Music, when soft voices die
2022
Dedicated to and premiered by the Nazareth University Chamber Singers in Rochester, NY. Brian Stevens, director.
ca. 3'15
SATB and piano
Text: Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory–
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.
Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.
Arvo Pärt’s minimalist masterpiece Spiegel im Spiegel (literally translated “Mirror in Mirror”) conjures up images of an infinity mirror. I observed a similar sense of everlastingness in Percy Shelley’s famous poem Music, when soft voices die. Even in the face of change or loss, beautiful things like music, smells, experiences, love, and even life itself live on in the gift of the enduring vibrations of memory. Premiered by the Nazareth College Chamber Singers on April 24, 2022 in Linehan Chapel. Fantee Jones, piano. This performance was conducted by the composer.