Faces
Ensemble
High Voice (Soprano or Tenor), Bassoon, and Piano
Duration
Three-song Cycle, approx. 10 minutes
I. Faces (approx. 3 minutes)
II. A Face Devoid of Love or Grace (approx. 2 minutes)
III. To a Stranger (approx. 5 minutes)
Recording
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Score
Notes
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Texts
Faces by Sarah Teasdale
People that I meet and pass
In the city's broken roar,
Faces that I lose so soon
And have never found before,
Do you know how much you tell
In the meeting of our eyes,
How ashamed I am, and sad
To have pierced your poor disguise?
Secrets rushing without sound
Crying from your hiding places —
Let me go, I cannot bear
The sorrow of the passing faces.
— People in the restless street,
Can it be, oh can it be
In the meeting of our eyes
That you know as much of me?
A Face Devoid of Love or Grace by Emily Dickinson
A face devoid of love or grace,
A hateful, hard, successful face,
A face with which a stone
Would feel as thoroughly at ease
As were they old acquaintances—
First time together thrown.
To a Stranger by Walt Whitman
Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me, as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me, or a girl with me,
I ate with you, and slept with you—your body has become not yours only, nor left my body mine only,
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass—you take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you—I am to think of you when I sit alone, or wake at night alone,
I am to wait—I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.
World Premiere
Jason Weisinger, Stephanie Willow Patterson, and Richard Valitutto on June 15, 2013 at the New Music on the Point Contemporary Chamber Music Festival, Burlington, Vermont.
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