I DIED FOR BEAUTY
For Baritone, Vi braphone and Piano
I. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died
II. Interlu de
III. The Last Night that She Lived
IV. I Died For Beauty
Poems by Emily Dickinson
I heard a f ly buzz when I died
The s tillness in th e room
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the h eav es of storm
The eyes around had wrung them dry
And breaths wer e g ather ing fir m
For that las t ons et when the king
Be witnes sed in the room
I willed my k eeps akes , s igned away
What portion of me be
Assignab le; and th en it w as
There in terposed a f ly
With blue uncer tain s tumb ling buzz
Between the light and m e;
And then the windows f ailed ; and th en
I could not s ee to see
THE LA S T N IG H T TH AT S H E LI V E D
The last night that she liv ed
It w as a common night
Except the dying – this to us
Made nature different.
We noticed sm allest things
Things overlooked befo re
By this great light upon our minds
Italicized, as ‘twere
As w e w ent out and in
Betw een her final room
And rooms wh ere tho se to be aliv e
To morrow were, a b lam e
That oth ers could ex ist
While she must finish quite
A jealousy fo r her aro se
So nearly in finite
We w aited while she passed
It w as a narrow time
Too jostled were our souls to speak
At length th e notice came
She men tioned, and fo rgot
Then lightly as a reed
Bent to th e w ater, struggled scarce
Consented, and was d ead
And we, w e placed th e hair
And drew the h ead erect
And then an aw ful leisu re was,
Belief to regulate
I died for b eau ty, bu t w as s car ce
Adjusted in th e tomb
When one who died for tru th was lain
In an ad join ing room
He ques tioned softly why I failed
“For beauty” I rep lied
“And I for truth, Themselves ar e one
We brethren are” h e s aid
And so, as k insmen m et at n ight,
We talked b etw een th e rooms
Until the moss h ad reach ed our lips
And covered up our n am es
Emily
Dickinson
Notes:
For th e per cuss ion ist:
1. Unless “l. v. ” is indicated, the percussioni st has his liberty of pedaling design. Particularly in the 2nd movement, the pedaling should be clean, but not too dr y.
2. For the following measures, rest after the cut-off note indicates “stop vibrate”.
I. m3, m7, m11, m14 Interlude. m17
III. m9, m12,
For th e sing er :
1. Pay close attention to dynamic contrast throughout the entire song cycle.
2. In 2nd movement “The Last Night That She Lived”, rests and breath marks should be precisely interpreted from m63 to m71, for the effect of “breathlessly”.
3. In 3rd movement “I Died For Beauty”, the effect of the irregular note heads in m9 is closest to Sp rec hmelodie, in which the pitch is both a sung tone and a spoken tone. Therefore, the pitch is meant to be heard through whispering-like spoken tone. The difference between these tones and sp rechm elodie lies in the tail of each tone – they are not to be abandoned immediately by falling or rising, instead, to be held legato to the next.
Duration: 8 minu tes
Freely, like a recitative
I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died
Wang Jie
Emily Dickinson
Baritone
Vibraphone
with
And
then the win dows - failed
and
then
I could not see
Interlude
II.
The Last Night that She Lived
ted
when
III. I Died For Beauty
Andante, like a lullaby
Baritone
Otherwise use triangle stick on the edge of the instument.
Vibraphone