PROGRAM NOTE
Inspired by one of my favorite works, Dido’s lament, from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, this work gives voice to one of humanity’s most shared yearnings. “I’m particularly touched by the moment in which the singer sings “remember me”– a cry that comes from the deepest part of one’s soul. I think about it as a collective cry, because we all have a longing to be remembered.”
–Ivette Herryman Rodríguez
TEXT
Song
by Christina Rossetti
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.
Performers
Lindsay Kesselman, soprano; Norbert Lewandowski, cello; Oscar Michaelsson, piano
Score and cello part: $18