Listening for voice, cello, and piano

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Commissioned by Collective Euphonia (Scott Williamson, Founder). Premiered by Scott Williamson (tenor); Julia Goudimova (cello); and Anna Billias (piano) at the University of Washington and Lee. January 21, 2023.

 

Listening by Amy Lowell

 

’T is you that are the music, not your song.

The song is but a door which, opening wide,

Lets forth the pent-up melody inside,

Your spirit’s harmony, which clear and strong

Sing but of you. Throughout your whole life long

Your songs, your thoughts, your doings, each divide

This perfect beauty; waves within a tide,

Or single notes amid a glorious throng.

The song of earth has many different chords;

Ocean has many moods and many tones

Yet always ocean. In the damp Spring woods

The painted trillium smiles, while crisp pine cones

Autumn alone can ripen. So is this

One music with a thousand cadences.

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Duration: 7 minutes