Called Back - 10 Songs to words of Emily Dickinson - 2022

In 2020 my wife, the artist Marcelle Seabourne, died. As a way both to mark her passing and to deal with my own grief I wrote a series of works which are reflective of these: the horn quintet Fall, I felt a Funeral in my Brain for solo viola, Going for solo horn, volumes 8 and 9 of my Steps piano cycle series, and my 5th Symphony. This song cycle is probably the last, though I am not certain of that.

The American poet Emily Dickinson has been important for many years. Of a number of recurring themes that dominate her extraordinary output, death is surely one of the most important and frequently mused upon. She was touched by family experiences, and doubtless community ones also. For her death was both something austere and yet summatory; tragic, hopeful, at times even whimsical.

Like many of the great song cycles of Schubert, Mahler, Shostakovich, Britten etc., the ten poems of my cycle tell no story, although some individual songs (like the "The last Night that she lived") certainly describe (and resonate with) specific events. There is however, a unified duality of themes always present - loss and love - the two great poles of our existence; fused, coexistent, intertwined. In my choice of texts, and their setting, a kind of emotional arc is formed which makes this a genuine cycle, not merely a set.

As with my other song cycles I intend these "as songs", not dramatic or declamatory vocal works. In the tradition of Lied, Chanson or Art Song they present essentially melodic material with restricted accompanimental figurations. Each is a small wrold, complete in its restriction. I want them to move the listener, not simply engage intellectually. If some think this approach old fashioned it does not much concern me.

The title, Called Back, is taken from Dickinson's tombstone, added by her niece. It encapsulates her complex personal philosophy admirably.

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