I. He tells of the Perfect Beauty

II. Never give all the Heart

III. He hears the Cry of the Sedge

IV. He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

V. He wishes his Beloved were Dead

VI. To his Heart, bidding it have no Fear

Baritone: Sam Rabinowitz
Conductor: David Stech

Songs of a Broken Man

art by Clara Warnaar

Program notes:
When William Butler Yeats was twenty-four years old, he met and became close friends with Maud Gonne.  Almost immediately, Yeats’ feelings for Maud ignited into a passionate romantic longing that would cause him to propose three times over the following ten years.  Though by all accounts Maud cared about Yeats, her familial feelings did not match his romantic ones.  This relationship and the unrequited love at its core defined Yeats as a man and as a poet throughout his life.  Like Dante with Beatrice before him, Yeats used his art to explore the kaleidoscope of emotions this unrequited love thrust upon him, ranging from guilt, to shame, suffering, rage, ecstasy, and deep sadness. 

Of the many poems Yeats wrote about his love for Maud, I chose these six for their stylistic cogency and overarching form.  Throughout them, Yeats compares Maud to the stars:  First, because of her perfect beauty, but later because he realizes she burns with a passion that, unreachable, will never warm his skin.  I chose the piano harmonic as the primary timbre with which to evoke the stars.  Like Yeats’ chosen metaphor, this musical one also shifted in meaning throughout the composing process.  At first I was drawn to the pointed yet incorporeal sound, which to me seemed so star-like.  Later, however, these sections of piano harmonics sounded like the ghost of a pianist, an image that proved unexpectedly haunting as these songs progressed.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                              —Jacob A. Greenberg

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Poetry by William Butler Yeats

2 perc, 2 pno (pno. 1 extended pno. 2 ordinario), 7 vln, 3 vla, 3 vcl, 2 cb. 
Note: both pianists play on the same instrument 

First performed March 31st, 2012, at the Manhattan School of Music.  Recorded April 2nd, 2012.