A Widow Bird (No. 3) from Six Shelley Songs by Jason Thorpe Buchanan

Six Shelley Songs by Jason Thorpe Buchanan were composed in the summer of 2008. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote these poems between 1814 and his unexpected death in 1822, when he drowned at sea. He is known for having been expelled from Oxford for distributing a pamphlet entitled "The Necessity of Atheism". He was married twice, leaving his first wife shortly after having written Away!, later meeting Mary Shelley, soon to be author of Frankenstein and daughter of William Godwin, a literary figure whom Shelley idolized. He lost two of the three children he had with Mary Shelley between 1818 and 1819. His texts have been criticized for their seemingly abstract surface aesthetic, as well as being called "splendidly nebulous". With these six songs I have attempted to capture the essence of Shelley's writing and depict the well-crafted romantic imagery contained in these poems. I hope that in doing so I manage to show their "splendidly nebulous" nature in my music.

A Widow Bird (1822) - P.B. Shelley
A widow bird sate mourning for her love
Upon a wintry bough;
The frozen wind crept on above, The freezing stream below.

There was no leaf upon the forest bare, No flower upon the ground,
And little motion in the air Except the mill-wheel's sound.
Nicole Yazolino - Soprano
Avedis Manoogian - Piano

Performance Date: Feb. 27, 2009, Cincinnati, OH

For more information on the composer, please visit http://www.melosmusic.com or http://www.jasonthorpebuchanan.com

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[langstonify]

Great.