fictionmusic

I just bought a book of Sappho's poetry (or rather fragments thereof) by Anne Carson. Because so much of it is translated from destroyed papyri with chunks of verse missing, they tend to read like modern verse or Kerouac's American Haikus. As I am of an astronomical bent this one (wholly intact) is my favorite so far;
Moon has set
and Pleiades:middle
night, the hour goes by,
alone I lie.

I intend to score some of her verses for small orchestra and female choir, or, for a female choir, three harps and soprano soloist (Sappho played the Lyre and that is pretty close to the harp).
I've written quite a bit of choral music in the last two years. I call them Orchestral Song Sets (1-3) in honour of Charles Ives (who named his pieces Orchestral Sets). So far they've been scored for small orchestra and mixed choir and use texts from Dylan Thomas, Jack Kerouac, Petrarch and ee cummings.


Here's a cool Kerouac Haiku (one I haven't used but should have)

The cow, taking a big
dreamy crap, turning
To look at me.