Faye-Ellen Silverman

Danish Delights

Year: 2010

Duration (in minutes): 10

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players, solo voice(s) with chamber ensemble, solo voice(s) with solo instruments

Instruments: any female voice, any high voice, any string, any voice, guitar, soprano

Publisher: Subito Music Corporation

Description: When I read Sara Teasdale's poem “Pierrot in his Garden”, she seemed to characterize Volkmar Zimmerman and his involvement with the guitar perfectly. I then looked for texts that would match the mood. This led me to the idea of Corinna as a representation of a female singer. In this song cycle, Corinna and Pierrot each have both a representative tempo and a characteristic motive. After setting the Teasdale, I added an interlude with Pierrot playing on the guitar and Corinna uttering just one word – his name – related musically to the first song. This is followed by Corinna’s Tale, based on a surviving fragment by Corinna, an ancient Greek poet whose sung poetry enthralled her audiences. The guitar shadows the voice for the parts of the song that represent Corinna’s singing, while the singer is alone as Corinna tells her tale. As Corinna refers to Terpsichore as her Muse, the movement that follows is for guitar solo in the manner of a Renaissance dance. This sets the mood for “Corinna and her Lute” the ending of the cycle. The text is by the Renaissance poet and composer Thomas Campion. It begins with the tuning of the guitar, aided by the voice. The open sound of the lute, referred to in the text, is created by much use of open strings in the guitar part. This last song also brings in references to Corinna's song, Pierrot's song, and Terpsichore's dance.