The Gorgeous Nothings (2016)

for Soprano, Flute, Oboe and Piano

Text: Emily Dickinson

Duration: ca. 10 minutes

Vocal Range: C4-A3

Commission: Lawrence Art Center

Duration: ca. 10 minutes

Premiere: Sarah Tannehill-Anderson, Soprano and Trio Allegresse, March 11, 2017, Lawrence, KS

 

I. Clogged Only With Music

Clogged
 

only with
 

Music, like
 

the Wheels of
 

Birds -

 

Afternoon and 
 

the West and
 

the gorgeous
 

nothings
 

which
 

compose
 

the 
 

sunset
 

keep
 

their high 
 

appointment
 

Permission to use “Clogged Only With Music “granted by Harvard University Press. THE LETTERS OF EMILY DICKINSON, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Associate Editor, Theodora Ward, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1958 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1986 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1924, 1932, 1942 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952 by Alfred Leete Hampson. Copyright ©1960 by Mary L. Hampson.

 

II. In This Short Life

In this short Life

 

that only (merely) lasts an hour

 

How much – how

 

little – is

 

within our

 

power

Permission to use “In This Short Life “granted by Harvard University Press. THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1951, 1955 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1918, 1919, 1924, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1937, 1942, by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1965, by Mary L. Hampson.

 

III. Paradise Is No Journey

Paradise is no Journey


because it he is within -
 

but for that very cause
 

though - it is the
 

most arduous of
 

Journeys - because as
 

the servant conscientiously
 

says at the Door
 

we are out -
 

always - invariably –

IV. The Little Sentences 
The little
sentences
I begun
and never
finished -
the little
wells I dug and
never
filled –
 

V. It Is Very Still 
It is very still in the
world now - Thronged
only with Music, like the

Decks of
Birds -

and the Seasons
take their hushed
places like figures
in a Dream -

Permission to use “Paradise Is No Journey,” “The Little Sentences” and “It Is Very Still“granted by Harvard University Press. THE LETTERS OF EMILY DICKINSON, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Associate Editor, Theodora Ward, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1958 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © renewed 1986 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright © 1914, 1924, 1932, 1942 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Copyright © 1952 by Alfred Leete Hampson. Copyright ©1960 by Mary L. Hampson.

 

Program Notes: “The Gorgeous Nothings” takes its title and inspiration from the facsimile publication of Emily Dickinson's complete envelope writings edited by Marta L. Werner and Jen Bervin. These beautiful fragments range from completed, self-contained short poems to mere thoughts hastily expressed on scraps of paper. I was drawn to these sketches as they seem to give us a glimpse into Dickinson’s creative process. Also, perhaps because of their very nature of incompleteness, the fragments allow the reader to engage in new ways with Dickinson’s words. It is my hope that the music captures these wonderfully suggestive aspects of the fragments.

“The Gorgeous Nothings” was commissioned by the Lawrence Art Center and premiered by Trio Allegresse with Soprano Sarah Tannehill-Anderson on March 11, 2017.