Cuckoo, Cuckoo

Commissioned by the Kansas City Chorale and their artistic director Charles Bruffy,
and with gratitude to ACFEA Tour Consultants and Chorus America.

G. Schirmer (Rollo Dilworth Choral Series)

Cuckoo, Cuckoo is a jaunty little work on a text from William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, one of his earliest comedies. The tongue-in-cheek text talks of married life and the woe that comes from being unable to pursue the frolicsome fruits of Spring:

When daisies pied and violets blue
      And lady-smocks all silver-white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
      Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he: 
                                                    “Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo!” O, word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
      And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
      And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
                                                    “Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo!” O, word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

The commissioning of this work for the Kansas City Chorale and Charles Bruffy was made possible by Hugh Davies and ACFEA Tour Consultants. During the Chorus America Annual Conference in Boston in June 2015, I granted a new commissioned work to the highest bidder at the annual auction, and Hugh Davies, successfully bidding for it, thereby gifted it to Charles and his Chorale. It is lovingly dedicated to Hugh, Charles, and Chorus America.

Commissioned by the Kansas City Chorale and their artistic director Charles Bruffy,
and with gratitude to ACFEA Tour Consultants and Chorus America.

G. Schirmer (Rollo Dilworth Choral Series)

Cuckoo, Cuckoo is a jaunty little work on a text from William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, one of his earliest comedies. The tongue-in-cheek text talks of married life and the woe that comes from being unable to pursue the frolicsome fruits of Spring:

When daisies pied and violets blue
      And lady-smocks all silver-white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
      Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he: 
                                                    “Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo!” O, word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
      And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
      And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
                                                    “Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo!” O, word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

The commissioning of this work for the Kansas City Chorale and Charles Bruffy was made possible by Hugh Davies and ACFEA Tour Consultants. During the Chorus America Annual Conference in Boston in June 2015, I granted a new commissioned work to the highest bidder at the annual auction, and Hugh Davies, successfully bidding for it, thereby gifted it to Charles and his Chorale. It is lovingly dedicated to Hugh, Charles, and Chorus America.