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The earliest expression of my love for cycles was— I wrote the texts for very few of my choral works.
auspiciously—opus 1, Three Madrigals, my first published Opera librettos do not require great poetry, but cho-
work. (Some pieces in The Winds of May were written ral music has a higher standard. Most of the pieces for
earlier—1948 to 1949—but were published later with which I wrote the words myself are humorous, includ-
a later opus number.) The unifying element of opus ing many bits and pieces among the dozens of canons
1 is that all three poems were written by my father, a and catches I have written. Humor has always been
fine poet. A significant fact in my upbringing is that my part of my life. It shows in my music and contributes
mother was a musician, my father a writer. So it is not to its diversity. My motive for writing a work in a new
surprising that I was destined to set words to music: genre has often been to see if I could do it: chamber
songs, choral music, and opera, for which I wrote my music, a symphony, an opera, a choral-theater piece.
own librettos. As I was a “late bloomer,” I kept trying to discover how
The unifying elements in my cycles are various. They far I could reach.
will be familiar to those conductors who like to program I am surprised and grateful that so many of my cho-
by theme: ral works have been so often performed. Not all, of
course. They are all published, but some have disap-
FOLK SONG ADAPTATIONS: American Madrigals; peared from the active repertoire. Sometimes that is be-
Choral Variations on American Folk Songs; Three American Folk cause I did not find the music that best suited the words:
Songs for Men Missa Brevis, “Blessed are They,” “Rejoice: An Easter
Song,” and others, I am sad to say. And of course, my
LIFE AND DEATH: Songs of the Slave; Winging Wildly; choral music is not so often performed now as previ-
Earth My Song; The Children of David ously for the very good reason that conductors want to
support new composers and their music.
LOVE: The Winged Joy; The Shepherd and His Love; The Some of my larger works, however, are neglected for
Winds of May; English Girls other reasons. In spite of excellent reviews, The Children
of David—Five Modern Psalms by later poets carrying on
SACRED: Three Motets; Three Short Anthems; Songs of Wi- the tradition of David, the pre-Christian psalmist—has
som had few performances. It requires a good organist, and
I have observed that extended choral works that do not
SEASONAL: Seven Joys of Christmas; Befana—A Christmas fit any holiday or liturgy are a hard sell for any contem-
Fable; Christmas Past and Christmas Present; Two Christmas porary composer. Other major works in this category
Ballads are The King’s Contest and Speech to a Crowd. While nei-
ther is especially difficult, these longer works do not
SINGING & MUSIC: Singing Is So Good a Thing (on a find favor with those who want “pretty” or reverent
William Byrd text, sung for several choruses’ anniversa- music—except, of course, by dead composers. (I’m get-
ries); The Gift of Singing; To Music. (The last two are tech- ting there as fast as I can.)
nically not cycles but are extended works about music, Only one of my largest cycles has escaped the dis-
with words by various authors.) crimination against secular works that do not mark
some special day. That is Songs of the Slave from my op-
EARTH and UNIVERSE: Earth My Song; Island in Space; era John Brown. It is the most passionate music I have
Las Americas Unidas written, and it includes two of my most popular cho-
ruses, “Blow Ye the Trumpet” and “Dan-u-el” and
Other common themes in my choral cycles are SPRING, the very sad aria, “Dear Husband.” The cycle has had
INJUSTICE, and OPERA CHORUSES. many performances.

CHORAL JOURNAL February 2024 Volume 64 Number 6 47