with violets in her lap (2019)

General Information

Commissioner: Yale College New Music, for Matthew Woodard and Russell Fisher
Written: September – October, 2019
Duration: ca. 6.5’
Instrumentation: vln + steel pan

Perusal Score

~ This score below is intended for perusal purposes only, and may not be used for performance. To obtain performance materials, please click here. Thank you! ~

Program Note

"...sing to us
the one with violets in her lap
...mostly
...goes astray"

The above poem is Ann Carson's translation, from her collection If Not, Winter, of a fragment of ancient Greek lyric poetry by the famed poet Sappho, who lived on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean sea around the seventh century before the common era. Sappho's writing - preserved only in bits and pieces of damaged, fragile papyrus scattered around the Mediterranean - is deeply intimate and strikingly modern. Her poetry was deeply resonant with me: this piece was born out of deep admiration for this striking body of work and is a meditation on human intimacy and its constancy through time.

Performance History

November 6, 2019: Matthew Woodard (violin), Russell Fisher (steel pan) at the Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT (World Premiere)