Under the Harvest Moon

"…love, with little hands, comes and touches you with a thousand memories, and asks you beautiful, unanswerable questions." - Carl Sandburg

The circumstances surrounding the creation of this work make for a great story! In graduate school, I participated in an event called “The 24 Hour Concert.” What this means is that on a Friday evening at 8pm, participating composers draw the names of participating performers out of a hat. The composers then have 12 hours to write a new work for that ensemble. At 8am, the composers hand the notated scores to the performers and they have 12 hours to rehearse. A concert is presented at 8pm on Saturday evening. I was lucky to end up with the ensemble of soprano, cello, piano and immediately went through my poetry file and found this visceral text by Carl Sandburg, one of my favorite poets. For me, the beauty of this whirlwind timing is to completely trust one’s intuition and be wholly steeped and uninterrupted during the compositional process. Because of that, this music feels like a true extension of my soul. I hope you hear that musical authenticity as you listen.
Jessica Lennick, soprano. Dorotea Racz, cello. Aaron Herzog, piano.

Text

Under the Harvest Moon

by Carl Sandburg

Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers.

Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions.