Rodríguez SIX SONGS OF E.E. CUMMINGS

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Robert Xavier RodrĂ­guez Six Songs of E.E. Cummings (2008) (for soprano and marimba) Sample begins on the next page

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Composer’s Note Six Songs of E.E. Cummings (2008) were written for my goddaughter Rebecca Duren, soprano. All six poems deal with the subject of love. The first three songs keep the voice and marimba always in cross rhythms. In “there are so many tictoc clocks everywhere” (I), the soprano sings slow, disjunct triplets against a faster-moving marimba line in 4/4 (a quotation of Bach’s Prelude from his Cello Suite in G-Major, BWV 1007). In “who knows if the moon’s a balloon” (II), in keeping with the text, about floating away from the Earth, the soprano line rises farther and farther away from the lower-register duplets of the marimba. In “love is more thicker than forget” (III), the rhythms switch, as the soprano moves to serene duplets over the marimba’s undulating triplets. “i carry your heart with me” (IV) is the most substantial movement. Here, the voice and marimba share the melodic material, both duplets and triplets, as the marimba echoes the soprano line in rapturous, lyrical phrases. The last two songs are comic. “mister youse needn’t be so spry” (V) returns to cross rhythms, with the soprano singing in duplets in a sassy “Miss Adelaide” Brooklyn accent, while the marimba, in triplets, plays a bouncy, twelve-tone theme from my 1986 opera The Ransom of Red Chief, harmonized incongruously in C-Major. The theatrical final song, “may i feel said he” (VI), brings the voice and marimba again into the same (duplet) rhythmic feel. The soprano alternates between “he” and “she” character voices in a torrid seduction scene, as the marimba executes a death-defying moto perpetuo toccata.

The six poems, “there are so many tictoc,” “who knows if the moon’s,” “love is more thicker than forget,” “i carry your heart with me(i carry it in,” “mr youse needn’t be so spry,” “may i feel said he” from COMPLETE POEMS: 1904-1962, by E. E. Cummings, Edited by George J. Firmage, are used with the permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation. Copyright © 1923, 1925, 1926, 1935, 1939, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1963, 1967, 1973, 1980,1983, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust. Copyright © 1973, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1985 by George James Firmage.

SIX SONGS OF E. E. CUMMINGS I.

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Warning: Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited by Federal law and subject to criminal prosecution.

4

II. Tranquillo q = 104

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if the moon’s

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the sky—

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filled with pret - ty peo - ple?

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you and I should get

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III. Grazioso q = 112

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love

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IV. Andante amoroso q = 80

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car - ry

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14

V.

Bouncy soft shoe q = 120

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be so spry

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15

VI. Allegro lussurioso (q = 120–126) (Tempo di milonga)

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feel

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