Work
An Emily Dickinson Suite
for wind ensemble
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About
An Emily Dickson Suite takes the form of nine vignettes inspired by the eight poems. I chose these particular poems not to fulfill any kind of programme or theme, but because they were the ones that spoke most strongly to me in musical terms at first reading.
In order to get to know the poems I initially set them as if the choir and then used the wind ensemble palette to better capture the contrasting moods and spirit of each poem. in most cases it is still possible to hear clearly the patterns of the words within the melodies. So in a real way these vignettes are 'songs without words'. Dickson did not give her poems titles. However I have titled each of the vignettes from the first line of each poem.
Christopher Marshall
Commissioned note
Commissioned by Amherst Regional High School with director Brian Messier
Contents note
- This Is My Letter To The World
- To Hear An Oriole Sing
- I'm Nobody
- The Little Stone
- If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking
- A Narrow Fellow In the Grass
- A Day! Help! Help! Another Day!
- Hope Is The Thing With Feathers
- This Is My Letter To The World