and arranger/orchestrator for The Broadway Divas in concerts in New York, California and Australia and was a music consultant for the feature film The Stepford Wives, directed by Frank Oz. In 2005 she served as an arranger for the Boston Pops Orchestra (Keith Lockhart, conductor) in their 75th Anniversary Tribute to Stephen Sondheim at Tanglewood and Boston’s Symphony Hall. In 2014 she played a nun and served of the music team for NBC’s The Sound Of Music Live! with Carrie Underwood and Audra McDonald and in 2021 she made a cameo appearance in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s film Tick, Tick… Boom!
Georgia’s work as an arranger, pianist, and coach can be heard on Kate Baldwin’s record Let’s See What Happens (PS Classics), as well as on the Broadway Cares Home For The Holidays CD (Centaur Records) and the cast albums of Parade (2023), After The Fair, Shine, DoReMi, and Little Shop of Horrors.
Georgia received her M.F.A. in Musical Theater Writing from New York University and her B.Mus. in Music Theory and Composition from Vanderbilt University, where she graduated magna cum laude. She teaches Musical Theater Writing at Princeton University and has previously taught at the University of Southern California and Pace University. She is a recipient of the 2023 “Go Write A Musical” Lilly Award, an Obie Award, a MUSE Award from the Prospect Theater and an Inspire Award from the Foundation of New American Musicals, the Jamie deRoy and Friends Award, the Harold Arlen Award, and the Frederick Loewe Fellowship from ASCAP, and the Sue Brewer Award for excellence in music composition. Georgia is the Founder and President of Maestra, an activist organization for women and nonbinary theater musicians. She also serves on the Council of The Dramatists Guild of America and on the Leadership Council for the Songwriters & Composers Wing at The Recording Academy. Other proud memberships include ASCAP, the American Federation of Musicians (Local 802), and MUSE (Musicians United for Social Equity). Georgia lives in New York with her husband, composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown, and their two daughters.
Casual Georgia Stitt (b. 1972) Keepin’ it casual. It’s fine.
He has his life; I have mine.
There are jobs to do, projects to plan, Bills to pay, and then if I can… There’s a man…
But I’m keepin’ it casual. No rush.
Though, at time, he makes me blush. I am not the type to lose my head. Lots of things to want instead of a man. I’m keepin’ it casual.
I built my business out of nothing. I’ve done very well alone. I didn’t spend my life investing
So I could wait here by the phone. All of these sacrifices, Now my goal’s in sight!
So explain to me why thoughts of romance Keep me up at night?
And it doesn’t feel casual
To discover you care!
It feels like something broke That you never knew was there. You can work your fingers to the bone, And you die successful And alone.
Or you push away
Everything you thought before, Admit… you want more!
Some nice guy who loves his mother. No credit card debt.
Open to the thought of marriage, Maybe even a pet.
Disciplined and dedicated, Thinks New York is overrated, Not the kind who chases every whim! I thought I might have missed the boat, But here he is.
It’s him!
It’s finally him!
So it’s gotta stay casual
At first, Or I fear my heart might burst. After keeping life at bay for years, It’s shocking when it just Appears.
So for now, There’s a man
Who might just have it all. And… he will call…
Yeah.
I’m keepin’ it casual.
About the Artists
SARAH BECKHAM-TURNER
Sarah Beckham-Turner is a multi-talented artist passionate about creating and participating in musical art. As a soprano, she has received critical acclaim for her soulful and affecting performances, earning praise from the New York Times, Opera News, Wall Street Journal, and The Observer. As a director, she works with young artists and has directed and produced productions such as The Magic Flute, Postcard from Morocco, and Our Town. In New York City, she serves as the stage director for The Manhattan Opera Studio, where she has directed productions of Hänsel and Gretel and The Magic Flute.
Beckham-Turner is a member of Opera Cowgirls, an all-female performing group described as “where grand opera meets the grand ol’ opry.” Sarah also enjoys being a part of the soprano, horn, and piano trio, Triosarachops. Beckham-Turner resides in Amarillo, Texas, where she is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at West Texas A&M University. This season, Beckham-Turner will direct Don Giovanni and A Muskrat Lullaby, sing with The Amarillo Symphony, and perform with The Opera Cowgirls, with engagements taking place in Texas, New York City, and Chicago.
RONALD LAND
Ronald F. Land is a respected vocal instructor, pianist, assistant conductor, coach, accompanist and administrator. Well versed in opera, art song, musical theater and Catholic liturgical music, Ron Land seeks to help singers at all levels achieve their maximum potential.
Ron is a Professor of Voice at Rider University where he maintains a private voice studio and has directed the Sophomore Showcase. In addition, Ron is a member of the collaborative piano staff at Manhattan School of Music. He has served as faculty at Queens College as a music director of Opera Studio. He was formerly the Co-Head of Musical Theatre at Five Towns college, where in addition to private voice lessons and classes in preparation for a career in musical theatre, he served as musical and/or stage director for 11 productions.
About Rider University, The Department of Performing Arts, & Westminster Choir College
Located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Rider University is a private co-educational, student-centered university that emphasizes purposeful connections between academic study and real-world learning experience. Rider prepares graduates to thrive professionally, to be lifelong independent learners, and to be responsible citizens who embrace diversity, support the common good, and contribute meaningfully to the changing world in which they live and work.
The College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to educating students for engaged citizenship, career success, and personal growth in a diverse and complex world. The college cultivates intellectual reflection, artistic creativity, and academic maturity by promoting both broad academic inquiry and indepth disciplinary study, while nurturing effective and ethical applications of transferable critical skills. The College consists of four schools: the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Communication, Media, and Performing Arts, the School of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, and Westminster Choir College.
Through its dynamic mix of academic programs, The Department of Performing Arts helps aspiring professional performers, producers, managers, designers, technicians and entrepreneurs find their unique path in an ever-evolving industry. Acknowledged as innovative and contemporary, the Department of Performing Arts aspires to build a more equitable, engaging and sustainable future for the performing arts while exploring the many diverse historical, cultural, social and creative threads that add to our rich tapestry.
Culturally vibrant and historically rich, Westminster Choir College has a legacy of preparing students for thriving careers as well-rounded performers and musical leaders on concert stages, in schools, universities, and churches, and in professional and community organizations worldwide. Renowned for its tradition of choral excellence, the college is home to internationally recognized ensembles, including the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with virtually all of the major orchestras and conductors of our time. In addition to its choral legacy, Westminster is known as a center for excellence in musical pedagogy and performance.
Upcoming Performances
FALL OPERA: EL GATO CON BOTAS
Friday, November 14, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 15, 2 p.m. Yvonne Theater
RIDER UNIVERSITY CHORALE: BEGINNING
Saturday, November 15, 7:30 p.m. Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER CONCERT BELL CHOIR: WINTER CONCERT
Saturday, November 22, 4 p.m. Gill Chapel
Sunday, November 23, 4 p.m.
Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville 2688 Lawrenceville Rd, Lawrence Township, NJ 08648
Saturday, December 6, 7:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church of Freehold 118 W Main St, Freehold, NJ 07728
FALL DANCE CONCERT
Saturday, November 22, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 23, 2 p.m. Yvonne Theater
ROMEO AND JULIET
Friday, December 5, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 6, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 7, 2 p.m. Bart Luedeke Center Theater
AN EVENING OF READINGS AND CAROLS
Friday December 12, 8 p.m.
Saturday, December 13, 8 p.m. Princeton University Chapel
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UPCOMING PERFORMANCES, SUBSCRIPTION AND PATRON PROGRAM OPTIONS, VISIT RIDER.EDU/ARTS.
