Here’s a cutting of Good Night Dear Heart’s premiere performance, from 6 days ago. (A writeup with this same cutting can be viewed on the BJU website, here.)
Amazingly, I’m already proofing the print version for Hinshaw…
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My next bit of news is that not only was Good Night Dear Heart premiered barely a week after being written, but it was also accepted for publication in my choral series at Hinshaw Music, within that same timeframe. Hinshaw (who, at times, takes 2-3 years to get a piece out!) has once again been very kind to me, and agreed to release it immediately, in their release coming up in just a couple months. It would have been disappointing to wait a long time for a memorial like this to go into print- I’m thrilled to say it’ll be in print soon.
Second, I’m thrilled to say that C. Alan Publications in Greensboro, NC contacted me a few weeks ago, expressing interest in all (ALL!) my instrumental works. I now have a verbal agreement with them, to publish Grafenburg Variations (Wind Band), Basque Lullaby (Wind Band), the Sonata for Violin and Piano, and the Sonata for Trombone and Piano….and they want to see anything else I write in that vein! C. Alan is a good company with a reputation for publishing works of high integrity (even somewhat experimental), and they have some big-name composers in their catalog. I’m pleased to be joining them, especially since my previous attempts at publishing instrumental music never got anywhere. It’s a great thing when a publisher is chasing down the composer! 
Lastly, one of my previous “stay tuned for future news” looks like it’s about to become official. My contact (who has really become a friend), is flying in, this coming weekend, to discuss this commission…
The BJU Chorale premiered Good Night, Dear Heart tonight beautifully. It was a moving event- for me, my dear brother and his wife, and many of the recital-goers, as well. I’m thankful for this all coming together the way it has, and this piece will always be my farewell to Etsegenet, whom we, having not seen, loved.
I have a few other items of compositional news forthcoming, but for tonight, let’s leave it here, and let this piece echo in our memories.
In addition to tonight’s scheduled TV spot, WMUU in Greenville will be highlighting tomorrow’s premiere, in their new features today…
Also, BJU’s website has a headline about the premiere:
http://www.bju.edu/news/dear-heart.html
Perhaps some of this publicity will reach and comfort others who are grieving; and I hope that God’s grace will shine through all of this, for His glory.
Last Monday was the day we got the news that Jacob and Hilary’s 4-month old to-be-adopted daughter had died. We got the news around lunchtime. I had a session in the recording studio that afternoon and evening (for which I wasn’t much use, I’m afraid!). I came home that night, eager to find a way to memorialize Etsegenet’s life, what she represented in many ways, and how much she was loved.
I started searching the internet, as I usually do- I looked for text about losing a child and quickly discovered that the internet is full of such texts that are heartfully written, but not the kind of artful writing that I would want to set to music. Then I wondered about writing an African lullaby- but it was tough to decide what to make African- text, music, or both- and I really wasn’t coming up with anything.
Somewhere along the way- I don’t even remember where, or how, my continued searching led me to the epitaph that Mark Twain placed on the headstone of his beloved daughter, Susy. Susy was his dearest daughter, and she died young, at the age of 24. So the irony was striking, that too was a lullaby for a beloved lost daughter.
Most amazing, however, is the fact that the tombstone bearing this poem is in the very town where my brother and I were both born- our hometown city, Elmira, NY. (!!!) Indeed, Mark Twain spent many years in Elmira, and wrote several of his most famous works there, at his farm on the hill overlooking Elmira. My brother and I have both known and loved Twain’s works from our youth, because of the local connection. I even remember visiting the Twain (actually “Clemens”) family plot in Woodlawn Cemetery, as a youngster- it’s only a couple mile from the hospital where I was born.
Even better than the miraculous connections between losing a daughter, and the hometown connection, though, this poem said exactly what I wanted to say. Look at this:
Wow.
The text is by Robert Richardson- Twain found the poem in India but forgot the name of the author until someone else located for him, later on. Originally, only the poem was placed on the tombstone, but when Twain found out that people presumed he had written it, he had Richardson’s name added at the base of the stone. Twain did, apparently, alter the original text a bit, though, and definitely for the better!
Within a few minutes of thinking through the text, (not without tears, that night!), a choral setting just started to happen. I had no intention of writing an entire piece that night, but I just let the piece go where it wanted to, without forcing it- and before I went to bed (in the wee hours of the morning), I had written a setting of it, once through.
This setting wasn’t really long enough to work as a choral piece, though, so the next day I added two repetitions of it, with slight alterations, to extend the length suitably. Late Tuesday night (actually Wednesday morning), barely 24 hours later, I had the piece done.
I immediately emailed it to a publisher, to see if they would be interested in publishing it speedily, and sent a copy to Warren Cook. Later that day, Warren agreed to read it through in Chorale rehearsal (thanks in part to the lobbying efforts of Laura Cook!) that afternoon. I went back to school, and sat in the back row while the Chorale read through it- it really read beautifully, and moved me greatly. As I said previously, I’ve really never been moved before this, to write a piece expressing my life circumstances. I think this piece moves me particularly because of that…
Anyway, the text and setting fit perfectly with the Chorale’s upcoming concert theme, “There Will Be Rest”, and Warren added it to their concert.
So, this is a new speed record for me, and I’m thankful, once again, for the Chorale.
Good Night, Dear Heart will be premiered this Friday, Oct 24, in the War Memorial Chapel at BJU. Concerts are at 6:30 and 8:00. Tickets are required, but free, in the BJU Music Library.
My brother and his wife suffered a great tragedy in their lives, this week- the 4-month old daughter that they were in the process of adopting from Ethiopia died. They’ve been staring at her picture, praying for her, and loving her from halfway around the world, for these last months, so it’s a terrible loss for them. Our whole family has been grieving, and for the first time in my life, my life experience moved me to write music (normally the two are very separated, for me).
We got the tragic news Monday Oct. 13. Late that night, I looked for a text, and found an unbelievably perfect one for a memorial. Within an hour, I had most of it written. I finished the rest of the piece Tuesday (some late nights!), the BJU Chorale sang it through Wednesday, and Dr. Warren Cook agreed to adjust the program for their upcoming concert only 8 days away, to premiere it. The concert is next Friday Oct 24 at 6:30 and 8:00 PM in BJU’s War Memorial Chapel. (Tickets are required, but free…)
It has been a sorrowful and difficult week, even as we strive to trust God’s purposes and not our own desires and plans. But the miracle of this piece coming together this way has provided a meaningful outlet and a solace through this difficult time.
In the coming days before the premiere, I’ll share more about the text, its significance, and the music…
Right now, though, I’d like to point you to my brother’s blog, where you can read more about the circumstances that brought all this about. Their last five or six posts provide more of Etsegenet’s story, pictures, etc. Click here.
I haven’t seen a review of the Choral Arts Ensemble concert- but there are some kind comments posted here.
Wow- things are crazy right now. Here are a few updates on the compositional facets of my life:
