Faye-Ellen Silverman

From Adam's Diary

Year: 2023

Duration (in minutes): 11'

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: solo voice(s) with solo instruments

Instruments: clarinet, tenor voice

Publisher: Subito Music Corp.

Publisher website: https://www.subitomusic.com/

Purchase score URL: https://www.subitomusic.com/shop/

Description: From Adam’s Diary draws its texts from Mark Twain’s book From the Diaries of Adam and Eve. The work was commissioned by the tenor Aram Tchobanian via a Silent Auction to benefit New York Women Composers. Written for tenor and clarinet, it is Twain’s love letter to his deceased wife. In my composition, the pitches center on A for Adam and on E for Eve (heard, for instance, when he discovers that “it” insists on being called a “she”). The two pitches are joined melodically and harmonically through much the second part of the tale. The clarinet accompanies and sometimes comments as, for instance, when it plays a chromatic passage for the encounter with the snake. The clarinet also serves as the transition from the Garden to life after the Fall, and also helps mark the passage of time. The work is mainly told from Adam’s point of view, but there are also quotes from Eve’s diary, showing her to be a smart, independent, loving partner. This composition starts with Adam’s exasperation over a creature who is always in his way, and his quasi-temper tantrum over her existence. The weeks pass, and then the years. Various motifs repeat. The work ends with his declaration that “And now that I am at her graveside I know, Wheresoever she was, there was Eden”.