Flame and Shadow (2026)
soprano, cello
c. 6 minutes
text by Sara Teasdale
Commissioned by Hannah Stone
Premiered by Amelia Friess (soprano) and Hannah Stone (cello)
Oberlin Arboretum, Oberlin, OH, 3 May 2026
This collection of songs began in 2019 when I composed the one-minute “Être” for a very small consortium at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. I was thrilled when cellist Hannah Stone invited me to compose a few additional songs to round out the set, leading to this cycle entitled Flame and Shadow (2026). (This title is borrowed from Sara Teasdale’s 1920 poetic collection of the same name.) Each song in the cycle sets a fragment of a different poem by Teasdale, each one centering on the image of stars in the sky. The meaning of the stars changes throughout each movement, however—first they are love and dedication, then beauty and clarity, and, finally, hope.
Text
i. Être [c. 1 minute 30 seconds]
excerpt from "Peace" from Rivers to the Sea (1915)
I am the pool of gold
When sunset burns and dies,--
You are my deepening skies,
Give me your stars to hold.
ii. Leaves [c. 2 minutes 30 seconds]
excerpt from "Leaves" from Rivers to the Sea (1915)
One by one, like leaves from a tree,
All my faiths have forsaken me;
But the stars above my head
Burn in white and delicate red,
And beneath my feet the earth
Brings the sturdy grass to birth.
...
But the little leaves that die
Have left me room to see the sky;
Now for the first time I know
Stars above and earth below.
iii. Lost Things [c. 2 minutes]
excerpt from "Lost Things" from Flame and Shadow (1920)
Oh, I could let the world go by,
Its loud new wonders and its wars,
But how will I give up the sky
When winter dusk is set with stars?
c. 6 minutes
text by Sara Teasdale
Commissioned by Hannah Stone
Premiered by Amelia Friess (soprano) and Hannah Stone (cello)
Oberlin Arboretum, Oberlin, OH, 3 May 2026
This collection of songs began in 2019 when I composed the one-minute “Être” for a very small consortium at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. I was thrilled when cellist Hannah Stone invited me to compose a few additional songs to round out the set, leading to this cycle entitled Flame and Shadow (2026). (This title is borrowed from Sara Teasdale’s 1920 poetic collection of the same name.) Each song in the cycle sets a fragment of a different poem by Teasdale, each one centering on the image of stars in the sky. The meaning of the stars changes throughout each movement, however—first they are love and dedication, then beauty and clarity, and, finally, hope.
Text
i. Être [c. 1 minute 30 seconds]
excerpt from "Peace" from Rivers to the Sea (1915)
I am the pool of gold
When sunset burns and dies,--
You are my deepening skies,
Give me your stars to hold.
ii. Leaves [c. 2 minutes 30 seconds]
excerpt from "Leaves" from Rivers to the Sea (1915)
One by one, like leaves from a tree,
All my faiths have forsaken me;
But the stars above my head
Burn in white and delicate red,
And beneath my feet the earth
Brings the sturdy grass to birth.
...
But the little leaves that die
Have left me room to see the sky;
Now for the first time I know
Stars above and earth below.
iii. Lost Things [c. 2 minutes]
excerpt from "Lost Things" from Flame and Shadow (1920)
Oh, I could let the world go by,
Its loud new wonders and its wars,
But how will I give up the sky
When winter dusk is set with stars?