song cycle for soprano, tenor, and piano | ca. 15’
Program Note:
The song cycle We Outgrow Love Like Other Things selects four poems from Emily Dickinson and two poems from Oscar Wilde to present different views from male and female poets on similar topics - love, death, and memories.
Texts:
Roses and Rue by Oscar Wilde
Could we dig up this long-buried treasure/Were it worth the pleasure/We never could learn love's song/We are parted too long. Could the passionate past that is fled/Call back its dead/Could we live it all over again/Were it worth the pain!
I remember we used to meet/By an ivied seat/And you warbled each pretty word/With the air of a bird; And your voice had a quaver in it/Just like a linnet/And shook, as the blackbird's throat/With its last big note; And your eyes, they were green and grey/Like an April day/But lit into amethyst/When I stooped and kissed; And your mouth, it would never smile/For a long, long while/Then it rippled all over with laughter/Five minutes after.
You were always afraid of a shower/Just like a flower:/I remember you started and ran/When the rain began. I remember I never could catch you/For no one could match you/You had wonderful, luminous, fleet/Little wings to your feet. I remember your hair - did I tie it?/For it always ran riot -/Like a tangled sunbeam of gold/These things are old.
I remember so well the room/And the lilac bloom/That beat at the dripping pane/In the warm June rain; And the colour of your gown/It was amber-brown/And two yellow satin bows/From your shoulders rose. And the handkerchief of French lace/Which you held to your face/Had a small tear left a stain?/Or was it the rain? On your hand as it waved adieu/There were veins of blue/In your voice as it said good-bye/Was a petulant cry. ‘You have only wasted your life.'/(Ah, that was the knife!)/When I rushed through the garden gate/It was all too late.
Could we live it over again/Were it worth the pain/Could the passionate past that is fled/Call back its dead!
Well, if my heart must break/Dear love, for your sake/It will break in music, I know/Poets' hearts break so. But strange that I was not told/That the brain can hold/In a tiny ivory cell/God's heaven and hell.
Nobody Knows This Little Rose by Emily Dickinson
Nobody knows this little Rose/It might a pilgrim be/Did I not take it from the ways/And lift it up to thee.
Only a Bee will miss it/Only a Butterfly/Hastening from far journey/On its breast to lie/Only a Bird will wonder/Only a Breeze will sigh/Ah Little Rose – how easy/For such as thee to die!
I Held a Jewel in My Fingers by Emily Dickinson
I held a Jewel in my fingers/And went to sleep/The day was warm, and winds were prosy/I said ”Twill keep’/I woke—and chid my honest fingers/The Gem was gone/And now, an Amethyst remembrance/Is all I own.
We Outgrow Love Like Other Things by Emily Dickinson
We outgrow love like other things/And put it in the drawer/Till it an antique fashion shows/Like costumes grandsires wore.
Her Voice (excerpt) by Oscar Wilde
Ah! can it be/We have lived our lives in a land of dreams! How sad it seems. Sweet, there is nothing left to say/ But this, that love is never lost/ Keen winter stabs the breasts of May/Whose crimson roses burst his frost/ Ships tempest-tossed/Will find a harbour in some bay/ And so we may. And there is nothing left to do/ But to kiss once again, and part/ Nay, there is nothing we should rue/ I have my beauty; you your Art/ Nay, do not start/ One world was not enough for two/ Like me and you.
By Emily Dickinson
Heart, we will forget him! You and I, to-night! You may forget the warmth he gave/ I will forget the light. When you have done, pray tell me/ That I my thoughts may dim; Haste! Lest while you’re lagging/ I may remember him!
With a flower By Emily Dickinson
When roses cease to bloom, dear,
And voices are done
When bumble-bees in solemn flight
Have passed beyond the sun…
(We outgrow love like other things.)
Duration: 15 minutes
Recordings: Recording available on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.
Score and Parts: Available for rental or purchase directly from the composer.
Performance History:
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World Premiere: Tuesday Night New Music in 2024