A Burden Far Beyond What Soul Can Cry

October 2005, revised December 2011

Four-hand piano version dedicated to Lidiya Yankovskaya

• Soprano: Abigail Moss recalls with melancholy and foreboding the story of her betrothal to Byron, a man who outwardly professes love, but alas has no genuine feelings for her.
• Baritone: Samual Ward is guilt-stricken since eloping with Byron, and the conflicting emotions almost cause him to leave his wife Louisa, who he believes is none-the-wiser.
• Tenor: Byron Moss feels no sense of shame in his affections, calmly leading on Abigail and confidently seducing Samual.
• Mezzo-soprano: Louisa Ward knows full-well of Samual’s affair and his desires, but there is no one she trusts to share her revelation nor confide her “burden far beyond what soul can cry.”

A Burden Far Beyond What Soul Can Cry was written in response to a project by my professors Dana Wilson and Gregory Woodward during my senior year of study at Ithaca College. We were challenged by writing department professor Katharyn Howd Machan to set some of the poems from her Redwingcollection to music. The collection is fascinating, as each poem is titled with the name of a person: thus, each of these poems gives a short glimpse into one emotional facet of these peoples’ lives. I have set the poems for Abigail Moss, Samual Ward, Byron Moss, and Louisa Ward. Rather than set them one-after-the-other, I have interwoven them, so that the four poems might more appropriately shed light on each other, giving a dramatic arch to these individual ruminations.

The work was originally scored for four marimbas and premiered at Ithaca College in October 2005. The four-hand piano version is dedicated to Lidiya Yankovskaya, who premiered it with Boston’s Juventas New Music Ensemble in February 2012.

October 2005, revised December 2011

Four-hand piano version dedicated to Lidiya Yankovskaya

• Soprano: Abigail Moss recalls with melancholy and foreboding the story of her betrothal to Byron, a man who outwardly professes love, but alas has no genuine feelings for her.
• Baritone: Samual Ward is guilt-stricken since eloping with Byron, and the conflicting emotions almost cause him to leave his wife Louisa, who he believes is none-the-wiser.
• Tenor: Byron Moss feels no sense of shame in his affections, calmly leading on Abigail and confidently seducing Samual.
• Mezzo-soprano: Louisa Ward knows full-well of Samual’s affair and his desires, but there is no one she trusts to share her revelation nor confide her “burden far beyond what soul can cry.”

A Burden Far Beyond What Soul Can Cry was written in response to a project by my professors Dana Wilson and Gregory Woodward during my senior year of study at Ithaca College. We were challenged by writing department professor Katharyn Howd Machan to set some of the poems from her Redwingcollection to music. The collection is fascinating, as each poem is titled with the name of a person: thus, each of these poems gives a short glimpse into one emotional facet of these peoples’ lives. I have set the poems for Abigail Moss, Samual Ward, Byron Moss, and Louisa Ward. Rather than set them one-after-the-other, I have interwoven them, so that the four poems might more appropriately shed light on each other, giving a dramatic arch to these individual ruminations.

The work was originally scored for four marimbas and premiered at Ithaca College in October 2005. The four-hand piano version is dedicated to Lidiya Yankovskaya, who premiered it with Boston’s Juventas New Music Ensemble in February 2012.