Program Notes

This movement, performed by an operatic singer, explores the widow's grief. The music is not based on any folk song, but is written in my own contemporary style. However, the vocal writing consistently uses some of the ornamentation and motifs heard in Southern folk music. The cello part is also suffused with gestures from Southern singing and fiddling. In my music, the presence of folk materials is neither too literal nor too obscure: it's simply part of the fabric.

​

TEXT

Hear my prayer, 0 Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call, answer me speedily. My heart is smitten, and withereth like the grass. I watch, and am a sparrow alone on the housetop. My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am wither'd like grass. (from Psalm 102)