9 Sunrises and a Moonrise

Vocal range: D4 – Eb6 This piece was originally composed for Yue Yin, a Coloratura Soprano. This song cycle is a collection of musical pieces using the words and descriptions of sunrises from a collective of dead poets and historical figures. It's not so much that sunshine is so sun-shiny-tastic, it's more about the different perspectives of the morning and sunshine. Enjoy themes of love and morning resoluteness. Fear the murderous armies that will lay waste to children and their families for being in the wrong place. Forget your worries to the entrancing song of the nightingale at the beauty of a solemn moonrise. 1. “The morning steals upon the night, Melting the darkness.” from 'The Tempest' William Shakespeare 2. “A heavy fog this morning prevented our setting out before seven o'clock. At nine I took two men and walked on the L.S. I crossed three beautiful streams of running water heading into the prairies. On those streams the land very fine, covered with pea vine and rich weed.” William Clark 3. “But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.” Psalm 59 4. “Good Morning, on July 7. My thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved I can only live wholly with you or not at all.” Ludwig van Beethoven 5. “I’ll tell you how the Sun rose – A Ribbon at a time – The Steeples swam in Amethyst – The news, like Squirrels, ran – The Hills untied their Bonnets – The Bobolinks – begun – Then I said softly to myself – ‘That must have been the Sun’!” Emily Dickenson 6. “However! I warn you that if the morning sunrays fall upon you and your children within the borders of this land, you shall die! These are undeniable, unalterable words.” Euripides 7. “I have often looked at that picture behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.” Benjamin Franklin 8. “And, when the friendly sunshine smil’d, And she would mark the opening skies, I saw no Heaven—but in her eyes.” Edgar Allan Poe 9. “The sunrise wakes the lark to sing, The moonrise wakes the nightingale. Come darkness, moonrise, every thing That is so silent, sweet, and pale: Come, so ye wake the nightingale. Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon, Make haste to wake the nightingale: Let silence set the world in tune To hearken to that wordless tale Which warbles from the nightingale O herald skylark, stay thy flight One moment, for a nightingale Floods us with sorrow and delight. To-morrow thou shalt hoist the sail; Leave us to-night the nightingale.” Christina Rosetti