If Soul May Look

Song Cycle

2004, rev. 2011

14 minutes

MP3 samples from the premiere:
Stanza IV — Listen (.8MB)
The Lady’s Song — Listen (1.8MB)
The Chambermaid’s Song — Listen (1.8MB)

Premiere: Kristin Dauphinais, mezzo soprano
Andrew Campbell, piano
Katzin Concert Hall, Arizona State University
October 25, 2004

Mezzo soprano and Piano
(mezzo range: b-flat3 to a-flat 5)

Poetry: William Butler Yeats

Notes: Yeats’s poems retell a medieval story of a lady who cannot bear to give herself physically to her lover. She sends her chambermaid to his bed at night, with instructions there can be no speaking and no candles. Only in death do all three finally rest beside each other.