Sky’s Mirror

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Notes

Sky’s Mirror, contemporary vocal music with cello accompaniment, explores the connections between nature and people. Henry David Thoreau’s observations at Walden Pond are treated as a series of words and phrases, making a poem of his prose. The music moves through the text, reflecting on the purity and irony of Thoreau’s more innocent view of nature and people.

The voice part can be sung by a soprano, high mezzo, or tenor. The range is B below middle C to G above the staff, with emphasis on the G in one passage. Played from score.

Read the lyrics. The text is adapted from Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

Voice of the woods, notes sung by a nymph.
Notes that the air has strained and echoed, echoed by the shore.
Perfect mirror, undefiled.

Listen

Get the CD! Noises, Sounds and Strange Airs includes Sky’s Mirror, performed by D’Anna Fortunato and Emmanuel Feldman.

SoundClick streaming of Sky’s Mirror, as on the CD.