This song cycle was written for my friend Philip Dixon.

The poems are as follows:

The Unknown Beloved
I dreamed I passed a doorway
        Where, for a sign of death,
White ribbons one was binding
        About a flowery wreath.
What drew me so I know not,
        But drawing near I said,
"Kind sir, and can you tell me
        Who is it here lies dead?"
Said he, "Your most beloved
        Died here this very day,
That had known twenty Aprils
        Had she but lived till May."
Astonished I made answer,
        Good sir, how say you so!
Here have I no beloved,
        This house I do not know."

Quoth he, "Who from the world's end
        Was destined unto thee
Here lies, thy true beloved
        Whom thou shalt never see."

I dreamed I passed a doorway
        Where, for a sign of death,
White ribbons one was binding
        About a flowery wreath.

Unrest
There are three tremblings sweet to think upon:
The trembling of a poplar-leaf in the wind,
The trembling of a woman in the moment of love,
And the trembling of the stars …

Whenever Two Lovers Meet
Whenever two lovers meet
        A new star in heaven is lit –
Heaven is the banner of love,
        And night the memory of it.
The joyous embrace of love
        Calls a new soul from its sphere;
At the music of two hearts beating
        God leans down to hear.

- poet John Hall Wheelock (1886 – 1978)
- text used with permission

I was working with Martha on a set of lullabies, and, while on the subject of children, Martha produced this poem about a mother and the death of her infant. A threnody is a song or poem of lament, and James Michael, the subject of this poem, was the first child to a young couple belonging to the church in which Martha ministered. As Martha wrote in introducing the poem to me, “That's one thing about working in a church – you certainly have a lot of instances where you're called to walk with people through some very painful places.” The poem’s emotional impact on me was so great that I felt compelled to set it to music.

The original setting is for string orchestra, marimba, and women’s choir. A second setting was made for string quartet, marimba, and women's choir.

The text is as follows:

Threnody
by Martha Kirby Capo
Copyright 2007

On a cold, rainy November
night James Michael died
as I cradled him in
my new mother's arms
we were so young and
now in the silent space of
a heartbeat
I am so old
and my new mother's
arms are empty.

The chill panes are misted
with my breath
indifferent raindrops
splatter turgid trickling
half-moon rivers
I do not see
their source I

cannot know their end.

James Michael has rested
on his seventh day of creation.

please
make
it
stop
raining

- text used with permission

The full performance of this work includes a handful of readings of other poems from the book interspersed between the music.

The text is as follows:

Riding Past Grief
Poetry by Deborah Rebeck Ash

Final Moments
Breathe in life
exhale living
breathe in family
exhale love
breathe in love
exhale living
concentrated life
basic essentials
breathe in love
exhale love
breathe in family
exhale love
breathe in
exhale ...

Author's note: Written the day she died, this poem recreates the last moments in my mother's life. When she stopped talking, we surrounded her bed, held her hands, and told her we loved her. I could feel love in every breath.

A Chcolate Moment
It was a chocolate moment
aroused by sweet aroma.
Palatal senses prepare,
plunge into richness,
thick, full, savory.
You lived as a moment
savoring its sweetness
even when it melted,
cancer-ravaged gooey mess.
Chocolate, still appreciated,
became gifts to others.
When I bite into candy
the sugar stirs, zings me
into a momentary high.
Meeting you in chocolate moments,
your joy coats my sorrow.
Everyone knew your weakness.
You lived a chocolate moment.

Author's note: Mother was a chocoholic. It was one thing she would eat during chemotherapy treatment. Lots of people showered her with chocolates. After daintily nibbling on one, she ended up giving the rest to my children.

Mother
I wear her clothes.
I drive her car.
I have her genes.
I feel her energy
        when mine does wane.

I wear her watch upon my wrist.
I don her mother's ring.
I use her mirror.
I see the same eyes,
though mine are brown.

I think like her.
I walk like her.
I almost feel I am her.
I hear her voice come from my
mouth,
but look in the mirror and still
find me.

- text used with permission

A Day in the Life was a rewarding piece to write. When doing a composition residency with a group, I attempt to engage the group in all aspects of the compositional process. For this high school ensemble, I arranged for the whole band to “tweet” to me their ongoings over the course of a single day, February 27, 2010. Their tweets would become the programmatic basis of the work.

