Commissioned by Molly Melahn.
Soprano-Molly Melahn
Piano-Benjamin Carter
Program Notes: There is perhaps no poet in 20th-century American society with a greater legacy than Robert Frost, and rightfully so. Frost’s poetry deals with a plethora of life experiences and emotional issues, but a common unifying theme is inspiration from the beauty of his home in rural New England. Looking at the text of Stars, it is easy to picture Frost gazing out into the night sky from his study, pondering the ubiquitous presence of stars in contrast with mankind’s own fleeting mortality. As with all of Frost’s work, there are churning depths of thought and emotion beneath the surface-level imagery of a winter night, and it is my sincerest desire that this setting reflects those depths. Frost was one of my first great loves in the American poetry canon, and I am looking forward to a new reckoning with his work by 21st-century composers as more and more of his writing enters the public domain.
Stars
by Robert Frost
How countlessly they congregate
O'er our tumultuous snow,
Which flows in shapes as tall as trees
When wintry winds do blow!-
As if with keenness for our fate,
Out faltering few steps on
To white rest, and a place of rest
Invisible at dawn,-
And yet with neither love nor hate,
Those stars like some some snow-white
Minerva's snow-white marble eyes
Without the gift of sight.