The introduction to the piece reflects the first text I received at 12:45 a.m. by a student playing a violent video game. The three main sections of the piece are inspired by three different patterns of texts received during the morning (waking up), afternoon (excitement, danger, mischief, and disgust), and evening (relaxation and playfulness). The closing of the piece reflects the last two texts that came after midnight, offering two starkly different ways to close a day: one student comfortable in bed, and another alone, outside, and cold.

The experience of working with this engaged group of students, sharing a snippet of their lives, and then setting that to music remains a fulfilling highlight of my career.

1912 was commissioned by the Prescott Pops Symphony to celebrate Arizona’s centennial. In turn I commissioned poetry from Martha Kirby Capo to honor aspects of Arizona’s history, and I chose 4 of these poems as inspirations for each of the movements.

The Dream Weaver is a poem about the “Man in the Maze” legend from the Pima / Maricopa tribal traditions, a legend presumably passed from the Hohokam people to their descendants. In this legend, one’s journey is depicted as a walk through a maze towards the center, where one’s dreams and goals are and where the Sun God blesses us on our journey to the next world.

The music of The Coming of the Railroad interrupts the first movement in much the same way the coal powered engines and steel ribbons across our country interrupted the previous balance of the people and nature in the West.

The Death of the Gila River is a lament over the slow and eventual loss of the Gila River, a river which used to run year round and cut across Arizona.

The Rising of Phoenix honors the western rebirth and eventual industrialization of Phoenix, which was built upon the ancient grounds and irrigation system built by the ancestral Hohokam tribe.

The complete poems can be found here.

Fragments is a setting of 8 short fragments of text from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Titled by the first line used in each text, they are:
• Blessed are those from the Beatitudes, Qumran Cave 4
• What then is man from the Thanksgiving Hymn No. 19
• I thank Thee, O Lord from the Thanksgiving Hymn No. 18
• Light shines and joy bursts forth from Column 2 of the Thanksgiving Hymn fragments
• I am as a sailor on a ship from Thanksgiving Hymn No. 14
• May He bless you from The Community Rule
• I hold my peace from the Thanksgiving Hymn No. 23
• These things I know from the Thanksgiving Hymn No. 6

- translated by Dr. Geza Vermes, text used with permission

Impulso is a four movement work, unusual for a concerto and almost closer in form to a symphony.

The concerto is a collaborative project with flamenco guitarist and composer Chris Burton Jácome. Movements 2 & 3 were composed by Henry Flurry.

The arc of the work is inspired by the struggles of the oppressed Andalusian gypsies (the source of Flamenco music) and the vibrancy of their art form.

The movements are entitled:
I) The Discovery of Art
II) The Oppression of Art
III) The Romance of Art
IV) The Celebration of Art

Unique to this composition, when compared to other "Spanish" concert works, is the strong application of flamenco rhythms (compás), song forms, traditions and the use of the dancer in both audible and visible form.

Currents is three movement piano concerto inspired by the complex relationship between New Orleans, my birthplace, and the waters that border and cross the city.

The movements within this work are:
I) River – inspired by the Mississippi River
II) Breaking – a reaction to the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
III) Still – a statement of hope built upon a reflection on both the beauty and loss created by standing water

Program notes and audio can be found here.

Ragtime Dances for Marimba and Orchestra is inspired by the ragtime-influenced ballroom dance music of the 1910’s. The movements are each named after the dance step that would accompany the music. Within each movement, a soloist from the orchestra is featured as a “dance partner” to the marimba - a nod to ballroom etiquette.

The movements within this work are:
I - Machiche, featuring violin
II - Waltz, featuring french horn
III - Polka, featuring flute
IV - Half and Half, featuring trumpet
V - Foxtrot, featuring clarinet

Canyon Reflections is inspired by the Grand Canyon National Park's 100th anniversary and is written in honor of Yavapai College's 50th anniversary. The work imagines the struggles of a people separated by the canyon to reconnect with family and clan.

Forest Rhythms is inspired by the sights and sounds from our backyard in Prescott, AZ. The three works included are Night Crickets, Sunrise Rain, and Twinkling Stars. The work is available on www.Nathana.com.